Hrvoje Petek

Hrvoje Petek (born January 13, 1958) is a Croatian-born American physicist and the Richard King Mellon Professor of Physics and Astronomy, at the University of Pittsburgh, where he is also a professor of chemistry.

Petek received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980. Subsequently, he obtained his Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1985.

Petek has developed coherent photoelectron spectroscopy and microscopy as methods for studying the dephasing and spatial propagation of polarization fields in solid state materials and nanostructure. He is developing methods for multidimensional multiphoton-photoemission spectroscopy. Together with Jin Zhao, Ken Jordan and Ken Onda, Petek also discovered wet electron states, where electrons are partially solvated by water and other protic solvents at molecule vacuum interfaces. Together with Min Feng and Jin Zhao, Petek discovered atom-like superatom states of C60, and similar hollow molecules. Petek’s research with Shijing Tan has involved studies of metal plasmon excitations with semiconductor substrates, where the charge injection from highly optically active plasmonic modes into semiconductor substrates could be used for solar energy harvesting.

Petek is Editor-in-Chief of Progress in Surface Science and has organized conferences in his research field, such as the 11th International Symposium of Ultrafast Surface Dynamics, to be held in Qiandao Lake, China. Petek has been (2015-2019) a member of the National Research and Development Agency Committee for the National Institute for Materials Science, and is currently a senior scientific advisor to the Japanese Institute for Molecular Science.

• 2019 Ahmed Zewail Award in Ultrafast Science and Technology
• 2018 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows
• 2005 Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award,University of Pittsburgh
• 2002 Fellow, American Physical Society
• 2000 Alexander von Humboldt Research Award
• 1996–1999, 2003–2006 NEDO Joint International Research Grant Awardee