Arianna Thornton is a senior pursuing a B.S.E. degree in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at CWRU. Arianna is using the SCSAM fellowship to support her senior capstone research on the growth of KTaO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). These oxide structures are promising candidates for creating field-free superconducting diodes. Unfortunately, physical vapor deposition of KTaO3 is difficult because of the high volatility of potassium. Arianna’s research aims to develop a method for depositing defect-free KTaO3 by using a potassium-rich target with PLD. For the SCSAM fellowship, Arianna is using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to characterize KTaO3 powders, targets, and films to see how the amount of potassium changes at every step of the target creation and deposition processes. XPS is a non-destructive technique suitable for thin films because of the probe depth, and it is the most important characterization tool that she is using for her senior project. After Arianna graduates, she plans to continue researching electronic and quantum materials and hopes to eventually go to graduate school. Arianna said, “I greatly appreciate the experience that I’ve gained from SCSAM and all the support I’ve received from John Kim, Nichole Hoven, and Jeffrey Pigott.”