I am an experimental physicist working on multifunctional oxides thin films and multilayers for applications ranging from spintronics to photovoltaics. This includes magnetic tunnel junction systems, half metallic materials, diluted magnetic semiconductors and low dimensional magnetic oxides. Since 2010 I focused as well my research on rare earth doped oxides for down conversion properties aimed to increase the efficiency of Si-based solar cells, on alternative transparent conductive oxides as interfacial layer in hybrid organic-inorganic solar cells, and on ferroelectric oxides that can replace the p-n junction in conventional solar cells.
After a PhD degree in Physics from the “Louis Pasteur” University of Strasbourg (F) in 2001 and a post-doc at Siemens AG in Erlangen (D) as a Marie Curie fellow, I was appointed assistant professor and since 2016 full professor at the Ecole Européenne de Chimie, Polymères et Matériaux (University of Strasbourg). I am carrying out my research activity at the Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg (IPCMS). I am also head of the “Functional Materials and Nanoscience” major at ECPM, research coordinator of the ITI QMat (Interdisciplinary Thematic Institute “Quantum science and nanoMaterials”), and head of the ChemLab ECPM service platform. I have authored more than 135 papers published in leading scientific journals.
Education and qualifications
2008 Research Habilitation (Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg France)
1998-2001 PhD in Physics (Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg France)
1997-1998 Master in Solid State Physics (Babes Bolyai University, Cluj Napoca Romania)
1993-1997 B.A. in Physics (Babes Bolyai University, Cluj Napoca Romania)
Work experience
Since 2016 : Professor ECPM-UDS (University of Strasbourg)
2002-2016 : Associate Professor ECPM-UDS (University of Strasbourg)
2001-2002 : Postdoctoral researcher, Siemens AG Erlangen, Germany (Marie Curie fellow)
1998-2001 : PhD candiate, Louis Pasteur University (Strasbourg), Institute of Physics and Chemistry of Materials Strasbourg (IPCMS), France
Main positions
Since 2020 : Head of the “Functional Materials and Nanoscience” major at ECPM / University of Strasbourg
Since 2020 : Research coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Thematic Institute (ITI) “Quantum Science and Nanomaterials” (QMat)
2016-2020 : Deputy director of the Labex NIE
Since 2016 : Head of the ChemLab ECPM platform
2015-2016 : Head of the Master “Materials and nanosciences”, University of Strasbourg, France.
Main research areas
Magnetic oxides for spin electronics (half metals, diluted magnetic semiconductors)
Oxide thin films for photovoltaic applications (charge filtering, photon conversion, ferroelectric absorbers)
Recent publications
- ORCID iD : 0000-0003-1853-5188
- SCOPUS ID : 6701452304
- Web of Science ResearcherID : ADM-8091-2022
L. Wendling, X. Henning, F. Roulland, M. Lenertz, G. Versini, L. Schlur, U. Chung, A. Dinia, S. Colis, and M.V. Rastei, “Structural properties and polarization switching of epitaxial Bi2FeCrO6 thin films grown on La2/3Sr1/3MnO3/SrTiO3(111) substrates” Thin Solid Films 757, 139384 (2022).
C. Gréboval, U.N. Noumbé, A. Chu, Y. Prado, A. Khalili, C. Dabard, T.H. Dang, S. Colis, J. Chaste, A. Ouerghi, J.F. Dayen, and E. Lhuillier, “Gate tunable vertical geometry phototransistor based on infrared HgTe nanocrystals” Appl. Phys. Lett. 117, 251104 (2020).
P. Dunne, C. Fowley, G. Hlawacek, J. Kurian, G. Atcheson, S. Colis, N. Teichert, B. Kundys, M. Venkatesan, J. Lindner, A.M. Deac, T.M. Hermans, J.M.D. Coey, and B. Doudin, “Helium ion microscopy for reduced spin orbit torque switching currents” Nano Letters 20, 7036 (2020).
E. Martin, F. Roulland, S. Grenier, F. Appert, J. Juraszek, M. Trassin, C. Bouillet, E. Chikoidze, C. Arnold, B. Berini, Y. Dumont, S. Colis, S. Barre, G. Versini, D. Preziosi, C. Leuvrey, N. Blanc, N. Boudet, G. Pourroy, N. Viart, and C. Lefèvre, “Non-auxetic/auxetic transitions inducing modifications of the magnetic anisotropy in CoFe2O4 thin films” J. Alloys and Compounds 836, 155425 (2020).
M.V. Rastei, F. Gellé, G. Schmerber, A. Quattropani, T. Fix, A. Dinia, A. Slaoui, and S. Colis, “Thickness dependence and strain effects in ferroelectric Bi2FeCrO6 thin films” ACS Applied Energy Materials 2, 8550-8559 (2019).
K. Bouras, G. Schmerber, D. Aureau, H. Rinnert, J.L. Rehspringer, D. Ihiawakrim, A. Dinia, A. Slaoui, and S. Colis, “Photon management properties of Yb-doped SnO2 nanoparticles synthesized by sol-gel technique” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 21, 21407 (2019).
K. Bouras, G. Schmerber, G. Ferblantier, D. Aureau, H. Park, W.K. Kim, H. Rinnert, A. Dinia, A. Slaoui, and S. Colis, “Cu(InGa)Se2 solar cell efficiency enhancement using a Yb-doped SnOx photon converting layer” ACS Applied Energy Materials 2, 5094-5102 (2019).
A. Quattropani, A. Makhort, M.V. Rastei, G. Versini, G. Schmerber, S. Barre, A. Dinia, A. Slaoui, J.L. Rehspringer, T. Fix, S. Colis, and B. Kundys, “Tuning photovoltaic response in Bi2FeCrO6 films by ferroelectric poling” Nanoscale 10, 13761 (2018).