PhD student Lukáš Vrána received an honorable mention for his research on new protective materials

Every two years, young physicists gather in the Competition of Scientific Papers of Young Physicists for the Milan Odehnal Prize. How do you feel about receiving an honorable mention for your contributions? 

I’m incredibly happy about it. It’s a prestigious award, and I see it as feedback that someone sees and recognizes my research.

I learned about the competition from my advisor, professor Pavel Souček. I decided to enter because I wanted to see how my research stacked up against other topics – both in theoretical and experimental physics.

Some of the other contestants’ topics really caught my attention. They fill me with optimism about where the field of physics is headed.

 

You received an honorable mention for your experimental and theoretical study of high-entropy nitride coatings. What does your research involve?

I’m researching new materials, which I prepare using magnetron sputtering in a form of thin films.

This requires raw material in the form of a target. You can think of it as a cylinder that is loaded into the apparatus. Then a plasma is ignited, which extracts individual atoms from the target, allowing us to create a thin film on our substrate.

Specifically, I focus on researching high-entropy alloys and nitrides – materials that combine five or more elements. I’m investigating what effect mixing atoms of different sizes and elements that bond with nitrogen in different ways will have on these materials.

It turns out that precisely these types of materials could have great potential for future applications.

 

Where specifically might such materials be used in the future?

The material is designed to serve as a protective thin film. It could be useful, for example, in components subject to high mechanical or thermal stress.

Starting in October, I’m planning a four-month internship in Austria, where I’ll also be testing this material’s resistance to cosmic radiation. This protective film could potentially be used in space as well.

 

Even during your doctoral studies, you’ve published numerous articles in prestigious scientific journals, and you’re even the lead author on two of them. Have you ever gone through a period when things didn’t go smoothly and your research wasn’t progressing as you’d hoped? 

My fourth and final year of my PhD began in September, and I’d say the beginning of my studies was particularly challenging. I devoted the entire first semester mainly to a literature review of my research topic. Those were long days spent sifting through articles, refining ideas, and organizing various concepts.

Later, however, I was able to benefit from that period; in the following semesters and years, the research really took off, and we followed up with intensive work in the lab.

I like that when you devote time and effort to a topic, it pays off in the end. It may not happen right away, but the results will come.

 

What is the biggest challenge for you in research today?

One of the challenges is learning advanced analytical methods and mastering them. While working in the lab, I focus on preparing samples as well as analyzing them.

For example, during an internship in Japan, I processed samples using an ion beam, which was interesting in terms of mastering the method. I then tested the material’s mechanical properties and examined its structure at the microscopic level as well as its resistance to high temperatures.

During the internship in Austria that I’m preparing for, I’ll be learning to work with transmission electron microscopy, which is a fairly demanding analytical method for the operator. I expect it will take several months just to learn this method and get the hang of it to some extent.

Of course, part of my work also involves writing articles, publishing data, and presenting results at conferences. Or participating in competitions, like this one. So it’s very varied, and I enjoy that.

 

And what fascinates you most about your research topic?

I enjoy that research is a challenge and that it opens up new opportunities for me –whether through collaboration or the fact that I’m constantly learning new things. And the fact that I can contribute to research on materials that could benefit society is, in my opinion, important. It could help move us forward.

At the same time, it’s interesting from the perspective that we designed and produced our own material – one that no one else in the world has worked on before us – so it’s unique in its own way.

 

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“You have to devote time to research, the results usually follow.”

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You mentioned your internship in Japan, which you completed at the National Institute for Materials Science. Japan sounds like a rather unconventional destination. How did this opportunity come about? Why did you choose Japan in particular?

I secured the internship thanks to the contacts of my supervisor, professor Pavel Souček. Moreover, the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) is very open to accepting students for internships; they even have a scholarship program, which I successfully obtained.

I chose Japan primarily because NIMS has the latest equipment for testing various materials at the highest possible temperatures. We wanted to test the films we were studying in terms of their micromechanical properties, so NIMS was the ideal place. There are experts there who specialize in these types of tests and understand the subject matter

Japan is also a very interesting destination, so it would have been a shame not to take advantage of such an opportunity.

How did your internship go? What did you gain from it?

I had the opportunity to tailor the internship to my own needs and approached it very intensively. I had unlimited access to the institute, but no one forced me to do anything, and I wasn’t pressured to meet any specific performance targets. Any overtime was on a voluntary basis. From the very beginning, I also had the freedom to work with the equipment. I really appreciated that and tried to make the most of it.

I’m grateful that I decided to really dive into the research and dedicate my time to it. I’m reaping the benefits of that today; I find the results interesting, and I plan to publish them soon.

The internship also gave me a new burst of energy for my research. I believe that experiencing a different scientific culture and environment is truly important and beneficial for a scientist. At the same time, I became even more convinced that the most important thing in research is to have a good team of people around you. I, too, am grateful to everyone at our department because they’ve been very supportive as I start my career. It’s all about teamwork.

 

If other students were interested in doing a similar internship, what would you recommend to them?

I would definitely recommend checking out the NIMS website to learn more about the NIMS Internship Program. I’d also advise them not to be afraid.

Of course, it’s easier if you have a contact, but it’s not a requirement. The scholarship program works like this: all you have to do is contact one of the researchers who is working on a topic that interests you and ask if they’d be interested in having you as a visiting student. They’re very open to this kind of collaboration.

Then you make arrangements, draft a research proposal together, and, if you’re lucky, secure funding through a scholarship.

 

And if you could go back to the beginning of your doctoral studies, what advice would you give yourself?

You need to be patient, devote time to your research, and even if you don’t see results right away, they usually come.

It’s also good to communicate with others as much as possible and build collaborations, because it’s very beneficial.

It’s also important to have the courage to present your research to the scientific community and not be afraid that others will criticize it. Most of the time, feedback leads either to constructive criticism or to good ideas that can take the research a step further.