Announcement of A/Professor Victor J Cadarso’s Appointment as MCN’s Deputy Scientific Director

We are pleased to announce that Associate Professor Victor J Cadarso has been appointed as MCN’s Deputy Scientific Director.

Dr Cadarso holds a PhD in Physics, which he obtained in December 2008 from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His impressive academic journey includes research conducted at the Chemical Transducers Group (GTQ) at the Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB), where he focused on Micro and Nanotechnology for the development of microsystems and biosensors.

In 2009, Dr Cadarso joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) as a Marie Curie Fellow, contributing to a project dedicated to the technology transfer between academia and industry in the field of polymer technologies. His dedication and contributions were further recognized when he was awarded the prestigious Ambizione Fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation in 2013. During this fellowship, he joined the Laboratory for Micro and Nanotechnology at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), where he made significant advancements in 3D nanolithography, fabrication of hierarchical micro/nanostructures, patterning of complex materials, and the development of photonic sensing elements.

In 2016, Dr Cadarso brought his wealth of knowledge and expertise to Monash University, joining the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering as a Senior Lecturer. In this role, he established a laboratory focusing on micro and nanotechnologies, sensing and imaging applications, soft matter, and surface modification for biomedical and environmental applications. Additionally, he was appointed as the Research Leader for the Centre to Impact Antimicrobial Resistance, showcasing his commitment to addressing critical global challenges.

We are confident that Dr Cadarso’s extensive experience and leadership qualities will significantly contribute to the continued growth and success of the MCN. Please join us in welcoming him.

Nanofabulous Seminar: Ferroelectricity in Two-Dimensional Heterobilayers

Two-dimensional (2D) materials with out-of-plane (OOP) ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties are highly desirable to realize ultrathin ferro- and piezo-electronic devices. We demonstrate unexpected OOP ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity in untwisted, commensurate, and epitaxial MoS₂/WS₂ heterobilayers synthesized by scalable one-step chemical vapour deposition (CVD). The modulation of tunneling current by ~10³ times in ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ) devices by changing the polarization state of MoS₂/WS₂ heterobilayers was demonstrated. Our results are consistent with density functional theory, which shows that symmetry breaking and interlayer sliding give rise to unexpected properties without invoking twist angles or Moiré domains [1].

Ref: [1] Lukas Rogée et al., Science 376, 973–978 (2022)

Relationship between second harmonic generation intensity and vertical stacking angleq. Dark triangles are labelled 2H-like and bright triangles 3R-like.

Professor Shu Ping Lau
Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

2:00pm, 27/02/2024
Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication
151 Wellington Road, Clayton, 3168

Zoom link: click here
Meeting ID: 880 2472 4631 and passcode: 865805

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Nanofabulous Seminar: Recent Advances in X-ray Imaging Scintillators

The high demand for ultralow detection limits of ionizing radiation in medical radiography, high-energy physics, and security screening has driven extensive research on X-ray imaging scintillators.

While high-performance scintillators in the current X-ray imaging market made of ceramics that require harsh and costly preparation and engineering conditions, perovskites and their related structures, heavy-atom engineered thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and copper nanoclusters with their unique optical behaviors and high X-ray absorption cross section are now promising competitors if not alternatives. In this talk, I will present the engineering of perovskite nanosheets with excellent scintillation performance due to efficient energy transfer processes between stacked thin and thick nanosheet.

Additionally, I will talk about the efficient and ultrafast energy transfer strategies between perovskite nanosheets and TADF that successfully produced a reabsorptionfree organic X-ray imaging scintillator with an ultralow detection limits and outstanding X-ray imaging resolution.  Similarly, I will talk about perovskite related Cu and Ag halides as well as Cu-based halide nanostructures that showed outstanding X-ray imaging performance.  Moreover, we will discuss the fabrication of a thick pixelated needle-like array scintillator capable of micrometer resolution via waveguide structure engineering that lead to ultra-high spatial resolutions of 60.8 lp mm-1, representing a laboratory-scale record for extensively studied metal halide scintillators. The talk also discusses a novel top-filter-bottom sandwich structure scintillator for highperformance dual-energy X-ray imaging within a single exposure.  Finally, our innovation of true-color multienergy X-ray imaging technology centered around multiple scintillator architecture with a six-layer ΔE-E telescope configuration to achieve powerful material-specific capability, surpassing what is offered by traditional X-ray imaging technologies will also be discussed in this talk. This breakthrough research enables clear resolution of different biological tissues and materials objects based on their corresponding colors and paves the way for the development of new imaging scintillator architectures with potential applications in medical imaging, industrial monitoring and security checks.

Prof Omar F. Mohammed
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia

11:00am, 15/02/2024
Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication
151 Wellington Road, Clayton, 3168

Zoom link: click here
Meeting ID: 863 7672 2911 and passcode: 973029

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Upcoming: ANFF Direct Write Lithography Workshop (Feb 16th)

As a bonus following the upcoming ICONN 2024 conference taking place Feb 13th to 15th at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, ANFF is hosting a free Direct Write Lithography Workshop (DWL) on 16th Feb 2024.

The workshop will feature exciting and insightful talks from broad range of DWL experts as well as tips and tricks and networking opportunities.

For further details and a link to register, please see here.