Samira Dorri

My PhD project at Thin Film Physics division at Linköping University focuses on synthesizing single crystal superlattice neutron supermirrors which is in particular suitable for supermirror Fermi choppers. By improving the performance of key neutron optical components, the flux of useful neutrons delivered to the sample is expected to increase significantly. Supermirror Fermi choppers can provide an attractive solution to the low flux problem at pulsed sources e.g., ESS. The project includes:

• Growth of superlattice supermirrors by Ion-assistance direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering.
• In-house structural (XRD, TEM), chemical (XPS), and plasma characterizations with the emphasis on understanding and improving the growth process to obtain the superlattice structure.
• Isotopic and elemental analyses by ToF-ERDA and RBS measurements at Uppsala University.
• Neutron reflectivity and multiple-energy neutron reflectometry measurements of selected multilayers at large-scale facilities.
• Simulations using GenX and BornAgain software, to determine for example the interface widths, and in-plane and out-of-plane roughness correlations.
• More detailed studies of the superlattice structure and interfaces with a sub-nm depth-resolution using specialized techniques such as GISANS and GISAXS.

During my master study in Jens Birch group at Thin Film Physics division, I gained experience about synthesizing nanocomposite, multilayer, and superlattice thin films using DC magnetron sputtering. And also, different characterization techniques such as XRD (theta-2theta, RC, pole figure, phi scan, RSM), XRR, TEM sample preparation, IBA (ERDA and RBS), and stress and nano-mechanical measurements.