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Purnima Balakrishnan (Fed)
Physical Scientist
Purnima Balakrishnan is a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), focused on characterization of thin film materials and nanostructures.
She is currently working at the Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility (SURF III) on the development of a full Mueller Matrix spectroscopic ellipsometer in the VUV/EUV wavelength range. This instrument is under development as part of the EUV Scatterometry project under the CHIPS Metrology Program, with the goal of increasing sensitivity to features of increasing complexity in the manufacturing of semiconductor chips by realizing spectroscopic ellipsometry at shorter wavelengths.
Purnima was previously an NRC postdoc at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) on the neutron reflectometry team, where she used neutron, x-ray, and muon scattering and spectroscopy techniques to study magnetic properties of quantum materials at surfaces and interfaces; the interplay between topology, magnetism, and superconductivity; and electrical and ionic control of magnetism in solid-state devices. She helped commission CANDOR, the newest neutron reflectometer at NCNR, contributed to the reflectometry analysis software Refl1d, and designed and ran experiments at the NCNR and many other user facilities, nationally and internationally.
Awards
2022 PEAR Technical Accolade for outstanding leadership enabling continued support of user science during the NCNR outage