UNIVERSITY SPOTLIGHT
Griffith University Source: Sally Wood
Griffith University has six campuses in South East Queensland that facilitate teaching and research across all disciplines. With an international outlook, a deep connection with the Asian region and a strong focus on links with industry, Griffith prides itself on its socially conscious and environmentally aware attitude. Providing education for over 40 years, the university was named after Sir Samuel Walker Griffith, two-time premier of Queensland, the principal author of the Australian Constitution and the first Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. Today, Griffith ranks in the top 2% of universities globally, with a range of subjects ranked in the world’s top 200 and with world standard or above rated research in more than 50 disciplines. Griffith’s Contribution to Materials Science and the Engineering Centre for Clean Environment and Energy Griffith University’s Centre for Clean Environment and Energy is dedicated to addressing the issue of environmental sustainability. Chemical, microbiological and nano-technological approaches are central to delivering multidisciplinary research and innovation. The work of the Centre runs from creating green energy sources to understanding how pollutants affect soils and aquatic environments. The Centre has specialised laboratories for: • Materials synthesis and preparation • Energy storage research • Clean fuel production and energy conversion • Environmental sensing • 3D printing • Advanced materials characterisation Laboratories are fitted out with state-ofthe-art equipment, including: • Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope: Used to analyse micro- and nano-structures. It has resolution capabilities of 1.2 nm at 30kV and 3.0 nm at 1kV. It is equipped with a Quorum Technology cry preparation system which allows for liquid and hydrated specimens 32 | APRIL 2020
Professor Robert Sang and Professor Igor Litvinyuk in the Australian Attosecond Science Facility.
to be examined in a frozen state. X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscope (EDS) microanalysis is also possible thanks to a JEOL eV resolution silicon drift detector (SDD). • X-Ray Powder Diffractometer (XRD): The XRD can perform a range of applications, including phase identification, structure determination and refinement, microstructure analysis, residual stress, Grazing Incidence Diffraction and Small Angle X-ray Scattering. • nScrypt 3Dn 3D Printer: A key piece of technology for the Centre’s work and used for solar cell metallisation, material manipulation and electronic packaging. Centre for Quantum Dynamics The Ultrafast (Attosecond) Science research group, hosted by Griffth’s Centre for Quantum Dynamics, is dedicated to investigating highly non-linear interaction between ultra-fast and ultra-short light pulses, and matter. Using the most sophisticated laser system, the Australian Attosecond Science Facility (AASF) can investigate how electrons move inside atoms and molecules. The Facility’s four key areas of research are: • Attosecond light pulse generation • Electron dynamics with exotic atoms • Controlling electron motion in molecules • Precision measurement of Attosecond dynamics BACK TO CONTENTS
This research helps to better understand chemical bonding, which is essential in developing the next generation of materials. The AASF laser can strip electrons from atoms and then smash them together to create intense bursts of ultraviolet light. One experiment involves investigating the ionisation of atoms in excited states. Previously, atoms were only tested in ground and low energy states. By testing ‘over the barrier’ ionisation, the binding potential of the atoms is less than the distortion induced by the ionising light field. It is also possible to see how the ionisation process is influenced by electron spin and atomic target structure. The AASF is the only laboratory in the world that can test at this level. The team can test control schemes for the motion of electrons in molecules, and influence how photochemicals transform within molecules. Being able to control atomic behaviour is key to attosecond science, and the AASF is using the data they collect to assist other researchers in materials science projects. Australian Attosecond Science Wins Research Council Grant The AASF was recently awarded funding by the Australian Research Council. The grant will be used for a new ultrafast laser system. WWW.MATERIALSAUSTRALIA.COM.AU
