For his doctoral dissertation, the early career scientist of our institute Edgars Butanovs has received the Latvian Academy of Sciences (LAS) Ludvigs and Maris Jansons Award in Physics. On a daily basis, Edgars works in the ISSP UL’s Thin Films Laboratory and studies nanowires, which are very small wires that are ten thousand times smaller in diameter than hair.
His work and the fact that he is an early career scientist have attracted the attention of the Latvian media. Thus, on April 23 on National Television Program “Rīta Panorāma”, Edgars told that his interest in physics and various technologies started at school. The choice of studies was in favor of physics, as it is a broad enough science with a wide variety of applications. During his bachelor’s studies, Edgars began to work at the ISSP UL.
The young researcher is currently working on the fabrication of nanowire photodetectors - nanowires are coated with a few nanometers thick film to change their photoelectric properties. Such devices are very thin and can be applied to flexible surfaces such as films. In the future, such devices could be widely used in the form of monitorable stickers, as well as in combination with various other devices. Photodetectors can also be used to control street lighting.
Edgars admits that the work is very interesting, not uniform - it includes literature analysis, laboratory work and data processing, as well as discussions with colleagues and presentations at conferences. He believes that nanowires will be increasingly used in the future.
Edgars Butanovs was also chosen to represent a young scientist in the section “1 of 2 million” of a weekly magazine “Ir”. In the article, he tells about the research on nanowires and their future applications.
The LAS established the Ludvigs and Maris Jansons name award in 1998, giving it to young scientists for work in the field of physics.
According to the “Study of the media habits of the Latvian population and the needs of the society”, the viewers of the Latvian National Television 1st channel (LTV1) in 2020 reached 62%; at least once a week - 46%, every or almost every day - 27% of the surveyed Latvian population.
Ir is an independent, quality weekly news magazine published in Riga, Latvia. It combines high-impact investigative journalism with some of Latvia’s best cultural coverage and feature writing. Ir has 7650 subscribers and a readership of 79 000.
List of the winners of the LAS name and young scientists’ awards: https://www.lza.lv/aktualitates/jaunumi/407-apstiprinati-2020-gada-izsludinato-lza-vardbalvu-un-jauno-zinatnieku-balvu-laureati
The TV story available in Latvian: https://replay.lsm.lv/lv/ieraksts/ltv/217753/jaunais-zinatnieks-peta-nanovadus
Full magazine article available for subscribers: https://ir.lv/2021/05/12/edgars-butanovs-nanovadu-petnieks/
