On 26th of September, TEMUL group members Prof. Uschi Bangert, Eoghan O’Connell, Eoin Moynihan and Michael Hennessy visited Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), Germany. The group had organized a meeting with collaborators from Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI), led by Prof. Beata Kardynal, in order to discuss the progress of the project New Single Photon Sources by Engineering Monolayer-Thick Semiconductors on the Atomic Scale, funded by Volkswagenstiftung.

The day began with each PhD student involved in the project giving a brief presentation of their work in the project thus far, which was used to stimulate conversation about the direction of the project. Stefan Rost presented density functional theory (DFT) simulations of band structure calculations and EELS data for monolayer-thick MoSe2, while Minh Bui presented his experimental work, including his findings and challenges during sample preparation. Manuel Auge, under the supervision of Prof. Hans Hofsäss, gave a helpful introduction to the ion implantation process. Eoghan, Eoin and Michael gave updates on the microscopy side of the project. After the presentations concluded, the group had further discussion and laid out clear plans for the project going forward.

After the meeting had concluded, the group was given a tour of the Helmholtz Nano Facility (HNF) at FZJ, which house approx. ~1100 m^2 of state-of-the-art cleanrooms with classes of ISO 1-3. HNF provides access to resources and expertise in production, synthesis, characterization and integration of structures, devices and circuits.

In the evening, the group went for dinner at the Terra-Nova restaurant, just outside of Jülich. The restaurant overlooks the Tagebau Hambach, a large open-pit coal mine 15 km in diameter, which made for some picturesque views.