University of Groningen
Growth and nanostructure of tellurides for optoelectronic, thermoelectric and phase-change
applications
Vermeulen, Paul Alexander
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Publication date: 2019
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Vermeulen, P. A. (2019). Growth and nanostructure of tellurides for optoelectronic, thermoelectric and phase-change applications.
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Acknowledgements
With this thesis I have reported on more than four years of PhD research. A project I could not have finished without the many kind people around me. My first words of thanks go to Professor Kooi, my supervisor. Bart, thank you for your trust in me, as well as your guidance and open communication, both within and outside scientific discussions. I especially admire your dedication to teaching students and constructive scientific ideals. I also want to thank Dr. Blake, my second supervisor. Graeme, we were not always in close contact due to the changing nature of my research, but our meetings and resulting collaboration were always fruitful. Thank you for your insights and help, especially in the first years of my PhD. Jamo, we have been co-authors, officemates, holiday-goers, and office-chair-philosophers together. You inspired me to set a high scientific standard, and our discussions helped improve both our work and ideas about our future. Gert, thank you for introducing the tosti-maker to our office and criticizing my early-morning coffee making skills. Next to that, your technical expertise on whatever I needed has been absolutely invaluable. Bin, thank you for a lot of good discussions, and fun times in Zurich, Aachen, Veldhoven, and many other places. I hope I’ll see you and Bebe again somewhere. Anil, we mainly worked together at the start of my PhD, when we struggled to understand the TAGS system. I am glad we got to have fun in Lisbon together as well. I admire your perseverance and dedication, and wish you and your family all the best.
Their names are already mentioned on the list of publications: Joost, Jefta, and Daniel, you all did a great job as masters students, and I was glad to be your supervisor. I learned a lot from the projects we did together, and I wish you all the best in your future (scientific) careers. Prof. Banerjee, Tamalika, during the latter part of my PhD studies we were in frequent contact and I want to thank you for your advice on PLD and willingness to share, and all the help and guidance. Arijit, we had a great time at the TSST course in Enschede, and spent many hours in the PLD lab and in discussions together. I learned a lot from you and I want to thank you for helping to keep our new system running. Thanks to Arjan, Heng, Evelien, Martijn, Hans and Johan, I enjoyed working on and learning how to operate the PLD system together. Prof. Palasantzas, George, thank you for your insights on world politics, baklava, and of course AFM. Everyone else of the NMI/SIN group I had the honor and pleasure working alongside with: Vitaly, Mehdi, Lijuan, Xukai, Weiteng, Sytze, Zahra, Fatemeh, Farnaz, Xiaotian, Lingyu, Jing, Atul, Ceri, Dennis, Tess, PJ, Ellen, Nolan, Steven and all others: thank you for the welcoming
Acknowledgements
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atmosphere, the inspiring group meetings, and the fun we had in- and outside the office. Also thanks to Mart, Yingfen, Silang, Koen, and Jacob for their help and contributions to my research projects on PLD. I also want to send my thanks to the reading committee, Professors Beatriz Noheda, Gertjan Koster, and Feng Rao, for their careful reading of my thesis. Also my gratitude to Dr. Michiel Top and Dr. Jamo Momand for being my paranimphs, it was my honor to be yours.
External factors outside the work environment were also instrumental to the success of this thesis. I want to thank all my friends who helped me survive throughout the years in Groningen, be it cooking a pasta and playing games at home, having a drink at Oblomov, climbing an icy peak in the alps, or celebrating a victory on the floorball field. You know who you are.
Of course I also want to thank my family, which feels more appropriate in the language we have always used. Pap, geen woorden kunnen beschrijven hoe dankbaar ik ben, hoeveel ik van je geleerd heb, of hoeveel ik waardeer hoe goed jij voor ons hebt gezorgd. Als klein jongetje wou ik worden wat mijn vader was; nu ben ik het ook. Ik wou dat mama erbij was. Sander, we hebben al veel moois gedeeld in de 25 jaar dat we elkaar kennen, zoals een Nintendo, een kampvuur in Bryce Canyon, en een opleiding in de natuurkunde. In deze thesis wil ik jou ook een mooie (wetenschappelijke) carrière toewensen. Ik bewonder je analytisch vermogen en je wil om je eigen weg te gaan, je kunt ver komen! Marianne, hoewel (of omdat?) we onze meningsverschillen hebben gehad, heb ik veel van je geleerd, en we kunnen het inmiddels ook altijd goed vinden. Dankjewel dat je er altijd was, ik wens jou en René heel veel gelukkige jaren samen.
Dan als laatste, hoewel slechts in chronologische zin: Carla, ik kwam je pas tegen toen ik al kon opscheppen hoeveel papers ik had gepubliceerd, toch ben je een belangrijke factor geweest tijdens het afronden van mijn thesis. Ik houd van je passie in alles wat je doet en je aandachtige en onbevangen kijk op de wereld. Voor het einde van mijn promotie heb ik dat gevonden wat me nog meer bij zal blijven dan deze thesis. Ik kijk uit naar de toekomst!
Thank you all Bedankt allemaal
