Welcome
|
Recent Group News
 |
April 2026- Check out the "Spartan Green" colored plume that occured during deposition of our first Mg2SiO4 thin film. This color is commonly seen in Mg-rich plasmas. The film deposited by this plasma will help us evaluate the role of grain size and/or deviatoric stress on the phase transformations occuring in subducting oceanic crust inside the Earth's mantle transition zone. Click here for an enlarged picture |
 |
March 2026- Check out the cool, eerie, blue glow of the plasma that occurred during the deposition of a sapphire film in our new alumino-silicate PLD deposition chamber. The sapphire target being hit by the rastering 248 nm KrF excimer laser beam is in the sample carousel at the bottom of the picture, the substrate is attached to the underside of the rotating heater assembly at the top of the picture, and the plasma is in between. Click here for an enlarged picture |
 |
January 2026- Our second Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) chamber and its associated glove box is now 100% operational! This dedicated alumino-silicate PLD chamber will allow us to make contaminant-free synthetic mineral thin films with tailored grain size, film stress, grain orientation, and composition. After deposition, these films (some of which may be hygroscopic and/or air-sensitive) can be directly transferred into the attached glove box for encapsulation, packaging, and/or loading in a Diamond Anvil Cell; all without ever exposing the sample to ambient atmosphere! Click here for a picture of our new PLD Lab |
 |
July 2025- The Nicholas Group has begun outfitting our first dedicated Optics Lab! This new space and equipment will help us eliminate some of the vibration, temperature-instability, and sample contamination issues that have challenged some of our previous high temperature / controlled-atmosphere thin film characterization measurements. Click here for a picture of our new Optics Lab |
 |
February 2025- Our new paper on "Porous Interlayers that Getter Surface-Segregating Species for Improved Silver Wetting, Adhesion, and Electrical Contact on Stainless Steel SOFC Components" was published in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society. Click here for the publication |
 |
October 2024- Congratulations to Hirbod Maleki for joining the group and starting his PhD adventure! |
 |
September 2024- We are grateful to the National Science Foundation EAR Geophysics Program for support of our newest project: "Collaborative Research: Thin Film Insights into Phase Transformations and Deep-Focus Earthquakes". Thanks NSF! |
| ...older group news |