Last updated 28.03.2002

CURRICULUM VITAE
George E. Zoriniants

Date and place of birth:    28 April 1969, Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan, USSR.
Citizenship:    Russian Federation.

Current research:     Study of interaction of excitons and polarons in thin of conjugated polymers and oligomers by methods of single-molecule spectroscopy, NSOM, and AFM. Quenching of fluorescence by FRET, by electric field and by charge carriers injection. Fluctuations of fluorescence intensity of single molecules and nanoclusters of PPV.

Education:
1993-1997    Ph.D. in Chemical Physics, Moscow Institute of Physics & Technology.
Thesis: "Mechanism of Photoexcitation Energy Transformation in Conducting Polymers and Molecular Crystals Studied by Modulated Magnetic Field Effect". Supervisor: Prof. E.L. Frankevich.
1986-1993    M.Sc., summa cum laude, Moscow Institute of Physics & Technology, Department of Molecular and Chemical Physics.
Thesis: "Studies of Kinetics of Chemiluminescent Oxidation of Luminol by Magnetic Field Effect Method". Supervisor: Dr. M.M. Triebel

Languages:    Russian - native, English - good for reading/writing scientific papers and individual lectures, German - basic communications.

Occupation:
Feb. 2001-pres.    Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, Chemistry Department, Molecular Dynamics and Spectroscopy, post-doctoral fellow.
1997-1998    Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Physical Chemistry, Austria, visiting researcher.
1991-2001    Institute of Energy Problems of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow: undergraduate research assistant, junior research scientist (1993-1997), research scientist (1998-2001).
Fellowships:
Feb. 2001-pres.    Belgian Office for Scientific, Technical And Cultural Affairs, Research Fellowship. Charge and energy transfer in blends of conjugated polymers studied by Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy and Single Molecule Spectroscopy. Supervisor: Prof. F.C. De Schryver.
10.1997-03.1998    J. Kepler University of Linz, Austria. Charge carriers in conducting polymer/fullerene composites for photovoltaics studied by light-induced ESR.
Supervisor: Prof. N. Serdar Sariciftci.

Grants and awards:
1994-2000    Grants by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. Co-investigator in four grants in the field of spin chemistry of organic molecular crystals, organic amorphous thin films and semiconducting polymer films.
1995-1996    Award by the President of Russian Federation. Honorary Scholarship for Ph.D. students.
1995    Grant by the International Soros Science Education Program. Title "Soros Ph.D. student" awarded.
1994-1995    Grant by the International Science Foundation. Co-investigator of the research program in the field of Magnetic Field Spin Effects on Triplet Excitons dynamics.

Scientific background:
* Photogeneration and decay of polarons in conjugated polymers. Correlation between charge transfer properties and polymer conjugation length and structure. Photo- and electrochemical processes in nanoclusters and single molecules of conjugated polymers.
* Spin dynamics and spin-lattice relaxation of triplet excitons in molecular crystals. Anisotropy of magnetic field spin effects in rubrene single crystal. Phase transitions in charge-transfer single crystals revealed by the magnetic field spin effect
* Kinetics of free radicals and reaction rate constants in chemiluminescent oxidation of luminol. Linear and non-linear approaches to the Fourier analysis of the forced chemical oscillations.

Technical skills:
* Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscopy: fluorescence, absorption, and polarisation measurements; shear force topography scanning.
* Single molecule spectroscopy; confocal microscopic systems; collecting of low fluorescence intensities; photon counting.
* Preparation of SNOM tips by pulling. UHV sublimation of metals and organic solids. Clean room and glove box manipulation. Spin-coating.
* Manufacturing of plastic solar cells and polymer LEDs.
* Electron spin resonance. Magnetic field spin effect. Optically detected magnetic resonance. Light-induced and time-resolved ESR.
* Lock-in technique. Measurement of reaction intermediates lifetimes from amplitude- and phase-on-frequency characteristics of the modulated reaction yield.
* Preparation and characterisation of holographic 3-d diffraction gratings.
* Numerical treatment of experimental data. Solution of matrix equations, including stochastic Liouville equation. Monte-Carlo simulations.
* Computer control of experiment. RS-232 and IEEE-488 interfaces.
* Programming: C, LabView, Visual Basic, SQL, MatLab, Origin, HTML, JavaScript.