Samuel Belayneh Habtemariam earned his BSc degree (2019) in Applied Physics and MSc degree (2021) in Material Physics from Adama Science and Technology University.
During his master’s studies, he worked on nanoparticles, in particular on synthesis and characterization of iron-doped zinc oxide thin films for optoelectronic applications such as photosensors. His work involved synthesizing pure (undoped) and iron-doped zinc oxide thin films (with different iron concentrations) to investigate how the doping affected the optical properties (energy band gap, emission and absorption spectra) and electrical properties (charge carrier density, resistance, conductivity, etc.) of the semiconductor. The doping enables zinc oxide thin films (which usually absorbs and emit UV light) to interact with visible light by reducing the energy band gap. This in turn makes these semiconductor films to be suitable for photodetector technologies such as the one used in direct dark matter detection experiments.
Samuel’s research interest lies in the enhancement of detector technology used in the current and future astroparticle physics experiments with huge emphasis on the direct dark matter detection experiments.
In March 2025, Samuel was accepted into the PhD program at the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS). He is now a member of Astrocent’s Photonics for Particle Astrophysics and Sustainable Energy Group.