Faculty of Physics

Sukurta: 13 June 2020

ff9 Saulėtekio ave., LT-10222 Vilnius
Tel. 236 6001
E-mail:
http://www.ff.vu.lt

Dean – Prof. Dr. Juozas Šulskus

 

 

STAFF

75 teachers (incl. 64 holding research degree), 172 research fellows (incl. 140 holding research degree), 56 doctoral students.

DEPARTMENTS OF THE FACULTY

Experimental Nuclear and Particle Physics Center (sui generis Department)
Institute of Chemical Physics
Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnology
Laser Research Center
Institute of Applied Electrodynamics and Telecommunications
Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy

RESEARCH AREAS

Analysis of Atoms, Subatomic Particles or their Ensembles, Complex Systems Electromagnetic Radiation and Cosmic Objects
Development, Characterization, and Interdisciplinary Application of Advanced Electronic and Optoelectronic Devices
Investigation of Novel Organic and Inorganic Functional Materials and Structures
Laser Physics and Technology
Solid State Physics and Technology
Spectrometric Characterization of Materials and Electronic/Molecular Processes

DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS MAINTAINED IN 2019

L. Dagys. NMR cross-polarization dynamics in structural manifolds of functional materials.
S. Daugėla. Transport of lithium and sodium cations in solid electrolytes.
M. Ivanov. Singular light fields: generation with an S-waveplate, combination in OPA, extension to THz frequencies, and applications in optical trapping.
D. Gailevičius. Photonic crystals for manipulation of spatial propagation of light beams.
N. Garejev. Extreme light-matter interaction in solid-state dielectric media with ultrashort mid-IR laser pulses.
J. Kausteklis. Vibrational spectroscopy of innovative functional materials: aggregates, conformational and dynamic processes.
K. Kristinaitytė. NMR spectroscopy of structure, diffusion and relaxation in materials used in innovative medicine.
K. Nomeika. Novel ways of improving quantum efficiency of InGaN LED active layers by controlling carrier diffusivity.
Ž. Podlipskas. Carrier dynamics in III-nitrides: from AlGaN to InN.
M. Skapas. Transmission electron microscopy of Bi quantum dots embedded into GaAsBi matrix.
A. Zabiliūtė-Karaliūnė. Spectral engineering of phosphor converted light-emitting diodes.
I. Zamaraitė. Ferroelectricity, dielectric and low-frequency noise spectroscopic studies of phosphorus chalcogenide crystals.

MAIN CONFERENCES ORGANIZED IN 2019

13th international conference on Optical Probes of Organic and Hybrid Optoelectronic Materials and Applications 2019.

18th European Workshop on Metal-Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy (EW-MOVPE 18th).

International workshop of the COST CA CA16117 action Chemical Elements as Tracers of the Evolution of the Cosmos, WG3 Astronomical Observations and Interpretation.

International summer school Space Missions: Ground-based Observations and Science Communication.

MAIN SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2019

A linear relationship between stellar ages and their carbon-to-nitrogen abundance ratios was derived for giant stars in the Gaia-ESO Survey on a basis of the elemental abundances determined by the Vilnius University Node lead by G. Tautvaišienė. The paper was published in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 629, id. A62, 26 pp. by G. Casali et al.

Enhanced exciton transfer in doped organic crystals was proposed as a mechanism to reduce losses in gain materials and significantly reduce amplified spontaneous emission thresholds for organic laser applications.

Investigation of a series of ALD transition metal oxides HfO2, ZrO2, Ta2O5, TiO2, Nb2O5, Y2O3, Al2O3 and SiO2 revealed that they remain amorphous till annealing temperature 300-350oC, with some exception only, what we have also confirmed measuring electrical breakdown resistance.

 

 

THE EXPERIMENTAL NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE PHYSICS CENTER

3 Saulėtekio ave., LT-10257 Vilnius
Phone: +370 5 223 4649
E-mail:

Chair: Dr. Aurelijus Rinkevičius

STAFF

Research professor: A. Rinkevičius.
Administrative staff: M. Macijauskas.

ASSOCIATED STAFF

Professors: E. Gaubas, G. Tamulaitis, S. Tamulevičius (KTU), J. Vaitkus.
Associate professors: B. Abakevičienė (KTU), T. Gajdosik, V. Rapševičius.
Senior research fellows: A. Juodagalvis, D. Jurčiukonis.
Research fellow: A. Kynienė.
Junior scientist: V. Dūdėnas.

RESEARCH AREAS

High-energy physics, particle detectors

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Data acquisition systems
Higgs precision studies
Multivariate classifiers (discriminants)
Semiconductor pixelated particle detectors
Standard model and Beyond the standard model physics
Top quark studies

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2019

Research Projects

Top-Higgs studies in decay modes to leptons (including taus) and b quarks with the CMS detector at the LHC.

The Higgs precision studies is an important piece of the LHC program. Besides a discovery of the process, further studies must continue. Having more LHC data, it becomes possible to pin down individual components of the Higgs processes in an associated production with top quarks. As a result, pinning down the event rates with better precision, studying kinematics are important pieces for the search of new physics.

Main publication:

Dudenas, V., Juodagalvis, A., Vaitkus, J. et al. Search for production in the decay channel with leptonic decays in proton-proton collisions at TeV. JHEP. 2019, 1903: 026, doi:10.1007/JHEP03(2019)026 [arXiv:1804.03682 [hep-ex]].

MAIN R&D&I (RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION) PARTNERS

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS; France)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (China)
Cornell University (USA)
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY (Germany)
ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
Hamburg University (Germany)
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, KIT (Germany)
National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, KBFI (Estonia)
Rice University (USA)
Paul Scherrer Institut (Switzerland)
Tata Inst. of Fundamental Research (India)
Universidad de Oviedo (Spain)
Universitaet Zuerich (Switzerland)
Universite Catholique de Louvain (Belgium)
University of Bologna (Italy)
University of Paris-Saclay (France)
Vanderbilt University (USA)

OTHER RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Dr. A. Rinkevičius –

  • CERN CMS Team Leader for Vilnius University;
  • Lithuanian scientific delegate to the CERN Council and Scientific Policy Committee (SPC);
  • member of the CERN Baltic Group (also CMS subgroup leader);
  • member of the CMS collaboration at CERN;
  • member of the European Particle Physics Strategy Update Working Group.

MOST IMPORTANT RESEARCH DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES

  • Seminar for teachers of physics given Laboratorinių tyrimų galimybės moksle ir visuomenėje (Research potential in the scientific labs and outside) at NFTMC aimed to promote the Centre and its outreach, February 18, 2019;
  • CMS Masterclass 2019 (at VU): an event for high-school students and enthusiasts, March 15, 2019;
  • A number of lectures to school students in various schools of Lithuania as well as public.
  • An exhibition for teachers at the event Learn. Improve. Act (Sužinokime, tobulėkime, veikime, Utena), April 24, 2019;
  • European Researchers’ Night 2019: CMS virtual visit at CERN and a lecture Will a Black Hole Swallow the CERN and Us? in Molėtai; September 27, 2019.

 

INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS

3 Saulėtekio ave., LT-10257 Vilnius
Tel. 223 4596
E-mail:

Director – Prof. Dr. Valdas Šablinskas

DIVISION OF THEORY OF MOLECULES AND MODELING

Tel. 236 6281
E-mail:

Head – Prof. Dr. Darius Abramavičius

STAFF

Professors: Dr. D. Abramavičius, Habil. Dr. L. Valkūnas (part-time), J. Šulskus.
Associate professors: Dr. J. Bučinskas, Dr. K. Glemža, Dr. M. Mačernis, Dr. O. Rancova, Dr. J. Chmeliov.
Lecturers: Dr. S. Toliautas, Dr. V. Butkus, Dr. A. Gelžinis.
Doctoral students: V. Dūdėnas, A. Stepšys.

RESEARCH AREAS

Modelling of Dynamic Processes in Molecular Compounds
Physics of Open Quantum Systems
Quantum Chemistry

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Characterization of the electric and magnetic responses of materials of natural and artificial origin
Development of quantum relaxation theory and application to molecular systems
Development of theory of molecular excitations (excitons, polarons, vibrons) and application to molecular systems
Development of the computational approaches of nonlinear spectroscopy of molecular complexes
Theoretical studies of temperature dependences of the fluorescence kinetics of photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes from plants at different level of aggregation
Modelling of single molecular spectroscopy data of molecular systems

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2019

Project Supported by University Budget. Development of Computational Methods of Electronic Spectra of Molecules and Crystals.

Analysis of Time-resolved Spectroscopy. Two-dimensional (2D) electron spectroscopy has obvious advantages over conventional techniques probing dynamics of molecules in their excited states. A comprehensive comparative analysis of 2D spectroscopy and pump-probe spectroscopy techniques was carried out, highlighting their principal differences and their advantages in the application of biological molecular systems of natural origin.
Plants use a variety of self-regulating mechanisms to effectively adapt to various sunlight exposure conditions. In order to elucidate the molecular mechanism of this self-adaptation, fluorescence signals from the major light-harvesting complexes II (LHCII), which have an excess of zeaxanthin or violaxanthin molecules and are present in aggregated or single molecule states, have been studied. The results showed that the excess levels of violaxanthin or zeaxanthin do not affect the level of NPQ. However, fluorescence kinetics in aggregates become shorter in the seconds timescale in the presence of zeaxanthin, thus confirming the modulation effect of this carotenoid on the NPQ pathway. For the first time, time resolved fluorescence measurements were performed with specially prepared membranes in dark under various illumination conditions. The obtained results correlate with the data obtained by measuring the aggregates of artificial LHCII complexes.
The so-called DAS and EAS theoretical methods of analysing spectroscopy data are widely used to analyse the time evolving spectra of complex systems. In order to extend the validity of these approaches, theoretical models were analysed. This analysis proved that DAS and EAS methods can determine the causes of the evolution of spectral changes over time in particular for small systems that still have structural heterogeneity. However, for large inhomogeneous aggregates, this analysis is less reasonable.

Open Quantum Systems. Time dependent variational approaches have been developed to characterize excitation dynamics in molecular systems that experience internal conversion processes. Linear and nonlinear intermode couplings were considered to influence the internal conversion process timescales.
Short timescale of the process leads to local heating effects that were explicitly considered in the context of carotenoid photophysics. Excitation internal conversion processes are relevant for high luminocity excitation conditions in laser spectroscopy experiments.

Quantum Chemistry. The molecular structures of the BODIPY-based molecular rotors applicable not only at moderate viscosities but also for viscosity measurements were examined. Quantum chemistry density functional methods for investigation of electronic energy potential surfaces for the ground and lowest excited electronic states for BDP-H and BDP-NO2 were used. The vibrational modes shifts during excitation from the ground to excited electronic states of beta carotene polyene chains were modelled by quantum chemical methods. It was shown that during the electronic transition from particular harmonic vibrational state 2 or 3 additional vibrational modes are excited in resulting electronic state.

Main publications:

Gelzinis, A., Augulis, R., Butkus, V., Robert, B., Valkunas, L. Two-dimensional spectroscopy for non-specialists. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Bioenergetics. 2019, 1860: 271–285.

Tutkus, M., Saccon, F., Chmeliov, J., Venckus, O., Ciplys, I., Ruban, A. V., Valkunas, L. Single-molecule microscopy study of LHCII enriched in Vio and Zea. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Bioenergetics. 2019, 1860, 499–507.

Braver, Y., Gelzinis, A., Chmeliov, J., Valkunas, L. Application of decay- and evoliution-associated spectra for molecular systems with spectral shifts or inherent inhomogeneities. Chemical Physics. 2019, 525: 110403.

MAIN R&D&I (RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION) PARTNERS

Centre of Physical Sciences and Technology (Lithuania)
University of California, Berkeley, and University of California, Irvine (USA)
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (USA)
Queen Mary University, London (UK)
Institute of Physics of Charles University (Czech Republic)
Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia (Latvia)
Riga Technical University (Latvia)
Free University of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Free University of Brussels (Belgium)
Lund University (Sweden)
Nuclear Research Centre, Saclay (France)
State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Jilin University (China)
Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (China)
University of Antwerp (Belgium)
University of Würzburg (Germany)
Vienna Technical University (Austria)
Institut de Biologie et de Technologie de Saclay, University Paris Sud, Gif sur Yvette (France)
N. Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (Ukraine)

OTHER RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Prof. L. Valkūnas –

  • member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences;
  • editorial board member of the Lithuanian Journal of Physics;
  • vice-president of the Lithuanian Physics Society;
  • Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa of the Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Prof. J. Šulskus –

  • representative of Lithuania on the Governing Board of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking.

Dr. Jevgenij Chmeliov –

  • member of the Young Academy of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.


DIVISION OF MOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY

Tel. 852234596
E-mail:

Head - Prof. Dr. Valdas Šablinskas

STAFF

Professors: Habil. Dr. V. Balevičius, Dr. V. Šablinskas, Habil. Dr. G. Niaura (part-time), Dr. V. Gulbinas (part-time).
Associate professors: Dr. V. Aleksa, Dr. A. Gruodis (part-time), Dr. A. Maršalka, Dr. F. Kuliešius, Dr. J. Čeponkus, Dr. V. Urbonienė.
Lecturers: Dr. K. Aidas (part-time), V. Klimavičius (part-time), M. Velička (part-time), D. Lengvinaitė (part-time), R. Platakytė (part-time), L. Dagys, R. Bandzevičiūtė (part-time), S. Adomaitytė (part-time).
Doctoral students: K. Kristinaitytė, J. Stocka, S., M. Velička, D. Lengvinaitė, L. Dagys, R. Platakytė, R. Bandzevičiūtė, S. Adomaitytė.

RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

NMR and EPR Spectroscopy
Vibrational Spectroscopy of Molecular Compounds
Modelling of Molecular Spectra

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Spectroscopy of molecules and condensed matter
IR, UV, Raman, NMR studies of organic compounds of the organized structures in the liquid, solid phases and nano-crystals
SERS studies of traces of biologically active molecules in biological fluids
Phase transitions and critical phenomena
Molecular interactions, hydrogen bonding, conformational analysis
Spectral markers in biological tissues and fluids
Matrix isolation FTIR spectroscopy

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2019

Project Supported by University Budget

Spectroscopy of Hybrid and Structured Functional Materials and Coatings for Photonic Devices and Optical Sensors. Prof. V. Šablinskas, Prof. V. Balevičius. 2019.

NMR and EPR Spectroscopy. The 1H–13C cross-polarization magic angle spinning (CP MAS) kinetics was studied in poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA), i.e. a soft material with high degrees of internal freedom and molecular disorder, having the purpose to track the influence of increasing local incoherent contributions to the effects of coherent nature in the open quantum spin systems.

The CP MAS kinetics was studied in poly(vinyl phosphonic acid) (pVPA), i.e. material with high degrees of freedom of proton motion along H-bonded chains. The local order parameter S»0.63±00.02, determined as the ratio of the measured dipolar 1H–13C coupling constant and the calculated static dipolar coupling constant, is significantly lower the values deduced for related sites in other polymers and in series of amino acids.

The measurements of diffusion coefficients and the spin−lattice relaxation times (T1) of 1H and 13C nuclei were carried out in a series of imidazolium-based room-temperature ionic liquids (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium) in a wide temperature range and varying anions (BF4 −, I−, Cl−, Br−, NO3−, TfO−). The correlation times (τc) for the motion of various molecular groups were determined.

The undoped, 3% Eu-doped and 6% Dy- co-doped SrAl4O7 samples were prepared by the solid state-reaction method and studied by the solid-state 27Al MAS NMR applying the single pulse-acquire and Hahn-echo pulse sequences.

Vibrational spectroscopy of molecular compounds. The studies of different hydrogen bonded systems are continued using Matrix isolation assisted Raman and infrared absorption spectroscopy.
The method for identification of cancerous cells using experimental system based on portable IR spectrometer, IR region fibre and changeable micro ATR crystal is developed in our laboratory in cooperation with “Art photonics” Germany.
The polymer interfaces and Biological fluids: saliva, tears, blood are studied using SERS spectroscopy. The sensitivity of the method was tested on the possibility to detect acetylsalicylic acid in the blood samples. The acetylsalicylic acid cannot be detected directly due to its fact decomposition, but its metabolites such as salicylic acid can be identified and the calibration method for the use of the acetylsalicylic acid can be made from the SERS measurements of the blood samples. The minimal concentration of the acetylsalicylic which can be detected is 3 milimoles in litter, corresponding intake of 1–2 grams of acetylsalicylic acid by average person.

Modelling of molecular spectra. A practical computational algorithm for prediction of quadrupolar NMR relaxation parameters of monoatomic ions based on classical MD simulations and hybrid QM/MM calculations is being developed. The approach is based on the computation of electric field gradient autocorrelation function using DFT based QM/MM approaches on a collection of snapshots taken from the classical MD trajectory. The approach is being applied to the prediction of Cl-35 nuclear quadrupolar coupling constants in 1-decyl-3-methyl-imidazolium chloride ionic liquid. A conceptually similar method was also used to gain insight into the intermolecular structure of glacial acetic acid.

Main publications:

Dagys, L., Balčiūnas, S., Banys, J., Kuliešius, F., Chizhik, V., Balevičius, V. CP MAS kinetics and impedance spectroscopy studies of local disorder in low-dimensional H-bonded proton-conducting materials. Lithuanian Journal of Physics. 2019, 59: 130–138.

Bystrov, S. S., Matveev, V. V., Chernyshev, Y. S., Balevicius, V., Chizhik, V. I. Molecular mobility in a set of imidazolium-based ionic liquids [bmim]+A– by NMR-relaxation method. Journal of Physical Chemistry B. 2019, 123: 2362–2372.

Bystrov, S., Matveev, V., Egorov, A., Chernyshev, Y., Konovalov, V., Balevicius, V., Chizhik, V. Translational diffusion in a set of imidazolium-based ionic liquids [bmim]+A– and their mixtures with water. Journal of Physical Chemistry B. 2019, 123: 9187–9197.

National Research Projects

Research Council of Lithuania. Modelling Quadrupolar NMR Relaxation: Development and Applications. (No. S-MIP-17-84). 2017–2019.

A practical computational algorithm for prediction of quadrupolar NMR relaxation parameters of monoatomic ions based on classical MD simulations and hybrid QM/MM calculations is being developed. The approach is based on the computation of electric field gradient autocorrelation function using DFT based QM/MM approaches on a collection of snapshots taken from the classical MD trajectory. The approach is being applied to the prediction of Cl-35 nuclear quadrupolar coupling constants in 1-decyl-3-methyl-imidazolium chloride ionic liquid. A conceptually similar method was also used to gain insight into the intermolecular structure of glacial acetic acid.

Main publication:

Lengvinaitė, D. Aidas, K. Kimtys, L. Molecular aggregation in liquid acetic acid: insight from molecular dynamics/quantum mechanics modelling of structural and NMR properties. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2019, 21: 14811, doi: 10.1039/C9CP01892A.

International Research Projects

EU structural funding project. Centre of Spectroscopic Characterization of Materials and Electronic/Molecular Processes (SPECTROVERSUM). 2018–2022.

Upgrade of SPECTROVERSUM instrumentation was finished. Four additional services based on the new instrumentation were established.

Research Council of Lithuania. Lithuanian- French program Gilibert project Matrix Isolation Vibrational Spectroscopy Study of Anti-inflammatory Salicylate Based Drugs Structure and Dynamics, grant No. S-LZ-19-1. J. Čeponkus. 2019–2020.

The studies of prototypes of biologically active molecules having internal hydrogen bonds such as malonaldehyde, acetylacetone and their derivatives were continued.

Main publication:

Gutiérrez-Quintanilla, A., Chevalier, M., Platakyte, R., Ceponkus, J., Crépin, C. Selective photoisomerisation of 2-chloromalonaldehyde. The Journal of Chemical Physics. 2019, 150: 034305.

Baltic States - German Liaison Office project. Fibre ATR FTIR Spectroscopy: towards in vivo Studies, supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic Germany. 2019.

Fibre based ATR FTIR spectra of kidney, brain and bladder cancerous tissue we collected and analysed. Various spectral markers of cancer cells were determined.

Main publication:

Bandzevičiūtė, R., Velička, M., Čeponkus, J., Urbonienė, V., Jankevičius, F., Šablinskas, V., Steiner, G. Fibre based infrared spectroscopy for various cancer tissue. Book of abstracts of XVth international conference on molecular spectroscopy. 2019, abstract no. P4: 76.

Contractual Research

Service agreement. Measurements of Transmission and Optical Phase Contrast of Optical Phase Retarders in MIR Region (Nr. APS-120000-43). Prof. V. Šablinskas. 2016–2019.

Service agreement. Measurements of Transmission and Reflection of Optical Crystals in VIS NIR and MIR Regions (Nr. APS-120000-108). J. Čeponkus. 2016–2019.

MAIN R&D&I (RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION) PARTNERS

Institute of Physics (National Centre of Physical and Technological Sciences) (Lithuania)
Technical University of Darmstadt (Germany)
Leibnitz Polymer Research Institute in Dresden (Germany)
Technical University of Dresden (Germany)
Paris Sud 11 University (France)
Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan (Poland)
National Institute of Chemistry (Slovenia)
Copenhagen University (Denmark)
Stockholm University (Sweden)
Lund University (Sweden)
University of Bialystok (Poland)
Kiev University (Ukraine)
Belarus State University (Republic of Belarus)
University of Cagliari (Italy)
Eduard-Zintl Institute for Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, University of Technology Darmstadt, Darmstadt (Germany)
National Institute of Chemistry and Slovenian NMR Centre (SLONMR), Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Faculty of Physics, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv (Ukraine)
Faculty of Physics, St Petersburg State University, St Petersburg (Russia)

OTHER RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Prof. V. Balevičius –

  • international advisory board member of the journal Horizons in Hydrogen Bond Research;
  • international advisory board member of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in Condensed Matter;
  • advisory committee member of the International School-Seminar of Galyna Puchkovska on Spectroscopy of Molecules and Crystals.

Dr. V. Urbonienė –

  • Institutional ERASMUS coordinator for Physics.

MOST IMPORTANT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AWARDS RECEIVED FOR R&D ACTIVITIES

  • Vytautas Klimavičius – Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at Technical University Darmstadt.
  • Laurynas Dagys - Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellow at the University of Southampton.
  • PhD student Rasa Platakyte - Promotional scholarship for doctoral candidate from Research Council of Lithuania.
  • Martynas Velička - Promotional scholarship for doctoral candidate from Research Council of Lithuania.
  • Student science research grant (project leader Prof. Valdas Šablinskas) from Research Council of Lithuania.

CONSULTATIONS PROVIDED BY THE UNIT TO THE PUBLIC OR ECONOMIC ENTITIES

Consultation regarding possibilities to use Raman spectroscopy to study quality and of food products, company Spektrolabas.
Consultation regarding possibilities to use Infrared microspectral imaging to study chemical composition of old paintings. A. Gudynas Centre for Restoration.

MOST IMPORTANT RESEARCH DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES

Participation in the science popularization event: National Science festival Spaceship Earth.
PhD students of the group are involved in the organizing committee of students’ conference Open Readings.
Participation in the conference and exhibition Life Sciences Baltic-2019.

DIVISION OF SOLID STATE PHYSICS

Tel. 223 4544,
E-mail

Head – Prof. Dr. Kęstutis Arlauskas

STAFF

Professors: Dr. K. Arlauskas, Habil. Dr. G. Juška, Dr. V. Jankauskas (part time).
Associate professors: Dr. A. Poškus, Dr. M.Viliūnas, Dr. N. Nekrašas, Dr. R. Maldžius (part-time).
Lecturer: Dr. G. Sliaužys (part-time).
Chief researcher: Dr. K. Genevičius.
Senior research fellows: Dr. R. Rinkūnas, Dr. L. Tumonis, Dr. V. Jankauskas (part-time), Dr. R. Maldžius (part-time).
Research fellows: Dr. T. Grigaitis, Dr. E. Kamarauskas.
Junior research fellows: R. Dobužinskas, A. Aukštuolis, J. Nekrasovas,
Doctoral students: R. Dobužinskas, A. Aukštuolis, J. Nekrasovas.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

New functional materials and structures: deposition technologies of new organic, inorganic and hybrid material layers and structures, and investigation of electric, photoelectric and features of charge carrier transport

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2019

Project Supported by University Budget

Investigation of Charge Carrier Transport of Organic Semiconductors for Perovskite Solar Cells. Prof. K. Arlauskas.

The injection-CELIV technique was further developed by adopting it to recombination studies in multilayered structures (bulk heterojunctions, perovskite and dye-synthetized solar cells). The improved methodology can be used for the estimation of total recombination losses in the device together with charge carrier’s transport. The investigations of enamine hole-transporting materials (HTMs) based on Tröger's base scaffold are reported. All of the materials were comprehensively characterized and device-tested in PSCs. Very stable organic radical adducts of DTM and TTM formed by an electron donor-acceptor system with bipolar charge transport behavior have been investigated. New enamine-based HTMs were synthesized and tested for their performance in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Hole drift mobility values at low electrical fields are of the 10 5 cm2V 1s 1 order of magnitude, reaching the highest value of 5.9•10-5 cm2V-1s-1 for HTM with four enamine branches. We have demonstrated a promising tetra-TPD-Type Hole-Transporting Material Fused by a Tröger’s Base Core with a performance close to that of Spiro-OMeTAD when applied in PSCs.

Development of Spray Technology for Deposition of Layers for Perovskite Solar Cells

The spray technology, which was developed for the production of solar cell layers, was used to form CZTS cells. CZTSSe solar cells were obtained with a record performance of 3.1%.

Investigation of Electron Energy States of Organic Semiconductors

We demonstrated an apparatus to measure Ip of semiconductor materials in a gas mixture at atmospheric pressure by using the PYS method. The apparatus is able to detect electron photoemission signals down to a single electron per second (10-19 A). The high sensitivity detector and the new method of data interpretation allowed us to estimate Ip values more precisely in comparison to the others PYS results.

Organic-inorganic Material Layers for X-ray Sensors.

For the first time, a blend of carbazolyl-containing small molecules and tungsten particles for X-ray-sensitive layers is developed using the solvent-free melt spin-coating (MSC) method. The composite films fabricated on a glass substrate, using aluminum as electrodes, are applied for direct current conversion of X-rays with high signal-to-noise ratio, reliable on-off switching characteristics, and short- and long-term stability. To elucidate the processes of charge carrier generation by X-rays, Monte Carlo simulations of X-ray-induced current are performed. The response and charge transfer processes investigated by an X-ray pulse experiment indicate possibilities for real-time detection. Using HW CVD apparatus the various structures polycrystalline diamond layers onto crystalline silicone substrates were deposited.

Investigation of Dielectric and Electric Features of Papers of Various Structure Using High Voltage Corona Discharge Methods

Experimental data for pure cellulose paper and structures with dielectric polymer films obtained using dosed corona charging and forced discharging show that polarization level of plain paper and in structures with dielectric films dependence on relative humidity (RH) is not linear and dependence shape at least in the range 5–50% RH is determined by the water content. Detailed analysis confirms that paper polarization is mainly determined by two phenomena – orientation polarization and formation of space charges at surfaces. Input of every phenomenon depends on the water amount.

Atomic and Nuclear Data

A library of shape functions and singly differential cross sections of bremsstrahlung due to interaction of the electrons with energies from 10 eV to 3 MeV with neutral atoms has been created. The mentioned library uses a comparatively dense grid of the incident electron energy (ten points per decade), and it covers all chemical elements with atomic numbers from 1 to 100. A statistical comparison of the calculation results with the previously-published tabulations has been performed.

Technology of Nanosatellites

A large numerical analysis of the thermal effects of the resistojet was performed. The results will be used for the project and will serve as the basis for scientific future publication.

Main publications:

Braukyla, T., Xia, R., Daskeviciene, M., Malinauskas, T., Gruodis, A., Jankauskas, V., Fei, Z. F., Momblona, C., Roldan-Carmona, C., Dyson, P. J., Getautis, V., Nazeeruddin, M. K. Inexpensive hole-transporting materials derived from Tröger’s base afford efficient and stable perovskite solar cells. Angewandte Chemie-International Edition. 2019, 58(33): 11266–11272, doi: 10.1002/anie.201903705.

Bobet, A., Cuadrado, A., Fajarí, L., Sirés, I., Brillas, E., Almajano, M. P., Jankauskas, V., Velasco, D., Juliá, L. Bipolar charge transport in organic electron donor-acceptor systems with stable organic radicals as electron‐withdrawing moieties. J. Phys. Org. Chem. 2019, 32: e3974. doi: 10.1002/poc.3974.

Daskeviciene, M., Paek, S., Magomedov, A., Cho, K. T., Saliba, M., Kizeleviciute, A., Malinauskas, T., Gruodis, A., Jankauskas, V., Kamarauskas, E., Nazeeruddin, M. K., Getautis, V. Molecular engineering of enamine-based small organic compounds as hole-transporting materials for perovskite solar cells. J. Mater. Chem. C. 2019, 7: 2717–2724. doi: 10.1039/c8tc06297h.

International Research Projects

Development of Thermally Optimized Resistojet for Laser Ablative Cutting Fabrication from the ESA's organized Fifth Call for Outline Proposals under Plan for European Cooperating states (PECS) in Lithuania.

Contractual Research

Research Cooperation Contract Omega. Coordinators: Stora Enso Oyj, Finland, Vilnius University, Lithuania, Prof. K. Arlauskas. 2019.

MAIN R&D&I (RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION) PARTNERS

Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas (Lithuania)
Lappeenranta University, Lappeenranta (Finland)
Stora Enso Oyj (Finland)
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland (Australia)
Thunder Bay Research Institute, Thunder Bay (Canada)

 

INSTITE OF PHOTONICS AND NANOTECHNOLOGY

3 Saulėtekio ave., LT-10257 Vilnius
Tel. 223 4482
E-mail:

Head – Prof. Dr. Saulius Antanas Juršėnas

STAFF

Professors: Dr. E. Gaubas (part-time), Dr. K. Jarašiūnas (emeritus), Dr. S. A. Juršėnas (part-time), Dr. V. Kažukauskas, Dr. E. Kuokštis, Dr. V. Tamošiūnas, Dr. G. Tamulaitis (part-time), Dr. R. Tomašiūnas (part-time), Dr. J. V. Vaitkus (emeritus), Dr. G. Valušis (part-time).
Associate professors: Dr. R. Aleksiejūnas (part-time), Dr. R. Butkutė (part-time), Dr. T. Malinauskas (part-time), Dr. S. Nargelas (part-time), Dr. S. Tamošiūnas (part-time), Dr. P. Vitta (part-time), Dr. E. Žąsinas (part-time).
Assistants: Dr. P. Adomėnas, Dr. A. Arlauskas (part-time), Dr. T. Čeponis (part-time), Dr. J. Jurkevičius (part-time), Dr. G. Kreiza (part-time), Dr. A. Mekys (part-time), Dr. L. Minkevičius (part-time) Dr. V. Nargelienė (part-time), Dr. P. Ragulis (part-time), Dr. S. Raišys (part-time).
Junior Assistants: D. Banevičius (part-time), M. Mackoit-Sinkevičienė (part-time), S. Pūkienė (part-time), E. Radiunas (part-time).
Leading researchers: Dr. E. Gaubas, S. A. Juršėnas, Dr. G. Tamulaitis, Dr. R. Tomašiūnas,
Senior research fellows: Dr. R. Aleksiejūnas, Dr. T. Čeponis, Dr. V. Grivickas, Dr. A. Kadys, Dr. K. Kazlauskas, Dr. V. Kažukauskas (part-time), Dr. Ž. Lukšienė, Dr. T. Malinauskas, Dr. J. Mickevičius, Dr. R. Vaicekauskas (part time), Dr. A. Vaitkuvienė (part-time), Dr. P. Vitta.
Research fellows: Dr. O. Adomėnienė, Dr. V. Bikbajevas, Dr. D. Dobrovolskas, Dr. T. Grinys, Dr. J. Jurkevičius, Dr. G. Kreiza, Dr. A. Mekys, Dr. A. Miasojedovas (part-time), Dr. S. Miasojedovas, Dr. A. Novičkovas, Dr. J. Pavlov, Dr. S. Raišys, Dr. I. Reklaitis, Dr. V. Rumbauskas, Dr. T. Serevičius, Dr. P. Ščajev, Dr. E. Žąsinas.
Junior research fellows: K. Aponienė, P. Baronas, I. Buchovec, S. Butkus (part-time), M. Dmukauskas, J. Jovaišaitė, R. Komskis, O. Kravcov, G. Kreiza, S. Mačiulytė (part-time), D. Meškauskaitė, K. Nomeika, A. Petrulis, Ž. Podlipskas, A. Zabiliūtė-Karaliūnė
Engineers: J. Aglinskaitė, S. Bikantienė, O. Bobrovas, V. Čižas, V. Dadurkevičius, L. Deveikis, V. Gaidelis, V. Gėgžna, V. Kalcas, K. Kaliatka, L. Kaziukonytė, M. Kolenda, Ž. Komičius, G. Medeišienė, P. Herkus, F. Ralienė, D. A. Ralys, M. Riauka, V. Ruibys, Dr. A. Samuilis, R. Skaisgiris, J. Vaičiulis, A. Vaitkevičius.
Technicians: R. Lebionka, V. Marčiulionytė, M. Pikaikinas, K. Pūkas, Ž. Vosylius, V. Žvinytė.
Doctoral students: K. Badokas, D. Banevičius, P. Baronas, L. Deveikis, M. Dmukauskas, J. Jovaišaitė, M. Kolenda, O. Kravcov, K. Pūkas, E. Radiunas, R. Skaisgiris, M. Skapas, A. Vaitkevičius, Ž. Vosylius, A. Zabiliūtė-Karaliūnė.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Developing new methods for the synthesis of functional structures of organic compounds
Applications of light emitting diodes
Artificial intelligence in various Lithuanian language computer implementations: e.g. machine translation, search systems, intelligent dictionaries, text parsing and data mining
Bio-, immuno-, DNA- sensors based on nanostructured conducting polymers
Carrier transport phenomena in organic materials and solar cell structures
Characterization, optimization and applications of light-emitting diodes and their systems
Computer simulation of crystal surface and defects
Deep level spectroscopy in wide-band-gap semiconductors GaN and diamond fabricated using different technologies
Development of GaN devices (LEDs, detectors, resonators, photonic devices)
Development of laser-based spectroscopic techniques with temporal, spectral, and spatial resolution for characterization of novel semiconductor materials for optoelectronics Development of measurement techniques for comprehensive characterization of photo-sensors, particle detectors, light emitting diodes and solar-cells
Development of measurement technologies and instrumentation for the in situ characterization of material and device structures under heavy irradiations by hadrons
Development of novel glass ceramic materials for optoelectronic applications
Development of novel organic materials and technologies for optoelectronic applications
Development of the dictionary of contemporary Lithuanian
Development of ultrafast scintillation detectors
Development of infrared radiation-hard detectors
Dosimetry of large fluence irradiations
Dynamics of nonequilibrium carriers and excitons in highly excited semiconductors and their low-dimensional structures
Efficient technology for ultra-pure liquid crystal and OLED intermediates
Epitaxy of GaN and other III-nitride layers and multiple quantum wells by MOCVD technology
Fast scintillating materials for radiation detectors
Formation of OLED, light upconversion structures and organic sensor systems
Growth of different polarity III-nitrides for photonic applications
Intelligent solid-state lighting systems for outdoor lighting
Investigation of native and ionizing radiation induced defects and micro-inhomogeneities in semiconductor materials and device structures
Investigation of photoinduced phenomena and optical memory effect in trinomial chalcogenide layers
Lighting systems with advanced colour rendition control for general and niche lighting
Lighting systems for vegetable growth with improved nutritional quality
New compounds and intermediates for OLED technology
Nondestructive characterization of wide band gap semiconductor materials
Nonequilibrium carrier relaxation, transport and related photoelectrical phenomena in highly excited semiconductors and their nanostructures
Optical nonlinearities in semiconductors caused by free carriers, electrooptic and spin-related mechanisms
Organic material (alanine) based dosimetry
Photophysics of organic electronics compounds
Pulsed MOCVD epitaxy of III-nitrides, epitaxial layers and nanostructure
Remote epitaxy of III-nitrides via graphene
Spectroscopic characterization of novel inorganic and organic semiconductor materials for optoelectronics
Structural, optical and electrical characterization of III-nitrides
Structural, optical and electrical properties of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells
Structure and photoluminescence spectroscopy of polar, semi-polar and non-polar
Synthesis methods for nitrogen and sulphur heterocycles, highly branched aromatic compounds
Trans-cis mobility in polymers, particularly on GaN surface
Trans-cis mobility in polymers, also at the GaN surface
Transport properties in different diamonds for application in power electronics devices
Wide-band-gap semiconductors for detection and dosimetry of hadron irradiations

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2019

Projects Supported by University Budget

Development, Investigation and Application of Advanced Semiconductor Structures for Optoelectronics. Dr. R. Tomašiūnas. 2016–2019.

The main focus of the project was to recover the III-nitrides MOCVD technology capability to grow nitride epilayers and structures.after moving to new facility, which was achieved. The studies of influence of carrier localization on carrier dynamics were continued by using spatially- ant time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. The light-induced transient grating technique was further developed for studying nitride structures grown on various polar, semi-polar, and non-polar substrates. The pump probe technique was adopted to study 2D materials.
Optical and thermal spectroscopy was used to study defects and charge carrier transport in semiconductor materials and structures, prospective for optoelectronic and photoelectric applications. The photo-galvanomagnetic transport phenomena testing equipment was renewed, automation and software was developed.
High-energy radiation detector and dosimeter technology was further developed covering new radiative defect spectroscopy.
The third research direction was the development of high-energy radiation detector and dosimeter technology. Radiation-induced defect modification engineering was investigated. Measurement techniques for characterization of detector parameters were developed.

Main publications:

Mickevičius, J., Andrulevicius, M., Ligor, O., Kadys, A., Tomašiūnas, R., Tamulaitis, G., Pavelescu, E.-M. Type-II band alignment of low-boron-content BGaN/GaN heterostructures. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 2019, 52: 325105.

Grinys, T., Drunga, T., Dobrovolskas, D., Dargis, R., Clark, A. Wet etching mechanism of Er2O3 grown on Si by molecular beam epitaxy. Appl. Surf. Sci. 2019, 144452.

Mekys, A., Jurkevičius, J., Kadys, A., Kolenda, M., Kovalevskij, V., Tamulaitis. G. Influence of proton irradiation on carrier mobility in InN epitaxial layers. Thin Solid Films. 2019, 692: 137619.

Organic Photonics. Prof. S. A. Juršėnas. 2018–2020.

The project focuses on organic crystal growth by physical vapor transport method, identification of crystal stucture and application in device prototypes. Synthesis, purification and application of new efficient organic emitter materials for photonics applications. Expansion of ultrafast spectroscopy setup for measurements in infrared region, optimization for polaron spectroscopy in organic materials. Fabrication of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) by vacuum deposition and wet-casting methods in oxygen-free atmosphere. Applications of scanning electron and atomic force microscopy for morfological, electrical conductance and thermal analysis at nanoscale. Electron paramagnetic resonance (ESR) spectroscopy of Alanine and other organic compounds affected by ionizing radiation for applications in dosimetry and analysis of radiation spectra.

Main publications:

Gudeika, D., Miasojedovas, A., Bezvikonnyi, O., Volyniuk, D., Gruodis, A., Jursenas, S., Grazulevicius, J. V. Differently substituted benzothiadiazoles as charge-transporting emitters for fluorescent organic light-emitting diodes. Dyes and Pigments. 2019, 166: 217–225.

Steponaitis, M., Komskis, R., Kamarauskas, E., Malinauskas, T., Jursenas, S., Getautis, V. Investigation of photophysical properties of triphenylamine phenylethenyl derivatives containing tertiary amine groups. Dyes and Pigments. 2019, 166: 122–129.

Gaubas, E. Ceponis, T. Deveikis, L. Dobrovolskas, D. Kalesinskas, V. Pavlov, J. Rumbauskas, V. Mychko, A. Spectroscopy of defects in CdZnTe structures. Semicond. Sci. Technol. 2019, 34: 115012.

Solid-State Lighting Technologies. Dr. P. Vitta. 2016–2020.

Activity No 1.
Laser diodes (LDs) with proper light converters (phosphors) are recognized as potential contestants to supplement or even replace LEDs in certain SSL application areas. On the other hand, color converters (phosphors with holding matter) experience extremely high excitation density when excited by LDs and designed for precise lighting application (e.g. automotive headlamps). Overheating and photoaging of polymer based matters (e.s. epoxies, silicones, PMMA) was partially solved by applying glasses and glass-ceramics as holding materials, but their thermal conductivity (0,5–3 W/(m K) ) still is far below the cubic boron nitride (~700 W/(m K) ) and diamond (600–2000 W/(m K)). Therefore we decided to incorporate optically transparent but temperature conductive insets into the holding media of SSL light converters for the enhancement of thermal conductivity and reduction of thermal quenching under extra high excitation density. The activity goal is to develop an enhanced “Technology” for color conversion of extra high intensity short-wavelength (blue - UV) into longer wavelengths for SSL applications.
Word “technology” includes full range of necessary properties (physical, optical, chemical) and processes (sintering, optimization, thermal annealing, pressure etc.) of the light converters consistent of phosphors and holding matter. The outcomes not published yet.

Activity No 2.
Sprouted seeds are gaining popularity worldwide due to their high nutritional value. At the same time, they are among the most highly contaminated fresh produce and have been recognized as the primary source of food-borne pathogens, such as E. coli O157 and harmful microfungi. The antifungal and antibacterial properties of chlorophyllin-based photosensitization in vitro together with successful application of this treatment for microbial control in wheat sprouts have been investigated. First, we examined the antimicrobial efficiency of chlorophyllin (Chl, 1.5 x 10(-5)-5 x 10(-3) M) activated in vitro by visible light (405 nm, radiant exposure: 18 J cm(-2)) against the food-borne pathogen Escherichia coli and plant pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. Results revealed that this treatment (1.5x10(-5) M Chl, incubation time 1 h, 405 nm, radiant exposure: 18 J cm(-2)) can reduce the E. coli population by 95%. Moreover, at higher chlorophyllin concentrations (5x10(-4)-5 x 10(-3) M Chl), it is possible to delay the growth of F. oxysporum by 51–74%. The decontamination of wheat seeds by chlorophyllin-based photosensitization (5x10(-4) M Chl, 405 nm, radiant exposure: 18 J cm(-2)) remarkably reduced the viability of surface-attached mesophilic bacteria (similar to 2.5log CFU g(-1)), E. coli (similar to 1.5log CFU g(-1)) and yeasts/fungi (similar to 1.5log CFU g(-1)). Moreover, SEM images confirmed that this treatment did not damage the grain surface microstructure. Most importantly, Chl-based photosensitization did not reduce the seed germination rate or seedling growth and had no impact on the visual qualities of sprouts. In conclusion, the chlorophyllin-based photosensitization treatment, being nonthermal, environmentally friendly and cost-effective, has huge potential for microbial control of highly contaminated germinated wheat sprouts and seeds used to produce sprouts, especially in organic farming.

Main publication:

Zudytė, B., Luksiene, Z. Toward better microbial safety of wheat sprouts: chlorophyllin-based photosensitization of seeds. Photochem. Photobiol. Sci. 2019, 18: 2521–2530.

Activity No 3.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial efficiency of photoactivated chlorophyllin-chitosan conjugate (Chl-CHS) against main foodborne pathogens (L. monocytogenes, E. coli) and strawberry plant pathogen (Botrytis cinerea) in vitro and to assess the impact of Chl-CHS coating and visible light on the microbial contamination, spoilage, nutritional and visual quality of strawberries.
Photoactivated Chl-CHS (0.001–0.1%, light lambda=405 nm, 38 J/cm(2)) reduced the viability of L. monocytogenes by 7 log, E. coli - by 4.5 log in vitro. Moreover, it inhibited B. cinerea growth by 60%. Comparative analysis of strawberry decontamination techniques indicated that soaking of strawberries in 200 ppm NaOCI diminished the population of yeasts/microfungi by 0.6 log, whereas coating of strawberries with Chl-CHS and illumination with visible light (dose 76 J/cm(2)) inactivated yeasts/microfungi on the fruits by 1.4 log. Moreover, Chl-CHS coating in the presence of light prolonged the shelf-life of strawberries by 3 days without any negative impact on the visual quality and colour, saving weight losses, water content and antioxidant activity.
In conclusion, photoactivated Chl-CHS coating possessed significant antimicrobial activity. Such coatings might serve for the future development of new generation light-active edible antimicrobial coatings, so important for effective preservation of traditional and organic strawberry production.

Main publication:

Luksiene, Z., Buchovec, I. Impact of chlorophyllin-chitosan coating and visible light on the microbial contamination, shelf life, nutritional and visual quality of strawberries. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies. 2019, 52: 463–472.

Activity No 4.
Due to the high amount of biologically active compounds, basil is one of the most popular herbs. However, several outbreaks have been reported in the world due to the consumption of basil contaminated with different food pathogens. The aim of this study is to apply nonthermal and ecologically friendly approach based on photosensitization for microbial control of basil which was naturally contaminated with mesophils and inoculated with thermoresistant food pathogen Listeria monocytogenes 56Ly. The obtained data indicate that soaking the basil in 1.510(-4) M. chlorophyllin (Chl) for 15 min and illumination with light for 15 min at405 nm significantly reduced total aerobic microorganisms on basil by 1.3 log CFU/g, and thermoresistant L. monocytogenes 56Ly from 6.1 log CFU/g in control to 4.5 log CFU/g in the treated samples. It is important to note that this treatment had no impact on enzymatic activity of polyphenol oxidase and pectinesterase. Results obtained in this study support the idea that photosensitization technique with its high selectivity, antimicrobial efficiency and nonthermal nature can serve in the future for the development of safe nonthermal and environmentally friendly preservation technology for different fruits and vegetables.

Main publication:

Paskeviciute, E, Zudyte, B., Luksiene, Z. Innovative nonthermal technologies: chlorophyllin and visible light significantly reduce microbial load on basil. Food Technol. Biotechnol. 2019, 57(1): 126–132.

National Research Projects

Research Council of Lithuania. Centre of Technologies of the Contactless and Remote Retection of Ionizing radiations (No. 01.2.2-CPVA-K-703-02-0002). Habil. Dr. E. Gaubas. 2018–2021.

The project aims at the development of the ionizing radiation detection and characterization systems based on the material interaction with ionizing, optic and microwave radiation. Novel methods and prototype equipment enabling the radiation detection, measurement and monitoring in a wide range of fluencies are intended to be developed. The systems have no analogues on the global market of remote and fast detection technologies.

Research Council of Lithuania. Creation of the Prototype Wide-Spectrum Dosimetry System for Various Purposes Monitoring of Irradiations (No. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-01-0013). Habil. Dr. E. Gaubas. 2018–2022.

The radiation technologies gain the increased role over nowadays innovations of the scientific&technological developments and applications: e.g., speeding of high power transducers by introduction of radiation defects, implantation&transmutation technologies for advanced doping technologies in microelectronics, accelerator&radioactive isotope equipment for medical diagnostics and therapy, etc. Simultaneously, exploitation of nuclear power plants, of high brightness particle accelerators and spallators needs the precise and in situ dosimetry monitoring for the proper governing of technological processes, for relevant storage of nuclear fuel and its waste, for permanent control of instruments employed within acceleration and spallation facilities, and, eventually, for environmental and personnel safety purposes. The project objective is to research and develop the optimal sensor materials, structures as well as layer parameters and to create a technology of fabrication of the sensor-reading instrumentation, capable to perform fast scans of big amount of sensors, to operate in remote and in situ signal recording modes in order to produce a prototype dosimetry system for wide spectrum and fluence range of irradiations. The tasks of the project would be addressed to search of materials and their combinations for making of the dual and triple response sensors and to development of the measurement engineering means for fabrication of the dose readers instrumentation and technology of assembly of various modules into a single device, which composes the microwave, laser and photonic technologies.

Research Council of Lithuania. Development of Advanced Optoelectronic Materials via Smart Molecular Engineering (No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-718-01-0026). Prof. S. A. Juršėnas. 2018–2022.

The project is intended to create a series of novel organic electronic materials - niche products with unique properties, and develop their large-scale synthesis and purification technologies. The project partner “Fine Synthesis Ltd” (FS) has expertise in synthesis of organic electronic and photonic materials as well as in development of technologies for large-scale synthesis and purification. FS is highly interested in development of niche organic electronic products with unique properties.

Main publications:

Komskis, R., Adomėnas, P., Adomėnienė, O., Baronas, P., Serevičius, T., Juršėnas, S. Suppression of charge transfer states in aryl-substituted 9,9′-bianthryl derivatives. J. Phys. Chem. C. 2019, 123(45): 27344–27354.

Baronas, P., Kreiza, G., Mamada, M., Maedera, S., Adomėnas, P., Adomėnienė, O., Kazlauskas, K., Adachi, C., Juršėnas, S. Enhanced energy transfer in doped bifluorene single crystals: prospects for organic lasers. Adv. Optical Mater. 2019, 1901670.

Research Council of Lithuania. MOCVD Growth of III-Nitride Semiconductors by van der Waals Epitaxy on Graphene (No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0076). Dr. T. Malinauskas. 2018–2022.

Project goal is to improve scientific competence by executing research project on growth of III-nitrides epilayers and nanostructures for optoelectronics using graphene. The main task is to investigate peculiarities of MOCVD growth of III nitrides on graphene by employing complementary characterization methods. The main idea and novelty of project is based on using new method of semiconductor growth - van der Waals (vdW) epitaxy for III-nitrides using graphene as buffer layer. VdW epitaxy using graphene will enable easy lift-off of epitaxial layers from substrate. This feature will allow multiple use of expensive homoepitaxial bulk GaN substrate. While the use of these substrates will guarantee higher crystalline quality of epitaxial layers, and therefore higher efficiency of optoelectronics devices grown on top. MOCVD growth of GaN using vdW and graphene will be researched using different substrates - GaN template on sapphire, bulk GaN, SiC, sapphire and Si. The vdW epitaxy physics and properties of grown epitaxial layers and nanostructures will be investigated using structural, optical and electrical characterization methods. The project will result in improved scientific competence of researchers, development of new technology, the dissemination of scientific results in high quality peer reviewed scientific publications and international conferences.

Research Council of Lithuania. Fast Scintillators for Radiation Detectors (FARAD) (Nr. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0013). 2018–2022.

The project is aimed at revealing the processes limiting the luminescence response time in scintillators capable to ensure detection timing in the range of 10 ps that is targeted in the future high-luminosity collider experiments to prevent the pile up effect and in medical imaging devices to ensure a better spatial resolution. Our approach for studying fast scintillators is based on the combination of the experimental results obtained by the luminescence spectroscopy under selective photoexcitation in subpicosecond domain with the femtosecond-resolution results obtained by using nonlinear opttical techniques, some of them unconventional, which are just fragmentally exploited for the study of scintillators so far. Dynamics of nonequilibrium carriers, mechanisms of luminescence build up, excitation transfer, trapping of nonequilibrium carriers, influence of intentional co-doping on carrier migration and recombination are being studied in scintillators of different types, especially, in Ce-doped garnets, oxyorthosilicates, and perovskites, obtained via collaboration with crystal growers in the Crystal Clear Collaboration (RD18) at CERN. Especial attention is focused on radiation hardness of the scintillators in view of their timing parameters, what is a new challenge of importance in many high-energy physics experiments at CERN and other large-scale facilities. The results will be exploited for selection of materials most prospective to be used as fast scintillators, for optimization of their composition, doping with active ions and co-doping, and conditions of their growth and post-growth annealing.

Main publications:

Tratsiak, Y., Trusova, E., Bokshits, Y., Korjik, M., Vaitkevicius, A., Tamulaitis, G. Garnet-type crystallites, their isomorphism and luminescence properties in glass ceramics. CRYSTENGCOMM. 2019, 21: 687–693.

Korzhik, M. Gola, A. Houžvička, J. Mazzi, A. Nargelas, S. Sýkorová, S. Tamulaitis, G. Vaitkevičius, A. Timing properties of Ce-doped YAP and LuYAP scintillation crystals. Nucl. Instruments Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A. 2019, 927: 169–173.

Auffray, E., Dosovitskiy, G., Fedorov, A., Guz, I., Korjik, M., Kratochwill, N., Lucchini, M., Nargelas, S., Kozlov, D., Mechinsky, V., Orsich, P., Sidletskiy, O., Tamulaitis, G., Vaitkevičius, A. Irradiation effects on Gd3Al2Ga3O12 scintillators prospective for application in harsh irradiation environments. Radiation Physics and Chemistry. 2019, 164: 108365.

Research Council of Lithuania. Neutron Flux Detection System with Optical Readout (No. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-01-0041). Prof. G. Tamulaitis. 2018–2022.

The Project is aimed at the development and prototyping of a system capable to monitor neutron fluxes up to the densities above 1010 neutron/cm2/s, which are substantially higher than those monitored by the detection systems currently in use. The targeted applications are primarilly nuclear power plants and spallation facilities. The Project is planned in line with the priority Photonic and Laser Technologies of the Smart Specialization. The Project will contribute to the implementation of the specific objective of the corresponding Action plan „to research and establish optic and optomechanical components” and join the activities carried out to “research new glass, ceramics, crystal materials and fiber in lasers and nonlinear optical devices” in order to develop a device for monitoring dense neutron fluxes, which is based on a novel concept and contains a short-pulse laser and an optic unit exploiting nonlinear optical phenomena in radiation hard single crystal to be selected as optimal.

Research Council of Lithuania. Production and Investigation of Advanced Geometry Nitride Harmonic Generators (No. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-01-0018). Dr. R. Tomašiūnas. 2018–2022.

We have started to develop a modal quasi phase matched GaN waveguide structure for optical second harmonic generation. First, we have investigated the growth of AlGaN on different AlN epilayers by MOVPE using different growth parameters. Secondly, we have investigated the growth of N-polar GaN on Al2O3 layers deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on the Ga-polar GaN/AlGaN structure by this completing the entire GaN waveguide structure.

Main publication:

Podlipskas, Ž., Jurkevičius, J., Kadys, A., Miasojedovas, S., Malinauskas, T., Aleksiejūnas, R. The detrimental effect of AlGaN barrier quality on carrier dynamics in AlGaN/GaN interface. Sci. Rep. 2019, 9: 17346.

Research Council of Lithuania. Triplet State Engineering in Organic Optoelectronics Compounds (No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0084). Dr. K. Kazlauskas. 2018–2022.

The project targets triplet state engineering of novel organic materials, accessible via molecular structure tunability, to harvest the energy stored in the triplet states for enhancing the performance of organic optoelectronics devices. Utilization of the energy stored in the form of a triplet excitation in the devices such as organic solar cells and OLEDs has created a great challenge for researchers, which lasted for many years. The issue caused low performance of organic electronic devices thereby severely limiting their competiveness and practical applications as compared to their inorganic counterparts.

Research Council of Lithuania. Postdoc Fellowship. Investigation of Electric and Scintillation Characteristics of AlGaN-GaN Structures Impacted by High Energy Radiations (No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-02-0012). Dr. J. Pavlov, Prof. G. Tamulaitis. 2017–2019.

The project idea is based on the modification of luminescence spectra of AlGaN-GaN scintillators by radiation defects to increase the threshold of radiation hardness of sensors needed for future experiments at CERN. The objective of the project is to increase the scientific competence in order to reveal the impact of radiation defects in AlGaN-GaN scintillator structures for transformations of luminescence spectra and electrical characteristics employed for detection of high energy radiation. The novelty of the project is in the development of the contact as well as contactless techniques for defect spectroscopy in order to reveal the influence of polarization effects and the impact of different layers of the AlGaN-GaN structures for operational device characteristics. The objective has been implemented by investigation of the modifications of luminescence spectra by varying hadron fluence in AlGaN-GaN structures of various thicknesses and grown by using different technologies (HVPE, MOCVD, ammono) on sapphire and Si substrates. Two main activities have been performed: i) the investigation of variations of the electrical and luminescence characteristics in buffer layers (AlGaN, AlN) of GaN/Si and GaN/sapphire structures by varying high energy proton fluence for synchronous generation of electrical and optical signals; ii) the investigation of variations of scintillator signals as a function of proton and neutron fluence in AlGaN-GaN structures of different thickness. The practical novelty of the project is in the development of characterization techniques for investigating multi-layered structures with high density of intrinsic defects. The defects identified and the parameters evaluated will be beneficial for the characterization of newly synthesized materials and structures.

Main publication:

Ceponis, T., Badokas, K., Deveikis, L., Pavlov, J., Rumbauskas, V., Kovalevskij, V., Stanionyte, S., Tamulaitis, G., Gaubas, E. Evolution of scintillation and electrical characteristics of AlGaN double-response sensors during proton irradiation. Sensors. 2019, 19: 3388, doi:10.3390/s19153388.

Research Council of Lithuania. Postdoc Fellowship. Investigation of Optical Properties of Fiber Scintillators for High Energy Physics Experiments (No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-02-0018). Dr. D. Dobrovolskas, Habil. Dr. E. Gaubas. 2017–2019.

Fiber-shaped scintillators are planned to be used in the next generation of calorimeters for high energy physics experiments. The feasibility of the fibers was already demonstrated by experiments in European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). However to fully utilize all the advantages of scintillator fibers, several roadblocks must be cleared. The performance of fiber-shaped scintillators is most notably hampered by inhomogeneous distribution of rare-earth dopants inside the fibers. Thus, the dimensions and origin of dopant segregations have been studied to improve the efficiency of the fiber-based scintillators. This project has been implemented by analyzing fiber-shaped scintillators using confocal spectroscopy technique ensuring high (<300 nm) spatial resolution. Additionally, the samples were characterized by exploiting luminescence spectroscopy, luminescence efficiency, and time resolve techniques. These measurements enabled monitoring the recombination processes occurring in the crystals and assessing the quality of the scintillation detectors. The results of this project will not only contribute to the improvement of the calorimeter technology but also raise the qualification and competence of the postdoc researcher and ensure his successful involvement in CERN activities.

Main publication:

Dobrovolskas, D., Tamulaitis, G., Gaubas, E., Korjik, M. GAGG:Ce scintillation fibers for high energy physics applications. J. Instrumentation. 2019, 14: P06031.

Research Council of Lithuania. Postdoc Fellowship. Perovskite White LED (PWLED) (No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-02-0009). Dr. P. Ščajev, Dr. R. Tomašiūnas. 2017–2019.

Perovskite layers were produced and characterized. White perovskite LED structures were formed and characterized.

Main publication:

Ščajev, P., Litvinas, D., Kreiza, G., Stanionytė, S., Malinauskas, T., Tomašiūnas, R., Juršėnas, S. Highly efficient nanocrystalline CsxMA1-xPbBr3 perovskite layers for white light generation. Nanotechnology. 2019, 30: 345702.

Research Council of Lithuania. Enhancing Light Upconversion Efficiency in Organic Films for Optoelectronic Applications (LightUpcon) (No. S-MIP-17-77). Dr. K.Kazlauskas. 2017–2020.

The project aims to improve light upconversion efficiency in organic solid films via triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) for optoelectronic applications. TTA allows accomplishing light upconversion (UC) in organic films from longer wavelengths to shorter ones by irradiating them with low intensity non-coherent light, e.g. sunlight. The application of TTA-UC films opens up possibilities to enhance efficiency of solar cells by means of converting of poorly absorbed red-IR photons to shorter wavelength photons, which can contribute to photocurrent. One of the unresolved problems of TTA-UC – very low UC efficiency in organic films (1– 2%), what hinders their practical applications. The project will focus on identification and elimination of the factors limiting TTA-UC efficiency in organic solid films.

European TD COST Action CA17126 towards Understanding and Modelling Intense Electronic Excitation (TUMIEE). MC member from Lithuannia Prof. G. Tamulaitis. 2019–2022.

TUMIEE aims at establishing an interdisciplinary network that brings together experts from different fields of interest in order to develop models of intense electronic excitations.

Research Council of Lithuania. Origins and Pathways of Non-Radiative Recombination in Nonpolar and Semipolar InGaN Structures (NORAD) (No. MIP-17-75). Dr. S. Nargelas. 2017–2020.

The project is aimed at the investigation of recombination pathways of free carriers in III-nitride structures oriented along the non-polar and semi-polar axes. A novel method of sample growth is being implemented to deposit InGaN structures by pulsed-MOCVD on native GaN substrates.

Research Council of Lithuania. Perovskite Laser (PERLAS) (No. MIP-17-71). Prof. S. Juršėnas. 2017–2020.

In this project, the technology of a perovskite laser emitting in the visible range will be developed. Unique investigation techniques and sophisticated deposition technologies will be applied to optimize the carrier transport and optical parameters of the perovskite layers, seeking to achieve very low threshold of amplified spontaneous emission and lasing.

Main publications:

Ščajev, P., Aleksieju̅nas, R., Terakawa, S., Qin, C., Fujihara, T., Matsushima, T., Adachi, C., Juršėnas, S. Anisotropy of thermal diffusivity in lead halide perovskite layers revealed by thermal grating technique. J. Phys. Chem. C. 2019, 123(24): 14914–14920.

Ščajev, P., Aleksieju̅nas, R., Baronas, P., Litvinas, D., Kolenda, M., Qin, C., Fujihara, T., Matsushima, T., Adachi, C., Juršėnas, S. Carrier recombination and diffusion in wet-cast tin iodide perovskite layers under high intensity photoexcitation. J. Phys. Chem. C. 2019, 123(32): 19275–19281.

International Research Projects

H2020 Project AIDA-2: Advanced European Infrastructures for Detectors at Accelerators. Prof. Habil. Dr. J. V. Vaitkus, Prof. Habil. Dr. G. Tamulaitis. 2015–2019.

VU activities at work package WP15 were devoted to the search and investigation of a simple and cheap technology for fabrication of Si-wafer-based dosimeters exploited in dose-reading using VUTEG-5-AIDA instrument.

The activities at WP14 were focused on developing novel techniques to be used in fast detectors of ionizing radiation.

Horizon 2020 programme ATTRACT project Development of Radiation-Hard and Cost-Effective Inorganic Scintillators for Calorimetric Detectors Based on Binary Glass Compositions Doped with Cerium SCINTIGLASS. Prof. G. Tamulaitis. 2019-2020.

Glass and glass ceramics are attractive alternatives to the crystalline materials widely used in radiation detectors in basic research as well as for applications in medical diagnostics and homeland security detectors. The materials can be fabricated in molds or by sol-gel techniques. Therefore, they can be prepared in various geometrical shapes such as blocks, plates, and thin fibers. Moreover, large quantities can be fabricated in a relatively short period of time. However, most of the glasses do not exhibit scintillation properties. Nevertheless, quartz produced by sol-gel technology allowing Ce-doping demonstrates a high light yield. Recently, it has been shown that new glasses of binary composition enable fabrication of scintillation glasses heavily doped with Cerium.
The lead-free glasses with the composition BaO*2SiO2:Ce (DSB: Ce) have reached a density of 3.7 g/cm3 and were found to be radiation hard under irradiation by gamma-quanta as well as high energy protons and their highly ionizing secondary products. A further increase of the glass density up to 4.5 g/cm3 accompanied by a high light yield could be achieved by adding Gd2O3 and SiO2 with a molar ratio 1:1 and BaO and SiO2 with the molar ratio of up to 2:3, respectively. Even stronger increase in the glass density, the effective atomic charge Zeff,, and the light yield is observed in glasses of a stoichiometric composition of Lu2O3 and SiO2. These glasses reach density values well above 4.7 g/cm3.
Cerium-doped glasses show a luminescence band peaking at a wavelength of 435 nm and can be read out using standard photomultipliers and via low-cost and fast Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM). The decay kinetics of the scintillation mechanism can be approximated by three exponential components: a component with an effective decay time of 6 ns (~10% of total weight), a component of 30 ns (~ 40%), and the slowest component with a decay time of 180 ns (~50%). The presence of the latter component depends on both the Ce concentration and the Ba/Si ratio in the final composition. It is worth noting that ~ 74% of the light are emitted within the first 100 ns after excitation. Such a time response is compatible with the high repetition rates considered for high luminosity collider facilities and other future experiments or applications. The light output at room temperature is ~100 phe/MeV, by a factor of five larger than that of PbWO4 (PWO). The temperature dependence of the light output within a temperature range from -25 to +25 °C is very low: the temperature gradient was determined to be below 0.04%/°C. These features make this material promising for a breakthrough in development of inexpensive large-volume calorimetric detectors or detecting units for remote inspection. The consortium of the participating institutions proposes to exloit the potential of the DSB:Ce binary glass systems for fast timing applications with high sensitivity to low energy neutrons. The targeted applicability covers the fields of calorimetry, fast counting systems in radiation-hard environment, detector systems for medical, technical, and security applications.

M-ERA.NET. Functional Inorganic Layers for Next Generation Optical Devices (FLINGO). Dr. R.Tomašiūnas. 2016–2019.

We have investigated a series of ALD films of transition metal oxides HfO2, ZrO2, Ta2O5, TiO2, Nb2O5, Y2O3, Al2O3 and SiO2. We have performed breakdown field measurements step-by-step increasing the annealing temperature and made an overview of a direct correspondence with the crystallization event for all the films. We have measured and analyzed CV of most of the oxides with GaN interface.

Main publication:

Reklaitis, I., Krencius, L., Malinauskas, T., Karpov, S. Yu., Lugauer, H. J., Pietzonka, I., Strassburg, M., Vitta, P., Tomašiūnas R. Time of carrier escape and recombination coefficients in InGaN quantum-well active regions of blue, cyan, and green light-emitting diodes. Semicond. Sci. Technol. 2019, 34: 015007.

Lithuanian–Belarus research project. Silicon-Germanium Novel Alloys for Creation of Radiation-Hard Semiconductor Devices (S-LB-19-1). Dr. T.Čeponis. 2019–2020.

Main publication:

Makarenko, L. F., Lastovski, S. B., Yakushevich, H. S., Gaubas, E., Pavlov, J., Kozlovski, V. V., Moll, M., Pintilie, I. Formation of a bistable interstitial complex in irradiated p-type silicon. Phys. Status Solidi A. 2019, 216: 1900354.

B632822 MTP Preparation and Characterization of TIR Devices Based on Electron Irradiated Diamond. Dr. V. Grivickas. 2019.
Property changes in electron irradiated diamond IIa samples have been characterized using optical methods.

Contractual Research

Small contracts form Lighting industry in Lithuania.

MAIN R&D&I (RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION) PARTNERS

Acros Organics B.V.B.A. (Belgium)
Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg (Switzerland)
Advinus Therapeutics PVT Ltd. (India)
Aixtron AG (Germany)
Akos Consulting & Solutions GmbH (USA)
Alfa Aesar, Avocado Research Chemicals Ltd. (UK)
Alfa Aesar GmbH & Co. KG (Germany)
Alkali Metals Ltd. (India)
AppliChem GmbH (Germany)
Austin Chemical Company, Inc. (USA)
BCH Research L.L.P. (USA)
BCR GmbH & Co. KG (Germany)
Belarussian State University (Belarus)
Camida Ltd. (Ireland)
Carl Roth GmbH & Co. (Germany)
Centre of Organic Electronics and Photonics Research, Kyushu University (Japan)
Centre for Physical Sciences and Technology (Lithuania)
Chemosyntha N.V. (Belgium)
Chukan Butsu Ltd. (Japan)
CMS Chemicals Ltd. (UK)
Connect Marketing GmbH (Switzerland)
Crystal Clear Collaboration (RD18) at CERN
Discovery Fine Chemicals Ltd. (UK)
DKSH Switzerland Ltd. (Switzerland)
Durham University (UK)
Elite Inter-Chem FZC (United Arab Emirates)
Eurolabs Ltd. (UK)
Fraunhofer ISC (Germany)
Institute of High Pressure Physics (Poland)
International Centre For Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology (India)
IQE plc (USA)
JSC Ledigma (Lithuania)
JSC Gaudrė (Lithuania)
JSC Tikslioji sintezė (Lithuania)
Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania)
KISCO Deutschland GmbH (Germany)
KISCO Tokyo Ltd. (Japan)
Korea University (South Korea)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (USA)
Matrix Marketing GmbH (Switzerland)
Maybridge Ltd. (UK)
MBraun Inertgas-Systeme GmbH (Germany)
Military University of Technology (Poland)
Mirae Interchem Co. Ltd. (South Corea)
MIT, Nanoelectronics laboratory (USA)
Molekula UK Ltd. (UK)
MP Biomedicals LLC (USA)
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) (Japan)
Niche Materials Ltd. (UK)
Organica Feinchemie GmbH Wolfen (Germany)
OSRAM Opto Semiconductors (Germany)
Panslavia Chemicals LLC (USA)
Paul Sabatier University (Toulouse, France)
PPW "AWAT" Spolka z o. o (Poland)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy NY, USA)
Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)
Santa Cruz Biotechnology Inc (USA)
Sensor Electronic Technology Inc. (USA)
Sigma-Aldrich Logistik GmbH (Germany)
Sumitomo Shoji Chemicals Co. Ltd. (Japan)
Synthon Chemicals GmbH & Co.KG (Germany)
Taiwan National University
TCI Europe NV (Belgium)
Tianjin Datao International Trade Co. Ltd. (China)
TOPGAN (Poland)
Translucent Inc. (USA)
UCB Pharma SA (Belgium)
Ukrorgsyntez Ltd. (Ukraine)
University of Alicante (Spain)
University of Bordeaux (France)

OTHER RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Dr. V. Bikbajevas –

Dr. V. Grivickas –

  • vice president of the Lithuanian Materials Research Society (LtMRS), www.ltmrs.lt/members/v_grivickas/.

Prof. S. Juršėnas –

Prof. G. Tamulaitis –

Dr. R. Tomašiūnas –

  • member of the Technical Committee 73 Nanotechnologies, Lithuanian Standards Board;
  • member of the Lithuanian Material Research Society (LtMRS),
    http://www.ltmrs.lt/old/members.htm;
  • member of the management committee of COST CA16220 European Network for High Performance Integrated Microwave Photonics,
    https://euimwp.eu/.

BEST REPORTS DELIVERED AT CONFERENCES ABROAD

  • G. Tamulaitis, S. Nargelas, M. Korzhik. Nonequilibrium carrier dynamics spectroscopy as a powerful tool to optimize timing properties of scintillation materials. IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, 26 October– 02 November 2019, Manchester, United Kingdom.
  • Prof. S. Juršėnas. Enhanced energy transfer in doped bifluorene single crystals: prospects for organic lasers. Progress in Organic Optoelectronics and Energy Conversion, Malaga, Spain, December 12–13, 2019.
  • K. Kazlauskas. Photophysics of TADF emitters for high-efficiency OLEDs. The 2019 Kyoto Prize Workshop: Advanced Technology, Novemebr 13, 2019, Kyushu University, Japan.
  • R. Tomašiūnas, I. Reklaitis, E. Radiunas, T. Malinauskas, S. Stanionytė, G. Juška, R. Ritasalo, T. Pilvi, S. Taeger, M. Mandl, M. Strassburg. ALD oxides as interfaces for GaN optoelectronic devices. 21st International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks, ICTON '19, July 9–13, 2019, Angers, France.

MOST IMPORTANT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AWARDS RECEIVED FOR R&D ACTIVITIES

  • Prof. Gintautas Tamulaitis, Vilnius University Rector’s Annual Award for Best Scientific Achievements.
  • Granted to participate at the “Lindau Nobel laureate meeting” gathering together Nobel laureates and the best young scientists from all around the world (K. Badokas).

MOST IMPORTANT RESEARCH DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES

 

 

LASER RESEARCH CENTER

10 Saulėtekio ave., LT-10223 Vilnius
Tel. 236 6050
e-mail: ,

Head – Associate professor Dr. Rytis Butkus (until June 2019),
Associate professor Dr. Aidas Matijošius (from June 2019).

STAFF

Professors: Habil. Dr. V. Sirutkaitis, Habil. Dr. R. Rotomskis, Habil. Dr. V. Smilgevičius, Dr. A. Dubietis, Dr. G. Valiulis, Dr. S. Bagdonas, Dr. M. Vengris, Habil. Dr. A. Piskarskas (emeritus), Habil. Dr. A. Stabinis (emeritus).
Leading researchers: Dr. A. Varanavičius, Dr. V. Vaičaitis, Dr. M.Malinauskas.
Associate professors: Dr. O. Balachninaitė, Dr. A. Matijošius, Dr. V. Karenauskaitė, Dr. V. Jarutis, Dr. A. Melninkaitis, Dr.V. Tamulienė, Dr. D. Paipulas, Dr. R. Butkus, Dr. G. Tamošauskas, Dr. V. Jukna.
Senior research fellows: Dr. E. Gaižauskas, Dr. R. Grigonis.
Research fellows: Dr. D. Kaškelytė, Dr. S.Rekštytė, Dr. M. Peckus, Dr. V. Purlys, Dr. J. Vengelis.
Lecturers: J. Jurkienė.
Junior assistant: A. Kalnaitytė.
Engineer: A. Čiburys.
Doctoral students: L. Mažulė, I. Pipinytė, R. Budriūnas, S. Butkus, N. Garejev, D. Gailevičius, I. Stasevičius, M. Ivanov, T. Tičkūnas, L. Jonušauskas, R. Šuminas, L. Smalakys, A. Marcinkevičiūtė, S. Varapnickas, B. Momgaudis, S. Sobutas, G. Kontenis, D. Mackevičiūtė, D. Samsonas, D. Buožius (from October 2019), E. Skliutas (from October 2019), A. Butkutė (from October 2019), R. Grigutis (from October 2019).

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Study of interaction of high power ultrashort light pulses with transparent media
Development of effective light frequency convertors and light pulse sources with the duration of few optical cycles and stable carrier-envelope phase
Study of femtosecond light filaments and generation of supercontinuum in transparent dielectrics
Development of new technologies for biomedical and industrial applications based on specific interaction of ultrashort light pulses with matter, enabling high precision material processing by surface and bulk modification
Development of optical methods of biomedical diagnostics and extension of application areas
In vivo and in vitro studies of spectral and photophysical properties of biologically active molecules and nanostructures aiming at optimisation of therapy and diagnostics
Imaging and spectroscopy of biologic objects
Nonlinear optics of ultrashort pulses
Ultrafast spectroscopy of photoactive molecules, nanostructures and semiconductors
Damage in bulk materials and coatings induced by femtosecond pulses
Optics characterization including reflection/transmission, scattering as well as absorption and laser-induced optical damage threshold in wide spectral range
Peculiarities of ultrafast exciton dynamics at reduced dimension in self-assembled molecular nanostructures and quantum dots
Laser micro- /nano-scale additive manufacturing of functional 3D devices
High intensity ultrashort pulse generation by OPCPA systems
Time-resolved digital holography
Radial/azimuthal polarization beams, Bessel beams and optical vortices
Optical and SEM characterization of 3D microstructures

MAIN SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2019

Dubietis, A., Couairon, A. Ultrafast Supercontinuum Generation in Transparent Solid State Media. Monograph. Springer Nature, Cham, Switzerland; 2019, 125 p., https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-14995-6.

Sanchez-Padilla, B., Jonusauskas, L., Malinauskas, M., Wunenburger, R., Brasselet, E. Direct mechanical detection and measurement of wave-matter orbital angular momentum transfer by non-dissipative vortex mode conversion. Physical Review Letters. 2019, 123: 244301. IF/AIF 9.227/3.107.

Gailevičius, D., Padolskytė, V., Mikoliūnaitė, L., Šakirzanovas, S., Juodkazis, S., Malinauskas, M. Additive-manufacturing of 3D glass-ceramics down to nanoscale resolution. Nanoscale Horizons. 2019, 4: 647–651. IF/AIF 9.095/5.52.

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2019

Projects Supported by University Budget

Study of Fundamental Ultrafast Processes in Laser and Nonlinear Optical Systems. Prof. A. Dubietis 2018–2021.

In the Monograph published by Springer Nature, the underlying physical picture and overview the state of the art of femtosecond supercontinuum generation in various transparent solid-state media, ranging from wide bandgap dielectrics to semiconductor materials and in various parts of the optical spectrum, from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared is presented. A particular emphasis is given to the most recent experimental developments: multioctave supercontinuum generation with pumping in the mid-infrared spectral range, spectral control, power and energy scaling of broadband radiation, and the development of simple, flexible, and robust pulse compression techniques, which deliver few optical cycle pulses and which could be readily implemented in a variety of modern ultrafast laser systems.
A numerical framework that allows estimation of coherence of bulk-generated supercontinuum in spatiotemporal and spatiospectral domains was developed. The analysis is based on simulations of individual space–time and space–frequency realizations of pulses emerging from a 5 mm thick sapphire crystal, in the regimes of normal, zero, and anomalous group velocity dispersion. The temporal and spectral coherence properties are analyzed in the near and far fields. It is found that unlike in fiber case, the bulk case features spectacularly high degrees of temporal and spectral coherence in both the spatial and spatial-frequency domains, with increasing degrees of coherence at higher pump energies.
It is shown that Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) can be applied for laser micromachining not only as a tool for determining the chemical composition of the sample but also for monitoring the process itself. Multiple pulses in comparison to a single pulse improve the analytical performance of LIBS, enable special applications and increase the ablation rate in laser material processing. In this report, the results on the application of multiple-pulse LIBS in monitoring the micromachining of soda-lime glass with femtosecond high repetition rate pulses are presented.

Main publications:

Dubietis, A., Couairon, A. Ultrafast Supercontinuum Generation in Transparent Solid State Media. Monograph. Springer Nature, Cham, Switzerland. 2019, 125 p., https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-14995-6.

Halder, S., Jukna, V., Koivurova, M., Dubietis, A., Turunen, J. Coherence of bulk-generated supercontinuum. Photonics Research. 2019, 7: 1345–1353. IF/AIF 5.522/2.84.

Skruibis, J., Balachninaite, O., Butkus, S., Vaicaitis, V., Sirutkaitis, V. Multiple-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for monitoring the femtosecond laser micromachining process of glass. Optics and Laser Technology. 2019, 111: 295–302.

Development of Laser Technologies for Industrial and Biomedical Applications. Lead. researcher Dr. M. Malinauskas. 2018–2021.

The research of in-situ local local-heating measurement in prepolymers being processed by direct laser writing 3D nanopolymerization technique was continued. Pre-polymer local-heating under different exposition regimes (ν=200 kHz τ=300 fs and ν=80 MHz τ=100 fs) was evaluated and compared. Temperature changes around polymerized voxel were measured within polymerization window as well as in overexposing regime.
The direct mechanical detection and measurement of wave-matter orbital angular momentum transfer by vortex mode conversion was reported. This represents the quantitative demonstration of the experiment in the optical domain. In addition, experiments open for further quantitative acoustomechanical studies in gases, such as acoustic rotational streaming, which remains barely studied what-ever the nature of the propagating medium despite its crucial role in acoustic vortex tweezers. This also motivates the experimental exploration of recently unveiled wave features of inhomogeneous sound waves, namely, the existence of acoustic spin of surface waves and progressive vortex beams.
The influence of gadolinium (Gd)-based upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) on water spin–lattice relaxation (T1) and diffusion was investigated at different magnetic field strengths (0.4 T and 9.4 T). The smaller NPs (12 nm compared to 19 nm) were more favourable for proton relaxivity. It was demonstrated that using simplified Solomon–Bloembergen–Morgan (SBM) model two measured diffusion coefficients can be associated with processes occurring near the surface of UCNPs and in bulk water. Using the relationship between relaxation and diffusion, it is possible to estimate not only the total impact of NPs on relaxation of water molecules, but also the impact on relaxation of local water molecules, directly connected to paramagnetic Gd3+ ions in NPs. Different magnetic field strengths did not alter the spin–lattice relaxivity of NPs. This suggests that Gd-based UCNPs could be developed into high-performance multimodal magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents working over a broad range of imaging field strengths used in clinical routine.

Main publications:

Gailevicius, D., Padolskyte, V., Mikoliunaite, L., Sakirzanovas, S., Juodkazis, S., Malinauskas, M. Additive-manufacturing of 3D glass-ceramics down to nanoscale resolution. Nanoscale Horiz. 2019, 4: 647–651, 10.1039/C8NH00293B, RSC.

Sanchez-Padilla, B., Jonusauskas, L., Malinauskas, M., Wunenburger, R., Brasselet, E. Direct mechanical detection and measurement of wave-matter orbital angular momentum transfer by non-dissipative vortex mode conversion. Physical Review Letters. 2019, 123: 244301.

Kristinaityte, K., Zalewski, T., Kempka, M., Sakirzanovas, S., Baziulyte-Paulaviciene, D., Jurga, S., Rotomskis, R., Valeviciene, N. R. Spin–lattice relaxation and diffusion processes in aqueous solutions of gadolinium-based upconverting nanoparticles at different magnetic fields. Applied Magnetic Resonance. 2019, 50: 553–561.

National Research Projects

Research Council of Lithuania programme Implementing World-class R&D project Photonic Technologies of the Future: Extreme Light Sources and Their Applications (No 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-01-0014 ). Prof. M. Vengris. 2018–2021.

Project goal is to develop the industry-ready extreme light technologies employing novel nonlinear optical schemes, capable of generating high-energy, few-optical-cycles octave-spanning pulses in the VIS-nIR-midIR spectral range, based on applied research, enabling the reliability of the developed photonic devices.

Main publications:

Momgaudis, B. Kudriasov, V. Vengris, M. Melninkaitis, A. Quantitative assessment of nonlinearly absorbed energy in fused silica via time-resolved digital holography. Optics Express. 2019, 27: 7699–7711.

Vengris, M., Garejev, N., Tamošauskas, G., Čepėnas, A., Rimkus, L., Varanavičius, A., Jukna, V., Dubietis, A. Supercontinuum generation by co-filamentation of two color femtosecond laser pulses. Scientific Reports. 2019, 9: 9011.

Smalakys, L., Momgaudis, B., Grigutis, R., Kicas, S., Melninkaitis, A. Contrasted fatigue behavior of laser-induced damage mechanisms in single layer ZrO2 optical coating. Optics Express. 2019, 27: 26088–26101.

European Regional Development Fund, Research Council of Lithuania project Investigation of Laser Matter Interaction with High Frequency Pulse Burst which Are Generated by a Controllable Pulse Generator (01.2.2-LMT-K-718-02-0017). Dr. V. Jukna. 2018–2021.

Project goal is investigation of ultrafast laser-matter interactions in transparent solid-state materials with high pulse repetition rates.

Main publications:

Marcinkevičiūtė, A., Jukna, V., Šuminas, R., Garejev, N., Tamošauskas, G., Dubietis, A. Femtosecond filamentation and supercontinuum generation in bulk silicon. Optics Letters. 2019, 44: 1343–1346.

Marcinkevičiūtė, A., Jukna, V., Šuminas, R., Garejev, N., Tamošauskas, G., Dubietis, A. Supercontinuum generation in the absence and in the presence of color centers in KBr and NaCl. Results in Physics. 2019, 14: 102396.

Butkus, S. Gaižauskas, E. Mačernytė, L. Jukna, V. Paipulas, D. Sirutkaitis, V. Femtosecond beam transformation effects in water enabling increased throughput micromachining in transparent materials. Applied Sciences-Basel. 2019, 9: 2405.

Research Council of Lithuania funded project (Research groups projects) Subtractive and Additive Laser Micromachining Synergy for Transparent Microtechnologies (+Tech-) (No. S-MIP-17-99). Dr. D. Paipulas. 2018–2020.

The aim of the project is to develop the hybrid femtosecond laser micromachining methods by combining two different manufacturing technologies thus expanding their technological potential. Up to now the subtractive and additive methods have been mostly cultivated separately. In the context of our project additive manufacturing includes optical printing of cross-linkable materials with sub-micrometer spatial resolution and arbitrary 3D architectures, which in turn are already successfully applied in photonic and microengineering applications. On the other hand, subtractive manufacturing covers precision free-form cutting, drilling, surface patterning and bulk modification of transparent materials (glasses) which are also widely used in the field of microtechnologies.

Main publications:

Rekštytė, S. Paipulas, D. Mizeikis, V. Passive fluidic micro-sensor with all-optical readout realized using a direct laser writing technique. Optics Letters. 2019, 44: 4602–4605.

Butkus, S. Rickus, M. Sirutkaitis, R. Paipulas, D. Sirutkaitis, V. Fabrication of high aspect ratio channels in fused silica using femtosecond pulses and chemical etching at different conditions. Journal of Laser Micro Nanoengineering. 2019, 14: 19–24.

Research Council of Lithuania. Photonic Crystal Microchip Laser (FOKRILAS), Grant No. P-MIP-17-190. V. Purlys. 2017–2020.

Microchip lasers are preferable to their counterparts due to their compactness and energy efficiency, but they have one fundamental drawback - low beam quality, which greatly limits their laser radiation maximum brightness and limits the field of applications. Most approaches to increase beam quality proposed so far either significantly limit the maximum achievable output power, or at least greatly increase the dimensions of the system. The aim of the project is to create a compact photonic crystal microstructure capable to block the generation of higher order modes and thus significantly increase the quality of the microchip laser radiation.

Main publication:

Grinevičiūtė, L., Babayigit, C., Gailevicius, D., Bor, E., Turduev, M., Purlys, V., Tolenis, T., Kurt, H., Staliunas, K. Angular filtering by Bragg photonic microstructures fabricated by physical vapour deposition. Appl. Surf. Sci. 2019, 481: 353–359, 10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.03.082.

Research Council of Lithuania. Student practical research activities.

  • Investigation of elastomer 3D microfabrication peculiarities employing femtosecond laser irradiantion, 2018-2019, student G. Grigalevičiūtė, supervisor Dr. M. Malinauskas.
  • Generation of broadband terahertz radiation generation in laser created air plasma, student Ž. Svirskas, supervisor Dr. V. Vaičaitis.
  • Investigation of the influence of air plasma created by laser pulses on propagation of terahertz frequency radiation, student D. Buožius, supervisor Dr. V. Vaičaitis.
  • Measurement of photonic crystal fiber dispersion by the use of XFROG, student M. Kuliešaitė, supervisor Dr. V. Jarutis.

Erasmus+ program. Student practical research activities.
In-situ local temperature measurement of pure and photoinitiator-doped SZ2080 photoresist using upconverting nanocrystals, 2019, student: José Bento Queiroz (Universidade de Coimbra), supervisors: Dr. M. Malinauskas, S. Varapnickas.

Research Council of Lithuania.Travel projects.
Visit project of Prof. V. Mizeikis (Shizuoka University). Formation of Plasmonic Nanostructures in Thin Metallic Coatings Utilising Laser Ablation: Modelling and Experimental Research.

Plasmonic nanostructures suitable for local field enhancement were realised on thin metal coatings deposited on transparent substrates. A periodic pattern of submicrometric diameter holes were ablated using ultrafast laseer ablation technique utilizing ultrafast laser beams. Optical characteristics of such patterns were evaluated using FDTD (finite difference time domain) modelling techniques.

International Research Projects

7FP Project Integrated European Laser Laboratories IV (LASERLAB-Europe IV). 2015–2019.

Vilnius University represented by Department of Quantum Electronics and Laser Research Centre is member of LASERLAB-EUROPE IV and was involved in two joint research activities - Innovative Laser Technologies (ILAT) and Biomedical Optics for Life Science Applications (BIOAPP), networking and providing of the Transnational Access.
An efficient and broadband terahertz (THz) radiation generation from laser-excited air plasma has been demonstrated for a wide tuning range and various wavelength ratios of three-colour pump laser pulses. As a pump source the femtosecond laser pulses of various wavelengths were used. It was found that the spectrum of generated THz pulses spans up to 50 THz, while the overall terahertz generation efficiency can reach up to 10-5.
The influence of laser-preformed plasma on the energy and spatial properties of terahertz emission generated in air by focused femtosecond bichromatic laser pulses has been investigated. It was found that the power of THz wave decreases in the presence of the prepulse-created plasma even when the crossing point of the two laser beams is well before or after the pump beam focus. Analysis of the obtained data revealed that at least two different mechanisms, namely, the phase modification of the pump waves and screening of THz radiation by preformed plasma filament are responsible for this effect.

Visit project of Dr. H. Zeng. University of Tampere.

A in direct write fs-laser micron-precision 3D fabrication of liquid crystalline elastomer microstructures in mixtures of 1) with Disperse Red 1 acrylate (DR1, for photothermal actuation), 2) with azobenzene crosslinker (for photochemical actuation), and 3) cholesteric LC with/without DR1 dye (artificial colouring) were realized.

Main publication:

Sanchez-Padilla, B., Jonusauskas, L., Malinauskas, M., Wunenburger, R., Brasselet, E. Direct mechanical detection and measurement of wave-matter orbital angular momentum transfer by non-dissipative vortex mode conversion. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2019, 123: 244301, 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.244301, APS [IF - 9.227].

Visit project of Dr. A. Galmed (University of Cairo).Effect of laser pulse duration on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) hardness estimation.

In this work the effect of laser pulse duration on the use of LIBS in hardness estimation by measuring the plasma properties formed by lasers with nanosecond and femtosecond pulse duration was studied.

Visit project of Prof. Ruvin Ferber, Dr. Florian Gahbauer, PhD. st. R. Lazda. Laser Centre, University of Latvia. August 19–31, 2019.

Initial tests of nitrogen vacancy defect (NV) recording in the bulk of diamond with ultrafast highly focused laser beam were carried out. Five different industrial diamond samples (with varying defect concentration) were tested under different laser recording conditions.

NATO Science for Peace and Security programme project Nanostructures for Highly Efficient Infrared Detection (Vilnius University + Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya + Shizuoka University + Swinburne University of Technology + University of Economics and Technology). Project info https://www.researchgate.net/project/Nanostructures-for-Highly-Efficient-Infrared-Detection. VU part project leader Dr. M. Malinauskas. 2016 – 2019.

We first show that light can be gradually slowed down in the defect waveguide (WG), which is obtained by gradually changing the period of the surrounding woodpile photonic crystal (WPC) along the propagation direction. In result, the waveguide mode gradually approaches the band edge region, while this phenomenon has three consequences. First, the Fourier components of propagating wave will be spatially separated as each frequency will reach its zero velocity at different positions. Second, as the wave slows down, it will penetrate deeper into the surrounding cladding, thus increasing the coupling efficiency between the WG and a nearby placed resonator. Third, the high density of states near the band edge result in highly efficient light scattering of a nearby placed resonator, which in turn increases the quality factor of the interaction. Following this idea, the acceptor type cavities, which are tuned to the localized frequencies, are side-coupled to the WG at respective wave localization areas. Furthermore, drop channels have been introduced to read-out the trapped spectra, showing that the targeted frequencies can be detected selectively. Compared to previous studies, our approach has the advantages of low radiation losses, the absence of any reflection feedback and both enhanced quality factor and transmission of the captured light.

Main publication:

Jonusauskas, L., Gailevicius, D., Rekstyte, S., Baldacchini, T., Juodkazis, S., Malinauskas, M. Mesoscale laser 3D printing. Opt. Express. 2019, 27(11): 15205–15221, https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.27.015205, OSA.

US Army grant Enhanced Absorbtion in Stopped-Light Photonic Nanostructures: Application to Efficient Sensing (Vilnius University + Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya). Project coordinator Dr. M. Malinauskas. 2016–2018.

In this work we explore a possibility to apply ultrafast 3D laser nanolithography in conjunction with pyrolysis to acquire glass-ceramic 3D structures in micro- and nano-scale. Laser fabrication allows for production of initial 3D structures with relatively small (hundreds nm - µm) feature sizes out of SZ2080 hybrid material. Then, post-fabrication heating at 600 oC in Ar atmosphere decomposes organic part of the material leaving the glass-ceramic component of the hybrid. Resulting structures are uniformly shrunk by 40%. This brings us one step closer to fabricating highly efficient slow-light absorbers.

Main publication:

Gailevicius, D., Padolskyte, V., Mikoliunaite, L., Sakirzanovas, S., Juodkazis, S., Malinauskas, M. Additive-manufacturing of 3D glass-ceramics down to nanoscale resolution. Nanoscale Horiz. 2019, 4: 647–651, 10.1039/C8NH00293B.

EU InterReg project A Network of Service Providers for Eco-Innovations ECOLABNET (VU with VAMK Ltd. University of Applied Sciences (Muova), Finland, Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Lithuania, University of Tartu (UTartu), Estonia, Czestochowa University of Technology (CUT), Poland, VIA University College (VIA), Denmark, Vilnius University (VU), Lithuania, Centria University of Applied Sciences Ltd (Centria), Finland, Lithuanian Business Confederation, Lithuania, Sustainable Innovation, Sweden, Labsamera MB, Lithuania, Estrotech Ltd, Estonia), project part coordinator Dr. M. Malinauskas. 2019–2021.

The main objective of the project is to boost sustainable innovations in Baltic Sea Region by utilizing unique capacity of product-service system design, additive manufacturing and new materials. The project will establish a platform for knowledge exchange between innovation laboratories as well as stimulate passion for ecological innovation in BSR region.
The ECOLABNET sustainable innovations utilize bio-based materials, additive manufacturing, and life-cycle services, which integrate product-service system designers, material researchers, technology providers and business developers for collaboration. In addition, customer-oriented approach focus the development resources on competitive and desirable solutions, which will enhance market uptake of innovations. Project will demonstrate capabilities of the network by developing several demonstrators.

Main publications:

Lebedevaite, M., Ostrauskaite, J., Skliutas, E., Malinauskas, M. Photocross-linked polymers based on plant-derived monomers for potential application in optical 3D printing. J. Appl. Pol. Sci. 2019, 137: 48708. 10.1002/app.48708.

Lebedevaite, M. Ostrauskaite, J. Skliutas, E. Malinauskas, M. Photoinitiator free resins composed of plant-derived monomers for optical 3D μ-printing. Polymers. 2019, 11(1): 11, 10.3390/polym11010116, MDPI.

Contractual Research

Outsourcing long-term contracts:
Characterization of diffractive optical elements and microstructures in transparent materials using profilometer and SEM, Customer – Femtika, 2019.
Measurement and inspection of laser induced damage threshold, research of optical elements quality, Customer - Lidaris, 2019.
Characterization of optical elements, Customer - Light Conversion, 2019.
Measurement of dental enamel roughness using optical profilometer, Customer - Vilnius University, Faculty of Medicine, 2019.
Height measurement of microfluidic grating, Customer - DropletGenomics, 2019.
Measurement of micro channel depths using optical profilometer, Customer – Femtika 2019.

Outsourcing contracts:
Measurements with an optical profilometer, Customer - UAB Altechna, January 2019.
Measurement of microfluidics grating height, Customer - DropletGenomics, January 2019.
Measurements with an optical profilometer, Customer - Altechna R&D, January 2019.
Fabrication of samples using principles of nanophotonics, Customer - Altechna R&D, January 2019.
Research using femtosecond microfabrication complex, Customer – Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, February 2019.
Measurements with an optical profilometer, Customer - UAB TRATE, June 2019.
Measurements with an optical profilometer, Customer - Gabrielė Tamošiūnaitė, June 2019.
Measurements at 355 nm for silicon carbide galvanoscanners and fused silica substrates, Customer - UAB Altechna Coatings, September 2019.
Measurement of tissue thickness, Customer - Vilnius University, Faculty of Medicine, June 2019.
Femtosecond laser patterning of ITO layers on glass, Customer: University of Bordeaux, August 2019.
Formation of laser induced plasma plume in air, Customer - Nodibinājums Vizionārās kultūras fonds, Latvia, October 2019.

MAIN R&D&I (RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION) PARTNERS

Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Micro-Photonics (H34), Victoria (Australia)
UPC (Universitat Politechnica de Catalunya), Departament de Fisica i Enginyeria Nuclear (Spain
Institut Fresnel-CNRS UMR 7249-Equipe ILM, Escole Centrale Marseille-Aix Marseille Universite, (France)
Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés, Ecole Polytechnique (France)
Light Conversion, Ltd. (Lithuania)
CNISM and Dipartimento di Scienza e Alta Tecnologia, University of Insubria (Italy)
University of Patras, Physics Department, Laser, Nonlinear and Quantum Optics Labs (Greece)
Centre de Physique Théorique, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, Université Paris-Saclay, (France)
University of Bordeaux, Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d’Aquitaine (LOMA) (France)
University of Sheffield, Department of Materials Science and Engineering (United Kingdom)
Belarusian State Univerisity, Research Institute of Physical Chemical Problems (Belarus)
Institute of Quantum Optics, Leibniz University of Hannover (Germany)
Shizuoka University, Research Institute of Electronics, Hamamatsu (Japan)
Foundation for Research and Technogology - Hellas, Heraklion (Greece)
Department of Physics and Mathematics, University of Eastern Finland (Finland)
Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (PR China)

OTHER RESEACH ACTIVITIES

Dr. M. Malinauskas –

  • member of the Young Academy of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences;
  • associate editor of the journal Optics Express (OSA);
  • scientific committee member of the Photonics West (SPIE);
  • associate editor of the Applied Surface Science VSI: ICPEPA-11 (Elsevier);
  • advisory committee member of the ICPEPA 12;
  • scientific committee member of the SPIE Laser Damage.

Prof. A. Dubietis –

  • member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences;
  • lead guest editor 0f the Journal of the Optical Society of America B (OSA), feature issue Supercontinuum Generation.

Prof. V. Sirutkaitis –

  • technical program committee member of the International Conference on Pacific Rim Laser Damage, SPIE-PLD/TFPA, May 19–22, 2019, Qingdao, China;
  • member of the Committee of Natural and Technical Sciences of the Research Council of Lithuania;
  • member of the Access board of the Laserlab-Europe 4;
  • member of the HiLASE Facility Access Panel (www.hilase.cz).

Dr. A. Melninkaitis –

  • board member of Lithuanian Laser Association.

MOST IMPORTANT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AWARDS RECEIVED FOR R&D ACTIVITIES

  • Prof. A. P. Piskarskas, awarded by the Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merit to Lithuania.
  • Prof. A. Dubietis, University Rector’s Science Prize.
  • Dr. M. Malinauskas, University Rector’s Science Prize

MOST IMPORTANT PARTICIPATION CASES OF RESEARCHERS IN WORKING GROUPS OR COMMISSIONS SET UP BY STATE AUTHORITIES, STATE AND MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANISATIONS, AND BUSINESS ENTITIES

  • Prof. Habil. Dr. Ričardas Rotomskis, Deputy Chairman of the Reseach Council of Lithuania, Chairman of the Committee on Natural and Technical Sciences.
  • Prof. A. P. Piskarskas, President of Lithuanian Laser Association.

CONSULTATIONS PROVIDED BY THE UNIT TO THE PUBLIC OR ECONOMIC ENTITIES

  • Ongoing consultations with UAB “3D Creative” regarding optical printing of bioresins and polypropylene materials.
  • Consultations with Workshop of Photonics regarding laser polymerization experiments.
  • Consultations with Eksma Optics regarding behaviour of Pockels cell switchers in high average power lasers.

MOST IMPORTANT RESEARCH DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES

  • A. P. Piskarskas, P. Balkevičius, R. Butkus, D. Paipulas, G. Račiukaitis, V. Sirutkaitis, R. Bagdonienė, Laser Technologies in Lithuania 2019, the publication initiated and published by the Lithuanian Laser Association.
  • L. Jonušauskas, Laser-induced damage threshold metrology of 3D microstructures (VULRC, Lithuania), Laserlab Forum, Issue 28, November, 7 p.
  • A. Dubietis, On the shapes of snowflakes, TV3 news, January 4, 2019.
  • Dr. D. Paipulas, Organizing annual summer school for pupils Physisists’ Week 2019: Laser Day.

BEST REPORTS MADE AT CONFERENCES ABROAD:

  • Dubietis, A. Supercontinuum generation in bulk solids and its applications for generation of few optical cycle pulses (a tutorial), SPIE Optics & Optoelectronics, April 1–4, 2019, Prague, Czech Republic.

 

APPLIED ELECTRODYNAMICS AND TELECOMMUNICATION INSTITUTE

3 Saulėtekio ave., LT-10257 Vilnius
Tel. 223 4585
e-mail:

Head – Prof. Habil. Dr. Jonas Matukas

STAFF

Professors: Habil. Dr. J. Banys (part-time), Habil. Dr. J. Matukas, Dr. A. Kežionis, Dr. R. Grigalaitis, Dr. A. Lisauskas. Habil. Dr. A.F. Orliukas (Emeritus), Habil. Dr. J. Grigas (Emeritus).
Associate professors: Dr. R. Aleksiejūnas, Dr. M. Ivanov, Dr. V. Jonkus, Dr. T. Šalkus, Dr. E. Kazakevičius, Dr. S. Pralgauskaitė, Dr. Š. Svirskas, Dr. R. Rimeika, Dr. R. Sobiestijanskas, Dr. K. Svirskas, Dr. E. Stankevičius, Dr. M. Žilinskas.
Lecturers: Dr. S. Kazlauskas, Dr. E. Palaimienė, Dr. Č. Pavasaris, Dr. V. Kavaliukė, Dr. K. Ikamas, Dr. Dž. Jablonskas, Dr. M. Šimėnas, Dr. S. Daugėla, Dr. I. Zamaraitė.
Research fellows: Dr. J. Macutkevič, Dr. J. Vyšniauskas, Dr. S. Lapinskas, Dr. A. Džiaugys, Dr. A. Bernotas, Dr. S. Kazlauskas, Dr. V. Kavaliukė, Dr. S. Rudys, Dr. M. Kinka, Dr. Š. Svirskas, Dr. S. Daugėla, Dr. I. Zamaraitė, Dr. K. Ikamas, Dr. A. Plyushch, Dr. I. Vanskevičė, J. Aleksandravičius, Dr. E. Palaimienė, A. Cesiul, M. Tretjak.
Engineering staff: A. Sereika, V. Adomaitis, Dr. Č. Pavasaris, J. Glemža, J. Zdanevičius, L. Giriūnas, M. Navickas, V. Samulionis, A. Solovjovas.
Doctoral students: D. Adamchuk, J. Aleksandravičius, S. Balčiūnas, A. Cesiul, J. Glemža, D. Meisak, M. Tretjak, G. Gorokhov, P. Bertašius.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Broadband dielectric spectroscopy of ferroelectrics and related materials
Relaxation and phonon dynamic studies in order-disorder ferroelectrics
Ferroelectric ceramics, dipolar glasses, relaxors, composite systems, liquids, metal-organic structures etc.
Technological processing of solid electrolyte ceramics and films
Broadband impedance spectroscopy of solid electrolytes
Charge carrier transport and device modelling for field-effect transistor-based terahertz detectors fabricated with Si CMOS and AlGaN/GaN HEMT fabrication technologies
Noise measurement-based charge carrier transport and device reliability studies of (2–3) μm GaSb laser diodes
Noise spectroscopy of novel multiferoic materials (e.g., with carbon nano particles
Spectral efficiency of radio communication systems
Localization of objects in space
Electromagnetic compatibility measurements between different wireless technologies
Radio antenna testing
Investigation of Internet of things protocol (IoT) capabilities for narrowband radio communication

MAIN SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2019

In the field of development of high-speed terahertz imaging arrays and systems for hyperspectral imaging, development receivers for THz communication: 15 Q1 papers were published, scientific results were presented at more than 30 international conferences, 2 international patents.

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2019

Projects Supported by University Budget

Development and Investigation of Structures of Nanometre Dimensions Employed in Telecommunication and Imaging Systems, Their Noise Characterization. Prof. J. Matukas. 2018–2023.

Comprehensive investigation of materials and devices employed in telecommunication systems were carried out: low frequency noise characteristics, responsivity of detectors and radiation characteristics of sources were measured and analysed, charge carrier transport and device reliability were investigated. Devices under investigation were: GaN, Si and graphene based diodes and transistors, InGaAs based asymmetrical diodes operating as detectors of terahertz radiation, GaSb based semiconductor lasers for mid-infrared radiation, composite materials with carbon nanoparticles.

Main publications:

Glemža, J., Palenskis, V., Geižutis, A., Čechavičius, B., Butkutė, R., Pralgauskaitė, S., Matukas, J. Low-frequency noise investigation of 1.09 µm GaAsBi laser diodes. Materials. 2019, 12: 673.

Glemža, J., Pralgauskaitė, S., Palenskis, V., Matukas, J. Low-frequency noise of near UV LEDs. Lith. J. Phys. 2019, 59(3): 146–155.

Tretjak, M., Pralgauskaitė, S., Matukas, J., Macutkevic, J., Banys, J., Shenderova, O. Low frequency noise and resistivity characteristics of hybrid composites with onion-like carbon and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Fluctuation and Noise Letters. 2019, 18: 1940009(12).

Investigation of Technological Processing and Ion Transport Peculiarities of Solid Electrolyte Thin Films, Thick Films and Bulk Ceramics. Assoc. Prof. T. Šalkus. 2016–2020.

Lithium lanthanum titanate solid electrolyte ceramics were investigated. Positive temperature coefficient of resistivity was found in these ceramics at temperatures above 1000 K. Barium cerate – based ceramics were investigated by broadband impedance spectroscopy. The results revealed proton conduction in these compounds, which can be used in solid oxide fuel cells. The LAMOX family oxygen conductors were investigated in the frequency range from 10 Hz to 10 GHz and the results analysis in terms of distribution of relaxation times lead to deeper understanding about phase transitions in these materials.

Main publications:

Kežionis, A., Kazakevičius, E., Kazlauskas, S., Žalga, A. Metal-like temperature dependent conductivity in fast Li+ ionic conductor lithium lanthanum titanate. Solid State Ionics. 2019, 342: 115060.

Dudek, M., Lis, B., Lach, R., Daugėla, S., Šalkus, T., Kežionis, A., Mosialek, M., Socha, R. P., Morgiel, J., Gajek, M., Sitarz, M., Ziabka, M. Ba0.95Ca0.05Ce0.9Y0.1O3 as an electrolyte for proton-conducting ceramic fuel cells. Electrochimica Acta. 2019, 304: 70–79.

Kazakevičiusa, E., Kežionis, A., Kazlauskas, S., Žalga, A., Barré, M., Juškėnas, R. Phase transformations in La2-xYxMo2O9 (x=0.05, x=0.075): Temperature cycling and DRT analysis. Solid State Ionics. 2019, 339: 114989.

Electromagnetic Methods for Increasing Spectral Efficiency of Radio Communication Systems. Assoc. Prof. K. Svirskas. 2019.

Complexity of wireless network research problems requires close comparison of experimental measurements with numerical simulations. For this purpose simulation framework for MIMO LTE network performance analysis is being used. The core of this environment consists of cloud-based virtual server environment, allowing interactively share results between team members and run massive simulations, for example, antenna analysis, radio propagation channel, radio interference estimation problems. Simulations are based on statistical Monte Carlo algorithm, implemented using GNU Octave and Python numerical libraries.

Main publication:

Laucys, A., Rudys, S., Kinka, M., Ragulis, P., Aleksandravicius, J., Jablonskas, D., Bruzas, D., Daugela, E., Maciulis, L. Investigation of detection possibility of UAVS using Low Cost Marine Radar. May 2019 –Aviation. 2019, 23(2): 48–53, doi: 10.3846/aviation. 10320.

National Research Projects

Development of Specialized Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Detection and Neutralization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Dr. Saulius Rudys. 2018–2022.

Technologies of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are developing especially rapidly and have extremely wide field of implementation. Unfortunately same as other technologies UAVs can be both beneficial and dangerous for the society. There are many solutions for UAV detection and neutralization suggested but all of these solutions have drawbacks. Thus, there are no effective UAV detection and neutralizing technologies available. The main goal of the project – develop an effective (more effective than is available in this moment) solution for UAV detection and neutralizing. Part of the results is published in the journal Aviation.

Main publication:

Laučys, A., Rudys, S., Kinka, M., Ragulis, P., Aleksandravičius, J., Jablonskas, D., Bručas, D., Daugėla, E. and Mačiulis, L. 2019. Investigation of detection possibility of UAVS using low cost marine radar. Aviation. 2019, 23(2): 48–53, doi:https://doi.org/10.3846/aviation.2019.10320.

Structural Phases and Dynamic Effects in Novel Hybrid Perovskite Materials for Future Solar Cells. Prof. R. Grigalaitis. 2019–2022.

In the past years, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite methylammonium lead halides have attracted huge interest as materials for effective solar cell devices which power conversion efficiency is already above 20%, and their films can be fabricated by simple wet chemistry methods thus lowering solar cell manufacturing costs. Intense investigations are ongoing in this field in search of even more effective and stable materials and optimal architectures. The aim of this project is a comprehensive study of a broadband dielectric response, structural phase transitions and molecular cation dynamics in single phase and novel mixed hybrid perovskite crystals. The systematic study will allow determining the nature, stability and microscopic mechanisms of the structural phase transitions in novel halide based hybrid perovskites which are intended to revolutionize the green-energy sector.

Point-to-point All-electronic 250 GHz Source of National program Development of Technology and Innovation. Dr. K. Ikamas. 2019– 202.

The main aim of the project is to develop compact THz source for telecommunication systems. The transmitter is based on a voltage-controlled two field-effect transistors based differential Colpitts oscillator coupled with a resonant, slot type antenna. The THz source oscillates at 84 GHz fundamental frequency with the optimized third harmonic emission at 252 GHz. The expected information capacity of device is at least 100 Mbps per channel.

Main publication:

Bauer, M., Rämer, A., Chevtchenko, S.A., Osipov, K.Y., Čibiraitė, D., Pralgauskaitė, S., Ikamas, K., Lisauskas, A., Heinrich, W., Krozer, V., Roskos, H. G. A high-sensitivity AlGaN/GaN HEMT terahertz detector with integrated broadband bow-tie antenna. IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology. 2019, 9: 430–444. doi: 10.1109/TTHZ.2019.2917782.

International Research Projects

Joint Lithuanian-Latvian-Taiwan project Nano Architectonics of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs): Design, Dielectric Property and Organic Catalysis. Prof. R. Grigalaitis. 2017–2019.

The aim of this project is the synthesis of various porous and dense MOF structures and the investigation of their dielectric and other functional properties. During year 2019 the data on the dielectric studies of UiO-66 MOFs subjected to different hydration atmospheres was analysed. Activation energies of the dynamics of hydrogen transport and water clusters in pores were calculated, explained and compared with similar MOFs. Dense (closed pores) [(CH3)2NH2][Zn(HCOO)3] MOFs and composite MOFs of [(CH3)2NH2][Mg(HCOO)3] and [NH4][Zn(HCOO)3] with P(VDF-TrFE) polymer were investigated by dielectric spectroscopy, complemented with the studies of their ferroelectric and ultrasonic properties. It was found that the phase transition in [(CH3)2NH2][Zn(HCOO)3] MOF is mainly dependent on the framework deformation and have an negligible effect on dipolar dynamics of DMA+ cation. Dielectric investigations of composite MOFs with P(VDF-TrFE) have shown that both their electrical properties mainly depend on P(VDF-TrFE) counterpart at high temperatures while below room temperature dielectric behaviour of [(CH3)2NH2][Mg(HCOO)3] and [NH4][Zn(HCOO)3] inclusions can be observed. The diminishing of the anomaly of phase transition and the dielectric permittivity at low temperatures of these composites compare with pure MOFs can be explained qualitatively by the Lichtenecker model.

Main publications:

Šimėnas, M., Balčiūnas, S., Ciupa, A., Vilčiauskas, L., Jablonskas, D., Kinka, M., Sieradzki, A., Samulionis, V., Maczka, M., Banys, J. Elucidation of dipolar dynamics and the nature of structural phases in the [(CH3)2NH2][Zn(HCOO)3] hybrid perovskite framework. J. Mater. Chem. C. 2019, 7: 6779, doi: 10.1039/c9tc01275c.

Šimėnas, M., Balčiūnas, S., Gonzalez-Nelson, A., Kinka, M., Ptak, M., van der Veen, M. A., Mączka, M., Banys, J. Preparation and dielectric characterization of P(VDF−TrFE) copolymer-based composites containing metal−formate frameworks. J. Phys. Chem. C. 2019, 123: 16380−16387, doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b04235.

Joint Lithuanian-Belorussian project Structural and Physical Transitions in Polymeric Materials with Nanoparticles. Dr. J. Macutkevič. 2019–2020.

The main result of the project are produced polymeric composites with magnetic and carbon Nano inclusions, which exhibit the strong electromagnetic wave absorption. Composites are prepared by the mixing method by using various polymers, MgO, Fe3O4, MnFe2O4 nanoparticles and carbon nanoparticles. Electrical properties of composites were studied in wide frequency range from 10 μHz to 3 THz at different temperatures from 20 to 1500 K. It was determined that the frequency dependence of electrical properties is caused by Maxwell-Wagner relaxation and the temperature dependence of electrical conductivity exhibit non-Arhenius behaviour. The electrical percolation threshold for hybrid MgO/carbon nanotubes composites is strongly dependent from MgO concentration.

Main publications:

Tretjak, M., Pralgauskaite, S., Matukas, J., Macutkevic, J., Banys, J. Low frequency noise and resistivity characteristics of hybrid composites with onion-like carbon and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Fluctuation and Noise Letters. 2019, 18: 1940009.

Bertasius, P., Macutkevic, J., Banys, J., Gaidukovs, S., Barkane, A., Vaivodiss, R. Synergy effects in dielectric and thermal properties of layered EVA composites with carbon and Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 2019, 48814: 1–8.

Bertasius, P., Meisak, D., Macutkevic, J., Kuzhir, P., Selskis, A., Volnyanko, E., Banys, J. Fine tuning of electrical transport and dielectric properties of epoxy/carbon nanotubes composites via magnesium oxide additives. Polymers. 2019, 11, 2044: 1–14.

Joint Lithuanian-Belorussian project Structural and Electromagnetic Properties of Metal Oxide Semiconductors and Dielectrics. Prof. Jūras Banys. 2019–2020.

The aim of project is to find the relation between the stoichiometry, structural, electrical and magnetic properties of metal oxide semiconductors and dielectrics using various investigations techniques and investigations of physical properties of such materials for electronic functional devices. During the project tin oxide films and Ba(Ti0.8 Ce0.2)O3 ceramics were investigated. Enhancement of the intensity of the Raman peaks corresponding to tin dioxide phase was observed in the samples containing both SnO and SnO2 due to resonant Raman scattering in tin oxide and dissipative transition of electronic excitation from tin monoxide atoms to tin dioxide atoms. The dielectric spectra of the Ba(Ti0.8Ce0.2)O3 ceramics have shown the broad dielectric relaxation which was analysed by the Havriliak-Negami relationship and the distribution of relaxation times formalism.

European Space Agency project Directive Transistor-Based THz Detectors (THzFET). Prof. A. Lisauskas. 2018– 2019.

The project is concentrated on developing devices and technologies for 0.3–5 THz frequency range, by employing scalable manufacturing processes and integrated sub-systems. The idea is to use field-effect transistors of existing micro-fabrication technologies, such as those in CMOS and AlGaN/GaN MMIC, and to operate these well beyond standard operating conditions in terms of frequency.

M-ERA.NET project Planar Architecture All Solid State Batteries. Assoc. Prof. E. Kazakevičius. 2017–2019.

The project is devoted to the production of solid-state lithium-ion batteries. The task of the group of Vilnius University is to produce a thick layer of solid electrolyte and to investigate its electrical properties using broadband impedance spectroscopy. During the project, perovskite and Nasicon structural-type compounds, their ceramics and thick layers were manufactured, and their electrical properties were investigated. At the time of submission of the report, an article on the electrical properties of Lithium Lanthanum Titanate (known as LLTO) solid electrolyte has been prepared for publication and the methodology for the production of thick layers by tape casting is further optimized.

Main publication:

Jiménez, R., Sobrados , I., Martínez-Chaparro, S., Adolfo del Campo, A., Calzada, M. L., Sanz, J., Shu Yi Tsai, Ming Rui Lin, Kuan Zong Fung, Kazakevicius, E., Kežionis, A. Preparation and characterization of large area Li-NASICON electrolyte thick films. Inorganics. 2019, 7: 107.

MAIN R&D&I (RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION) PARTNERS

Institute of Solid State Physics of University of Latvia (Latvia)
University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany)
National Taiwan University (Taiwan)
University of Yamanashi (Japan)
Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland)
University of Luxembourg
University of Bologna (Italy)
European Communication Office (Denmark)
Telia Lietuva Group (Lithuania)
Huawei Technologies Vilnius, UAB (Lithuania)
Jerzy Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry (Poland)
State Agency Spanish National Research Council (Spain)
National Cheng Kung University (Taiwan)

OTHER RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Prof. Jūras Banys –

  • member of the International Advisory Board of ECAPD (European Conference on Applications of Polar Dielectrics);
  • member of the International Advisory Board of EMF (European Meeting on Ferroelectrics);
  • member of the International Advisory Bboard of IMF (International Meeting on Ferroelectrics);
  • member of IEEE FEROCOM;
  • member of the IEEE Society;
  • foreign member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences;
  • correspondent member of the Saxonian Academy of Sciences in Leipzig;
  • Uzhgorod National University Doctor Honoris Causa;
  • member of the Lithuanian Physical Society;
  • member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences;
  • member of AMPERE Society Committee;
  • member of CERN Council;
  • editorial board member of the Lithuanian Journal of Physics.

Dr. S. Pralgauskaitė –

  • member of the International Advisory Committee of the International Conference on Noise and Fluctuations (ICNF);
  • member of the International Advisory Committee of the International Conference Unsolved Problems on Noise (UPoN).

Dr. Kęstutis Ikamas –

  • member of the Terahertz-band Communications and Networking panel in NATO Science and Technology Organization;
  • member of the Lithuanian Physical Society.

BEST REPORTS DELIVERED AT CONFERENCES ABROAD

  • Lisauskas, K. Ikamas, I. Nevinskas, A. Krotkus, H. G. Roskos. Electrical nonlinearities in field effect transistors and their applications for terahertz autocorrelation measurements. Conference SPIE. Optics+Photonics, San Diego, USA. August 11–15, 2019.
  • S. Balciunas, M. Ivanov, J. Banys. Satoshi Wada. Dielectric properties of barium titanate based composites. EMN- Ceramics, Korea, Jeju, June 20–24, 2019.
  • R. Grigalaitis, D. Pavlovaitė, S. Balčiūnas, M. Šimėnas, M. Kinka, J. Banys, F.-K. Shieh, and K. C.-W. Wu, Satoshi Wada. Water dynamics in ZIF-90 and UiO-66 metal-organic frameworks, -07-14 EMF – 2019, Switzerland, Lausanne, ThPOiiPosters.6.
  • D. Pavlovaite, S. Balčiūnas, M. Šimėnas, M. Kinka, Fa-Kuen S., Kevin C.-W Wu, J. Banys, R. Grigalaitis. Low frequency dielectric properties and atmosferic effect of ZIF-90 metal-organic framework. 43-oji Lietuvos Nacionalinė Fizikos Konferencija, Vilnius, Lithuania, October 03–05, 2019.

MOST IMPORTANT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AWARDS RECEIVED FOR R&D ACTIVITIES

  • Baltic Assembly Science Prize.

MOST IMPORTANT PARTICIPATION CASES OF RESEARCHERS IN WORKING GROUPS OR COMMISSIONS SET UP BY STATE AUTHORITIES, STATE AND MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS, ORGANISATIONS, BUSINESS ENTITIES

  • Prof. Jūras Banys, President of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.
  • Prof. Assoc. Kęstutis Svirskas, member of a group "Lithuanian Hygiene Norm HN 80: 2015 “Electromagnetic field in the living environment. parameterized values and measurement requirements 10 kHz" Confirmation" in the 300 GHz band.
  • Prof. Jonas Matukas, member of RRT Council.

MOST IMPORTANT RESEARCH DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES

Japan’s National TV Report on Information Technology Development in Lithuania, Preparation for 5G Mobile Technology Deployment, Science and Business Collaboration.

 

INSTITUTE OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

3 Saulėtekio ave., LT-10257 Vilnius
Tel. 223 4636
E-mail: tfai @ tfai.vu.lt

Director – Dr. Habil. Gražina Tautvaišienė

STAFF

Distinguished professor: Habil. Dr. G. Juzeliūnas.
Professors: Dr. E. Anisimovas (part-time), Habil. Dr. A. Bartkevičius (affiliated), Habil. Dr. R. Karazija (affiliated), Dr. A. Kučinskas (part-time), Habil. Dr. V. Straižys (Emeritus), Habil. Dr. G. Tautvaišienė (part-time), Prof. Dr. V. Vansevičius (part-time).
Research professors: Dr. K. Černis, Dr. A. Deltuva, Prof. Habil. Dr. G. Gaigalas, Dr. V. Gontis, Assoc. Prof. Dr. V. Jonauskas, Habil. Dr. B. Kaulakys (part-time), Dr. H. Kjeldsen, Dr. A. Kučinskas (part-time), Dr. J. Ruseckas, Habil. Dr. G. Tautvaišienė (part-time), Habil. Dr. K. Zdanavičius (affiliated).
Associate professors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. T. Gajdosik, Dr. D. Narbutis (part-time), Dr. R. Stonkutė (part-time), Dr. K. Zubovas (part-time), Assoc. Prof. Dr. D. Šatkovskienė (affiliated).
Senior researchers: Assoc. Prof. Dr. A. Acus, Dr. F. Grundahl, Dr. R. Janulis (part-time), Dr. A. Juodagalvis, Habil. Dr. V. Gineitytė (affiliated), Dr. D. Jurčiukonis, Dr. R. Karpuškienė, Dr. A. Kazlauskas (part-time), Dr. R. Kisielius, Dr. A. Kynienė, Dr. S. Kučas, Dr. Š. Mikolaitis, Prof. Dr. (HP) E. Norvaišas (part-time), Dr. E. Pakštienė, Dr. V. Regelskis , Dr. J. Sperauskas, Dr. E. Stonkutė, Dr. J. Tamulienė, Dr. A. Vektarienė, Dr. G. Vektaris, Dr. J. Zdanavičius.
Researchers: Dr. K. Brogaard, Dr. Y. Chorniy, Dr. V. Čepas (part-time), Dr. V. Dobrovolskas, Dr. A. Drazdauskas, Dr. V. Dūdėnas, Dr. C. von Essen, Dr. R. Juršėnas, Dr. H. R. Hamedi, Dr. R. Kazakevičius, Dr. J. Klevas, Dr. A. Kononovičius, Dr. V. Kudriašov (part-time), Dr. Š. Masys, Dr. M. Maskoliūnas, Dr. R. Minkevičiūtė, Dr. A. Mekys (part-time), Dr. A. Momkauskaitė, Dr. V. Novičenko, Dr. L. Radžiūtė, Dr. P. Rynkun.
Research assistants: M. Macijauskas (part-time), M. Račiūnas (part-time), S. Raudeliūnas (part-time), G. Žlabys (part-time).
Project-specialists: M. Amrozas (part-time), V. Bagdonas (part-time), K. Bobraitis (part-time), S. Draukšas (part-time), K. Šiškauskaitė (part-time), C. Viscasillas Vazquez (part-time), M. Ambrosch (part-time).
Doctoral students: M. Ambrosch, S. Draukšas, E. Kolomiecas, J. Koncevičiūtė, S. Pakalka, M. Račiūnas, C. Viscasillas Vazquez, G. Žlabys.
Non-academic staff: V. Kakarienė, B. Kavaliauskienė, S. Lovčikas, Ž. Naimovičienė, B. Šatkovskis, B. Prunskienė (part-time).

RESEARCH AREAS

Analysis of Atoms
Subatomic Particles or their Ensembles
Complex Systems
Electromagnetic Radiation
Cosmic Objects

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Galactic structure and chemodynamical evolution of stellar populations
Chemical composition and mixing phenomena in stellar atmospheres
Convection and non-equilibrium radiative transfer in stellar atmospheres
Stellar asteroseismology
Planet hosting stars and exoplanet transits
Structure and evolution of galaxies
Search and positional observations of comets and asteroids
Theoretical atomic spectroscopy
Algorithms and computer programs for plasma physics, astrophysics and other fields
Application of quantum mechanics and electrodynamics for transitions in atoms, molecules and molecular complexes
Interactions of atoms and molecules with electrons and radiation
Theoretical investigation of crystalline and electronic structure of perovskite crystals
Algebraic techniques for nuclear and particle physics
Analysis of pp collision data recorded at CERN CMS experiment
Neutrinos in the extended Standard model
Scattering processes in few-body nuclear systems
Quantum optics and ultra-cold atoms
Bose-Einstein condensates
Condensed matter systems
Quantum chemistry
Complexity and statistical physics applications in economics, finance and other social sciences
Fluctuations and noise, theory of 1/f noise

RESEARCH PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN 2019

Projects Supported by University Budget

Stellar Chemical Composition and Asteroseismic Activity in the Milky Way Galaxy. Dr. Habil. G. Tautvaišienė. 2016–2020.

We continued our investigations of mixing processes in evolved stars. Using observational data from the Gaia-ESO spectroscopic survey, we performed the chemical composition analysis of stellar photospheres and compared the results with the latest stellar evolution models. We investigate the effects of thermohaline mixing on C and N abundances. The current models including thermohaline mixing are able to reproduce very well the C and N abundances over the whole metallicity range investigated by the Gaia-ESO survey data. We also investigated transit timing variation trends for planet-harbouring stars WASP-12 and WASP-4. We combined the data of previous observations together with the newly acquired data from the TESS satellite and this allowed us to identify possible additional companions in their planetary systems. Furthermore, looking at the GM Cephei star, we identified possible structures in its circumstellar disk, which might include dust clumps of various sizes.

Main publications:

Lagarde, N., Reylé, C., Robin, A. C., Tautvaišienė, G., Drazdauskas, A., Mikolaitis, Š., Minkevičiūtė, R., Stonkutė, E., Chorniy, Y., Bagdonas, V., Miglio, A., Nasello, G., Gilmore, G., Randich, S., Bensby, T., Bragaglia, A., Flaccomio, E. Francois, P., Korn, A. J., Pancino, E., Smiljanic, R., Bayo, A., Carraro, G., Costado, M. T., Jiménez-Esteban, F., Jofré, P., Martell, S. L., Masseron, T., Monaco, L., Morbidelli, L., Sbordone, L., Sousa, S. G., Zaggia, S. The Gaia-ESO Survey: impact of extra mixing on C and N abundances of giant stars. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 2019, 621, id.A24: 10.1051/0004-6361/201732433.

Baluev, R. V., Sokov, E. N., Jones, H. R. A., Shaidulin, V. Sh., Sokova, I. A., Nielsen, L. D., Benni, P., Schneiter, E. M., Villarreal D'Angelo, C., Fernández-Lajús, E., Di Sisto, R. P., Baștürk, Ö., Bretton, M., Wunsche, A., Hentunen, V. -P., Shadick, S., Jongen, Y., Kang, W., Kim, T., Pakštienė, E., Qvam, J. K. T., Knight, C. R., Guerra, P., Marchini, A., Salvaggio, F., Papini, R., Evans, P., Salisbury, M., Garcia, F., Molina, D., Garlitz, J., Esseiva, N., Ogmen, Y., Karavaev, Yu., Rusov, S., Ibrahimov, M. A., Karimov, R. G. Homogeneously derived transit timings for 17 exoplanets and reassessed TTV trends for WASP-12 and WASP-4. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2019, 490(1): 1294–1312. 10.1093/mnras/stz2620.

Huang, P. C., Chen, W. P., Mugrauer, M., Bischoff, R., Budaj, J., Burkhonov, O., Ehgamberdiev, S., Errmann, R., Garai, Z., Hsiao, H. Y., Hu, C. L., Janulis, R., Jensen, E. L. N., Kiyota, S., Kuramoto, K., Lin, C. S., Lin, H. C., Liu, J. Z., Lux, O., Naito, H., Neuhäuser, R., Ohlert, J., Pakštienė, E., Pribulla, T., Qvam, J. K. T., Raetz, St., Sato, S., Schwartz, M., Semkov, E., Takagi, S., Wagner, D., Watanabe, M., Zhang, Yu. Diagnosing the clumpy protoplanetary disk of the UXor type young star GM Cephei. The Astrophysical Journal. 2019, 871(2), article id. 183: 10.3847/1538–4357/aaf793.

Star Formation and Dust Clouds in the Orion and Perseus Arms of the Galaxy. Prof. V. Straižys. 2016–2020.

The open clusters IC 1369 in Cygnus and its vicinity was investigated applying two-dimensional photometric classification of stars measured in the Vilnius seven-colour photometric system. Cluster members were identified applying the Gaia DR2 parallaxes and proper motions. The following parameters of the cluster were derived: the distance is 3300 +– 450 pc, the mean extinction is 2.54 mag, and the age is 300–350 Myr. In the direction of IC 1369 the extinction rise up to about 2.0 mag takes place at 300–700 pc and is caused by the dust cloud LDN 970 and the northern extension of the Great Cygnus Rift. The catalogue of the investigated stars in the direction of IC 1369 contains 2694 stars down to 20 mag.

Hydrodynamical Phenomena and Radiative Transfer in Stellar Atmospheres. Dr. A. Kučinskas. 2015–2019.

We investigated the influence of convection of the formation of spectral lines of diatomic molecules CH and OH in the metal-poor subgiant BD+44493. We demonstrate that the influence of convection is very significant which, in turn, may lead to abundance corrections for carbon and oxygen of up to 0.6 and 0.9 dex if determined from the CH and OH lines, respectively. Our findings show that abundance corrections for the two elements do change with the metallicity and may thus influence the trends of [O/Fe]-[Fe/H] and [C/Fe]-[Fe/H] observed in various Galactic populations.

Stochastic Effects in Stellar Systems. Prof. Dr. V. Vansevičius. 2019–2023.

We studied the Leo A galaxy based on deep Subaru and HST photometry data and discovered 5 star clusters of low mass. Two clusters are young (~20 Myr) and overlapping with H II regions, the other three clusters are older (≳100 Myr). For the first time it was shown that star clusters can form in such low metallicity galaxies with undetected molecular gas. We investigated the possibility that tidal disruptions of stars are responsible for the observed AGN in dwarf galaxies. The calculated properties of outflows driven by AGN show that they might have noticeable effects on the host galaxies. We derived spectroscopic orbits of 57 stars, mostly nearby dwarfs of spectral types K and M. Their periods range from 2.2 days to 14 years. Many stars belong to hierarchical systems containing three or more components, including 20 new hierarchies discovered.

Main publications:

Stonkutė, R., Naujalis, R., Čeponis, M., Leščinskaitė, A., Vansevičius, V. Star clusters in the dwarf irregular galaxy Leo A. Astronomy and Astrophysics. 2019, 627, id.A7: 5 pp.

Zubovas, K. Tidal disruption events can power the observed AGN in dwarf galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2019, 483: 1957–1969.

Sperauskas, J., Deveikis, V., Tokovinin, A. Spectroscopic orbits of nearby stars. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 2019, 626, id.A31: 17 pp.

Astrometry and Photometry of Small Solar System Bodies. Dr. K. Černis. 2016–2020.

Thirteen new asteroids have been discovered. A new precise orbit of the NEO object 1986 DA was determined. We detected its rotational period and other physical characteristics. Fourier transform was applied to determine its rotation period of (3.12 +/- 0.02) h. We published 5712 astrometric positions of 1550 asteroids. Near Earth Objects, TNO, Main Belt asteroids and comets were observed with the 0.35/0.51 m Maksutov telescope (Molėtai Observatory), with the 0.80/1.20 m Schmidt telescope (Baldone Observatory, Latvia), with the 1.8 m Vatican telescope (Mt. Graham, Arizona, U.S.A.), and with the 0.65 m Hamiltonian telescope (Crimea, Ukraine). Noctilucent clouds were observed in summer time from the Vilnius station. Five asteroids were named by Švitrigaila, Kakaras, Klimka, and Baldone.

Main publications:

Černis, K., Eglitis, I. Discovery of nine new asteroids and astrometric observations of 550 asteroids (1944 positions) in Baldone Astronomical Observatory (Code 069). M.P.C. 112836. (2019 May. 18).

Borisov, G., Černis, K. Discovery of Mars crosser asteroid 2019 VH6 and astrometric observations of comet C/2019 V1 (Borisov) in Crimea Astronomical Observatory (Code L51). M.P.E.C. 2019-X120 .

Černis, K., R. Boyle, Kikwaya, J. B. Astrometric observations of 27 asteroids (156 positions) in Vatican Astronomical Observatory (Code 290). M.P.C. 112843 (2019 May. 18).

Multielectron Processes in Complex Atomic Systems. Dr. V. Jonauskas. 2019–2023.

The ab initio quasirelativistic approach developed specifically for the calculation of spectral parameters of highly charged ions was used to derive transition data for the Nb-like tungsten ion W33+. Electron-impact single-ionization cross sections for the W5+ ion were studied experimentally and theoretically. Electronic g-tensor calculations were done for paramagnetic defects inserted into small hydrogenated nanodiamond, showing that it can be used to model magnetic properties of defects with no vacancies.

Main publications:

Karpuškienė, R., Kisielius, R. Theoretical level energies and transition data for 4p64d5, 4p54d6 and 4p64d44f configurations of W33+ ion. At. Data and Nucl. Data Tables. 2019, 125: 287–312.

Jonauskas, V., Kynienė, A., Kučas, S., Pakalka, S., Masys, Š., Prancikevičius, A., Borovik, A. Jr., Gharaibeh, M. F., Schippers, S., Müller, A. Electron-impact ionization of W5+. Phys. Rev. 2019, A 100, 062701.

Jonauskas, V., Masys, Š. Double- and triple-Auger processes in C1+, J. Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer. 2019, 229: 11–16.

Correlation and Relativistic Effects in Complex Atoms and Ions. Prof. G. Gaigalas. 2015–2019.

New method of continuum wave functions computation was demonstrated for Xe atom. EDM moments were computed and continuum contribution to the atom electric dipole moment (EDM) was evaluated. New version of GRASP programme package was prepared and published in the latest Fortran 95 version. New version of the program for relativistic isotope shift computations (RIS4) was prepared.

Main publications:

Syty, P., Sienkiewicz, J. E., Radžiūtė, L., Gaigalas, G., Rynkun, P., Bieroń, J. Continuum wave functions for estimating the electric dipole moment: calculation based on a multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock approximation. Physical Review A 99. 2019, 012514. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.99.012514.

Ekman, J., Jonsson, P., Godefroid, M., Naze, C., Gaigalas, G., Bieroń, J. RIS4: A program for relativistic isotope shift calculations. Computer Physics Communications. 2019, 235: 433–446. doi: 10.1016/j.cpc.2018.08.017.

Froese Fischer, C., Gaigalas, G., Jonsson, P., Bieron, J. GRASP2018-A Fortran 95 version of the General Relativistic Atomic Structure Package. Computer Physics Communications. 2019, 237: 184–18. doi: 10.1016/j.cpc.2018.10.032.

Theoretical Study of Light Nuclei and Elementary Particles. Dr. A. Deltuva. 2016–2020.

The four-neutron system was studied in the framework of exact continuum equations, demonstrating the shortcomings of bound-state-type treatments and the absence of an observable tetraneutron resonance. Differential cross sections and analysing powers have been calculated for three-body breakup reactions involving various light nuclei (deuteron, helium, beryllium, carbon) and polarized proton or electron beams. Renormalization of the finite-range inverse-cube potential was investigated in two- and three-body systems.

Main publications:

Deltuva, A., Lazauskas, R. Comment on "Is a trineutron resonance lower in energy than a tetraneutron resonance?" A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2019, 123: 069201.

Deltuva, A., Lazauskas, R. Tetraneutron resonance in the presence of a dineutron. Phys. Rev. C. 2019, 100: 044002.

Deltuva, A. Core-excitation effects in three-body breakup reactions studied using the Faddeev formalism. Phys. Rev. C. 2019, 99: 024613.

Optical, Kinetic, and Topological Properties of Cold Atoms and Condensed Molecular Structures. Habil. Dr. G. Juzeliūnas. 2018–2021.

A method was proposed and studied allowing achieving a complete energy conversion between laser pulses carrying orbital angular momentum in a cloud of cold atoms characterized by a double-Lambda atom-light-coupling scheme. Propagation of optical solitons was investigated in a medium of atoms characterized by five energy levels coupled in a cyclic way. The combination of oscillating magnetic forces and radio-frequency (rf) pulses was shown to provide rf photons with tuneable momentum. It was demonstrated that the Larkin-Ovchinnikov state can be realized in a bilayer Fermi gas of ultra cold atoms subjected to a laser-assisted interlayer tunnelling. The redox activity of 2-arylamino-benzoquinones was studied by calculation of quantum chemical structure-activity descriptors. New data on the fragmentation of the glutamine molecule under low-energy electron impact were obtained. The resolvent formulas of Krein-Naimark type were presented in terms of the gamma-field and the abstract Weyl function.

Main publications:

Galitski, V., Juzeliūnas, G., Spielman, I. B. Artificial gauge fields with ultracold atoms. Physics Today. 2019, 72(1): 38.

Hamedi, H. R., Ruseckas, J., Paspalakis, E., Juzeliūnas, G. Transfer of optical vortices in coherently prepared media. Phys. Rev. 2019, A 99: 033812.

Shteynas, B., Lee, J., Top, F. C., Li, J.-R., Jamison, A. O., Juzeliūnas, G., Ketterle, W. How to dress radio-frequency photons with tuneable momentum. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2019, 123: 033203.

Evolution and Statistics of Complex Systems. Prof. B. Kaulakys. 2017–2021.

We proposed and generalized the Bessel-like birth-death process having clear representation by the SDEs. The new process helps us to integrate the alternatives of description and to derive the equations for the probability density function (PDF) of the burst and inter-burst duration of the proposed continuous time birth-death processes. We have performed analysis of NBA regular season data showing that the empirical observations are consistent with random models, thus disproving presence of memory in these time series.

Main publication:

Kononovičius, A. Illusion of persistence in NBA 1995-2018 regular season data. Physica A. 2019, 520: 250–256. doi: 10.1016/j.physa.2019.01.039.

National Research Projects

Global Grant research project Stellar and Exoplanet Investigations in the Context of the TESS and JWST Space Missions. (No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0103) Habil. Dr. G. Tautvaišienė. 2018–2022.

In this project, we aim to carry out a detailed spectral analysis for a sample of about 1000 bright Galactic field F, G, and K stars and to analyse observations of the NASA TESS space telescope data obtained in the northern sky. We have already observed all 302 stars in the northern continuous viewing zone of the TESS space telescope. The main atmospheric parameters and the chemical composition have been determined. Together with data from other surveys, we have derived the kinematic parameters and ages for our sample of objects. The TESS spacecraft is currently carrying out observations in this exact region, and the data, which will be available soon, will allow us to investigate planet hosting stars and their planets in more detail.

Main publications:

Huber, D., Chaplin, W. J., Chontos, A., Kjeldsen, H., Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., Bedding, T. R., Ball, W., Brahm, R., Espinoza, N., Henning, T., Jordán, A., Sarkis, P., Knudstrup, E., Albrecht, S., Grundahl, F., et al. A hot Saturn orbiting an oscillating late subgiant discovered by TESS. The Astronomical Journal. 2019, 157(6), article id. 245, pp. 10.3847/1538-3881/ab1488.

von Essen, C., Wedemeyer, S., Sosa, M. S., Hjorth, M., Parkash, V., Freudenthal, J., Mallonn, M., Miculán, R. G., Zibecchi, L., Cellone, S., Torres, A. F.. Indications for transit-timing variations in the exo-Neptune HAT-P-26b. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 2019, 628, id.A116, pp. 10.1051/0004-6361/201731966.

von Essen, C., Stefansson, G., Mallonn, M., Pursimo, T., Djupvik, A. A., Mahadevan, S., Kjeldsen, H., Freudenthal, J., Dreizler, S. First light of engineered diffusers at the Nordic Optical Telescope reveal time variability of the optical eclipse depth of WASP-12b. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 2019, 628, id.A115, pp. 10.1051/0004-6361/201935312.

Global Grant research project Quantum Engineering in Cold Atomic Gases (No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0051). Prof. E. Anisimovas. 2018–2022.

We focused on the study of quantum gases in quasiperiodic optical lattices. These systems support phasonic degrees of freedom that are unique to quasiperiodic structures, play a central role in poorly understood properties of quasicrystals but are challenging to access dynamically in the solid state. We realized phasonic spectroscopy of a quasicrystal, using quantum gas in a quasiperiodic optical lattice. We observed that strong phasonic driving produces a nonperturbative high-harmonic response strikingly different from the effects of standard dipolar driving, and identified spectroscopic signatures of quasiperiodicity and interactions.

Main publications:

Hamedi, H. R., Paspalakis, E., Žlabys, G., Juzeliūnas, G., Ruseckas, J. Complete energy conversion between light beams carrying orbital angular momentum using coherent population trapping for a coherently driven double-Λ atom-light-coupling scheme. Physical Review A. 2019, 100: 023811.

Rajagopal, S. V., Shimasaki, T., Dotti, P., Račiūnas, M., Senaratne, R., Anisimovas, E., Eckardt, A., Weld, D. M. Phasonic spectroscopy of a quantum gas in a quasicrystalline lattice. Physical Review Letters. 2019, 123: 223201.

Research Council of Lithuania. Quantum Phases and Phase Transitions in Restricted-Geometry Condensates (No. APP-4/2016). Prof. Dr. E. Anisimovas. 2016–2019.

The project was completed during the first three months of the year. We focused on quantum dynamics of systems with fast spatial modulation of the Hamiltonian. Employing the formalism of supersymmetric quantum mechanics and decoupling fast and slow spatial oscillations we demonstrated that the effective dynamics is governed by a Schrödinger-like equation of motion and constructed the effective Hamiltonian.

Main publication:

Novičenko, V., Ruseckas, J., Anisimovas, E. Quantum dynamics in potentials with fast spatial oscillations. Physical Review A. 2019, 99: 043608.

Research Council of Lithuania. Interstellar Clouds and Star Forming in the Great Cygnus Rift of the Milky Way (S-MIP–17-74). Dr. S. A. Kazlauskas. 2017–2019.

A goal of this project is to investigate a group of interstellar clouds and star forming regions (SFRs) located in the direction of the Great Cygnus Rift, between the Galactic longitudes 70–90 deg. Using the seven-colour Vilnius photometric system as well as astrometric data from the Gaia orbiting observatory we determined the membership, distances, ages, and interstellar extinction to the open clusters IC 4996.

Main publication:

Straižys, V., Boyle, R.P., Milašius, K., Černis, K., Macijauskas, M., Munari, U., Janusz, R., Zdanavičius, J., Zdanavičius, K., Maskoliūnas, M., Raudeliūnas, S., Kazlauskas, A. A young open cluster IC 4996 and its vicinity: multicolor photometry plus Gaia DR2 astrometry. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 2019, 623: A22.

Research Council of Lithuania postdoctoral fellowship Physical Modelling of Order Book and Opinion Dynamics (09.3.3-LMT-K-712-02-0026). Dr. A. Kononovičius, supervisor Dr. J. Ruseckas. 2017–2020.

A method to approximate the first passage time distributions of the birth-death processes was proposed. An extension of the voter model, which reproduces empirical census and electoral data, was proposed. The extension removes opinion dynamics, but introduces the movement into the voter model.

Main publications:

Kononovičius, A. Compartmental voter model. Journal of Statistical Mechanics 2019. 2019: 103402. doi: 10.1088/1742-5468/ab409b.

Kononovičius, A., Ruseckas, J. Order book model with herding behavior exhibiting long-range memory. Physica A. 2019, 525: 171–191. doi: 10.1016/j.physa.2019.03.059.

Kononovičius, A., Gontis, V. Approximation of the first passage time distribution for the birth-death processes. Journal of Statistical Mechanics 2019. 2019: 073402. doi: 10.1088/1742-5468/ab2709.

Research Council of Lithuania postdoctoral fellowship Algebraic Analysis of Strongly Correlated Systems (09.3.3-LMT-K-712-02-0017). Dr. V. Regelskis, supervisor Dr. A. Acus. 2017–2019.

The vacuum vector triviality issue in the orthogonal spin chains was resolved. A new algebraic fusion-based approach to the spectral problem to oust the lesser perturbative approach was developed.

Main publications:

Gerrard, A., MacKay, N., Regelskis, V. Nested algebraic Bethe Ansatz for open spin chains with even twisted Yangian symmetry. Ann. Henri Poincaré. 2019, 20: 339–392, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00023-018-0731-1.

Guay, N., Regelski, V., Wendlandt, C. Vertex representations for Yangians of Kac-Moody algebras. Journal de l'École polytechnique – Mathématiques. 2019, 6: 665–706, https://doi.org/10.5802/jep.103.

Research Council of Lithuania postdoctoral fellowship. Functionalized Nanodiamonds: Investigation of Magnetic Properties (09.3.3-LMT-K-712-02-0077). Dr. Š. Masys, supervisor Dr. J. Tamulienė. 2017–2019.

Electronic g-tensor dependence on the size, shape, and surface functionalization of nanodiamonds (NDs) was investigated by selecting dangling bonds and single substitutional nitrogen atoms as paramagnetic defects. The performed calculations have revealed that paramagnetic defects introduced into smaller models of NDs behave in a very similar manner as those embedded into larger ones, but g-tensor dependence on different shape and surface functionalization can be considered as more pronounced.

Main publications:

Masys, Š., Rinkevičius, Z., Tamulienė, J. On the magnetic properties of nanodiamonds: Electronic g-tensor calculations. J. Chem. Phys. 2019, 151: 044305.

Masys, Š., Rinkevičius, Z., Tamulienė, J. Electronic g-tensors of nanodiamonds: Dependence on the size, shape, and surface functionalization. J. Chem. Phys. 2019, 151: 144305.

Research Council of Lithuania postdoctoral fellowship Theoretical Study of Atomic Parameters with Applications to Astrophysics (Nr. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-02-0072). Dr. P. Rynkun, supervisor Prof. Dr. G. Gaigalas. 2017–2019.

We obtain accurate and extensive results of electric dipole (E1), magnetic dipole (M1), and electric quadrupole (E2) transition for Cl III and Ar IV ions using MCDHF and RCI methods. The accuracy of results is evaluated comparing energy levels with data from NIST database and by the agreement of transition rates between length and velocity gauges. The averaged uncertainty of computed energy levels compared with NIST data is 0.18% and 0.21%, respectively for Cl III and Ar IV ions. The mean dT for all presented E1 transitions is 5.95% and 6.47%, respectively, for the Cl III and Ar IV ions.

Main publication:

Rynkun, P., Gaigalas, G., Jönsson, P. Theoretical investigation of energy levels and transition data for S II, Cl III, Ar IV. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 2019, 623: A155. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201834931.

Research Council of Lithuania postdoctoral fellowship Topological Properties of Periodically Driven Quantum Systems (09.3.3-LMT-K-712-0.2-0065) Dr. V. Novičenko, supervisor Dr. Habil. G. Juzeliūnas. 2017–2019.

We consider a quantum spin-particle in a magnetic field, which oscillates in time. By neglecting kinetic energy of a spin-particle, we show that oscillating magnetic field with slowly varying amplitude induces Non-Abelian geometric phases into evolution operator. For the case of spin-particle with kinetic energy, spatially non-homogeneous oscillating magnetic field induces spin-orbit coupling potential. Such potential can have form of a purely 3D spin-orbit coupling when three components of the orbital angular momentum operator coupled with three components of the spin operator.

Main publications:

Novičenko, V., Juzeliūnas, G. Non-Abelian geometric phases in periodically driven systems. Phys. Rev. A. 2019, 100: 012127.

Račkauskas, P., Novičenko, V., Pu, H., Juzeliūnas, G. Non-Abelian geometric potentials and spin-orbit coupling for periodically driven systems. Phys. Rev. A. 2019, 100: 063616.

EU Structural Funds project Equip Schools with the Tools of Nature and Technology Education (No. 09.1.3-CPVA-V-704-02-0001). Leader - Education Supply Centre of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania, one of the executors - Dr. A. Kynienė. 2017–2019.

Training Equipment Kits for school-children of 5–8 level that provide appropriate general education programmes were selected. 30 descriptions of teaching aids and equipment for physics teacher were developed and five video descriptions were prepared for harder tasks.

International Research Projects

EC Horizon2020 project EUROPLANET2020 – Research Infrastructure (project No. 654208). Dr. Habil. G. Tautvaišienė. 2015–2019.

We were working within the work packages dedicated to on-ground observations, coordination and training of amateur astronomers and planetary science outreachers. A summer school was organized on June 11–21, 2019 at the Molėtai Astronomical Observatory. The aim of the course was to give participants an introduction into space missions and the ground-based observations required by space missions before and after launch, as well as an introduction to science communication. 21 participants from 16 countries (Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, Poland, Romania, Turkey, and United Kingdom) have been trained.

Main publication:

Scherf, M., Snodgrass, C., Kargl, G., Hueso, R., Tautvaisiene, G., Podlewska-Gaca, E., Santana-Ros, T., Colas, F. Amateur collaboration within Europlanet 2020 and beyond. EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2019, September 15–20, 2019, Geneva, Switzerland, id. EPSC-DPS2019-1612.

Lithuanian-Japanese project Theoretical Studies of Structure and Properties of Heavy Elements toward Identification of Gravitational Wave Sources funded by Research Council of Lithuania (S-LJB-18-1). Prof. Dr. G. Gaigalas. 2018–2020.

By employing multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock and relativistic configuration interaction methods, we calculate the energy levels and transition data of electric dipole transitions for singly ionized lanthanides. Comparing with various databases we obtained ten times more data for lanthanides, with 10% accuracy. Investigation was done on Nd III, Er III and Nd IV ions. The accuracy was up to 10%. Based on these elements analysis on opacity has been done. The results of the above-mentioned research have attracted interest of international research community and have been publicized by Eurekalert at
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-03/nion-fsa031119.php.

Main publications:

Gaigalas, G., Kato, D., Rynkun, P., Radžiūtė, L., Tanaka, M. Extended calculations of energy levels and transition rates of Nd II-IV ions for application to neutron star mergers. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 2019, 240: 29, 17pp, https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/aaf9b8.

Rynkun, P., Radžiūtė, L., Gaigalas, G., Jönsson, P. Theoretical investigation of energy levels and transition data for P II. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 2019, 622: A167, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201834696.

Research Council of Lithuania. Polish – Lithuanian Black Hole Hunt (S-LL-19-2). Dr. M. Maskoliūnas. 2019–2021.

A goal of this project is to use of the Lithuanian and Polish expertise in photometric observations and data analysis in order to detect first lensing black holes and derive the demography of these dark objects in the Galactic Disk. The black holes in motion in the Milky Way would cause regular stars to brighten temporarily due to microlensing. The software for the network operation and homogenous data processing provided by the European Coordination grant, OPTICON (http://www.astro-opticon.org). In this project, we collaborate with OPTICON and include the Polish and Lithuanian scientists and telescopes into a broader European network of researchers involved in the time-domain astronomy. Without the dedicated follow-up, lasting months to even years, the events observed by Gaia will not be possible to distinguish from regular stars.

Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Lithuanian Cooperation with CERN. Dr. A. Juodagalvis, since 2008. Project Physics of Subatomic Particles in the CERN CMS Experiment (DaFi2019).

Activities at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at CERN are focused on participation in the Detector performance group of the CMS muon system upgrade project GEM. GEM-related database integration into CMS software (CMSSW) and DAQ systems were targeted. DCS shifts at GEM Cosmic Stand Test (QC8) were carried out. The analysis of the CMS pp collision data recorded in 2015 was finalized and analysis of the 2016 data was continued aiming to deduce Drell-Yan process properties at the centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. A study of the Grimus-Neufeld model was continued. The idea of using the measured neutrino mixing matrix as model input parameters was finalized in a publication. Other studies of Standard Model extensions were performed.

Main publications:

CMS Collaboration [from Lithuania: V. Dūdėnas, A. Juodagalvis, J. Vaitkus], Measurement of the differential Drell-Yan cross section in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)=13 TeV. JHEP 1912. 2019, 59. doi:10.1007/JHEP12(2019)059.

Jurčiukonis, D., Gajdosik, T., Juodagalvis, A. Seesaw neutrinos with one right-handed singlet field and a second Higgs doublet. JHEP 1911. 2019, 146. doi: 10.1007/JHEP11(2019)146.

Jurčiukonis, D., Lavoura, L. More models for lepton mixing with four constraints. JHEP 1907. 2019, 157. doi: 10.1007/JHEP07(2019)157.

International programme Gaia-ESO Spectroscopic Survey (ESO project 188.B-3002). Dr. Habil. G. Tautvaišienė. 2012–2021.

We investigated the relation between stellar ages and their carbon-to-nitrogen abundance ratios and found that for evolved stars, there is a linear dependency between these two values – larger carbon-to-nitrogen ratios were found in older stars and vice versa. Furthermore, we looked at the age spread in the stellar cluster NGC 6530 trying to identify its stellar formation history. We determined that there is a real age spread between the stars. This conclusion is supported by stellar kinematics as well, showing that the younger stars are found mainly around the cluster centre. We fully characterized the open cluster Pismis 18, confirming its present location in the inner Galactic disc with a younger age than the previous literature values. We for the first time determined its metallicity and detailed chemical composition. Its [α/Fe] and [s-elements/Fe] are slightly super-solar, in agreement with other inner-disc open clusters observed by the Gaia-ESO survey.

Main publications:

Casali, G., Magrini, L., Tognelli, E., Jackson, R., Jeffries, R. D., Lagarde, N., Tautvaišienė, G., Masseron, T., Degl'Innocenti, S., Prada Moroni, P. G., Kordopatis, G., Pancino, E., Randich, S., Feltzing, S., Sahlholdt, C., Spina, L., Friel, E., Roccatagliata, V., Sanna, N., Bragaglia, A., Drazdauskas, A., Mikolaitis, Š., Minkevičiūtė, R., Stonkutė, E., Chorniy, Y., Bagdonas, V., Jimenez-Esteban, F., Martell, S., Van der Swaelmen, M., Gilmore, G., Vallenari, A., Bensby, T., Koposov, S. E., Korn, A., Worley, C., Smiljanic, R., Bergemann, M., Carraro, G., Damiani, F., Prisinzano, L., Bonito, R., Franciosini, E., Gonneau, A., Hourihane, A., Jofre, P., Lewis, J., Morbidelli, L., Sacco, G., Sousa, S. G., Zaggia, S., Lanzafame, A. C., Heiter, U., Frasca, A., Bayo, A. The Gaia-ESO survey: Calibrating a relationship between age and the [C/N] abundance ratio with open clusters. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 2019, 629, id.A62: 10.1051/0004–6361/201935282.

Prisinzano, L., Damiani, F., Kalari, V., Jeffries, R., Bonito, R., Micela, G., Wright, N. J., Jackson, R. J., Tognelli, E., Guarcello, M. G., Vink, J. S., Klutsch, A., Jiménez-Esteban, F. M., Roccatagliata, V., Tautvaišienė, G., Gilmore, G., Randich, S., Alfaro, E. J., Flaccomio, E. Koposov, S., Lanzafame, A., Pancino, E., Bergemann, M., Carraro, G., Franciosini, E., Frasca, A., Gonneau, A., Hourihane, A., Jofré, P., Lewis, J., Magrini, L., Monaco, L., Morbidelli, L., Sacco, G. G., Worley, C. C., Zaggia, S. The Gaia-ESO Survey: Age spread in the star forming region NGC 6530 from the HR diagram and gravity indicators. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 2019, 623, id.A159: 10.1051/0004–6361/201834870.

Hatzidimitriou, D., Held, E. V., Tognelli, E., Bragaglia, A., Magrini, L., Bravi, L., Gazeas, K., Dapergolas, A., Drazdauskas, A., Delgado-Mena, E., Friel, E. D., Minkevičiūtė, R., Sordo, R., Tautvaišienė, G., Gilmore, G., Randich, S., Feltzing, S., Vallenari, A., Alfaro, E. J., Flaccomio, E., Lanzafame, A. C., Pancino, E., Smiljanic, R., Bayo, A., Bergemann, M., Carraro, G., Casey, A. R., Costado, M. T., Damiani, F., Franciosini, E., Gonneau, A., Jofré, P., Lewis, J., Monaco, L., Morbidelli, L., Worley, C. C., Zaggia, S. The Gaia-ESO Survey: The inner disc, intermediate-age open cluster Pismis 18. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 2019, 626, id.A90: 10.1051/0004–6361/201834636.

Long-term international project The Whole Earth Telescope (WET). Dr. E. Pakštienė, Dr. R. Janulis.

34 years of photometric observations of the DBV type white dwarf GD358 were summarized. The complete data set included archival data from 1982 to 2006, and 1195.2 hr of new observations from 2007 to 2016. From this data set, 15 frequencies representing g-mode pulsation modes were extracted and recognized as ℓ=1 modes. A detailed asteroseismic analysis was performed using models that include parameterized, complex, carbon and oxygen core composition profiles to fit the periods. Our best-fit model has a temperature of 23650 K and a mass of 0.5706 M(Sun).

Main publication:

Bischoff-Kim, A., Provencal, J. L., Bradley, P. A., Montgomery, M. H., Shipman, H. L., Harrold, S. T., Howard, B., Strickland, W., Chandler, D., Campbell, D., Arredondo, A., Linn, R., Russell, D. P., Doyle, D., Brickhouse, A., Peters, D., Kim, S. -L., Jiang, X. J., Mao, Y. -N., Kusakin, A. V., Sergeev, A. V., Andreev, M., Velichko, S., Janulis, R., Pakstiene, E., Aliçavuș, F., Horoz, N., Zola, S., Ogłoza, W., Koziel-Wierzbowska, D., Kundera, T., Jableka, D., Debski, B., Baran, A., Meingast, S., Nagel, T., Loebling, L., Heinitz, C., Hoyer, D. Bognár, Zs., Castanheira, B. G., Erdem, A. GD358: three decades of observations for the in-depth Asteroseismology of a DBV star. The Astrophysical Journal. 2019, 871(1) art. id. 13: 10.3847/1538–4357/aae2b1.

Long-term international project Kepler Follow-up Program of Kepler Objects of Interest (KFOP-KOIs). Dr. E. Pakštienė, Dr. R. Janulis. Since 2016.

KFOP-KOIs is a multisite photometric follow-up of Kepler KOIs, the framework of a large collaboration between institutions around the globe. Its main goal is to continue with Kepler's heritage, to increase the number of confirmed and characterized exoplanets by means of the Transit Timing Variations (TTV) technique. We observed such objects from the list of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOI) with the 1.65 m telescope at the Molėtai Astronomical Observatory: KOI 0377.01 (on Apr. 21), KOI 0410.01 (on Aug. 15), and KOI 0377.02 (on Sep. 3).

COST Action CA16201 Unravelling New Physics at the LHC through the Precision Frontier (ParticleFace) (http://particleface.eu/). Action Chair: Dr. German Rodrigo (Valencia, Spain) (24 countries). Dr. A. Juodagalvis, Management Committee member. 2017–2021.

COST action ParticleFace was joined in 2019. Partial support was received for 3 activities (the remaining costs were covered from the project funded by the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, DaFi2019). V. Dūdėnas went to the School of Analytic Computing in Theoretical High-Energy Physics (Atrani, Italy, October 2–11, 2019) and went to the conference Matter to the Deepest (Katowice, Poland, September 1–6, 2019). D. Jurčiukonis went on STSM to the University of Lisbon to collaborate with L. Lavoura on the investigation of the lepton-flavour violating processes (like a tau particle decay to a muon and a photon) in a multi-Higgs-doublet model. To get to know WG1 and WG2 better, A. Juodagalvis and T. Gajdosik used the DaFi2019 funds to participate in the 15th Vienna Central European Seminar: Precision Physics at the LHC (Wien, November 28–29, 2019).

COST Action CA16117 Chemical Elements as Tracers of the Evolution of the Cosmos (ChETEC) (http://www.cost.eu/COST_Actions/ca/ca11617). Action Chair: Dr. Raphael Hirschi, England) (30 countries). Dr. A. Kučinskas, Managing Committee member, member of the project Core Group, Co-lead of the Working Group 3 (Astronomical Observations). 2017–2021.

COST Action CA18104 Revealing the Milky Way with Gaia (ORIGINS) (https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA18104). Action Chair: Nicholas Walton) (28 countries). Dr. Š. Mikolaitis, Managing Committee member, Lead of the Working Group 5. 2019–2023.

In a framework of this COST action, Carlos Viscasillas Vázquez attended the international workshop of CA18104 WG1 the Gaia Treasure Hunt, which was organised in Cambridge, United Kingdom on September 3–5, 2019.

Long-term international project Researchers’ Night. Dr. E. Stonkutė, S. Lovčikas. Since 2005.

The main purpose of this project is meetings of scientists with the general public. Such meetings took place on September 27 at the Molėtai Astronomical Observatory of the Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy. It is a Europe-wide public event dedicated to popular science. 27 countries and over 128 applicants involved. The Molėtai Astronomical Observatory programme included 8 lectures given by six lecturers, tours to professional telescopes, stargazing, CERN Virtual visit. The especially notable event was the online video-tour of CERN and discussion with scientists working there. Almost all staff of the Observatory and several scientists from other departments have met with ~400 people visiting the Observatory.

MAIN R&D&I (RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION) PARTNERS

Aarhus University (Denmark)
European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN (Switzerland)
Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, Potsdam (German)
Landessternwarte Heidelberg, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg (Germany)
Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Heidelberg (Germany)
Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot (France)
Oslo University, Oslo (Norway)
Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Trieste (Italy)
Uppsala University Observatory, Uppsala (Sweden)
Odessa National University, Odessa (Ukraine)
Centre for Physical Sciences and Technology (Lithuania)
National Institute of Standards and Technology (USA)
Capital Normal University, Beijing (China)
University of Patras (Greece)
University of Chicago (USA)
National Institute for Fusion Science (Japan)
National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu (Taiwan)
Materials Science and Applied Mathematics, Malmö University, Malmö (Sweden)
Chimie Quantique et Photophysique, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)
University of Lisbon (Portugal)

OTHER RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Dr. A. Drazdauskas –

  • member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Dr. K. Černis –

  • member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Prof. Habil. Dr. G. Gaigalas –

Dr. V. Gontis –

  • member of the association of Euroscience, http://www.euroscience.org/;
  • council member of the Lithuanian Scientific Society;
  • academic editor of Plos One.

Dr. A. Juodagalvis –

  • contact person for the CMS outreach and communication in Lithuania, representing the Lithuanian Team at CERN CMS experiment;
  • Lithuanian representative in CERN Finance Committee;
  • member of the Council of Experimental Nuclear and Particle Physics Centre at the Faculty of Physics of Vilnius University;
  • member of the Board of Lithuanian Physics Society, scientific secretary.

Dr. R. Juršėnas –

  • member of the American Mathematical Society.

Distinguished Professor G. Juzeliūnas –

  • member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences;
  • board member of Atomic Molecular Physics and Optical Division (AMOPD) of European Physical Society (EPS);
  • associated member of the National Centre for Theoretical Sciences at the National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan;
  • guest editor of a Topical issue of the European Journal of Physics D;
  • academic editor of the journal Plos One.

Dr. H. R. Hamedi –

  • member of Lithuanian Physics Society;
  • member of Physics Society of Iran.

Prof. B. Kaulakys –

  • member of the Institute of Physics (UK);
  • member of the European Physical Society;
  • editorial board member of the Lithuanian Journal of Physics;
  • editorial board member of the journal Nonlinear Analysis. Modelling and Control;
  • vice-president of the Lithuanian Association of Nonlinear Analysts;
  • council member of the Lithuanian Scientific Society.

Prof. R. Karazija –

  • editorial board member of the Lithuanian Journal of Physics;
  • member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.

Dr. A. Kynienė –

  • President of the Vilnius City Board of the Physics Teachers’ Association;
  • member of the Vilnius City Physics Methodical Board;
  • team leader of Particle physics outreach group at the VU Experimental Nuclear and Particle Physics Centre;
  • Chair of the Assessment of National Physics Maturity Examination Commission;
  • member of the Lithuanian Pupils’ Physics Olympiad Commission;
  • council member of the Lithuanian Scientific Society.

Dr. A. Kučinskas –

  • member of the Board of Directors of the International Journal Astronomy and Astrophysics;
  • member of the Open Access Working group of the International Journal Astronomy and Astrophysics;
  • vice-president of the Lithuanian Astronomical Society;
  • member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU);
  • National Contact Point of the IAU;
  • member of the European Astronomical Society (EAS);
  • National Representative at the EAS.

Dr. M. Maskoliūnas, Dr. R. Minkevičiūtė, Dr. D. Narbutis, Dr. E. Pakštienė, Dr. J. Sperauskas, Dr. R. Stonkutė, Dr. J. Zdanavičius –

  • members of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Dr. Š. Mikolaitis –

  • member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU);
  • member of the European Astronomical Society.

Prof. Dr. E. Norvaišas –

  • member of Institute of Physics;
  • member of the European Physics Society.

Dr. L. Radžiūtė, Dr. P. Rynkun –

Dr. E. Stonkutė –

  • member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
  • member of the European Astronomical Society.

Prof. V. Straižys –

  • member emeritus of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences;
  • member of the working group on stellar classification of the ESA Gaia project;
  • member of the International Astronomical Union;
  • member of the European Astronomical Society.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. D. Šatkovskienė –

Dr. J. Tamulienė –

  • management committee member of the Lithuanian Physics Society.

Dr. Habil. G. Tautvaišienė –

  • Vice-President of Commission H1 The Local Universe (IAU);
  • organizing committee member of Commission H1 The Local Universe (IAU);
  • member of Special Nominating Committee (IAU);
  • vice-president of the Lithuanian Physics Society;
  • member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU);
  • IAU National Outreach Coordinator, https://www.iau.org/public/noc/;
  • founding member of the European Astronomical Society;
  • editorial board member of the Mol journal, http://mol-en.scg.org.es/editorial-board;
  • editor-in-Chief of the annual astronomical almanac Lietuvos dangus (Sky of Lithuania);
  • Chair of the scientific organizing committee of the international Europlanet Summer School Space missions: ground-based observations and science communication, June 11–21, 2019, Molėtai, Lithuania;
  • scientific organising committee member of the international conference Physics of Stars and Planets: Atmospheres, Activity, Magnetic Fields on September 16–20, 2019, Shamakhi, Azerbaijan.

Prof. Dr. V. Vansevičius –

  • member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU);
  • member of the Research Council Lithuania.

BEST REPORTS DELIVERED AT CONFERENCES ABROAD

Gaigalas, G. Challenges of Theoretical Spectroscopy of Heavy Elements toward Identification of Gravitational Wave Sources, invited talk at the conference International Colloquium on Atomic Spectra and Oscillator Strengths for Astrophysical and Laboratory Plasmas, June 23–27, 2019, Fudan University Shanghai, China, https://asos2019.fudan.edu.cn/wome/list.htm.

Gontis, V. Non-extensive birth-death processes as an origin of spurious long-range memory, invited talk at the 10th Polish Symposium on Physics in Economy and Social Sciences (FENS), July 3–5, 2019, Warsaw, https://fens2019.ncbj.gov.pl/.

Juzeliūnas, G. Periodically driven systems and geometric phases, invited talk at the international workshop Emergent Phenomena in Ultracold Atoms: Merging Topology, Interaction, and Dynamics, June 3–22, 2019, Beijing, China, http://ultracold.csp.escience.cn/dct/page/65580.

Kučinskas, A. 3D Carbon and Oxygen abundances in CEMP Stars from Molecular Lines, invited talk at the International Conference Carbon-Enriched Metal Poor Stars as Probes of First-Star Nucleosynthesis, the IMF, and Galactic Assembly, Sep 9–13, 2019, Geneva, Switzerland, https://indico.cern.ch/event/791509/timetable/#20190909.detailed.

Pakštienė, E. Molėtai Astronomical Observatory and astronomy in Lithuania, invited talk at the annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society European Week of Astronomy and Space Science, June 24–28, 2019, Lyon, France, https://eas.unige.ch/EWASS2019/.

MOST IMPORTANT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AWARDS RECEIVED FOR R&D ACTIVITIES

Dr. Arnoldas Deltuva, Lithuanian Science Prize.
Dr. Arnoldas Deltuva, Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

MOST IMPORTANT PARTICIPATION CASES OF RESEARCHERS IN WORKING GROUPS OR COMMISSIONS SET UP BY STATE AUTHORITIES, STATE AND MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS, ORGANISATIONS, BUSINESS ENTITIES

Prof. V. Vansevičius is a member of the Research Council of Lithuania.

Assoc. Prof. A. Kynienė is the chair of the Assessment of National Physics Maturity Examination Commission.

CONSULTATIONS PROVIDED BY THE UNIT TO THE PUBLIC OR ECONOMIC ENTITIES

Regular consultations for various Police departments concerning astronomical conditions during the requested time periods, when car accidents happened, Dr. A. Kazlauskas.

Regular consultations to public concerning unusual astronomical events and stones found, which are suspected to be of extraterstrial origin, S. Lovčikas, V. Straižys, G. Tautvaišienė.

Regular school consultations in elementary particle physics, A. Kynienė, A. Acus, A. Juodagalvis, A. Mekys, A. Rinkevičius.

MOST IMPORTANT RESEARCH DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES

The international science-popularization event International MasterClass: Hands-on Particle Physics (March 15, 2019), organized in collaboration with the International Particle Physics, https://physicsmasterclasses.org/index.php?cat=archive&page=schedule_2019.

In 2019, we published 39 posts in the Physics of Risk blog written in English, http://rf.mokslasplius.lt/. Majority of the posts contained a brief description of some model from econophysics or sociophysics along with an interactive implementation of the model.

Science popularisation event of the long-term international project Researchers’ Night 2019. September 27, 2019, VU ITPA Molėtai Observatory.

International conference Natural Science Education – Challenges for the School of the Future, April 10, 2019, VU,
https://www.vu.lt/kviecia/renginiai-mokytojams#mokytojams-chemikams-biologams-fizikams-tarptautines-konferencijos-gamtamokslinis-ugdymas-issukiai-ateities-mokyklai.

Inaugural lecture by Distinguished Professor Gediminas Juzeliūnas on Low Temperature Physics (October 24, 2019), VU, https://www.vu.lt/kviecia/isskirtiniai-profesoriai#2019-m.