Dr. Michael Pravica
Associate Professor of Physics and
Member of HiPSEC (High Pressure and
Office: Bigelow Physics Building Room 136 (BPB-136).
Work Phone: (702)895-1723
Lab Phone: (702)895-1323
Raman Spectroscopy Lab: BPB 137
E-mail: pravica@physics.unlv.edu
Alternate E-mail: pravica@yahoo.com
Alternate2
E-mail: pravicam@unlv.nevada.edu

Education:
Ph.D. in Experimental Condensed
Matter Physics (1998) from
Thesis title: "NMR experiments in a diamond anvil cell at high
pressures."
A.M. in Physics (1990) from
B.Sc. in Physics and Applied
Mathematics (1988) with honors from the California Institute of Technology
(Caltech).
My Group:
Sergey Tkachev (UNLV
Postdoctoral Fellow)
Jimmy Hernandez-Bello (UNLV Physics Doctoral Student)
Edward Romano (UNLV Masters Graduate Student)
Brian Yulga (UNLV Masters
Graduate Student)
Scott Wilde (UNLV physics graduate)
Michael Haire (UNLV Engineering
Sophomore)
Yu Zhen Feng (UNLV Biology
Sophomore)
Cayce Roach (UNLV Physics Senior)
Walter J. Pravica (Full Professor of
Chemistry,
Former staff and students:
Zachary Quine
(UNLV Physics – graduated December 2007.
Received one of UNLV’s “Outstanding Graduate”
awards. Now working at the Army Research
Laboratory,
Sandra Saldana (UNLV
Geophysics – now a geophysics graduate student at
Franciso Sermeno
(UNLV Engineering Sophomore)
Jeremy Segafredo
(UNLV Physics Senior – graduated May 2008. Senior thesis: “High pressure studies of
TATB.”)
Emily
Hartnett (UNLV Physics Junior)
Wade McElroy (UNLV
Engineering Sophomore)
Sean Bajar (UNLV Engineering Senior)
Brett Walters (UNLV Biology
major – will enter
David Hartnett (UNLV
Physics major, now a physics graduate student at the
Martin Galley (Summer 2008 NSF REU Student, SUNY
Carlos Parada
(2004 Summer NSF REU student now a physics graduate student at the Univ.
Jonathan
Larson (2006 Summer NSF REU student from
Thomas Hirschauer
(2006 NSF REU student from
J.P. Badasci (2007 Summer NSF REU student from
Jessica Field (UNLV Math
Senior. Now a math
teacher.)
Paul Parcon
(UNLV Honors Student)
Alex Carr (UNLV Freshman)
Ognjen Grubor-Urosevic
(UNLV Masters Graduate Student)
Wayne Stanbery
(Postdoctoral Fellow)
Krystyna
Lipinska-Kalita (Assistant Research
Professor)
COURSE INFORMATION:
This Spring (2009), I taught
one section of Condensed Matter Theory I (Phys 707).
HW #10 solutions: http://www.physics.unlv.edu/~pravica/hw.pdf
My schedule: http://www.physics.unlv.edu/~pravica/officehours.htm
A copy of the Phys 707 syllabus can be found here: http://www.physics.unlv.edu/~pravica/Ph707syl.htm
I am also the coordinator for our UNLV Physics Friday
Forum. The tentative schedule can be found by clicking on:
http://www.physics.unlv.edu/~pravica/FridayForumSchedule.htm
Research Interests:
My primary research interests
are three-pronged: 1. study of molecular/organic crystals (including energetic materials)
under extreme conditions of high pressure, high temperature, and/or ionizing
radiation using Raman, infrared (IR), and X-ray spectroscopic methods; 2.
investigation of actinide and lanthanide metals at high pressure using X-ray
spectroscopic methods; and 3. efforts to demonstrate
the validity of Ion Beam Nuclear Transmutation Doping (IBNTD) method for the
doping of Wide Band Gap Semiconductors using Raman, micro-Raman, electrical
(e.g. Hall effect), X-ray, and Photoluminescence methods. We have developed
and constructed cryogenic facilities to enable easy loading of low melting
temperature solids and have recently loaded liquid oxygen. We have 25 %
ownership of the HPCAT beamline facility at Argonne
National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) in Chicago and perform
a variety of experiments (X-ray diffraction, Nuclear Inelastic X-ray
Scattering, X-ray Raman Spectroscopy, etc.) there. I have also performed
experiments at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National
Laboratory and the European Synchrotron Research Facility (ESRF), and the
Pohang Light Source (PAL) in
We have an active
collaboration with Drs. David S. Moore, Daniel Hooks, and Nenad
Velisavljevic at Los Alamos National Laboratory
(LANL) with the aim of aiding the Hercules efforts at LANL for shockwave
physics. A picture of a Merril-Bassett-type
diamond anvil cell found below:

A sample of pentaerythritoltetranitrate
(PETN), a high explosive, at 74 GPa (740,000
atmospheres) in a diamond anvil cell:

Elemental erbium at 70 GPa
with cyclohexane as quasi-hydrostatic medium:

Part of my Optical spectroscopy laboratory:
Here I am loading liquid oxygen into a diamond anvil
cell using our newly developed cryogenic loading facility:

Solid oxygen around 10 GPa:

Here is are three recent pictures of me 1.(first photo
on the left) manning the 16 ID-B X-ray powder diffraction station at HPCAT
facilities in the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory
in Chicago in 2004, 2.(middle photo) manning the ID22N x-ray beamline at the ESRF in Grenoble, France, October 2006, and
3. (third photo) manning the 5A HFMS beamstation at the Pohang Light Source (PAL) in



Some Recent Publications:
·
“High
Pressure Raman Spectroscopic Study of Structural Polymorphism in Cyclohexane,” M.G. Pravica,
YR. Shen and M.F. Nicol, Applied
Physics Letters, Volume 84, Number 26, pp. 5452-5454, June 28, 2004.
·
“Characteristics
of Silicone Fluid as a Pressure Transmitting Medium in diamond anvil
cells,” YR Shen, R. Khumar,
M.G. Pravica and M. Nicol, Review
of Scientific Instruments, Volume 75, Number 11, pp. 4450 - 4454, November
2004.
·
"Raman
Scattering Studies of the High-Pressure Stability of Pentaerythritol
Tetranitrate, C(CH2ONO2)4,"
K.Lipinska-Kalita, M.G. Pravica,
M.Nicol, Journal of Physical Chemistry B,
109(41), 19223-19227 (2005).
·
"X-ray
diffraction study of elemental erbium to 70 GPa,"
M.G. Pravica, E. Romano and Z. Quine,
Physical Review B, Volume 72, 214122 (2005).
·
"Studies
of phase transitions in PETN at high pressures," M. Pravica
et al., Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, 67, pp. 2072-2076
(2006).
·
"Radiation-induced
decomposition of PETN and TATB under pressure," H. Giefers,
M. Pravica, P. Liermann,
and W. Yang, Chemical Physics Letters, 429, pp. 304-309 (2006).
·
“X-ray
diffraction study of elemental thulium at pressures up to 86 GPa,” M. Pravica, Z. Quine, E. Romano, Physical Review B, 74, 104107 (2006).
·
“X-ray
Raman Studies on C60 fullerenes and multi-walled carbon nanotubes
under pressure,” R. Kumar, M. Pravica, A.
Cornelius, M. Nicol, M. Hu,
and P. Chow, Diamond and Related
Materials, 16, 1250-1253 (2007).
·
“High Pressure Studies of Cyclohexane
to 40 GPa,” M. Pravica,
YR Shen+, Z. Quine, E.
Romano and D. Hartnett, Journal of
Physical Chemistry B, 111, 4103-4108 (2007).
·
“Phonon Density of States of Metallic Sn at High Pressure,” H. Giefers
et al., Physical Review Letters, 98, 245502 (2007).
·
"An Infrared
Study of TATB under High Pressure," M. Pravica,
B. Yulga, Z. Liu, O. Tschauner,
Physical Review B, 76, 064102 (2007).
·
“Structural
transition of PETN-I to a ferroelastic orthorhombic
phase PETN-III at elevated pressures,” O.Tschauner,
B.Kiefer, Y. Lee, M. Pravica,
M. Nicol, E. Kim, Journal
of Chemical Physics, 127, 094502 (2007).
·
“X-ray
Raman Spectroscopic Study of Benzene at High Pressure,” M. Pravica, O. Grubor-Urosevic, M. Hu, P. Chow, and P. Liermann,
Journal of Physical Chemistry B LETTERS,
111(40), pp. 11635-11637 (2007). .
·
“Anisotropic decomposition of energetic
materials,” M. Pravica et al., APS Shock Compression of Condensed Matter
(SCCM) Conference Proceedings CP955 (2007).
·
“Radiation-induced
decomposition of explosives under extreme conditions,” H. Giefers, M. Pravica, W. Yang, and
P. Liermann, SMEC 2007 conference proceedings, Journal of Physics and Chemistry of
Solids, 69, pp. 2208-2218 (2008).
·
“Radiation-induced decomposition of PETN and
TATB under extreme conditions," H. Giefers and
M. Pravica, Journal
of Physical Chemistry A, 10.1021, March (2008).
·
“High
Pressure Studies of 1,3,5,7 Cyclooctatetraene:
Experiment and Theory," S. Tkachev, M. Pravica, E. Kim, E. Romano, P. Weck,
Journal of Physical Chemistry A 112,
pp. 11501-11507 (2008).
·
“A novel
method to dope diamond - Ion Beam Nuclear Transmutation Doping (IBNTD),"
M.G. Pravica, N.A. Guardala,
J.L. Price, in press, Diamond and Related
Materials (2009).
·
“Organic
Cyclic Difluoramino-nitramines: Infrared and Raman
Spectroscopy of 3,3,7,7 tetrakis(difluoramino)octahydro 1,5-dinitro-1,5-diazocine (HNFX),” P. F. Weck, E. Kim, C. Gobin, and M.G. Pravica, Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, DOI 10.1002/jrs.2210 (2009).
·
"Raman
spectroscopic study of cyclopentane at high
pressure," S. Tkachev, M. Pravica,
E. Kim and P. Weck, Journal of Chemical Physics, 130,
204505 (2009).
·
"High-pressure
far- and mid-infrared study of 1,3,5,7 Triaminotrinitrobenzene,”
M. Pravica, B. Yulga,
Recent Presentations:
·
Two invited talks to
·
Invited talk for the HiPSEC
review: “Studies of hydrocarbons, energetic materials, and wide bandgap materials under extreme conditions,”
·
Invited talk to the Southern Nevada section of the
American Association of Physics Teachers (SNAAPT) entitled: "The Large Hadron Collider at CERN: Determining the origins of our
Universe"
·
Contributed talk at the DIAMOND 2008 conference in
·
Presented poster at the Gordon Research Conference
"Research at High Pressure," in
·
Presented poster at the Gordon Research Conference
"Energetic Materials," in
·
Two invited talks to
·
Invited talk to the HiPSEC
Annual Review entitled, “Bonding under extreme conditions,” May 20,
2008.
·
Invited talk to the MURI 2007 Review symposium
entitled: “X-radiation damage in energetic materials under extreme
conditions,”
·
Presented talk at the AIRAPT 2007 conference entitled:
"X-ray Raman Spectroscopic study of Benzene at High Pressure,"
·
Invited talk entitled: “Physics of Lighting and
Tesla,” Illuminating Engineering Society,
·
UNLV Physics Forum Talk: “Bonding under Extreme
Conditions,” Friday, August 31, 2007.
·
KNPR interview: “Legacy of Tesla,” Friday,
June 28, 2007.
·
Presented talk at the American Physical Society Shock
Compression of Condensed Matter meeting in
·
Invited
·
Invited talk entitled, “Radiation-induced decomposition
in energetic materials,"
SMEC 2007 meeting,
·
Presented talk at the American Physical Society March
Meeting in
·
Two presented posters at the Diamond and Related
Materials conference in
·
Invited talk to the
·
Presented poster entitled “Radiation- induced Decomposition of
Explosives at Ambient and High Pressure” (Poster T-P157), American Crystallography Association Meeting,
·
Invited
talk to the Energetic Materials/Insensitive Munitions Joint MURI Review,
entitled: "Radiation Damage Studies
of TATB and PETN," Army Research Laboratory,
·
Presented poster entitled: “Synchrotron
radiation-induced decomposition of explosives at high pressure” at the
Research at High Pressure Gordon Research Conference,
·
Presented poster entitled: “Radiation-induced
Decomposition of PETN and TATB” at the Energetic Materials Gordon
Research Conference,
·
Invited
talk to the University of California, Berkeley Nuclear Engineering Department
entitled: "Nuclear transmutation
doping of wide band gap semiconductors and x-ray synchrotron studies of metals
at high pressures," Monday, May 1, 2006.
·
Invited
·
Presented talk at the American Physical Society March
Meeting in
·
Invited talk entitled, “High Pressure Studies of
Explosives and Metals,” East
·
Invited talk entitled, “High Pressure Physics at
UNLV,” Dine’ College, Tsaile Main Campus,
Navajo Nation,
·
Invited talk entitled, “The World of High
Pressure Physics,” to SAGE program students, UNLV Honors College,
·
Invited talk entitled, “High Pressure studies of
PETN,” MURI program Kick-off Meeting, Caltech, Pasadena, CA., Tuesday
July 26, 2005.
·
Presented poster entitled “X-ray diffraction
study of elemental erbium to 65 GPa” (Poster
358), and presented talk entitled, “High-Pressure Synchrotron Radiation
X-ray Diffraction Studies of Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate C(CH2ONO2)4,”(Talk
T2-O063), Joint 20th AIRAPT
and 43rd EHPRG Conf. Proc., Karlsruhe, Germany, June 27th
– July 1st, 2005.
·
Invited talk entitled, “Studies of phase
transitions in PETN at high pressures," SMEC 2005 meeting,
·
Invited talk entitled, "The Exciting World of
High Pressure Physics,"
to the UNLV Honors College, Las Vegas, NV, 3/31/05.
·
Presented talk at the American Physical Society March
Meeting in Los Angeles entitled, "High Pressure Studies of PETN up to 74 GPa,"
Los Angeles, CA, 3/21/05.
·
DOE
NNSA/NV-UNLV Stockpile Stewardship Cooperative Program in Materials Science and
Engineering 2004 Review - 1/12/05, "High Pressure Physics," Las
Vegas, NV.
·
Invited talk to the Army Research
Laboratory (ARL) entitled, “Optical Measurements of Thin Film Quantum Dot
Sensors at High Pressures and Temperature,” Aberdeen Proving Ground,
Maryland, January 5, 2005.
·
Invited
UNLV University Forum talk entitled "The Great Contributions of Physics to
Humanity," Monday, November 29, 2004.
·
Invited
talk entitled "Direct Energy Conversion devices (DEC) using Ion Beam
Nuclear Transmutation Doping (IBNTD)" delivered at Siltronics
Inc., Portland, Oregon (10/15/04).
·
Presented
poster at the International Union of Crystallography High Pressure Commission
Workshop (IUCR2004) entitled: “High Pressure X-ray diffraction studies of
PETN and Cyclohexane,” Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,
Canada (8/18 – 8/21/04).
·
Presented
poster at the Gordon Conference on High Pressure entitled: “Structural
Studies of molecular and organic crystals under high pressure,” Meriden,
NH (6/27 – 7/1/04).
·
Presented
talk entitled "Direct Energy Conversion Devices utilizing wide band gap
semiconductors and IBNTD," at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock, Maryland (6/2/04).
·
Poster
presented at " 2004
Stewardship Science Academic Alliances (SSAA) Program Symposium, "
·
Presented
talk at the American Physical Society March Meeting in Montreal entitled,
"Raman and X-ray measurements on cyclohexane up
to 40 GPa," Montreal, Quebec, 3/22/04.
·
Poster
presented at "Future Directions for Multifunction RF Electronics Technology,"
joint DARPA/ONR-sponsored conference, Washington DC, 11/19/03.
·
DOE
NNSA/NV-UNLV Stockpile Stewardship Cooperative Program in Materials Science and
Engineering 2003 Review - 12/5/03, "Experiments at High Pressure,"
Las Vegas, NV.
For further information about the UNLV Physics
program, please visit,
http://www.physics.unlv.edu/
Another web site of mine: http://pravica.tripod.com/
My wife, Dr. Maria Jerinic-Pravica
is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the
Activism:
I am also passionately concerned about the state of
science in
http://www.physics.unlv.edu/~pravica/congress.pdf
Some of my published op-eds:
“The great contributions of physics to
humanity”: http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Mar-06-Sun-2005/opinion/682710.html
“Energy savings over friction”: http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20060603-093026-6604r.htm
“Physicist examines global warming”: http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20060826-101814-1121r.htm
“Firming up hard science”: http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20070505-101327-9121r.htm
“Science and religion”: http://washingtontimes.com/news/2005/dec/18/20051218-125508-8571r/
“Brassy basics yield a golden education”: http://www.physics.unlv.edu/~pravica/BrassyBasics.doc
“We need to resurrect the concept of the
“public intellectual”: http://www.thecommentfactory.com/we-need-to-resurrect-the-concept-of-the-public-intellectual-2167
“Nikola Tesla, godfather of the 20th Century,
deserves more credit”: http://www.thecommentfactory.com/nikola-telsa-godfather-of-the-20th-century-deserves-more-credit-2176
On August 2, 2006, I gave a presentation on global
warming to the Las Vegas City Council in support of
A copy of my presentation can be found here: http://www5.lasvegasnevada.gov/sirepub/cache/2/w3bqub55aobfba45o1seyb55/23516204212009044303703.PDF
I was interviewed by KNPR (our local NPR affiliate) on Nikola Tesla. A link to this interview can be found at: http://www.knpr.org/audio2007/mp3/070628_m-provika.mp3 .
This page was updated on 5/27/09.
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