At the beginning of 1967 a laboratory for organic semiconductors was established at Department of Physics of Crystals. In 1978 the laboratory was reorganized into institute-level laboratory for organic semiconductors. Later it was renamed to “Laboratory of Photonics” and in 1983 it became Department of Molecular Photoelectronics. Head of department from 1983 till 2016 – Prof. Michael Kurik (1939-2017).

• Electronic processes in molecular systems;
• Photoelectronics of multifunctional molecular nanocomposites;
• Molecular nanophotoelectronics;
• Physics of thermotropic and lyotropic liquid crystals, blue phases of chiral LC.

Equipment and facilities

• Optical spectroscopy instruments including ps time resolved single photon counting fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy -spectroscopic unit based on LifeSpec II (Edinburgh Instruments) setup, novel USB spectro-fluorimeters Maya 2000 Pro and USB 2000+Enhanced Sens. (Ocean Optics); UV‑VIS spectrophotometers (Hitachi, Shimadzu)) ;
• Organic and inorganic vapour-deposition facilities;
• Polarizing microscopes (Carl Zeiss, Olympus) with high-speed and high-sensitivity cameras;
• Digital multimeters and electrometers (Keithley), functional generators (Metex, Velleman) lock-in amplifiers (Stanford Research, Unipan).

• A basis for physics of organic semiconductors in Ukraine was provided, that initiated the development of new areas in photoelectronics: electronics of organic materials and nanophotoelectronics.
• Shape of the long-wavelength part of electronic absorption spectra in condensed matter was experimentally confirmed as a function of photon energy and temperature – Urbach rule, which is one of the main optical techniques for study of dynamics of elementary excitations in crystals;
• Role of excitons in photoelectronic phenomena in molecular crystals has been studied, that provided a stimulus for development of nanophotoelectronics;
• The methods of liquid crystalline thermography and wedge-shaped dehydration were proposed, that initiated extensive study of liquid crystals in the Institute of Physics at whole.
• A novel approach of carbon nanotubes sensing and functionalization has been demonstrated: ionic complexes of CNT - organic dye with sensitive and selective response in photoluminescent signal due to transferring excitation of the dye to the tubes resulting in selective and strong amplification of the light emission from carbon nanotube excitonic levels in near-infrared spectral range.
• The formation of J-aggregates on carbon nanotubes with highly efficient energy transfer from the aggregates to the nanotubes was demonstrated for the first time. All the energy of the photons absorbed by the aggregates is transferred to the nanotubes, completely quenching the J-band emission and photosensitizing the nanotubes.
• Using laser tweezers, 2D and 3D colloidal crystals composed of micrometer-sized microspheres were assembled in nematic liquid crystal matrix. The 3D crystal has tetragonal symmetry and demonstrates giant electrostriction and electrorotation under external electric field depending on sign of the dielectric anisotropy of the liquid crystal matrix.
• Studies of colloidal particles in liquid crystal matrix reveal that peculiar physical properties of liquid crystalline phases turn Brownian dynamics of colloidal particles into anisotropic and anomalous. It was shown that time dependent fluctuations and reorientations of the liquid crystal molecules alter time dependence of mean square displacement which may grow faster or slower with time realizing super and subdiffusion regimes respectively.
• The spontaneous formation of halfskyrmions has been observed for the first time. In a thin film of a chiral liquid crystal, depending on experimental conditions including film thickness, they form a hexagonal lattice whose lattice constant is a few hundred nanometres, or appear as isolated entities with topological defects compensating their charge. These half-skyrmions exhibit intriguing dynamical behaviour driven by thermal fluctuations.

Projects

• “The research of photoelectric and electro-optical phenomena in molecular structures with spatial arrangement of different dimensionality” (Statereg.No0195U014442);
• “The investigation of processes of collective interactions in molecular systems based on liquid crystals” (Statereg.No 0101U000354);
• “Photoelectronics of Multifunctional Molecular Composites” (Statereg. No 0107U002347);
• “The Study of Excitonic and Electronic Processes in Molecular Composites” (Statereg.No 0112U0020609);
• “Development and research of new multifunctional materials based on low-dimensional molecular crystals” (Statereg.No0117U002610);
• “Novel macromolecular complexes for rapid detections of hazardous agents” (NATO Science for Peace Program, Project No SfP 984189);
• INTAS project #30234; STCU projects #637/1, #2025/1, #3091, #5258; CRDF project #UK-P1-2598-KV-04; NSF project "Materials World Network on Chromonic Liquid Crystals".

Monographs

• M.V. Kurik, V.M. Tsmots’. Physics of solid state (school-book). Kyiv, 1985 (in Ukrainian).
• Z.Yu. Gotra, M.V. Kurik, V.M. Mykytyuk. Strucure of liquid crystals. Kyiv, 1989 (in Ukrainian).
• M.V. Kurik, E.A. Silinsh, V. Chapek. Electronic processes in organic molecular crystals. Phenomenon of polarization localization. Riga, 1988 (in Russian).
• M.V. Kurik. Man and ultraviolet light. Kyiv, 2003 (in Ukrainian).
• N.G. Golubeva, M.V. Kurik. Basics of bioenergoinformational medicine. Kyiv, 2007 (in Russian).
• Kurik M.V. Urbach Rule . Phys. St. Solidi (a).1971. 8 (a). 9-45.
• M.V. Kurik, O.D. Lavrentovich. Defects in liquid crystals: homotopy theory and experimental study. Uspekhi fiz. Nauk, vol. 154, p.381, 1988.

Articles

1. Kurik M.V. Urbach Rule, Phys. St. Solidi (a), 8 (a), 9-45 (1971).
2. Z.Yu. Gotra, M.V. Kurik, V.M. Mykytyuk. Structure of liquid crystals. (Kyiv, 1989, in Ukrainian).
3. M.V. Kurik, E.A. Silinsh, V. Chapek. Electronic processes in organic molecular crystals. Phenomenon of polarization localization. (Riga, 1988, in Russian).
4. M.V. Kurik, O.D. Lavrentovich. Defects in liquid crystals: homotopy theory and experimental study. Uspekhi Fiz. Nauk, vol. 154, p. 381 (1988).
5. M.V.Kurik, Yu.P.Piryatinski, Photogeneration and charge carriers transport in pentacene crystals at low temperatures, Ukr.J.Phys, vol.38, N1, c.70 (1993).
6. A.B.Nych, U.M.Ognysta, V.M.Pergamenshchik, B.I.Lev, V.G.Nazarenko, I.Musevic, M.Skarabot, and O.D. Lavrentovich, Coexistence of Two Colloidal Crystals at the Nematic Liquid Crystal – Air Interface, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98. 057801 (2007).
7. A. Nych,U. Ognysta,M. Škarabot,M. Ravnik,S. Žumer& I. Muševič, Assembly and control of 3D nematic dipolar colloidal crystals, Nature Communications, vol.4, Art. No: 1489 (2013).
8. T.Turiv, I.Lazo,A.Brodin, B.I.Lev, V.Reiffenrath, V.G.Nazarenko, O.D.Lavrentovich, Effect of Collective Molecular Reorientations on Brownian Motion of Colloids in Nematic Liquid Crystal, Science, Vol. 342, no. 6164, pp. 1351-1354 (2013).
9. Lutsyk, R. Arif, J. Hruby, A. Bukivskyi, O. Vinijchuk, M. Shandura, V. Yakubovskyi, Yu. Kovtun, G.A. Rance, M. Fay, Y. Piryatinski, O. Kachkovsky, A Verbitsky, and A. Rozhin. A Sensing Mechanism For The Detection Of Carbon Nanotubes Using Selective Photoluminescent Probes Based On Ionic Complexes With Organic Dyes, Light: Science & Applications (Nature Publ.Group) 5, e16028 (2016).
10. Petro Lutsyk, Yuri Piryatinski, Mohammed AlAraimi, Raz Arif, Mykola Shandura, Oleksiy Kachkovsky, Anatoli Verbitsky, and Aleksey Rozhin, Emergence Of Additional Visible Range Photoluminescence Due To Aggregation Of Cyanine Dye - Astraphloxin On Carbon Nanotubes Dispersed With Anionic Surfactant, J. Phys. Chem. C, 120 (36), pp 20378–20386 (2016).
11. Mohammed Al Araimi, Petro Lutsyk, Anatoly Verbitsky, Yuri Piryatinski, Mykola Shandura and Aleksey Rozhin, A dioxaborine cyanine dye as a photoluminescence probe for sensing carbon nanotubes, Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 7, 1991–1999 (2016).
12. Andriy Nych, Jun-ichi Fukuda, Uliana Ognysta, Slobodan Žumer, Igor Muševič, Spontaneous formation and dynamics of half-skyrmions in a chiral liquid-crystal film, Nature Physics, V.13, Issue 12, P.1215 (2017).
13. Fukuda, J.-I., Nych, A., Ognysta, U., Zumer, S., Muševic, I. Liquid-crystalline half-Skyrmion lattice spotted by Kossel diagrams, Scientific Reports, V. 8, 17234 (2018).
14. Yu.P. Piryatinski, A.B. Verbitsky, A. Dmytruk, M.B. Malynovskyi, P.M. Lutsyk, A.G. Rozhin, O.D. Kachkovsky, Ya.O. Prostota, V.V. Kurdyukov, Excited State Relaxation in Cationic Pentamethine Cyanines Studied by Time-Resolved Spectroscopy, Dyes and Pigments, v. 193, p.109539 (2021).
15. J. Pišljar, S. Ghosh, S. Turlapati, N. Rao, M. Škarabot, A. Mertelj, A. Petelin, A. Nych, M. Marinčič, A. Pusovnik, M. Ravnik, I. Muševič, Blue phase III: Topological fluid of skyrmions, Physical Review X, v.12, N 1, p. 011003 (2022).

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  Employees of the Department of Molecular photoelectronics in 1990.

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  Former department employees Prof.M.V. Kurik (1939-2017) and Dr.Ya.I.Vertsimakha (1940-2017).

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  Senior Scientists PhDs A.B.Nych and U.M.Ognysta

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  Senior Researcher, PhD Manzhara V.S. provides spectral studies.

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  Prikhodko A.F. and Piryatinskiy Yu.P.

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  Employees of the Department of Molecular photoelectronics in 2018.

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  Leading scientific researcher Yu.P.Piryatiskiy.

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  Senior Scientist Dr.of Sciences O.V.Koval'chuk

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  Senior Scientist PhD O.P.Boiko

• Research of photoelectric and electro-optical phenomena in molecular structures with the spatial arrangement of different dimensionality” (state registration No. 0195U014442);
• “Investigation of the processes of collective interactions in molecular systems based on liquid crystals” (state registration No. 0101U000354);
• “Photoelectronics of Multifunctional Molecular Composites” (state registration No. 0107U002347);
• “Study of Excitonic and Electronic Processes in Molecular Composites” (state registration No. 0112U0020609);
• “Novel macromolecular complexes for rapid detections of hazardous agents” (NATO Science for Peace Program, Project No. SfP 984189);
• INTAS project #30234; STCU projects #637/1, #2025/1, #3091, #5258; CRDF project #UK-P1-2598-KV-04; NSF project “Materials World Network on Chromonic Liquid Crystals”.

Schematic experimental setup for measuring the anisotropic elasticity of lyotropic liquid crystals,
which are formed through the aggregation of organic molecules in water,
by exploring their reorientation in a magnetic field [13]

Time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) kinetics for astraphloxin dye with carbon
nanotubes (curve 1) and neat astraphloxin dye (curve 2) taking into account the instrument response function (IRF),
(curve 3) measured with LifeSpec II (Edinburgh Instruments Ltd.)
using the Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) technique [16]