Joel L. Plawsky

Research

Joel Plawsky

Research Interests

Dr. Plawsky's major research areas lie in the fields of thin films, interfacial phenomena, and transport phenomena. Specific projects in these areas include: the dynamics of draining thin films, contact line dynamics during evaporations and condensation, thin films for microelectronics and photonics, and predicting and controlling the state of concrete during curing.

Spontaneous mucleation and growth of pinholes in a film of copper deposited atop a nanoporous xerogel substrate.

Spontaneous buckling of a thin Ta film deposited atop a nanoporous xerogel

Growth of amorphous silicon at low temperatures. Growthbegins featureless and shortly develops a columnar microstructure.

Merging of a drop of isopropanol with an intrinsic meniscus. the drops grow until they virtually touch the mensicus whereupon they rupture and empty.

Draining of a film of dodecane on a silicon wafer. The films thins to the point of instability whereupon it breaks up into discrete droplets.

Etched angular face is silicon nitride. The faces were later metallized for use as integrated optical waveguide mirrors.

Simulation of light propagation within an integrated optical waveguide. The guide is two microns in width and the simulation here shows propagation through a 3-D chip stack. The red line represents the core of the waveguide, the yellow the cladding, and the blue horizontal lines represent the intensity profile of light in the guide.

	Spontaneous mucleation and growth of pinholes in a film of copper deposited atop a nanoporous xerogel substrate.
	Spontaneous buckling of a thin Ta film deposited atop a nanoporous xerogel
	Growth of amorphous silicon at low temperatures. Growthbegins featureless and shortly develops a columnar microstructure.
	Merging of a drop of isopropanol with an intrinsic meniscus. the drops grow until they virtually touch the mensicus whereupon they rupture and empty.
	Draining of a film of dodecane on a silicon wafer. The films thins to the point of instability whereupon it breaks up into discrete droplets.
	Etched angular face is silicon nitride. The faces were later metallized for use as integrated optical waveguide mirrors.
	Simulation of light propagation within an integrated optical waveguide. The guide is two microns in width and the simulation here shows propagation through a 3-D chip stack. The red line represents the core of the waveguide, the yellow the cladding, and the blue horizontal lines represent the intensity profile of light in the guide.