Based on the vote of the expert jury in the main category of the competition Photogenic Science, the first place belongs to a photo by dr. Filip Dominec from the Institute of Physics, CAS Spot on a semiconductor sample. The structure which originated when a speck of organic material came loose from the apparatus and it fell on the sample during the epitaxy growth of thin films of transparent semiconductors on the basis of nitrides, surprisingly reminds of streets of a medieval city.
Photogenic Science is an annual competition in which all the CAS employees can take part in their photos. The photos entered to compete in two categories. The first one (Photogenic Science – Main category) is entered by photographs with scientific themes – i.e. photos of the subjects of scientific investigation, instruments used for research, photographs of animate and inanimate nature, of phenomena or activities related to the work of the employees of CAS institutes. The winning photograph by Filip Dominec has been selected by an expert jury from over two hundred photos sent by 89 competitors from 27 CAS institutes. In the second category (Scientists in Photographs) there are photos focused on the lives of scientists at CAS institutes which will enable the public a closer look at the human aspect of scientific work. Also, the public selects their best photo online at the website of the competition www.vedafotogenicka.cz, where you can also find all the photographs of this year.
The winning photography by Filip Dominec captures approximately 1mm large circle area where probably an organic speck fell on gallium nitride and the arising compounds, at the temperature over 1000 °C crystallized into lines created by colourful facets. The colour of the facet is given by its thickness, in the same way as e.g. in petrol strains on water.
Ing. Filip Dominec, Ph.D., is a member of the organometallic epitaxy group in the Department of Semiconductors of the Institute of Physics of the CAS which focuses on the production of fast and efficient scintillators – shields for ionizing radiation detection, medical imagining and electron microscopy. It also includes the diagnostics for potential faults in crystals of a transparent semiconductor which also includes their images taken by an optical microscope.