STSM of Beilun Wu at CEA Grenoble (France)

During this stay at CEA Grenoble, we selected and prepared UTe₂ single crystals for future measurements in the 22T scanning tunneling microscope (STM) experiment at UAM in Madrid. We started with larger pieces of UTe₂ single crystals of a few millimeters, having irregular shape but presenting multiple well-defined crystalline facets. We determined with repeated Laue X-ray diffraction the crystallographic orientation of these facets, based on which we orient the sample in an appropriate direction to cut them into smaller pieces with the method of Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM). As a result of this short stay, we successfully obtained  UTe₂ samples directly useful for future STM measurements, in form of a bar along the (011) direction, with a height of order of 1-3 mm and with a section of around 500µm*500µm large.