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Together Tyndall celebrates the winners and finalists of the 2020 Postgraduate Publication of the Year.
Despite a challenging a year, our students achieved outstanding discoveries and results as part of their PhD projects, some even opening major new possibilities in their field.
Dr. Fatima Gunning, Senior Staff Researcher & Head of Graduate Studies at Tyndall, praised the entries, saying: “This year we had twice as many submissions for the Postgraduate Research Publication of Year. Besides lockdowns and restricted access to labs, our students excelled in their research outcomes. We also noted a number of students with exceptional publications at very early stages in their PhDs, and we couldn’t let this pass in blank, so we created a new award - the Rising Talent Award. Congratulations to all!"
Runner-up
"Planar Semiconductor Membranes with Brightness Enhanced Embedded Quantum Dots via Electron Beam Induced Deposition of 3D Nanostructures: Implications for Solid State Lighting."
1. What encouraged you to submit your application to the 2020 Postgraduate Research Publication of the Year?
My first thought was that this could be a platform to share with the rest of Tyndall the type of research we are doing in our group, and perhaps lay the foundations for future collaborations.
2. What inspired you to choose the subject of your paper?
Our paper is a collaboration with Prof. Di Falco’s group in the University of St. Andrews (UK). He visited Tyndall to give a seminar on his research activities, and we thought that his fabrication technique could be a powerful tool for the quantum dot community, which is always looking for better approaches to fabricate devices. We quickly agreed to start investigating potential applications, and the rest is history.
3. What’s your paper about and how did you prepare for it? What role did research excellence play in your approach?
My paper is about the application of Electron Beam Induced Deposition (EBID) to semiconductor quantum dot systems, with a focus on enhancing light extraction efficiency: a fundamental problem that hampers technological applications of quantum dots. In our work we strived to show that EBID is a flexible fabrication technique that can allow to create complex structures and devices on individual quantum dots, without causing damages to the latter.
4. The selection for Research Publication of the Year is extremely competitive. What is your advice for those aspiring for nomination next year?
Just submit your entry. You have to be the first one to believe that your work is good!
5. What is the single most significant support Tyndall has been able to offer you in achieving your research goals?
While the final step of sample fabrication was done in St. Andrews, everything else from the growth of quantum dots to the final testing of the sample was done here in Tyndall, and wouldn’t have been possible without our facilities and the support and dedication of our community of researchers and technicians.
Simone Varo; Xin Li; Gediminas Juska; Iman Ranjbar Jahromi; Agnieszka M. Gocalinska; Andrea Di Falco; Emanuele Pelucchi, “ Planar Semiconductor Membranes with Brightness Enhanced Embedded Quantum Dots via Electron Beam Induced Deposition of 3D Nanostructures: Implications for Solid State Lighting”, ACS Applied Nano Materials 2020 3 (12), 12401-12407