NOVA GORICA POLYTECHNIC

Meeting on

Scientific cooperation between Slovenia and Austria

Vienna, January 28, 2003

by:

Danilo Zavrtanik

Nova Gorica Polytechnic

• A young university institution – founded in 1995

• A non-state institution• Main activities:

• Graduate and undergraduate education• Research• Technology transfer

• Excellent international collaboration

Environmental Research • Development of highly sensitive analytical techniques

for determination of toxic and/or essential elements and compounds:• Techniques: Thermal lens spectrometry (TLS), bioanalytical

methods, hyphenated techniques (HPLC-TLS, IC-TLS) • Analytes: heavy metals, pesticides, carotenoids, anthocyanins,

billirubinAtmospheric Research

• Investigation of photochemical degradation and transformations of environmental pollutants:• Compounds: organophosphate pesticides, textile dyes, humic

substances, detergents• Environmental modeling:

• Ecological energetics and systems ecology, population dynamics• Atmospheric transport of aerosols

Environmental Research

• Determination of Cr(VI)/Cr(III) in drinking water and CCA treated wood by IC-TLS (LOD = 0.1 ng/ mL for Cr(VI))

• Bioanalytical assay with photothermal detection for organophosphate and carbamate pesticide screening in agricultural products (LOD = 0.2 ng/mL for paraoxon)

• Determination of anthocyanin profiles in cherries and characteristic carotenoid patterns in fruit juices, vegetable oils, blood plasma, phytoplankton (LOD = 70 pg/mL for -cryptoxanthin)

• Efficient laser photodegradation of organophosphate pesticides (over 95%, no catalyst)

Elementary Particle and Astroparticle Physics

We participate in large international collaborations

• DELPHI at CERN, Geneva– Heavy flavour physics

– W boson physics

– Search for Higgs particle

– Search for new particles

– Detector development

Elementary Particle and Astroparticle Physics

• P. Auger Collaboration

We build the world largest observatory (3.000 km2) in Malargue, Province of Mendoza, Argentina, to study the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays with energies above 1019 eV.

Synchrotron Radiation Research • Analysis of atomic and molecular structure of new

materials by X-ray absorption methods (EXAFS, XANES)• Objective: obtain information on local environment of a selected

type of atoms in amorphous, liquid or nano materials

• Study of multielectron photoexcitations in free and bound atoms• Objective: gain information on collective motion of electrons in

the atomic system and thereby improve the x-ray absorption methods.

• Measurements are performed at the synchrotron radiation facilities• HASYLAB at DESY (Hamburg, Germany)• ESRF (Grenoble, France)• LURE (Orsay, France)

Synchrotron Radiation Research

• We collaborate with Slovene as well as foreign laboratories for material sciences, atomic physics, chemistry, pharmacology and environmental sciences

– Limburgs Univ. Centrum, Belgium; - Institute des Sciences de la Matiere et du Rayonnement, Caen, France; - Inst. of Electronic Materials Technology, Warszaw, Poland; - J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana; - Inst. for Chemistry, Ljubljana; - Inst. of Surface Engineering and Optoelectronic, Ljubljana, etc.

• We have contributed to the development and characterization of several technologically important materials:– microporous catalysts, superconducting and ferroelectric

ceramics, surfactants, wear resistance coatings, nanomaterials, some pharmacological products, quasicrystals, etc.

Epitaxy and Nanostructures

• Research: – Growth and electronic and optical properties of

organic semiconducting layers and metal/organic semiconductor contacts.

• Facilities:– Organic molecular beam epitaxy

– Spectroscopic ellipsometry

– Time-of-flight measurements of photocurrent transients

Epitaxy and Nanostructures

• Experiments:– Investigation of bipolar charge transport in thin layer of

organic semiconductor 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA).

– Synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy of In diffusion across the indium/PTCDA interface

– Environmental stability of electric charge transport in metal/PTCDA/metal structures

• Collaborations:– EU MONA-LISA project (organic thin film transistor)– COST 523 “Nanostructured materials”

Multiphase Processes

• Research Focus• advanced continuum mechanics physical models for

multiphase systems (two-phase formulations)• advanced numerical methods for multiphase systems

(meshless methods)

• International conferences on Stefan problems• Eurotherm 69: Heat and mass transfer in solid-liquid phase-

change processes, June 25-27, 2003, Bistra, Slovenia.

Multiphase Processes

• Applications Focus• Modelling and optimisation of continuous casting of steel and

aluminium alloys• Groundwater transport (flow in porous media) devoted to design of

Slovenian low and intermediate radioactive waste repository

• Several European projects (COST, COPERNICUS, ….)

experiment

real system

model

Cryptography and Computer Security

• Theoretical and applied areas of mathematics and computer science

• Focus is on the interplay between– Cryptography

• public cryptosystem related to elliptic curves

– Algebraic Combinatorics

• distance-regular graphs

• association schemes

• coding theory, design theory

Atmospheric Research

• Remote sensing of atmospheric properties by the means of LIDAR (LILIght ght DDetection etection AAnd nd RRanginganging) technique– Study of the planetary boundary layer PBL– Stratospheric aerosol composition studies– Trans boundary pollution transfer studies– Instrumentation R&D (Pierre Auger ObservatoryPierre Auger Observatory)– Participation in EARLINET (European Research Lidar NetworkEuropean Research Lidar Network)

• Ground measurements of atmospheric properties– SOx ,, NOx , COx , aerosol concentration, basic metheorogical

parameters

• Mobile LIDAR measurements– Aerosol loading and distribution measurements, trajectories,

opacity, ambient monitoring, PBL developement, etc.

Atmospheric Research

Transmiter: Nd:YAG laser, 355nm, 95mJ, 15Hz

Receiver: 3 x parabolic mirror (=80cm, f=41cm) with Hamamatsu R7400 photomultiplyer,

DAQ: Licel TR40-160 digitizer (40MHz, 12bit),

Time developement of a haze layer (RC, Slo 29.10.2002)