Department of Physics

Faculty Description


  • ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
  • Ph. D., Harvard University, 2004
  • http://oleg.ucsd.edu
  • RESEARCH: Condensed Matter Physics
Contact
Research Statement
  • Our group studies nanoscale dynamics and structure of materials using novel x-ray, light and neutron scattering probes. We are particularly interested in developing novel coherent x-ray scattering techniques to investigate dynamics in variety of condensed matter systems, ranging from electronic and magnetic phases (charge-, spin-, orbital ordered systems, magnetic thin films and nanostructures, metal-insulator transitions and new high-temperature superconductors) to soft matter including fluids, colloids, nanoparticles, polymers and glasses as well as behavior of materials in nanoscale confinement.
Awards & News
  • UCSD Physicist Oleg Shpyrko receives 2008 Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award
  • The Advanced Photon Source (APS) Users Organization has named Oleg G. Shpyrko of the University of California, San Diego, as the recipient of the 2008 Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award. The award recognizes an important technical or scientific accomplishment by a young investigator that depended on, or is beneficial to, the APS. Shpyrko will receive the award on May 5 at the 2008 Users Week at Argonne National Laboratory, where he will also present his work.
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  • NSF CAREER (Faculty Early Career Development) Award, 2010
  • NSF CAREER (Faculty Early Career Development) Award, 2010

  • Professors Alison Coil, Olga Dudko and Oleg Shpyrko receive Hellman Faculty Fellows Awards
  • Thirty-three assistant professors at the University of California, San Diego have been named recipients of the 2009-2010 Hellman Faculty Fellows Awards to support their research and creative activities. The award program was established at UC San Diego through the generosity of Chris and Warren Hellman to provide financial support and encouragement to young faculty and enhance their progress toward tenure.
    "Due to the outstanding caliber of the proposals submitted, the selection process was quite a challenge this year," said Paul W. Drake, senior vice chancellor, Academic Affairs. "Forty-two proposals were submitted by Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences faculty, of which 21 were selected for funding. Twelve proposals were selected for funding out of 24 submitted by the Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering Divisions. Given the current economic climate, both selection committees chose to partially fund a number of these proposals in an effort to stretch the funds to assist a greater number of promising young faculty," Drake said.
    Recipients of the Physical & Biological Sciences and Engineering awards include Ery Arias-Castro and Jiawang Nie, mathematics; Jennifer Cha and Liangfang Zhang, nanoengineering; Alison Coil, Olga Dudko and Oleg Shpyrko, physics; Joshua Figueroa and Michael Tauber, chemistry and biochemistry; Colin Jamora and Emily Troemel, cell and developmental biology; and Gert Lanckriet, electrical and computer engineering.
    Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences awardees were Syed Ali, economics; Ivano Caponigro, linguistics; Robert Castro, theatre and dance; Dennis Childs, Amelia Glaser, Anna Springer and Luis Martin-Cabrera, literature; Nitin Govil and John McMurria, communication; Adria Imada, Sara Kaplan and K. Wayne Yang, ethnic studies; Nancy Kwak and Patrick Patterson, history; Lei Liang, music; April Linton, sociology; Edmund Malesky, IRPS; Sebastian Saiegh, political science; Clinton Tolley and Christian Wuthrich, philosophy, and Alison Wishard Guerra, education studies.
  • Professor Oleg Shpyrko receives an NSF CAREER Award
  • UCSD physics Professor Oleg Shpyrko has received an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Grant. The CAREER Program offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.
    This Faculty Early Career Award will support research aiming to investigate the relationship between dynamical, mechanical, and structural properties of nanoscale-thick films, using synchrotron x-ray surface scattering probes at both the existing and the next generation light sources. Understanding the fundamental relationship between structure and function of materials such as biological membranes, self-assembled monolayers and thin polymer films at the nanoscale is crucial for many disciplines ranging from condensed matter and chemistry to biology, engineering and nanotechnology.
    More information on Prof. Shpyrko's research is available at http://oleg.ucsd.edu
  • Hellman Faculty Fellow Award, 2009
  • Hellman Fellows The Hellman Fellowship Program was established at UCSD in 1995 through the generosity of Chris and Warren Hellman. The program is designed to provide financial support and encouragement to young faculty in the core disciplines who show capacity for great distinction in their research and creative activities. Funds awarded are primarily intended to enhance the individual's progress toward tenure; therefore, faculty would be expected to have served at least two years as an assistant professor, but not yet have been recommended for tenure. A total of $375,000 will be available for awards during the 2010-2011 academic year. In accordance with the wishes of the Hellmans, at least two-thirds [$250,000] will be awarded in the physical sciences, life sciences, and engineering. Up to one-third [$125,000] will be awarded in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

  • UCSD Faculty Career Development Award, 2009
  • The Faculty Career Development Program (FCDP) supports the research or creative activities of junior faculty in order to enhance their progress toward the Associate Professor level. The program also recognizes and rewards individuals who have promoted diversity and equal opportunity.
  • Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award, 2008
  • The Advanced Photon Source (APS) Users Organization has named Oleg G. Shpyrko of the University of California, San Diego, as the recipient of the 2008 Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award. The award recognizes an important technical or scientific accomplishment by a young investigator that depended on, or is beneficial to, the APS. Shpyrko will receive the award on May 5 at the 2008 Users Week at Argonne National Laboratory, where he will also present his work.

    Shpyrko is cited for reaching a remarkably high level of achievement very early in his career. In particular he is recognized for applying challenging surface and coherent x-ray scattering techniques to understanding the structure and dynamics of liquid-metal surfaces and quantum states in condensed matter systems. He is also recognized as a dedicated and enthusiastic teacher.

    Shpyrko received his Ph.D. in 2004 from Harvard University under the direction of Peter Pershan; he then held postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard and at the Argonne Center for Nanoscale Materials before joining the faculty of the Physics Department at the University of California, San Diego in 2007.

    Most recently, as a postdoctoral fellow at Argonne, Shpyrko studied domain wall fluctuations in antiferromagnets, technologically important materials used to tailor the properties of magnetic sensors used in hard-drive read heads. In antiferromagnets, magnetic properties vary spatially at the nanoscale, forming distinct regions called "domains." Fluctuations in the domain boundaries or walls were expected to cause magnetic noise that could affect the material's performance. However, certain characteristics of these antiferromagnetic domains rendered them invisible to conventional techniques.

    Shpyrko applied the newly developed technique x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy at X-ray Operations and Research (XOR) beamlines 33-ID and 8-ID to observe fluctuations of these domain walls for the first time. This technique exploits an exceptional property of the APS, the coherence of its x-ray beams. An important finding was a crossover from classical to quantum behavior at low temperatures, indicating that magnetic noise cannot be eliminated. The ability to observe domain wall fluctuation is important both for engineering tailored materials and for fundamental studies in condensed matter physics.

    For his thesis work—using another very challenging experimental method—Shpyrko resolved a long-standing controversy on whether or not atomic layering is unique to liquid metals. He used x-ray surface scattering techniques at XOR beamline 9-ID and ChemMatCARS beamline 15-ID to compare the surface structure in high-surface-tension liquid metals, such as tin or indium, with the surface structure in low-surface-tension alkali metals and nonmetallic liquids. The results showed layering in alkali metals but no layering in water. This observation strongly indicates that layering is unique to metallic liquids and that it arises from electronic properties rather than from high surface tension, as other groups have argued from theory.

    Shpyrko has continued to study the surface properties of liquid metals, working in particular with gold silicide (AuSi), a solder used in nanoscale circuitry. In contrast to the previously observed behavior of other liquid alloys and pure liquid metals, a nondilute liquid eutectic gold-silicon alloy (Au82Si18) developed both a crystallized alloy "skin" and an ordered structure extending several atomic layers into the bulk. The "skin" remained an alloy, rather than segregating to a pure metal as in other liquid alloys. The results are important because properties at the nanoscale, including the effectiveness of AuSi as a nanoscale solder, are expected to depend heavily on surface effects.

    Future directions include development of novel coherent scattering and imaging techniques, such as ptychography, a form of lensless x-ray microscopy that allows for imaging of extended objects with nanoscale resolution by inverting the coherent diffraction pattern, therefore bypassing the need for objective lenses. These techniques will be especially useful for studying domain formation, emerging behavior, and phase transitions in inhomogeneous or nanoscale phase-separated systems. Shpyrko continues to work on liquid surface scattering, studying how nanoscale confinement affects surface dynamics in fluids, colloidal nanoparticles, and self-assembled monolayers.

  • Center for Nanoscale Materials Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow (Argonne National Laboratory), 2005-2007
  • Center for Nanoscale Materials Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow (Argonne National Laboratory), 2005-2007
  • Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow, 2004-2005
  • Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow, 2004-2005
  • R. E. Marshak fellowship 1995-1996
  • R. E. Marshak fellowship 1995-1996
  • P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute (FIAN) Fellowship, 1995
  • The Lebedev Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, situated in Moscow, is one of the leading Russian research institutes specializing in physics. It is also one of the oldest research institutions in Russia: its history dates back to a collection of physics equipment established by Peter the Great in the Kunstkamera of Saint Petersburg in 1714. The institute was established in its present shape in 1934 by academician Sergey Vavilov. It moved to Moscow and was named after a prominent Russian physicist Pyotr Lebedev the same year. It is also known as Lebedev Institute of Physics or just Lebedev Institute. In Russian it is often referred to by the acronym FIAN (????) standing for "Physical Institute of the Academy of Sciences".

    Among the wide range of the research activities, the following fields should be noted: laser technology, dark matter structure, nanostructures, superconductivity, cosmic rays, gamma-astronomy. In addition to broad scientific developments, the institute is known for perfecting a technique of crystallizing cubic zirconia (which was called Fianit in Russia, named after FIAN).
  • Soros Foundation Fellowship 1994-1995
  • A Soros Foundation is one of a network of national foundations, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe, which fund volunteer socio-political activity, created by George Soros, international financier and self-proclaimed philanthropist, and coordinated since early 1994 by a management team called the Open Society Institute. Soros foundations are autonomous institutions established in particular countries or regions, especially those emerging from behind the iron curtain[1] to initiate and support open society activities. Such countries include the former Communist bloc in Central and Eastern Europe, parts of the former Soviet Union, South Africa, and Haiti[1]. The priorities and specific activities of each Soros foundation are determined by a local board of directors and staff in consultation with George Soros and OSI boards and advisers. In addition to support from the Open Society Institute, many of the foundations receive funding from other sources.
    Intended programs include "the education of librarians and others; expansion of a free press, Internet, and e-mail communication; publishing; human rights; arts and culture; and social, legal, and economic reform"[1]. One such program, for example, is the Library of Congress - Soros Foundation Visiting Fellows Program for librarians. George Soros insists that staff in local Soros Foundation offices conduct the initial interviews of applicants and then allow LC to make the final decisions.
    Soros very much seeks to "influence the future of the newly democratized Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union...[through] educating librarians about how to improve their libraries and assist the policymakers of their countries..[in order to] provide a strong foundation for democracy"[2]. Another example of Soros's commitment to the development of Eastern Europe in particular is his pledge of $206 million to the endowment of Central European University[3].
    In 1997 George Soros received the James Madison Award from the Coalition on Government Information[2]. He has also been compared to Andrew Carnegie by Barabara Ford, president of American Library Association, insofar as his philanthropy, if on an international scale[2].
    Certain Catholics have criticized the Soros Foundation for that they see as the group's financial support for dissenting groups within the Church, who have a liberal-to-moderate view of birth control for example.[4][5]
  • Excimer Fellowship 1994-1995
  • Excimer Fellowship 1994-1995
  • Silver medal, International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), Williamsburg, USA (1993)
  • The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) is an annual physics competition for high school students. It is one of the International Science Olympiads. The first IPhO was held in Warsaw, Poland in 1967. Each national delegation is made up of at most five student competitors plus two leaders, selected on a national level. Observers may also accompany a national team. The students compete as individuals, and must sit for intensive theoretical and laboratory examinations. For their efforts the students can be awarded gold, silver, or bronze medals or an honourable mention. The theoretical examination lasts 5 hours and consists of three questions. Usually these questions involve more than one part. The practical examination may consist of one laboratory examination of five hours, or two, which together take up the full five hours.
  • Like Superman's X-Ray Vision, New Microscope Reveals Nanoscale Details

  • Physicists at UC San Diego have developed a new kind of X-ray microscope that can penetrate deep within materials like Superman's fabled X-ray vision and see minute details at the scale of a single nanometer, or one billionth of a meter.

    But that is not all. What’s unusual about this new, nanoscale, X-ray microscope is that the images are not produced by a lens, but by means of a powerful computer program.

    The scientists report in a paper published in this week’s early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that this computer program, or algorithm, is able to convert the diffraction patterns produced by the X-rays bouncing off the nanoscale structures into resolvable images.

    “The mathematics behind this is somewhat complicated,” said Oleg Shpyrko, an assistant professor of physics at UC San Diego who headed the research team. “But what we did is to show that for the first time that we can image magnetic domains with nanometer precision. In other words, we can see magnetic structure at the nanoscale level without using any lenses.”

    Microscope
    Magnetic domains appear like the repeating swirls of fingerprint ridges. As the spaces between the domains get smaller, computer engineers can store more data.. Credit: UC San Diego


    One immediate application of this lens-less X-ray microscope is the development of smaller, data storage devices for computers that can hold more memory.

    “This will aid research in hard disk drives where the magnetic bits of data on the surface of the disk are currently only 15 nanometers in size,” said Eric Fullerton, a co-author of the paper and director of UC San Diego’s Center for Magnetic Recording Research. “This new ability to directly image the bits will be invaluable as we push to store even more data in the future.”

    The development should be also immediately applicable to other areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

    “To advance nanoscience and nanotechnology, we have to be able to understand how materials behave at the nanoscale,” said Shpyrko. “We want to be able to make materials in a controlled fashion to build magnetic devices for data storage or, in biology or chemistry, to be able to manipulate matter at nanoscale. And in order to do that we have to be able to see at nanoscale. This technique allows you to do that. It allows you to look into materials with X-rays and see details at the nanoscale.”

    “Because there is no lens in the way, putting a bulky magnet around the sample or adding equipment to change the sample environment in some other way during the measurement is much easier with this method than if we had to use a lens,” Shpyrko added.

    Ashish Tripathi, a graduate student in Shpyrko’s lab, developed the algorithm that served as the X-ray microscope’s lens. It worked, in principle, somewhat like the computer program that sharpened the Hubble Space Telescope’s initially blurred images, which was caused by a spherical aberration in the telescope’s mirror before the telescope was repaired in space. A similar concept is employed by astronomers working in ground-based telescopes who use adaptive optics, movable mirrors controlled by computers, to take out the distortions in their images from the twinkling star light moving through the atmosphere.

    But the technique Tripathi developed was entirely new. “There was a lot of simulation involved in the development; it was a lot of work,” said Shpyrko.

    To test their microscope’s ability to penetrate and resolve details at the nanoscale, the physicists made a layered film composed of the elements gadolinium and iron. Such films are now being studied in the information technology industry to develop higher capacity, smaller, and faster computer memory and disk drives.

    “Both are magnetic materials and if you combine them in a structure it turns out they spontaneously form nanoscale magnetic domains,” Shpyrko. “They actually self assemble into magnetic stripes.”

    Under the X-ray microscope, the layered gadolinium and iron film looks something like baklava dessert that crinkles up magnetically to form a series of magnetic domains, which appear like the repeating swirls of the ridges in fingerprints. Being able to resolve those domains at the nanoscale for the first time is critically important for computer engineers seeking to cram more data into smaller and smaller hard drives.

    As materials are made with smaller and smaller magnetic domains, or thinner and thinner fingerprint patterns, more data can be stored in a smaller space within a material. “The way we’re able to do that is to shrink the size of the magnetic bits,” Shpyrko said.

    The technique should find many other uses outside computer engineering as well.

    “By tuning the X-ray energy, we can also use the technique to look at different elements within materials, which is very important in chemistry,” he added. “In biology, it can be used to image viruses, cells and different kinds of tissues with a spatial resolution that is better than resolution available using visible light.”

    The scientists used the Advanced Photon Source, the most brilliant source of coherent X-rays in the Western Hemisphere, at the University of Chicago’s Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago to conduct their research project, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. In addition to Tripathi, Shpyrko and Fullerton, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC San Diego, other co-authors of the paper include UC San Diego physics graduate students Jyoti Mohanty, Sebastian Dietze and Erik Shipton as well as physicists Ian McNulty and SangSoo Kim at Argonne National Laboratory.

     

    Media Contact: Kim McDonald (858) 534-7572, kmcdonald@ucsd.edu

    Comment: Oleg Shpyrko (858) 534-3066, oshpyrko@ucsd.edu

  • Professor Oleg Shpyrko has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor
  • Professor Oleg Shpyrko has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Physics.

    The department congratulates him on this important milestone in his career and wishes him continued success in teaching and research in the future.

Selected Publications