Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES)

Profile

Dr Melvin Vopson (formerly known as Marian Vopsaroiu) graduated his BSc (Hons) and MSc degrees in Physics from the University of Bucharest. Melvin received his PhD in Physics from the University of Central Lancashire in 2002. His previous appointments include two postdoctoral fellowships at the University of York, senior R&D scientist at Seagate Technology (a world leading high-tech company) and over six years as Higher Research Scientist at the National Physical Laboratory. Currently his research interest revolves around experimental and theoretical studies of solid-state physics with emphasis on ordered and multifunctional systems. Melvin’s major scientific contributions are in the fields of thin film growth technologies, multiferroic materials and their applications, optical techniques of characterization of solids and development of novel metrologies and innovations based on ferroic materials.

Career

• Lecturer in Applied Physics, The University of Portsmouth (2012 - present)
• Higher Research Scientist, National Physical Laboratory (2006 - 2012)
• Senior R&D engineer/scientist, Seagate Technology, NI (2005 - 2006)
• Postdoctoral fellow, University of York, York (2002 - 2005)
• PhD student, University of Central Lancashire, Preston (1999 - 2002)
• Research Assistant, National Institute for Materials Science, Bucharest (1998 - 1999)

Professional Record

• Chartered Physicist (CPhys) and member of the Institute of Physics (MInstP)
• Author and co-author of over 40 scientific articles published in international journals
• More than 25 invited, oral and poster contributions to international conferences
• SERCO-NPL Silver Medal for contributions to science (2012)  
• Reviewer / referee for J. Phys. D., J. Phys. C., MST, APL and JAP
• Member of the Materials and Characterization Committee at the IOP
• Member of the UK Magnetic Society
• Associate editor of the Journal of Composites

Recent Publications

Gabriel Caruntu, Marian Vopsaroiu, Amin Yourdkhani, Gopalan Srinivasan, Probing the Local Strain-Mediated Magnetoelectric Coupling in Multiferroic Nanocomposites by Magnetic Field-Assisted Piezoresponse Force Microscopy, RSC – Nanoscale, Issue 4, 3218, (2012)

M. Vopsaroiu, M.G. Cain, G. Sreenivasulu, G. Srinivasan, A.M. Balbashov, Multiferroic composite for static and alternating magnetic field detection, Materials Letters, Volume 66, Issue 1, 282-284, (2012)

Y. Zhang, X. L. Zhong, M. Vopson, J. B. Wang, Y. C. Zhou, Thermally activated polarization dynamics under the effects of lattice mismatch strain and external stress in ferroelectric film, Journal of Applied Physics, 112, 1,  (2012)

Joe Briscoe, Mark Stewart, Melvin Vopson, Markys Cain,Paul M. Weaver, Steve Dunn, Nanostructured p-n junctions for kinetic-to-electrical energy conversion, in-press: Adv. Energy Mater. 2, 1261–1268 (2012)

M. Vopson, The multicaloric effect in multiferroic materials, Fast-track article, in-press Solid State Communications (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssc.2012.08.016

M. Vopson, P. M. Weaver, M. G. Cain, M.J. Reece, K.B. Chong, Invited paper: Polarization Dynamics and Non-Equilibrium Switching Processes in Ferroelectrics, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 58, no. 9, pp. 1867–1873, Sep. (2011)

M. Vopsaroiu, M.G Cain, V. Kuncser, The integral magneto-refractive effect: a method of probing magneto-resistance, Journal of Applied Physics, 110, 056103 (2011)

M. Vopsaroiu, M.G. Cain, P.D. Woolliams,P.M. Weaver. M. Stewart, C.D. Wright, Y. Tran, Voltage control of the magnetic coercive field: multiferroic coupling or artefact?, Journal of Applied Physics 109, 066101 (2011)

Marian Vopsaroiu, John Blackburn, Markys G. Cain, Paul M. Weaver, Thermally activated switching kinetics in second order phase transition ferroelectrics, Physical Review B 82, 024109 (2010)

Full list of publications