Nuclear and Surface Physics Group

EQUIPMENT

•  PHI 5600 XPS X-ray photoelectron Spectrometer-2  
• Orion 5 Thin film sputtering
• X-MET 3000 Handheld X-Ray Fluorescence
• MARKUS 10 Underground radon gas detector

SOFTWARE

• Molecular dynamics
• GEANT 4 
• PyMCA (see instructions here)
  
• Neutrino Oscillations 

WEB PAGES 

• Nuclear Physics Wiki Page
• MASE 6402 and MME 5401 Wiki Page
• Physics Department Nuclear and Surface Physics page
• XRF study of Pueblo Indian pottery

CURRENT STUDIES

• XPS (Enrique Ramírez-Homs and Yahir Garay)
• Underground radon detection (German Rodriguez, Israel Chavarria and Roberto Soto)
• Molecular dynamics (Enrique Ramírez-Homs)
• Neutrino oscillations (Karla Rosita Tellez-Girón Flores)
• Geant 4 (Omar Hernández Rodríguez and Selim Romero González)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

• Md Ariful Ahsan; Sai Krishna  Katla; Md T Islam; Jose Angel  Hernandez-Viezcas; Luis M Martinez; Carlos  A Díaz-Moreno; Jorge  Lopez; Srinivasa i R Singamaneni; Jose  Banuelos; Jorge Gardea-Torresdey; Juan C Noveron, “Sulfonated carbonaceous material derived from spent tea leaves for water remediation: spectroscopy and mechanistic insights”, submitted to Bioresource Technology on 10/Dec./2017.
• Ahsan, Md Ariful, S.K. Katla, M. Islam, J. Hernandez-Viezcas, L.M. Martínez, C. Díaz Moreno, Carlos, J.A. Lopez, S.R. Singamaneni, J. Banuelos, J. Gardea-Torresdey, J. Noveron, "Adsorption of environmental pollutants in water using spent tea leaves derived porous sulfonated carbon composites: spectroscopy and mechanistic insights", ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, submitted on 21/Nov/2017.
• M. M. M.Contreras-Turrubiartes, P.G. Mani-Gonzalez, E. Ramirez-Homs, M.A. Vidal, J.A. Lopez and E. López-Luna, “Atomic layer deposition of GaN using NH4OH and Ga (CH3)3 precursors”, Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, submitted 6/Nov. 2017.
• C. Diaz Moreno, Ding, Y., Li, C. , Lopez, J. A. et al., "Optical Properties of  Ferroelectric Lanthanum Lithium Niobate", J. Ceramic International, in print (2018). See article here.
• "XPS Study of the Oxidation State of Uranium Dioxide", J.A. López et al., J. Nuc. Phys., Mat. Sci., Radiation and Applications, Vol-5, 237–242, 2017.  See article here.
• "Electrocatalytic hydrogen gas generation by cobalt molybdenum disulfide sythesized using alkyl-containing thiomolybdate precursors" Y. Wu et al., International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 1-8, (2017); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.07.028.  See article here.
  
• "Relaxor ferroelectricity, ferromagnetic and optical second harmonic properties in lanthanum lithium niobate (La_0.05Li_0.85NbO₃) nanoparticles", C. Diaz Moreno et al., J. Magnetism and Magnetic Mats., 433, (2017) 262–270. See article here.
  
• "Symmetry energy in the liquid-gas mixture", J.A. López and S. Terrazas Porras, Nuc. Phys. A  (2017); see article here.
• "Correlation Between Underground Radon Gas and Dormant Geological Faults", J.A. López, O. Dena Ornelas , L. Sajo-Bohus, G. Rodríguez, I. Chavarría, J. Nuc. Phys., Mat.Sci., Rad. and Applications, Vol-4, No-1, August 2016 pp. 265–275 (2016); see article here.
• "Thermodynamics of neutron-rich nuclear matter", J.A. López, S. Terrazas Porras and Araceli Rodríguez Gutiérrez, AIP Conf. Proc. 1753, 050001 (2016); see article here.
• "Surface modification by nitrogen plasma immersion ion implantation on Austenitic AISI 304 stainless steel", with M. Castro-Colín, W. Durrer and E. Ramírez-Homs, in J. of Iron and Steel Research International 23(4), 380-384, 2016; see article here.

• "XI International Symposium on Radiation Physics", AIP Conference Proceedings, G. Espinosa, C. Vázquez and J. López Eds., 1671, 010001 (2015), DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4927175;  see book here.
• "Effect of an electron gas on a neutron-rich nuclear pasta", with Enrique Ramírez-Homs, in Nuclear Science and Techniques (China), V. 26, P. S20502, 2015; see article here.

• "Isospin-asymmetric nuclear matter", by J.A. López, E. Ramírez-Homs, R. González and R. Ravelo, Phys. Rev. C 89, 024611 (2014); see preprint here.
• "Simulations of cold matter at subsaturation densities", by P.A. Giménez Molinelli, J.I. Nichols, J.A. López and C.O. Dorso, Nuc. Phys. A, 923, Pp. 31-50, 2014.

• "Monitoring detachment and difussion of metallic species in polycarbonate", AIP Conf. Proc. 1544, pp. 19-24, 2013.
• Book "Surface Spectroscopy" by J. López and Miguel Castro Colín, published by CreateSpace Publishing, ISBN 978-1483999968, more information here.

• "Topological characterization of neutron star crusts " by C.O. Dorso, P. Giménez-Molinelli and J.A. López, published in The Physical Review C86 055805 (2012). See preprint in the Arxivs.
• "Cold nuclear matter" by C.O. Dorso, P. Giménez-Molinelli, J.I. Nichols and J.A. López. 

For a complete list of publication see the curriculum vitae of Dr. Jorge A. Lopez.

 RECENT ACTIVITIES 

2017

• Dec. 15: My former students were featured in the College of Science Fall 2017 e-Newsletter, Karla Rosita Téllez-Girón Flores in page 4, and Alan Salcedo in page 17.
• Dec. 12: Received the 2017 Best Thesis Research Mentoring Award. at the UTEP College of Science winter Pre-Commencement Ceremony, for work with Karla Rosita Tellez-Giron Flores.  See diploma here.

• Nov. 18-25: Visiting Claudio Dorso at the University of Buenos Aires.

• Nov. 9-11: Guest Carlos Bertulani, Texas A&M Commerce. See about Carlos's research here. On Nov. 9 Carlos delivered a lecture in my Astronomy class "Nucleosynthesis", and on Nov. 10 he presented the Physics Seminar "Non-extensive statistics solution of the cosmological lithium problem". He was also interviewed by Science Studio.

• Sep. 20: Physics Colloquium, "Italian delicacies served up in a neutron star crust", at Notre Dame University. See announcement here, see pictures from Notre Dame University here.

• Sep. 6-9: Guest Jason Holmes, Arizona State University. See about Jason's research here. On Sep. 8 Jason gave the Physics Seminar "Next Generation detectors for proton therapy quality assurance". 

• Aug. 4: Thesis Defense, of my M.S. student Germán Rodríguez; "Using underground radon to detect inactive geological faults".

• Aug. 3: Thesis Defense, of my M.S. student Enrique Ramírez-Homs; "Electron gas and neutron star crusts".
• Aug. 2: Thesis Defense, of my M.S. student Karla Rosita Téllez-Girón Flores; "Neutrino oscillations and the RENO experiment".
• July 26: Thesis Defense, of my M.S. student Nazia Sharmin; "Time degradation of perovskites".

• June. 5 - Aug. 4: Summer guest Víctor Manuel Lizárraga Rubio, from Universidad de Sinaloa, working on project "Neutron diffusion".

• June. 12 - Aug. 18: Summer guests Andrea Valdez-Rivas, from Franklin High School, working on project "XPS study of materials".

• June. 5 - Aug. 4: Summer guest Jeremiah Lopez, from UTEP, working on project "XPS study of Maya Blue", see poster here.

• May 9: Best MS student and Summa Cum laude, Karla Rosita Téllez-Girón Flores, see pictures here and here.

• May 8: Thesis Defense, of my UACJ B.S. student Adrián Gaytán Terrazas; see thesis here, and see picture here.

• May 5: Thesis Defense, of my B.S. student Israel Chavarria; see thesis here, and see picture here.

• Apr. 28: Profile, for UTEP College of Science e-Newsletter Spring 2017 issue, Pp. 14-15. See profile here.

• Mar. 12-15: Visiting AJA International in Scituate MA for training on my new Orion 5 sputtering system.  Yes, I was trapped by the snow blizzard that hit Boston on the 14th, see pictures and training videos here.

2016 

• Dec. 12-17: Karla Rosita Tellez-Giron Flores, Participant, of Winter School on Nuclear Astrophysics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. See here for more information, Dec. 12 – 17, 2016.
• Oct. 13-16, Israel Chavarria, Travel Award for Conference Experience for Undergraduates in Vancouver, BC CA, sponsored by the Division of Nuclear Physics, APS.
• Oct. 20-23: J.A. López, Chair, of nuclear physics session, 2016 Joint Meeting 4CS + TSAPS Meeting, and Executive Board Meeting of TSAPS, Las Cruces, NM.
• Aug. 16-17: J.A. López, Talk "Materials Characterization at UTEP" at " 4° Taller de Espectrometría de Masas con Aceleradores (LEMA)" at the Instituto de Fí­sica of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. See pictures of the visit here.
• Summer 2016. Alan Salcedo, COURI Undergraduate Research Program Assistantship.
• June 2: J.A. López, received DOD HBCU Instrumentation grant for $400 k. See notification here. 

• Summer 2016, Israel Chavarria, Victor Blanco Fellowship, to participate in Fermilab’s summer research program. 

• May 31 - Aug. 5: J.A. López, Visiting Arizona State University with Ricardo Alarcón under a BUILDing Summer Sabbatical Grant.
• April 16-18: J.A. López, Talk, and chair of nuclear physics session, APS April Meeting, Salt Lake City.  See abstract and presentation here, and see details of the session chaired here.
• April 7: J.A. López, Talk "The Physics of CSI", Facultad de Física, Benemérita Universidad de Puebla, Puebla, México. See "CONSTANCIA" here.
• April 6 - 8: XII International Symposium on Radiation Physics, BUAP, Puebla, México.  See web page here.
• Mar. 8:  J.A. López, Talk "Física en UTEP" at Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.
• Mar. 7:  J.A. López, Talk "Física del CSI" at Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.
• Feb. 19:  J.A. López, Talk "Física en UTEP" at CUSEI of the Universidad de Guadalajara
• Feb. 15:  J.A. López, Talk "Física nuclear, el Chapo, Osama Bin Laden, y el Papa" at the Tercera Semana de Física y Matemáticas in Universidad de Colima; see news report here.

 2015 

• Nov. 30 - Dec. 4: J.A. López, Talks "Isospin-dependent phase diagram of nuclear matter" and "Summary Talk", and Chair of sessions "1.2 Monday parallel session 1: Applications: Medical I" and "4.2 Thursday parallel session 1: Hadron structure and interactions II", at the XI Latin American Symposium on Nuclear Physics and Applications, Medellin Colombia; see pictures here.
• Apr. 11-13: J.A. López, Talk at the APS April Meeting in Baltimore, to receive the 2015 Bouchet Award of the American Physical Society.  See APS news release "Bridge-builder to Hispanic Community wins Bouchet Award" here, see pictures of the Awards Ceremony and Reception as well as of Baltimore here. 

• Mar. 4-6: J.A. López, Chairman, XI International Symposium on Radiation Physics, IIT-UACJ, Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, México.  See web page here.
  

 2014 

• Oct. 7-11: J.A. López, Talk at the IV Joint Japan-USA Nuclear Physics Conference in Kona, Hawaii to receive the 2014 Mentoring Award of the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society; see pictures here.

• Aug. 15 - 18: J.A. López, attending conference 4th International workshop on nuclear dynamics in heavy ion reactions in Lanzhou, China.

• Aug. 10 - 14: J.A. López, attending conference CUSTIPEN  at the Peking University  in Beijing, China. See program and talks here.

• July 24 - 25: J.A. López, attending conference Nuclear Structure 2014 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC Canada,

• July 16: J.A. López, "Neutron-Rich nuclear matter" colloquium talk at Nuclear Theory Group of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Click here to see abstract.

• June 9 - 12: J.A. López, attending conference Collective Dynamics in High Energy Collisions at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in Berkeley, CA,

• June 2 - Aug. 8: J.A. López and Enrique Ramírez-Homs, Visiting the Nuclear Theory Group of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in Berkeley, CA.

• Apr. 17: J.A. López, Colloquium talk and  Seminar at Oklahoma State University.

• Apr. 2-5: J.A. López, Invited talk at The X International Symposium on Radiation Physics, at the MCTP in Tuxtla Guiterrez, Chiapas, Mexico.

 2013 

• Dec. 9-12: J.A. López, Talk in JUSTIPEN-JUSEIPEN Workshop at RIKEN in Tokyo, Japan. JUSTIPEN is The Japan-U.S. Theory Institute for Physics with Exotic Nuclei.
• Oct. 14 - Nov. 7: Teaching MASE 6402 - MME 5401 See material here.
• Sep. 27: J.A. López, Invited Talk in Symposium on Low Temperature Physics at UACJ, in Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico.
• Jun. 3 - Aug. 9: J.A. López and Enrique Ramirez Homs and Rodolfo Gonzalez, Visiting the Nuclear Theory group of the Nuclear Science Division of The Lawrence Berkeley Lab. See here for note in LBL-NSD newsletter (p.4).
• May 24: J.A. López, Colloquium "Materia nuclear cocinada al estilo italiano, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Auditorio Marcos Moshinsky, UNAM 24/mayo 11:00, Mexico City.
• Apr. 15-17: J.A. López, Invited Talk in IX Symposium on Radiation Physics at BUAP, in Puebla, Mexico.
• Jan. 26: High School student Alejandra Robles, member of my XRF group obtains Most Outstanding Award in the El Paso Independent School District Science Fair and she is off to the Regional Science Fair! Congratulations Alex!.
  

 2012 

• Nov. 29: Article Spotlight "Topological characterization of neutron star crusts selected to appear in Physics-Spotlighting Exceptional research: Italian Delicacies Served Up in a Neutron Star Crust.
• Oct. 22 - Nov. 7: Teaching MASE 6402 - MME 5401 See material here.
• Sep. 28: Visit of Javier Miranda from the Instituto de Física - UNAM to give a Physics Seminar "PIXE and XRF: why does PIXE need XRF?".
• Aug. 7: J.A. López, Invited Talk "Nuclear matter at low temperatures and densities: the pasta revisited" in Nuclear Physics Forum at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab's 88-inch Cyclotron.
• Jun. 4 - Aug. 10: J.A. López and Enrique Ramirez Homs, Visiting the Nuclear Theory group of the Nuclear Science Division of The Lawrence Berkeley Lab.
• Jun. 1: Enrique Ramirez Homs, Undergraduate thesis defense, "X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of Pueblo Indian Pottery", Supervisor: Jorge A. López.
• May 12-26: J.A. López, Visiting the University of Buenos Aires with Claudio Dorso, delivering a Colloquium Talk: "From nuclei to nuclear pasta" (17/5/2012), and a LAFEC Seminar Talk: "De urnas y vivillos, el fraude electoral en México 2006" (21/5/2012).
• Apr. 9-11: J.A. López, Invited Talk in VIII Symposium on Radiation Physics at IFUNAM, in Mexico City.
• Mar. 22-24: J.A. López, Invited Talk at the Physics Department of Bradley University in Peoria Illinois, visiting Jose Lozano.

 2011 

• Oct. 27-28: J.A. López, Invited Talk, 2011 SACNAS National Conference, San Jose, CA, see program here.
• July 10-14: J.A. López, Participant at Meeting of INCREASE, at SLAC in Stanford University and LBNL in Berkeley California, see pictures here.
• May 12: J.A. López, Colloquium Talk, University of California - Riverside.
• Mar. 18: J.A. López, Colloquium Talk, Cal State U - Fresno.
• Jan. 26-28: Hosting Scott Pratt (Michigan State U) for Physics Seminar and chat with students.

 2010 

• Nov. 8: J.A. López, Progress report of the XRF study of Pueblo Indian pottery with UTEP Anthropology professor Dr. David Carmichael and MASE-MME students
• Nov. 2: Visit of Dr. Carlos Bertulani and talks at UTEP and NMSU we had Texas BBQ at The State Line and real margaritas at La Posta in La Mesilla.
• Nov. 1: Finished teaching physics part of MASE 6402 - MME 4501 class
• Oct. 11: Start of XRF study of Pueblo Indian pottery with UTEP Anthropology professor Dr. David Carmichael and MASE-MME students
• Sep. 30: J.A. López, Seminar Talk "Physics and Art", in "Frontiers in Science" Series al Cal State U San Marcos.
• Sep. 9: Grant, UTEP URI grant for Auger/XPS equipment, $5,000, see announcement here:.
• Aug. 1-13: J.A. López, Talk and participation in PASI 2010 on Rare Isotopes, Joao Pessoa, Brazil.  See PASI wiki page here, my personal page here, and the Neutron Stars page here, to see how hard we worked see the photos here, to see my talk see the high quality video here, or the low quality video here.
• May 6: Defense of BS thesis of Miguel Bencomo.
• Apr. 29: J.A. López, Talk  at New Mexico Tech, "The new nuclear physics".
• Apr. 8-10: J.A. López, Two talks at U. North Carolina at Wilmington.
• Mar. 7 - 10: J.A. López, Talk delivered at the Symposium of Physics of Radiations of the Sociedad Mexicana de Física in Zacatecas, Mexico.  See photos here. 

 2009

• Oct. 23: Award: Received the Hyer Award with Jorge Muñoz from the Texas Section of the American Physical Society in San Marcos, TX.
• Oct. 13-17: J.A. López, Gave a Talk at the Joint Japan-USA Nuclear Physics Conference in Kona, Hawaii.  See photos here. 

 For a complete list of activities see the web page of Dr. Jorge A. Lopez.