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Nikolas J. Podraza
Professor
University of Toledo Department of Physics and Astronomy 2801 W. Bancroft Street, Mailstop 111 Toledo, Ohio 43606 nikolas.podraza@utoledo.edu |
Research Interests
- Film growth mechanisms and structure including nucleation, growth, and phase changes.
- Solid state physics including the impact of phonon vibrational modes and the electronic band structures on material optical properties and defect state characterization.
- Non-contacting optical probing of electrical transport properties including optical Hall effect of thin films and complete devices including in-situ, in-operando measurements.
- Electromagnetic and optical physical properties and their manipulation by material structure in metamaterials, plasmonics, and sculptured or otherwise engineered thin films.
- Spectroscopic ellipsometry to characterize optical properties of solids and to study growth evolution of amorphous, nano-, and polycrystalline thin films in situ during processing.
- Thin film photovoltaics including those based on hydrogenated silicon, cadmium telluride, copper indium gallium diselenide, and organic-inorganic lead halide perovskites.
- Opto-electronic modeling of solar cells.
- Hydrogenated silicon germanium and vanadium oxide based infrared sensors.
Education
Ph.D., Physics, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, 2008
Dissertation: “Real Time Spectroscopic Ellipsometry of the Growth and Phase Evolution of Thin Film Si1-xGex:H”
M.S., Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 2004
Thesis: “Optical Properties and Structure of Chiral Sculptured Thin Films from Mueller Matrix Ellipsometry”
B.S., Physics, Minors, Mathematics and History, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 2003
Professional Experience
The University of Toledo, Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 2020–present
The University of Toledo, Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 2015–2020
Surface Science Spectra, Associate Editor, 2013-present
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Associate Editor, 2013-2018
The University of Toledo, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 2011–2015
The Pennsylvania State University, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, 2009–2011
The Pennsylvania State University, Research Associate, Materials Research Institute, 2008–2009
The Pennsylvania State University, Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Materials Research Institute, 2007-2008
The University of Toledo, Research Assistant, 2004-2007
The Pennsylvania State University, Research Assistant, 2003-2004
The Pennsylvania State University, Teaching Assistant, 2003