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Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) techniques hold immense promise for advancing quantum materials research. However, progress has been hindered by the lack of low-temperature capabilities, which are essential for studying quantum systems.

In this webinar, the speaker, Dr. Ismail El Baggari will highlight his team’s eff orts to enable novel cryogenic measurements, including the use of liquid helium.

To set the stage, Dr. El Baggari will review the development and applications of atomic-resolution cryogenic STEM at liquid nitrogen temperature, which has enabled imaging of electronic and structural phase transitions with picometer precision (down to ~ 100 K);

However, the vast majority of scientifi cally interesting and technologically relevant phenomena in quantum materials occur below 77 K, and often far lower, requiring the use of liquid helium cooling. As such, the speaker will then describe the approach undertaken by his lab in designing and constructing stable liquid helium STEM inserts, which have opened new lines of inquiry into a variety of novel materials and systems:

• liquid helium-cooled inserts provide access to temperatures down to ~20 K while maintaining atomic-resolution performance with sub-angstrom information transfer;
• instrument enables extended operation durations over 12 hours, low drift, and temperature stability in the millikelvin range at both base and intermediate temperatures;
• variable temperature capabilities further enable tracking of the evolution of order and disorder.

In addition, Dr. El Baggari will discuss visualizations of nanoscale polar textures in a so-called quantum paraelectric.

About the Speaker

Ismail El Baggari is an incoming (Jan 2026) Assistant Professor in Physics & Astronomy at UBC. At present, he is Principal Investigator and Fellow at the Rowland Institute at Harvard. He obtained his Ph.D. and M.S. in Physics from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics from Yale University. His research focuses on the development of in situ and ultra cold cryogenic electron microscopy to visualize order and disorder in quantum materials.