University College Cork

1. Home
2. Student Health Service
3. People

‍

Biography

John Cuffe was born in Cork, Ireland, received a B.Sc. degree in Physics from University College Cork, Ireland with 1st class honours. He was awarded a competitive "Government of Ireland" Scholarship from the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) for his PhD in "Phonon-Photon Interactions in Nanostructures" researched at University College Cork, in collaboration with the Phononic and Photonic Nanostructures Group (P2N) from the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) in Barcelona. Following his PhD, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at ICN2, where he developed a Raman Spectroscopy based technique for measuring the thermal conductivity of ultrathin silicon membranes in a non-contact manner, and researched phonon lifetimes in nanostructures using ultrafast laser spectroscopy. He joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012, where he continued his research in nanoscale thermal transport, and phonon mean free path spectroscopy, in particular, to determine which phonons were most important for thermal transport in nanostructures. John's research seeks to improve the fundamental understanding of phonons in nanostructures, to enable the design of structures for new capabilities and applications. He has published over 40 manuscripts, with over 1000 citations, and a h-index of 13. He is currently lecturing in Experimental Methods, Optics, and Physics for Biomedical, Environmental, Food and Nutritional Sciences in University College Cork.

2003 – 2007           B.Sc. Physics, University College Cork, Ireland
2007 – 2011           Ph.D. (Physics) University College Cork, Ireland
2011 – 2012          Post-doctoral Associate at Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)
2012 – 2014          Post-doctoral Associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
2014 – 2018          Scientific Communication Consultant
2018 – 2019          B.Sc. Science Education, University College Cork, Ireland
2020 – Present       Lecturer at University College Cork‍

Research Interests

Nanoscale thermal transport; Optical characterization of phonons, Dispersion relation engineering through nanostructures; Photon-phonon interactions; Science education‍

Publications

‍

Peer Reviewed Journals

	Year	Publication
	(2016)	'Thermal transport in suspended silicon membranes measured by laser-induced transient gratings' Vega-Flick A.;Duncan R.;Eliason J.;Cuffe J.;Johnson J.;Peraud J.;Zeng L.;Lu Z.;Maznev A.;Wang E.;Alvarado-Gil J.;Sledzinska M.;Sotomayor Torres C.;Chen G.;Nelson K. (2016) 'Thermal transport in suspended silicon membranes measured by laser-induced transient gratings'. AIP Advances, 6 (12) [DOI] [Details]
	(2015)	'Reconstructing phonon mean-free-path contributions to thermal conductivity using nanoscale membranes' Cuffe J.;Eliason J.;Maznev A.;Collins K.;Johnson J.;Shchepetov A.;Prunnila M.;Ahopelto J.;Sotomayor Torres C.;Chen G.;Nelson K. (2015) 'Reconstructing phonon mean-free-path contributions to thermal conductivity using nanoscale membranes'. Physical Review B - Condensed Matter And Materials Physics, 91 (24) [DOI] [Details]
	(2015)	'Lifetime of high-order thickness resonances of thin silicon membranes' Maznev AA;Hofmann F;Cuffe J;Eliason JK;Nelson KA; (2015) 'Lifetime of high-order thickness resonances of thin silicon membranes'. Ultrasonics, 56 [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Reduction of the thermal conductivity in free-standing silicon nano-membranes investigated by non-invasive Raman thermometry' Chávez-Ángel E.;Reparaz J.;Gomis-Bresco J.;Wagner M.;Cuffe J.;Graczykowski B.;Shchepetov A.;Jiang H.;Prunnila M.;Ahopelto J.;Alzina F.;Sotomayor Torres C. (2014) 'Reduction of the thermal conductivity in free-standing silicon nano-membranes investigated by non-invasive Raman thermometry'. Apl Materials, 2 (1) [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Examining thermal transport through a frequency-domain representation of time-domain thermoreflectance data' Collins KC;Maznev AA;Cuffe J;Nelson KA;Chen G; (2014) 'Examining thermal transport through a frequency-domain representation of time-domain thermoreflectance data'. Review of Scientific Instruments, 85 (12) [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Nanostructured p-type Cr/V2O5 thin films with boosted thermoelectric properties' Loureiro, J;Santos, JR;Nogueira, A;Wyczisk, F;Divay, L;Reparaz, S;Alzina, F;Torres, CMS;Cuffe, J;Montemor, F;Martins, R;Ferreira, I (2014) 'Nanostructured p-type Cr/V2O5 thin films with boosted thermoelectric properties'. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2 :6456-6462 [DOI] [Details]
	(2013)	'Direct Measurement of Room-Temperature Nondiffusive Thermal Transport Over Micron Distances in a Silicon Membrane' Johnson, JA;Maznev, AA;Cuffe, J;Eliason, JK;Minnich, AJ;Kehoe, T;Torres, CMS;Chen, G;Nelson, KA (2013) 'Direct Measurement of Room-Temperature Nondiffusive Thermal Transport Over Micron Distances in a Silicon Membrane'. Physical Review Letters, 110 [DOI] [Details]
	(2013)	'Ultra-thin free-standing single crystalline silicon membranes with strain control' Shchepetov A.;Prunnila M.;Alzina F.;Schneider L.;Cuffe J.;Jiang H.;Kauppinen E.;Sotomayor Torres C.;Ahopelto J. (2013) 'Ultra-thin free-standing single crystalline silicon membranes with strain control'. Applied Physics Letters, 102 (19) [DOI] [Details]
	(2013)	'Lifetimes of confined acoustic phonons in ultrathin silicon membranes' Cuffe J;Ristow O;Chávez E;Shchepetov A;Chapuis PO;Alzina F;Hettich M;Prunnila M;Ahopelto J;Dekorsy T;Sotomayor Torres CM; (2013) 'Lifetimes of confined acoustic phonons in ultrathin silicon membranes'. Physical Review Letters, 110 (9) [DOI] [Details]
	(2012)	'Phonons in Slow Motion: Dispersion Relations in Ultrathin Si Membranes' Cuffe, J,Chavez, E,Shchepetov, A,Chapuis, PO,El Boudouti, EH,Alzina, F,Kehoe, T,Gomis-Bresco, J,Dudek, D,Pennec, Y,Djafari-Rouhani, B,Prunnila, M,Ahopelto, J,Torres, CMS (2012) 'Phonons in Slow Motion: Dispersion Relations in Ultrathin Si Membranes'. Nano Letters, 12 :3569-3573 [DOI] [Details]

‍

Professional Activities

‍

Employment

	Employer	Position	From / To
	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Postdoctoral Associate	01-SEP-12 / 01-SEP-14
	Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)	Postdoctoral Associate	01-SEP-11 / 01-SEP-12
	University College Cork	Lecturer	28-SEP-20 /

‍

Teaching Activities

‍

Teaching Interests

Peer Assisted Learning
Use of ICT for delivering remote content and enabling real-time monitoring of learning outcomes.
PY3108 Experimental Methods II
PY3101 Optics
PY1008 Physics for Biomedical, Environmental, Food and Nutritional Sciences‍

Research Information

‍

External Collaborators

	Name	Organisation / Institute	Country
	NanoEngineering Group	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	U.S.A.