Fitxa persona

Dr. Rafael Mata Sanz (RMS) is currently a Senior Researcher responsible of the European High Power Space Material Laboratory, from European Space Agency/Val Space Consortium (ESA/VSC), located in the University of Valencia (UV), Spain, where he leads research about material properties for space applications. He has worked in both industry and academia, building a strong expertise in Nanotechnology and Material Science. He has established and developed novel research lines for characterization of space materials resulting in new procedures, vacuum technology, and advanced characterization techniques of innovative nanomaterials. The research efforts are especially oriented towards the mitigation of the Multipactor effect, which can lead to the interruption of satellites communication links. RMS research experience began in 2005 by designing the electronics of an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) in the Experimental Physics Department at the University of Ulm, Germany. In such area, he gained significant technical expertise relevant for the ulterior characterization of InGaN quantum wells at the University of Regensburg for OSRAM Opto-semiconductor company, Germany, before graduating in Physics from UV in 2006. A year later, he was awarded with a Marie Curie fellowship to characterize GaN quantum dots in the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy at the University of Florence, Italy. At the end of this year, he started his Master’s degree in Advanced Physics: specialty photonics. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (FPI predoc grant) from 2007 to 2011 at the UV, where he developed a new research line based on the AFM aiming at the structural and electrical characterization of GaN/AlN nanocolumns. His work initiated advanced that broadened the capabilities of the group that is currently using the implemented tools: AFM, M-AFM, C-AFM and KP-AFM. His initiative to increase his group’s collaborations with research partners in Germany, Italy, England, and France resulted in 10 peer-reviewed articles in high-profile scientific journals until 2014, and 12 conferences (2 invited talks) in national and international conferences. During his Ph.D. period RMS’s work resulted in a book publication about Physical Properties of GaN/AlN Nanostructures.
During his postdoctoral period from 2011 to 2016 at the VSC, RMS’s competence portfolio grew and broadened, as he built from scratch the ESA/VSC European High Power Space Material Laboratory. He has designed, aided to fabricate, and implement different research lines based on vacuum technology for space materials applications with the aim of mitigating the Multipactor effect. RMS’s research on venting, outgassing, bake-out and secondary electron emission yield (SEY) from space materials provided an immense know-how to VSC, boosting his laboratory among best ones around the world in its field. His research on SEY from metals and dielectrics applied to space devices allows the scientific community and space industry to reduce the Multipactor threshold, increasing the power used in satellite communications. In 2016, RMS became an independent researcher obtaining a Senior Technician Researcher contract at the UV. RMS continues serving as lab’s principal investigator (PI) in the ESA/VSC European High Power Space Material Laboratory. Furthermore, he plays a crucial role in delivering cutting-edge research and technical support to the ESA/VSC European High Power Radio Frequency laboratory. Since 2015, he has published 8 peer-reviewed articles, 10 conference contributions and was involved in 7 competitive projects. Two of them, as PI, granted by the ESA to investigate the influence of charge on SEY from dielectric materials (one article under revision and other in preparation). In this area, he is also promoting and leading research collaborations with industry. Currently, he collaborates with NANOSTINE (Spanish industry) to reduce SEY using Ag/Au nanoparticles, and with other companies in outgassing and bake-out fields. Over his career, RMS has supervised 16 early career researchers and undergraduate students, some of them have performed their Ph.D. in prestigious research centres, such as CERN or the Nano-Photonics Technology Centre (NTC) at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV). RMS has participated as a scientific committee member in four MULCOPIM conference issues about Multipactor and SEY. He has developed an ambitious outreach work with over 9 contributions, including dissemination of science for the general public, 1 outreach article and a book, and has participated in initiatives to eliminate discrimination against women in science (Collaborations with 11Febrero initiative or participating in Hortensia Roig’s grant to promote STEM among young girls).