Department of Physics - Imperial College London

Transcription

Department
of Physics
Department of Physics Review
2013/14
Faculty of
Natural Sciences
Department of Physics Review 2013/14
2
Contents
Department of Physics Review 2013/14
5
Introduction
7
Department Information
101 Technical Development,
Intellectual Property & Commercial
Interactions
8 Academic, Research and Support staff
107 Prizes awarded
7 Teaching
112 Grants awarded
13
19
22
27
28
40
41
46
53
60
69
74
82
88
94
Undergraduate studies
International exchange scheme
Outreach
Postgraduate studies
Highlighted Postgraduate Case Studies
Research in progress
115 Alumni
117 Juno
119 Artist in residence
Groups
Astrophysics
Condensed Matter Theory
Experimental Solid State Physics
High Energy Physics
Photonics
Plasma Physics /ISP
Quantum Optics & Laser Science
Space & Atmospheric Physics
Theoretical Physics
www3.imperial.ac.uk/physics
Department of Physics Review 2013 -14
3
4
Introduction
Head of Departments Statement
The Physics Department has continued to thrive during 2013-14 and inside you
will find an overview over the past two years across the considerable breadth of
our activities. I took over as Head of Department in May 2014 from Jo Haigh
and want to thank Jo on behalf of the department for her outstanding leadership
which has left the department in fantastic shape going forward.
The department thrives as an environment where we can provide outstanding
teaching delivered by world class researchers. We also have a mission to
engage the public with the excitement of our work to try and encourage the next
Professor Jordan Nash
generation of physicists.
Head of the Department of Physics
Inside this report you will find an overview of the world leading research, which is going on within the nine research
groups in the department. You will find a description of the activities of the staff members as well as a listing of a
few of their key publications during this period. We have also listed the research grants which the department has
received and which enable us to carry out our work, as well as the many awards and prizes which members of staff
have received.
We teach around 840 undergraduates and around 400 postgraduate students. Inside you will find an overview of
our undergraduate programmes as well as an indication of the many destinations where our undergraduate students continue after graduation. We were also delighted to introduce summer student exchanges with MIT, UBC,
SNU, and KAIST allowing some of our top undergraduates to gain research experience overseas.
Postgraduate degrees are available as both taught Masters programmes as well as PhD programmes. You will find
inside an overview of the degree courses as well as the topics of projects for the degrees which were awarded
during the period of this review. Our Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) have been a real success and allowed
us to provide a great training programme across these multi-disciplinary centres. In addition, the report provides a
summary of the destinations for our PG students. We have continued to provide opportunities for our students to
interact with commercial partners through our Industry Club, and a particularly successful event is the annual postgraduate research symposium.
Outreach remains an important fundamental part of our mission and as part of this we were delighted to sponsor an
artist in residence some of whose work you will find inside the report.
The department renewed its Athena SWAN silver award in 2012, and immediately began planning as to apply for
an upgrade to a gold award. This involves representatives from across the department on our JUNO committee
looking at how we can improve the workplace environment and improve the gender and racial imbalance in physics
departments.
We have also been working to keep our graduates in contact with the work which is going on here by sponsoring
events inviting alumni into the department to hear about our research.
The report inside will give you a sense of the strength of the department, which remains one of the top destinations
worldwide for research in and studying physics, and which is in an excellent position to continue to attract the best
and brightest students and researchers.
Jordan Nash
5
6
Department Information
Head
of Department
Professor Jordan Nash
Tel: 020 7594 7500
Email:
[email protected]
Associate
Head of Department
Dr Kenny Weir
Tel: 020 7594 7501
Email:
[email protected]
Operations
Manager
Linda Jones
Tel: 020 7594 7502
Email:
[email protected]
Research Operations
Manager
Louise Hayward
Tel: 020 7594 7679
Email:
[email protected]
Executive Assistant
to Head of Department
(Maternity Cover)
Plum Garland
Tel: 020 7594 7503
Email: [email protected]
(Maternity Leave)
Caroline Jackson
Tel: 020 7594 7503
Senior Administrator
Kalvinder Chana
Tel: 020 7594 6113
Undergraduate Teaching
Postgraduate Teaching
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Professor Angus Mackinnon
Tel: 020 7594 7505
Admissions and Disabilities Officer
Ms Mery Fajardo
Tel: 020 7594 7513
Director of Postgraduate Studies
Professor Lesley Cohen
Tel: 020 7594 7598
Admissions Tutor (Undergraduate)
Dr Bob Forsyth
Tel: 020 7594 7761
Undergraduate Administrator
Ms Stephanie Smallwood
Tel: 020 7594 7511
Postgraduate Administrator
Mrs Loli Sanchez
Tel: 020 7594 7512
Senior Tutor
Professor Danny Segal
Tel: 020 7594 7779
Examinations Co-ordinator
Dr Julia Sedgbeer
Tel: 020 7594 7811
Undergraduate Education Manager
Mr Derryck Stewart
Tel: 020 7594 7561
Examinations and Information Officer
Mr Edward Charnley
Tel: 020 7594 7508
Undergraduate Administrator
Ms Geetika Tewari
Tel: 020 7594 7510
Postgraduate Development Officer
Dr Andrew Williamson
Tel: 020 7594 7631
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Academic, Research
and Support Staff
Professors
Prof Thomas Anthopoulos, BEng, PhD
[Experimental Physics]
Prof Donal Bradley, BSc, PhD, ARCS, FRSA,
CPhys, FInstP, FRS [Experimental Physics]
Prof Jeremy Chittenden, BSc, PhD, DIC,
CPhys, MInstP [Physics]
Prof Kim Christensen, PhD
[Theoretical Physics]
Prof Lesley Cohen, BSc, PhD
[Solid State Physics]
Prof Carlo Contaldi, MSci, PhD
Prof Steven Cowley, BA, MA, PhD, FRS
[Plasma Physics]
Prof Michael Damzen, PhD
[Experimental Laser Physics]
Prof Steven Schwartz, BSc, PhD
Prof Ortwin Hess, PhD
[Metamaterials]
Prof Daniel Segal, BSc, DPhil
[Quantum Optics]
[Laser Physics]
[Physics]
Prof Edward Hinds, BA, DPhil, FRS
Prof Timothy Horbury, BSc, PhD
Prof Christopher Hull, BA, PhD, FInstP, FRS
[Physics]
Prof Misha Ivanov, MSc, PhD
[Physics]
Prof Andrew Jaffe, BS, MS, PhD, MInstP,
FRAS [Astrophysics and Cosmology]
Prof Myungshik Kim, BS, MSc, MBS, PhD,
PGCHET [Theoretical Quantum Information]
Prof Paul Dauncey, BA, DPhil
Prof Sergey Lebedev, MS, PhD, FInstP, F.APS
[High Energy Physics]
[Experimental Particle Physics]
[Particle Physics]
[Plasma Physics]
[Space and Atmospheric Physics]
[Quantum Optics]
Prof Roland Smith, BSc, PhD
Prof Kellogg Stelle, AB, PhD, FInstP
Prof Timothy Sumner, BSc, DPhil, CPhys,
FInstP, FRAS [Experimental Astrophysics]
Prof Adrian Sutton, BA, MSc, PhD, FRS
[Nanotechnology]
Prof Roy Taylor, BSc, PhD
[Ultrafast Physics and Technology]
Prof Richard Thompson, MA, DPhil
[Physics]
Prof John Tisch, BSc, PhD
[Laser Physics]
Prof Peter Török, DPhil, DSc
Prof Gavin Davies, BSc, PhD
Prof Kenneth Long, BSc, DPhil
[Space Physics]
[Physics]
Prof Arkady Tseytlin, MS, PhD
[Physics]
Prof Tejinder Virdee,
Prof Michele Dougherty, BSc, PhD, FRS
Prof Fay Dowker, BA, MA, PhD
[Physics]
Prof Michael Duff, BSc, PhD, DIC, FInstP, FRS
Prof Angus Mackinnon, PhD
Prof Joao Magueijo, BA, PhD
Prof Stefan Maier, PhD
[Nanophotonics]
[Physics]
[Laser Physics]
Prof Ulrik Egede, BSc, PhD
Prof Michael Finnis, BSc, PhD
[Materials Theory and Simulation]
Prof Matthew Foulkes, PhD
[Physics]
Prof Leszek Frasinski, MSc, PhD, FInstP
[Atomic and Molecular Physics]
Prof Paul French, PhD
[Physics]
Prof Jerome Gauntlett, BSc, PhD,FInstP
[Physics]
Prof Andrey Golutvin, PhD [
Physics]
Prof Jonathan Marangos, PhD, ARCS, DIC
Prof Martin McCall, PhD
[Theoretical Optics]
Prof Raymond Murray, BSc, PhD
[Solid State Physics]
Prof Zulfikar Najmudin, BA, PhD [
Physics]
Prof Jordan Nash, BSc, PhD
[Physics]
Prof Mark Neil, BA, MA, PhD
[Physics]
Prof Jenny Nelson, BA, PhD, FRS
[Physics]
Prof Sir John Pendry, MA, PhD, FRS
Prof Joanna Haigh, MA, MSc, DPhil, FInstP,
[Theoretical Solid State Physics]
[Physics]
CSci, CPhys, FInstP [Physics]
[Physics]
Prof Arttu Rajantie, BSc, MSc, PhD
FRMets, FRS, CBE [Atmospheric Physics]
Prof Geoffrey Hall, BSc, PhD, DIC, ARCS
Prof Jonathan Halliwell, BSc, PhD
Prof Amihay Hanany, BA, PhD
Prof Peter Haynes, BA, PhD
[Theory and Simulation of Materials]
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Prof Alan Heavens, PhD
[Astrostatistics]
Prof Christopher Phillips, MA, PhD, DIC,
Prof Martin Plenio, PhD (Dr. rer. nat)
[Physics]
Prof Steven Rose, BA, DPhil, CPhys, FInstP
[Plasma Physics]
Prof Terence Rudolph, BSc, PhD
[Quantum Physics]
[Optical Physics]
Prof Ralf Toumi, BSc, PhD, ARCS
[Atmospheric Physics]
[Physics]
PhD, FRS [Physics]
Prof Dimitri Vvedensky, PhD
[Theoretical Solid State Physics]
Prof Daniel Waldram, BA, MA, PhD
Prof Stephen Warren, MA, PhD
[Astrophysics]
Prof Jing Zhang, BSc, PhD, DIC, ARCS
[Physics]
Readers
Dr Henrique Araujo, PhD
Dr Oliver Buchmueller, PhD
Dr Alasdair Campbell, BSc, MSc, PhD
Dr David Colling, BSC, BA, PhD
Dr Michael Coppins, BSc, PhD
Dr Arnaud Czaja, PhD
Dr Robert Forsyth, BSc, PhD
Dr John Hassard, BSc, PhD
Dr Ji-Seon Kim, PhD
Dr Arish Mostofi, PhD
Dr Ingo Mueller-Wodarg, MSc, PhD
Dr Carl Paterson, BA, PhD
Dr Juliet Pickering, BA, MA, PhD, DIC
Dr Sergei Popov, MSc, PhD
Dr Jürgen Pozimski, BSc, MSc, PhD
Dr William Proud, BSc, PhD, FlnstP, CPhys,
CChem
Dr Benjamin Sauer, BA, PhD
Dr Paul Stavrinou, BEng, PhD
Academic, Research
and Support Staff
Dr Yvonne Unruh, MSc, PhD
Dr Toby Wiseman, PhD
Senior Lecturers
Dr Will Branford, MSc, PhD
Dr Helen Brindley, BSc, PhD
Mr Christopher Carr, BSc
Dr David Clements, BSc, PhD, DIC
Dr Christopher Dunsby, MSci, PhD
Dr Ned Ekins-Daukes, MSci, MSc, PhD
Dr Timothy Evans, BA, PhD
Dr Marina Galand, PhD
Dr Robert Kingham, BSc, PhD
Dr Derek Lee, BA, PhD
Dr Florian Mintert, PhD
Dr Subhanjoy Mohanty, PhD
Dr Karl Sandeman, PhD
Dr Julia Sedgbeer, PhD, DIC
Dr Paul Tangney, BSc, PhD
Dr Michael Tarbutt, MPhys, DPhil
Dr Roberto Trotta, PhD
Dr Yoshiyuki Uchida, BA, PhD
Dr Morgan Wascko, BA, MSci, PhD
Dr Kenneth Weir, BSc, PhD
Lecturers
Dr Vitali Averbukh, PhD
Dr Simon Bland, MSci, PhD
Dr Amanda Chatten, BSc, PhD
Dr Daniel Eakins, PhD
Dr Jonathan Eastwood, PhD
Dr Vincenzo Giannini, PhD
Dr Heather Graven, PhD
Dr Jonathan Hudson, MPhys, DPhil
Dr Stuart Mangles, MSci, PhD
Dr Adam Masters, PhD
Dr James McGinty, PhD
Dr Daniel Mortlock, PhD
Dr Rupert Oulton, MSci, PhD
Dr Jaroslaw Pasternak, PhD
Dr Mitesh Patel, PhD
Dr Peiro Posocco, PhD
Dr Jonathan Pritchard, PhD
Dr Alex Tapper, PhD
Dr Apostolos Voulgarakis, BSc, MSc, PhD
Research Fellows
Dr Raymond Beuselinck, BSc, PhD
Dr Joachim Hamm, PhD
Dr Worawut Khunsin, PhD
Dr Jonathan Murray, PhD
Dr Gary Perkins, PhD
Dr David Raymond, BSc, MSc, PhD
Dr Jacqueline Russell, BSc, PhD
Dr Patrick Scott, PhD
Dr Christopher Seez, PhD
Dr Stuart Solin, PhD
Outreach/Teaching
Dr Caroline Clewley - Teaching Fellow
Dr Mark Richards - Teaching Fellow
Dr Vijay Tymms - Teaching Fellow
Academic Leavers
Prof Roger Evans
Dr Antonio Fernandez-Dominguez
Mr Ali Seyyed Mozaffari-Chinjani
Dr Yannick Sonnefraud
Dr Kosmas Tsakmakidis
Honorary Associations
Senior Research Investigator
& Distinguished Research Fellow
Prof. Thomas Kibble, MA, PhD, FRS
Senior Research Investigators
Emeritus Prof Peter Cargill, BSc, PhD
Dr Aboubaker Dangor, BSc, DSc
Prof. Peter Dornan, BA, PhD, FRS
Prof. Roger Evans, BSc, PhD, FInstP
Emeritus Prof. Bruce Joyce, DSc, FRS
Prof. Sir Peter Knight, BSc, DPhil, FRS
Prof. Elliot Leader, BSc, MS, PhD
Prof. Geoffrey New, MA, DPhil
Prof. Michael Rowan-Robinson, BA, PhD,
FInstP, FRAS
Prof David Southwood, BA, DIC, PhD
Distinguished Research Fellows
Dr Trevor Bacon, BSc, PhD
Emeritus Prof. Andre Balogh, MSc, DIC
Emeritus Prof. Keith Barnham, PhD
Emeritus Prof. David Caplin, MA, MSc, PhD
Emeritus Prof Jean Patrick Connerade,
PhD, ARCS, DIC
Dr Jack Connor, BSc, PhD
Prof. Christopher Dainty, PhD
Dr Michel Della Negra, BSc, PhD
Prof. John Harries, BSc, PhD, CPhys, FInstP,
FRMets
Emeritus Prof. Christopher Isham, BSc,
ARCS, PhD, FInstP
Emeritus Prof. Gareth Jones, BSc, PhD
Dr Hugh Jones, BA, PhD
Emeritus Prof Peter Meikle, PhD, FRAS
Emeritus Prof. Gareth Parry, BSc, PhD,
DIC, FREng
Emeritus Prof. John Quenby, BSc, PhD,
DIC, ARCS
Emeritus Prof Raymond Rivers, BA, MA,
PhD, FInstP
Prof. Robin Smith, MA, PhD, DIC
Lady Anne Thorne, MA, DPhil
Emeritus Prof. David Websdale, PhD,
ARCS
Honorary Research Fellows
Dr Julian Lyubina, PhD
Mr David Price, MA, DIC
Dr Khadija Tahir, BSc, MSc, PhD
Mrs Prudence Wormell, BSc
Dr Wenyi Zhong, MSc, PhD
Honorary Lecturers
Dr Ken Bignell, BSc, PhD, ARCS
Dr Anne Curtis, PhD
Mr Edward Judd, HNC
Mr Kevin Middleton, BSc, MSc
Dr Matthew Owens, PhD
Dr Alex Robinson, BA, MSc, PhD
Dr Alex Schekochihin, PhD
Visiting Professors
Prof. John Allen, MA, PhD, DSc
Dr Jezsef Baranyi, PhD
Prof. Farhat Beg, PhD, MPhil, MSc, BSc
Prof Anthony Bell, MA, PhD, MInstP, CPhys,
FRAS
Dr Seton Bennett, PhD, CBE
Prof March Burchell, PhD
Dr Jeremy Burroughes, BSc, PhD
Dr Gilbert Collins, PhD
Dr William Dorland, BS, PhD
Prof. Sergei Dudarev, BS, PhD
Dr Malcolm Dunlop, BSc, PhD
Dr. Anthony Dunne, BSc, PhD, DIC, ARCS
Prof. John Ellis, BA, PhD
Dr Lyndon Evans, BSc, PhD
Prof. Vladimir Fortov, MSc, PhD
Prof. Patrick Gill, BSc, DPhil
Dr Mark Glaser, MB BS, M.R.C.S.L.R.C.P, FFR
(R.C.S.I), D.M.R.T, F.R.C.R
Dr Gianluca Gregori, PhD
Dr Mikhail Gryaznevich, PhD
Dr Edward Gumbrell, PhD
Prof. Richard Harrison, PhD
Prof. Timothy Hender, BSc, PhD
Prof. Henry Hutchinson, BSc, PhD
Prof Chan Joshi, PhD
Prof. Gannady Kanel, PhD
Prof. Karl Krushelnick, BSc, MA, PhD
Prof. Michael Lockwood, PhD
Prof. Leon Lucy, BSc, PhD
Dr. Louis Lyons, BSc, DPhil
Professor Kirpal Nandra, BA, PhD
Dr Peter Norreys, BSc, MSc, PhD
Dr Andrew Randewich, Cphys, FLnstP
Prof. Sergey Razorenov, PhD
Dr Peter Roberts, BSc, PhD
Prof Carlos Silva, PhD
Prof. David Smith, PhD, ARCS
Prof. Nigel Smith, BSc, PhD
Prof Paul Smith, PhD
Dr Michael Tatarakis, BSc, MSc, PhD
Prof. John Thompson, MA, PhD
9
Academic, Research
and Support Staff
Prof Michael Thompson, MA, PhD
Dr Adrian Tuck, BSc, PhD
Prof. David Wark, BSc, MS, PhD, FRS
Prof. Ronald Winter, FInstP, PhD
Visiting Readers
Dr Katherine Brown, PhD
Honorary Association Leavers
Dr Almut Beige
Research
Research Associates
10
Dr Pablo Albella-Echave
Dr Yuriy Alexandrov
Dr Diego Alonso-Alvarez
Dr Hemmel Amrania
Dr Brian Appelbe
Dr Emma Arbabzadah
Dr Paloma Arroyo-Huidobro
Dr Morteza Aslaninejad
Dr Dane Austin
Dr Minas Bacharis
Dr Robert Bainbridge
Dr Alexey Bak
Dr James Banks
Dr Thomas Barillot
Dr Piers Barnes
Dr Daniela Bauer
Dr Francesco Benini
Dr Victoria Blackmore
Dr Milan Bratko
Dr Avraham Braun
Dr Maria Broadbridge
Dr Nicolas Bruneau
Dr Aaron Bundock
Dr Guy Burdiak
Dr David Burn
Dr Eoin Butler
Dr Nelson Carreira-Lopes
Dr Megha Chadha
Dr David Chapman
Dr Christopher Chen
Dr Luke Chipperfield
Dr Alexander Clark
Dr Emiliano Cortes
Dr Jian Cui
Dr Alastair Currie
Dr Robert Currie
Dr Maria Dasi-Espuig
Dr Konstantinos Daskalakis
Dr Florent Deledalle
Dr Carlo Di Franco
Dr Zsolt Diveki
Dr Adam Dobbs
Dr Sean Donnellan
Dr Nicholas Dover
Dr Emil Drabek-Maunder
Dr Nokuthula Dube
Dr Anne Ducout
Dr Astrid Eichhorn
Dr John Estes
Dr Hendrik Faber
Dr Stephen Feeney
Dr Noah Fitch
Dr Cecilia Flori
Dr Yan Francescato
Dr Zsolt Gercsi
Dr Steffen Gielen
Dr Adam Gilbertson
Dr Tom Griffin
Dr Giulia Gubitosi
Dr Anne Guilbert
Dr Stina Guldbrand
Dr Richard Hendricks
Dr Heli Hietala
Dr Edward Hill
Dr Daniel Hollington
Dr Rosalind Hopwood
Dr Nicholas Hylton
Dr David Jennings
Dr Euihun Joung
Dr Asher C Kaboth
Dr Christos Kamperidis
Dr Edmund Kelleher
Dr Youngchan Kim
Dr Paul Kinsler
Dr Sunil Kumar
Dr Ajit Kurup
Dr Mikhail Kustov
Dr Kwasi Kwakwa
Dr Jean-Baptiste Lagrange
Dr Guillaume Lepert
Dr Yu-Hung Lien
Dr Jongseok Lim
Dr Anne-Marie Magnan
Dr Robert Mahen
Dr Robert Maher
Dr Matthew Malek
Dr Sarah Malik
Dr Janusz Martyniak
Dr Kazunobu Maruyoshi
Dr Lorenzo Matteini
Dr Michael McCann
Dr Paul McFadden
Dr Katalin Mecseki
Dr Alexander Mellor
Dr Nicolas-Pierre Niasse
Dr Dorota Niedzialek
Dr Alexander Nikitenko
Dr Hannah Nissan
Dr Robert A Nyman
Dr Sang Soon Oh
Dr William Okell
Dr Olof Olsson-Sax
Dr Patrick Owen
Dr Rhys Parfitt
Dr Siddharth Patankar
Dr Bjorn Penning
Dr Ajay Perumal
Dr Mark Pesaresi
Dr Joao Piroto-Pereira-Duarte
Dr Alexander Plato
Dr Andreas Pusch
Dr Susarla Raghuram
Dr Mohsen Rahmani
Dr Aliaksandra Rakovich
Dr Duncan Rand
Dr Alexander Richards
Dr Tyler Roschuk
Dr Matthew Ruffoni
Dr James R Rufus
Dr Matteo Scala
Dr Benjamin Sherlock
Dr Mark Sherlock
Dr Yuri Shitov
Dr Peter Spencer
Dr Christian Struber
Dr Minwon Suh
Dr Suren Sukiasyan
Dr Francisco Suzuki-Vidal
Dr George Swadling
Dr Matthew Taylor
Dr Andrew Telford
Dr Gabrielle Thomas
Dr Alfredo Tomas-Alquezar
Dr Stefan Truppe
Dr Tommaso Tufarelli
Dr Sachetan Tuladhar
Dr Jeremy Turcaud
Dr Arthur Turrell
Dr Kirika Uchida
Dr Melissa Uchida
Dr Benoit Vanniere
Dr Thomas Wall
Dr Sean Warren
Dr Peter Wass
Dr Tobias Witting
Dr Jorgen Wulff
Dr Ying Yang
Dr Japheth Yates
Dr Karen Yates
Dr Benjamin Yuen
Dr Amelle Zair
Dr Katharina Zeissler
Dr Jan Zemen
Dr Seth Zenz
Research Associate Leavers
2013/14
Dr Minas Bacharis
Dr William Ball
Dr Fouad Ballout
Academic, Research
and Support Staff
Dr Daniel Bedingham
Dr Ian Bush
Dr Laurence Carson
Dr Bridgette Cooper
Dr Aristomenis Donos
Dr James Farley-Nicholls
Dr Jarvist Frost
Dr Marco Genoni
Dr Hannes Guhl
Dr Jaesuk Hwang
Dr Stephane Kena-Cohen
Dr Kiang Wei Kho
Dr Thomas Kirchartz
Dr Matthew Lilley
Dr Jad Marrouche
Dr Andrei Paul Mihai
Dr Edward Mitchell
Dr Beinn Muir
Dr Ahsan Nazir
Dr Thomas Siegel
Dr Sarah Skoff
Dr Ian Smallman
Dr Benjamin Smith
Dr Mark Tame
Dr Stuart Thomas
Dr Andre Trindade-Pereira
Dr Nicholas Wardle
Dr James Wilgeroth
Mr Gary Wilkes
Dr Thomas Zlosnik
Research Assistants
Ms Paula Alvarez-Cartelle
Mr Federico Armata
Mr Jim Bailey
Mr Dylan Banahene-Sabulsky
Mr Iain Barr
Miss Rachael Boddy
Ms Francesca Bottacchi
Mr Javier Cambiasso
Mr Stefano Casasso
Mr Lionel Chaudet
Mr Kees de Vries
Mr Frederik Dieleman
Mr James Garvie-Cook
Mr Joseph Goodwin
Mr Samuele Grandi
Mr Farhang Haddadfarshi
Mr Moritz Hambach
Mr Edward Harry
Mr Vincent Jarlaud
Mr Allan Johnson
Mr Manoj Joshi
Ms Paloma Matia-Hernando
Mr Lukas Medisauskas
Mr Luis Melgar-Del-Pozo
Mr Thomas Nutz
Mr Christopher Price
Ms Maria Richter
Mr Luca Rigovacca
Mr James Semple
Mr Peter Shadbolt
Mr Lee Suttle
Mr Quentin Thiburce
Mr Sunil Varma
Mr Albert Verdeny-Vilalta
Mr Thomas White
Mr Bjorn Witt
Mr David Wood
Miss Megumi Yoshida
Research Assistant Leavers
2013/14
Mr Michael Bloom
Mr Gregory Ciezarek
Miss Caroline Clark
Mr Konstantinos Daskalakis
Mr Florent Deledalle
Mr Stuart Higgins
Mr Christopher Hutchison
Mr Stephen Logan
Mr Marco Ruberti
Mr Matthew Streeter
Mr Nikolay Vaklev
Research Support Staff
Dr James Spencer – Computational
Science Support Specialist
Experimental Solid State
Dr Shrawan Jha – Research Engineer
Dr Xuhua Wang - CPE Glove Box Facility Officer
High Energy Physics
Dr Saad Mishal Hamid Alsari - Electrical
Engineer
Mr Geoffrey Barber - Project Engineer
Mr Simon Fayer - Computing System
Support/Administrator in Grid Computing
Dr Jonathan Fulcher – Data Acquisition
System Computing Specialist
Mr Michael Huffman - Computing System Sup-
port/Administrator
Dr Gregory Michiel Iles - Electronics Engineer
Dr Per Jonsson – Senior Instrument Manager
Dr Andrew Rose - Electronic Engineer
Mr Peter James Savage - Project Engineer
Mr Trevor Edward Savidge - Project Engineer
Photonics Group
Mr Ian Munro - Research Officer
Plasma Physics
Mr Stephen Johnson – Hypersonis & High
Speed Impact Laboratory Supervisor
Dr Seyed Adeli – Instrument Engineer
Dr Leah-Nani Soledad Alconcel - Scientific
Dr Anthony Allen - Scientific
Dr Richard John Bantges – Scientific
Mr Maciej Bendyk – Instrumentation Engineer
Dr Sujit Bhattacharya – Instrument FPGA
Designer
Mr Patrick Brown - Senior Research Officer
Mr Emanuele Cupido - Research Officer
Dr Peter Fox – Instrument Calibration Engineer
Mr Stephen Kellock - Senior Research Officer
Ms Helen O’Brien - Research Officer
Mr Timothy Oddy - Spacecraft Operations Engineer
Mr Md Rashid – Software Developer
Dr Adri Peter Slootweg - Research Officer
Mr Lawrence Soung-Yee – Instrument Engineer
Dr Nathan Sparks - Community Support Scien-
tist
Research Support Leavers in 2013/14
Mr Alan Ashton-Smith - Project Administrator
Mrs Piera Brambilla - Technician
Dr Shrawan Jha - Res Engineer
Administrative and Support Staff
Head of Department's Office
Kalvinder Chana - Senior Administrator
Louise Hayward – Research Operations Manager
Linda Jones - Operations Manager for Physics
Caroline Jackson - Executive Assistant (maternity leave)
Victoria Garland – Executive Assistant (maternity cover)
Research Groups
Cluster Office (Astrophysics, Plasma,
Space & Atmospherics)
Rachel Barker – Senior Group Administrator
Sandie Bernor - Group Administrator
Condensed Matter Theory & Experimental Solid State Physics Groups
Carolyn Dale - Senior Group Administrator
Juraci Didone - Administrative Assistant
Bhavna Patel - Administrator
High Energy Physics Group
Carol Barlow - Experiments Manager
Paula Brown - Group Administrator
Paula Consiglio – Assistant Group Administrator
11
Academic, Research
and Support Staff
Institute of Shock Physics (ISP)
Alice Moore – Programme Manager
Ciara Mulholland - Senior Administrator for ISP
Optics (Photonics & Quantum Optics
Groups)
Judith Baylis - Senior Group Administrator
Marcia Salviato - Deputy Group Administrator
Sanja Maricic - PA to the Centre for Cold Matter
Prof Ed Hinds FRS
Theoretical Physics Group
Graziela De Nadai-Sowrey - Group Administrator
DTC
Dr Sophie Armstrong-Brown - Programme
Manager
Ms Lisa Cheung – Administrative Assistant
Dr Simon Foster – Outreach Officer
Miss Miranda Smith - DTC Administrative
Assistant
Student Administration
Postgraduate Office
Loli Sanchez Rey - Postgraduate Administrator
Dr Andrew Williamson - Postgraduate Development Officer
Undergraduate Office
Edward Charnley – Examinations and Informations Officer
Mery Fajardo - Admissions Administrator
Amira Hussain – Undergraduate Administrator
and Year in Europe Coordinaot
Derryck Stewart - Undergraduate Education
Manager
Geetika Tewari – Undergraduate Administrator
Facilities
Paul Brown - Mechanical Instrumentation Workshop Manager
Vivienne Frater - Departmental Facilities Manager
Simon Graham - Maintenance
Malcolm Hudson - Departmental Buildings
Manager
Ranjana Poudel - Common Room Assistant
Alice Powell - Common Room Assistant
Neal Powell - Reprographics
Meilin Sancho - Reprographics
Harry Vine - Departmental Services Manager
Outreach
Anna Lal – Outreach Coordinator
12
Teaching Laboratory Technicians
Harish Dawda - 1st Year Laboratory
Robert Whisker - 1st Year Laboratory
Graham Axtell - 2nd Year Laboratory
Paul Beaumont - 2nd Year Laboratory
Geoffrey Green - 3rd Year Laboratory
Lee Parker - 3rd Year Laboratory
Mechanical Instrumentation Workshop and Groups Technicians
Trevor Beek (SPAT)
Sofia Bekou (EXSS)
David Bowler
Stephen Cussell (EXSS)
Jonathan Dyne (QOLS)
Alan Finch (PLAS)
Andrew Gregory (QOLS)
Simon Johnson (PHOT / QOLS)
Stephen Johnson (ISP)
Kevin Ladhams (HEPH)
Alan Last (SPAT)
Stephen Maine
Steven Nelson
Melvyn Patmore (PHOT)
Martin Pettifer
David Pitman (ISP)
Alan Raper
Andrew Rochester
Peter Ruthven (QOLS)
James Stone (PHOT / QOLS)
Brian Willey (QOLS)
David Williams
Electronics Workshop Technicians
Valerijus Gerulis
Shahid Hanif
Susan Parker
Bandula Ratnasekara
Mechanical Workshop
David Clark
Ian Clark
Electronics Workshop
Sarah Greenwood
Vera Kasey
Maria Khaleeq
Optical Mechanical Workshop
Martin Kehoe
Research and Administrative Support
Staff Leavers
Mrs Sima Fulford - LCN Research Administrator
Dr Christine Thompson - Programme Director
Ms Lilian Wanjohi - Senior Administrator
Miss Hannah Wood - Outreach Coordinator
Undergraduate
Undergraduate Teaching
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Prof. A. MacKinnon
Senior Tutor
Professor D. Segal
Admissions Tutor
Dr. R. Forsyth
13
Undergraduate
In October 2013 we welcomed
250 new students, making the
total number of undergraduates
844, one of the largest Physics
departments in the country. This
was the second cohort in which
home students were paying fees
of £9000 per annum. Students
are enrolled onto one of six
programmes leading to an MSci
or BSc degree. Transfers are
easy between most of the
programmes in the early years.
All three of our MSci degrees are
four-year programmes. The MSci
in Physics is by far the most
popular, while Physics with a
Year in Europe and Physics with
Theoretical Physics supply more
specialist needs.
We offer three-year BSc
programmes in Physics and in
14
Physics with Theoretical Physics.
The four-year BSc in Physics and
Music Performance, offered
jointly with the Royal College of
Music, is unique, and attracts
small numbers of exceptional
candidates. In the summer of
2014 the second cohort of
students graduated on our new
BSc in Physics with Science
Education, offered jointly with
Canterbury Christ Church
University, which gives students
a Physics degree as well as a
teaching qualification in 3 years.
From October 2015 we will also
offer a 4 year MSci version of this
programme.
would like it to be is higher than
the national average. Many of
our exceptional overseas
students are female.
The basic structure of the degree
programmes is two years of core
physics and mathematics,
followed by one or two years of
advanced options in selected
areas of physics.
All students, including those on
theoretical physics degrees, do
about 6 hours/week of laboratory
work during the first 2 years.
All programmes include a
research project. Many students
find that the project is the most
Typically 12% of new students
register for BSc degrees and the enjoyable part of their degree as
they are then able to get to grips
remainder for MSci. Just over
24% of our students are women, with a topic that may be at the
which although short of where we frontier of research.
In the third year students can choose from a wide
range of physics options and can also take a
Humanities or Business School course. Students
on the MSci degrees take advanced physics
options in their final year, alongside their major
research project.
Changes to our lecture courses are made regularly
to ensure that they remain topical, but from
October 2012 we have been rolling out a revised
programme.
We understand that arriving in a class of 250
students can be daunting and impersonal, so
alongside the lectures we have activities where
students meet in smaller groups and are able to
get to know each other better. Each student is a
member of a group of about 20, who meet
regularly for tutorials as well as laboratory and
professional skills sessions. Two members of the
academic staff are associated with each group and
act as personal tutors, remaining with the group
throughout their time at Imperial. On each course
in years 1 and 2 students have a tutorial each
week in addition to lectures. Tutors encourage
discussion about other topics within physics to help
students see the wider relevance of their studies.
We have exchange agreements with 14
universities in western Europe. In 2013, 24
students went abroad for a full year in Europe
programme and we welcomed 35 visiting students
to the department.
Introduced for the first time in 2012, we have
begun to set up an overseas summer research
project scheme for under-graduate students in
their third year who are on a four year integrated
Masters degree. The project is eight weeks in
length and fully funded through the international
office, the Blackett Laboratory industry club on
page 18.
15
Undergraduate
Teaching Awards
The high standard of our
lecturing is regularly recognised
in the College’s Teaching
Awards. Nominations for these
awards come from the students
themselves. In 2014 ,the Faculty
of Natural Sciences Awards for
Teaching Excellence were
awarded to:
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Prof Steven Cowley
Prof Matthew Foulkes
Dr Subhanjoy Mohanty
Prof Terry Rudolph
Dr Richard Hendricks
Dr Edward Hill
Dr Alexander Richards
Dr Francisco Suzuki Vidal
Miss Giulia Ferlito
Mr Peter T Fox
Mr Jeremy Turcaud
Mr John Wood
Many of our graduates continue
their studies within the physics
area either by direct entry into a
PhD research programme, or a
specialist MSc degree such as
those discussed in the following
section.
Other graduating students use
The Department was also
their physics skills in areas such
recognised in the Student
as the financial services industry
Union’s “Student Academic
Choice Awards”: Joachim Hamm
(Best Supervision), Toby
Wiseman(Best teaching for PGs).
The department is keen to make
sure its students have positive
memories of their time at
Imperial. It is gratifying,
therefore, to see the results from
the National Student Survey
(NSS) continuing to improve, with
notable progress on “overall
satisfaction” and on “assessment
and feedback”.
or information technology. Since
a physics degree develops skills
such as problem solving and
communication as well as
technical skills, our graduates are
in heavy demand from a wide
range of employers.
The Commemoration Day
Reception late in October each
year is the setting for our
departmental prize giving. In
2014 28 students were awarded
prizes.
16
Undergraduate
Destination
Graduates
Entered Employment
54
Further Study
67
Unemployed
9
Time Out / Unavailable for Work
12
Graph 1 – Destinations of 2013 graduates
Destinations
Graph 2 – Comparison with previous year
Graph 3 – Sector of employment entered
17
Undergraduate
What do Physics Undergraduates do?
Examples of employers
and occupations for
Physics graduates who
entered employment:
Examples of Employers:
• AMEC
• Aon
• Applied Laser Engineer
ing Ltd.
• BAE Systems Detica
• Bank of America Merrill
Lynch
• BlackRock
• British Army
• Codis Ltd
• Deloitte
• Dollar Finance Group
• Dorset Software
• EDF
• Encraft
• EY
• Greenhill & Co
• Growth Intelligence
• Holland Park School
• Home Office
• IBM (GBS)
• Imperial College London
• JP Morgan
• KPMG
• Lockton
• MBDA Missile Systems
• Microsoft
• MU Innovation Ltd
• Newton Europe
• Open GI Ltd
• Precision Microdrives Ltd.
• PwC
• Ramboll
• Renishaw plc
• Rolls Royce plc
• Royal Navy
• Schlumberger
• Siemens PLM Software
• STFC Innovations Ltd
• Teach First
• TradeRisks Ltd
• UBS
18
Examples of Occupations:
• Actuarial Analyst
• Actuary
• Analyst
• Analyst - Penetration
Tester
• Associate - Accounting
• Audit Associate
• Business Consultant
• Compliance Officer
• Consultant/Engineer
• Cyber Security Consultant
• Developer
• Development Engineer
• Efficiency Consultant
• Engineer
• Event Technician
• Finance Advisory Analyst
• Financial Modelling Analyst
• FX Options Trader
• Geophysicist
• Graduate Engineer
• Graduate Optical Engineer
• Graduate Safety Case
Consultant
• Graduate Software
Developer
• Investment Banking
Analyst
• IT Consultant
• Officer in the British Army
• Operations Director
• PA to the CEO
• Project Manager/Busi
ness Analyst
• Royal Naval Officer
• Sales Engineer
• Scientific Officer
• Secretary
• Software Developer
• Software Engineer
• Sub-editor for New
Scientist magazine
• Tax Associate
• Teacher
• Technology Consulting
Analyst
• Trainee Building Physics
Consultant
Examples of courses for
those Physics graduates
who entered further
study or training:
• ACA
• Astroparticle Physics
Research
• BBSRC Doctoral
Training Program; Year
1: MRes in Systems and
Synthetic Biology
• Biomedical and Medical
Imaging Doctoral
Training Programme
• Cancer Research
• Japanese Language,
Tokyo School of
Japanese Language
• Condensed Matter
Physics Research
• DPhil in Atmospheric,
Oceanic and Planetary
Physics
• DPhil in Atomic and
Laser Physics
• DTC in Nanoscience
• Economics, Finance &
Management
• Elementary Particle
Physics Research
• EngD in Non-destructive
Evaluation
• Graduate Diploma in Law
• Masters in Management
Science & Engineering
• MBBS Medicine
• MPhil in Scientific
Computing
• MPhil/PhD in Telecom
munications
• MRes/PhD in Controlled
Quantum Dynamics
• MRes Photonics Systems
Development
• MSc Aerospace Dynamics
• MSc Epidemiology
• MSc Applied Physics
• MSc Astrophysics
• MSc Biotechnology, Bio
processing and Business
Management
• MSc Computational
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Statistics and Machine
Learning
MSc Environmental
Technology
MSc Information Security
MSc Integrative Neuro
science
MSc Nanotechnology
MSc Philosophy of
Science
MSc Physics
MSc Physics and
Engineering in Medicine
MSc Physics and
Technology of Nuclear
Reactors
MSc Plasma Physics
MSc Quantum Fields and
Fundamental Forces
MSc Space Technology
and Planetary Exploration
Optical Projection
Tomography Research
PGCE (Secondary Physics with Maths)
PhD in Climate Science
PhD in Condensed
Matter Theory
PhD in Controlled
Quantum Dynamics
PhD in High Energy
Physics
PhD in Low Carbon
Technologies
PhD in Meteorology
PhD in Physics
PhD in Space Plasmas
Quantum Computing
Research
Undergraduate
International summer research exchange scheme for undergraduate students
Introduced for the first time in 2012,
the international summer research
project exchange scheme for
undergraduate students is designed
to exchange students with some of
our closely linked partner
universities overseas. The
exchange means that we also host
students for the summer from MIT
Boston, the University of Vancouver
in British Columbia, and Seoul
National University. In 2014 we also
sent six students to join the KAIST
one month summer workshop
program. The following records
some impressions by the students
who were sent out in the summer of
2014. More details on the scheme
can be found at the following link
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/students/
global-opportunities/ug/studentexp/ .
contained making it ideal as a
summer project. Living on campus
meant that I had a ten minute walk
to work every day and could buy a
coffee on my way in. I worked in a
room with other undergraduates and
a friend from imperial was a few
doors away from me making it a
very pleasant working environment.
The aim of the project was to
statistically analyse images from the
sky and try to determine the underlying
brightness distribution of the resulting
blurred image. The project involved
accessing a super computer using a
Linux based system and writing up
code in python. I had never used
Linux before and only learnt C++ in
Uni part of the challenge was to
learn the two new languages and
get used to them. The people I
worked with were very friendly and
helpful making this a very enjoyable
and valuable experience.
After that my job was to write up
code that could simulate the sky and
then apply a fitting algorithm on it to
see whether it would come up with
the original distribution. Unfortunately I
didn’t have time to apply my code to
SNU
We sent Kofi Mundy-Castle, Tim
Harrington, and Andrew Warwick to
Seoul National University. Here is a
short description from Tim:
Spending eight weeks in Seoul
National University, South Korea,
was a fantastic, once in a lifetime
experience. It gave me the opportunity
to live in a country surrounded by an
interesting culture, working alongside
accomplished physicists in an area
of research I was interested in. I
managed to meet lots of people in
order to live like a true Seoulite
while also travelling the country and
exploring the vibrant, dynamic
capital on weekends.
UBC:
Thomas Whiting and Leon van
Riesen-Haupt travelled to Vancouver.
Here is part of Leon’s exchange
description:
After a nine hour flight and a long taxi
ride to the student accommodation I
arrived in my room and realised this
would be my home for the next eight
weeks. My project was in the
Astrophysics group and was self-
19
Undergraduate
strengthened and refined my
practical skills in handling technical
equipment, which is a fundamental
aspect of science that can
sometimes be overshadowed by the
mathematics and the formulae:
theory would be pure speculation if
there were no experimental devices
able to test it. I am now very
competent in using various kinds of
data analysis software, also
employed in several other fields of
science, which I will almost certainly
get to use again. The group held
two weekly meetings: these trained
me in summarising the progress that
had been made and explaining it to
an audience unfamiliar with the
specifics of my experiment, in order
for others to make suggestions on
how to tackle any problems. They
also allowed me to reflect upon other
people’s difficulties, whilst becoming
acquainted with what everyone was
working on. At the end of my stay, I
wrote a report detailing the research
I carried out and I gave a power
point presentation summarising the
main results obtained: these
enhanced my oral and written skills
in presenting scientific work to an
expert audience.
20
This is a short description from
Cyprian
During my placement I joined Prof.
Levitov’s group within the department of Condensed Matter Theory.
My research centred on a variety of
topics related to graphene. Every
problem required different set of
methods and techniques to be
employed, which although challenging
at first, was immensely educational.
The main project focused on
investigation of properties of a
circular p-n junction, which arises
due to the interplay of Fabry-Perot
resonances and quantum tunnelling
into the system from an STM tip.
Together with Prof. Levitov we
developed a model, which potentially,
in addition to providing qualitative
understanding, will also describe
experimental data quantitatively too.
Aside of the research project to
which I dedicated most of my time, I
really enjoyed the summer at MIT.
Together with fellow exchange
students we went on several
sightseeing excursions and I found a
little bit of time to enjoy Cambridge
and Boston as well, not to mention
the variety of wonderful running
routes alongside Charles river.
Overall I found the summer research
placement at MIT extremely useful
and given another chance I would
have applied for it again!
KAIST
Malik, Yasmin, Jonas Evaeus, Jan
Piech, and Alexander Soloviev all
travelled to KAIST for the summer
Here is a short description from
Yasmin:
Annyeonghaseyo! This summer I
was lucky enough to complete a 4
week research placement, along
with 5 other students from the
physics department, at the Korea
Advanced Institute of Science and
Technology (KAIST). The university
is situated in Daejeon- the country’s
fifth largest city, south of the capital
city Seoul.
I was assigned to the optics
laboratory, where I was given the
task of investigating the propagation
of ultrafast pulses in nonlinear and
dispersive optical fibers. The
finished product was a program I
wrote in C++, which simulated the
evolution of an initial pulse according
to user-defined parameters,
corresponding to the properties of
the fiber.
Aside from our placements, we
partook in numerous excursions and
cultural activities, ranging from all
terrain vehicle and rafting in Muju, to
ceramics painting in Icheon. We also
took trips to Seoul, where we visited
old and new attractions alike, for
example the Changdeokgung and
Gyeongbokgung palace as well as
the Namsan Tower. We were even
treated to a tour of Samsung
Electronics’ flagship showroom. I
thoroughly enjoyed my time in South
Korea, and I would like to thank the
international offices of both Imperial
College and KAIST as they were
extremely helpful over the course of
the trip. I would definitely
recommend doing an international
research placement to any students
that may be considering it for next
summer.
Students from Imperial and elsewhere receiving their workshop graduation
certificates.
Undergraduate
Photo of the Imperial College students on an evening out with other students at MIT. Rosanne and Matteo are on the back row
and Cyprian is kneeling at the front.
actual data, however, my supervisor
said he was still pleased about my
progress and that I should contact
him if I wanted to apply for a post
grad at UBC.
The exchange was also a wonderful
cultural experience. Living in
Vancouver for two months meant
that I got a proper experience of the
city and not just what a tourist would
see. UBC itself was on first nation
grounds and right next to the Pacific
spirit forest. It is situated at the end
of a peninsular west of downtown
Vancouver meaning that it was
almost completely surrounded by
coast. The ride into the city took less
than half an hour with the 24/7 bus
service so it was easy to go
sightseeing or just downtown with a
few friends. All this meant that
during the week there was always a
lot to discover after work. I also
rented a car and crossed the US
border twice; once to go camping in
the North Cascade national park
with a group of people I had met at
UBC and once to go to Seattle for a
week end with a group of other
Imperial students.
MIT:
Rosanna Nichols, Cyprian
Lewandowski, and Matteo Sbroscia,
travelled to MIT. Matteo has
submitted the following description
of his visit.
The Massachusetts Institute of
Technology has been ranked 1st
university in the world this year
(2014): it has a history of
accomplishments that has
established its role in the
advancement of science and it
continues to stand out as one of the
most exciting centres of scientific
research in the world. As a
consequence, it attracts scientists
from all over the world who
represent the very best of their
countries’ academic excellence. I
had the privilege of working in an
international environment, with
nearly 10 different nationalities in
my group alone: discussion about
everyone’s habits and culture was a
very enriching experience, and one
which resulted in a friendly rivalry
during the Football World Cup
matches that we watched together.
Our hall of residence was also rich
in cultural diversity: there were 10
nationalities within our exchange
group, plus American students
enrolled at MIT with whom we
socialised and discussed.
The focus of my studies is mainly
theoretical, as I am pursuing a
degree in Theoretical Physics,
which is what motivated me to
undertake a summer internship in
experimental physics. It
21
Outreach
Interaction with Schools and the General Public
2014 Activities
The department has a
dedicated Outreach office,
managed by a Senior
Teaching Fellow, Dr Mark
Richards and employing
full-time two other members
of staff (Hannah Woods
replaced part way through
by Vinita Hassard and Dr
Simon Foster). Funding in
support of these activities
has been awarded by the
Ogden Trust and the RCUK
School University
Partnership Initiative. Simon
Foster trains and supports
staff and students to
participate in outreach and
public engagement, as well
as undertaking his own
bespoke Outreach activities
associated with the three
EPSRC funded Centres for
Doctoral Training.
During 2014 the department undertook
numerous activities such as talks,
workshops, and interactive
demonstrations with schools, local
societies, teacher groups, and other
likeminded institutions (such as the
Institute of Physics). We have
attended HE fairs, science careers
events and national science events
(including the Expo Science Fair,
Cheltenham science festival, Big
Bang fair, Science Uncovered, and
the Royal Society Summer Exhibition).
In 2014 Physics staff members
presented many outreach and public
understanding talks. These activities
are listed at
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/physics/a
bout/outreach.
22
Engaging Young People
Insights Work Experience
Programme:
In 2014, the department ran its
flagship Insights work experience
scheme for the third year running.
The scheme is designed for year 12
students in schools with little or no
previous connection to the College,
thereby widening access. It offers an
opportunity for able students who
attend such schools to obtain a
glimpse into research as well as
experiencing the life of an
undergraduate. We received nearly
800 applications for the 2014
insights scheme, and recruited a
cohort of 40 students.
Open Days:
The Department Open Days
continue to be a great success;
around 20% of our final student
intake attended our open days.
They are aimed at showcasing
recent research, providing an insight
into physics courses, and examples
of careers that can result from a
physics degree. Throughout the
year, special emphasis may be
placed on attracting GCSE students
(years 10-11), A-Level physics
students (years 12-13), and girls
through the Juno annual Women In
Physics open day. In 2014, we
welcomed approximately 1500
students in the department .
Special Events:
Tutored sessions with the Amos
Bursary. Led by Dr Mark Richards,
A short course was prepared and
delivered (by physics UG students)
to recipients of the Baroness Amos
Bursary – a charity that encourages
state educated British young men of
African and Caribbean heritage to
realise their study and career
ambitions, Primarily intended for
students studying both A-level
Outreach
mathematics and physics the aim
was to show how the two subjects
are intertwined whilst also preparing
them for some of the more
challenging aspects on the syllabus.
This event was run twice in 2014.
Teachers
Communicating Physics:
Undergraduate students can
nominate Communicating Physics,
as one of their accredited option
courses in either their second or
third year. Students are placed in a
London school for ½ day per week
over a period of 10 weeks. The
course is expanding year-on-year,
and the number of participating
schools has reached 20 (in
2013/2014).
accredited by the Institute of Physics
and with Qualified Teacher Status.
Teachers Workshops: In 2011 a
fully funded Teachers’ Workshop
BSc Physics with Science
was set-up aimed at helping nonEducation: With the aim of helping
specialist science teachers, required
to provide quality, specialist physics
to teach physics but who may not
teachers who can inspire the next
have a physics degree. The event is
generation, in 2012 the department
designed to help improve a teachers’
launched the three year BSc Physics
understanding of the subject, boosts
with Science Education degree, the
their confidence and provide them
first of its kind in England and
with resources to take back into the
Wales. Students must have
classroom, including motivational
completed Communicating Physics
material on current physics research.
in their second year, and then spend
All this is aimed at making physics a
their third year carrying out a mixture
more engaging subject for teacher
of teaching practices and core
and student alike. Over 50 (mainly
physics. Students graduate with a
state school) teachers attended
physics degree that is fully
2014, potentially impacting on
thousands of
schoolchildren.
INSPIRE: Simon Foster
is the physics tutor for
the College’s teacher
training programme
called INSPIRE. This is
a scheme run in
conjunction with
Canterbury Christy
church
(http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/inspire)
giving hands on practical advice on
how to teach the various modules of
the physics syllabus/curriculum.
Public Debates and Lectures 2014
Fringe/Festival Festive Fringe.
11 Dec 201416:00 - 20:00
Shedding new light on Schrödinger's
cat (live streamed lecture) Physics
Nobel Laureate Professor Serge
Haroche delivers the annual
Schrödinger Lecture. 12 Nov 2014
Roberto Trotta – Book Launch
Science Museum Lates
Lecture-STEM in the Community (at
home and abroad): The Physics
Outreach team at Imperial College
London hosted an event together
with CADSTI and BFUWI. 08 Nov
2014.
Event for schools 'The Universe' A
talk about The Universe given to
Primary School pupils by Arttu
Rajantie, Professor of Theoretical
Physics. 21 Oct 2014.
General Book Launch - 'The Edge of
The Sky' by Dr Roberto Trotta:
general public and 'children of all
ages' 16 Oct 2014.
23
Outreach
Talk at NBC studios: Professor
Jerome Gauntlett on “A Brief History
of the Science of Stephen Hawking”,
preceding screening for the film
“The Theory of Everything” 2014.
It was a ‘How to academy’ event.
School talk by Professor Jerome
Gauntlett : Kings College School,
Wimbledon, Mar 2014 The Higgs
boson: what is it and why it
matters?
Lecture The many facets of time: An
evening exploring time as perceived
through music, dance, psychology,
and a talk by Nobel Prize winning
physicist, Professor Brian
Josephson: 01 Oct 2014.
Open days Undergraduate Open
Day 20 Sep 2014.
Event for schools Year 11 Project
STEM Summer School 21-25 Jul 2014.
24
Event for schools Stand at a
Science Fair: Professor Arttu
Rajantie presents a Particle Physics
and Cosmology Stand at a Science
Fair. 21 Jul 2014.
Event for schoolsTalk- 'What does
the Higgs Say?' Talk for GCSE and
A-Level students by Arttu Rajantie,
Professor of Theoretical Physics at
Imperial College London. 09 Jul 2014.
Event for schools Insights Work
Experience 2014: 40 Year 12
students attended the Insights work
experience placement in the Physics
Department at Imperial College
London. 30 Jun-11 Jul 2014.
Open days Physics Project Open
Day for A Level Students: The
Project Open Day is a great
opportunity for current A-level
students to gain a first-hand insight
into studying physics at Imperial
College London 20 Jun 2014.
Open days Physics Open Day for
GCSE Students: The GCSE Open
Day is a great opportunity for
students who might be considering
studying Physics beyond year 11. 19
Jun 2014.
Lecture Firewalls around black
holes: What would you experience if
you jumped into a black hole? Public
talk by Caltech physicist Sean
Carroll and science writer Jennifer
Ouellette. 05 Jun 2014.
Event for schools Women in
Physics This exciting event was
aimed at Years 10, 11 and 12,
students who were already studying
or were considering studying A level
physics. 04 Jun 2014 10:30 - 16:00.
General Imperial Festival 2014:
With demonstrations, talks, music,
dance and more, Imperial's ground
breaking research at the third
Imperial Festival 09-10 May 2014
Event for schools High Energy
Physics Masterclass: A particle
physics masterclass for sixth form
students and teachers: 02 Apr 2014
11:00 - 17:00.
Outreach
Event for schools Beetles, Black
Holes and Editing History On
March 24th 2014, Professor McCall
from the Physics Department at
Imperial College presented to
students at The Judd School.
Event for schools The Solar System
with Fruit and Veg Dr Roberto Trotta
Imperial College London presented
to students from Norland Place School.
05 Feb 2014.
Event for schools Physics at
Imperial: On January 28th, school
students visited the Physics
Department at Imperial College
London to hear Dr Daniel Mortlock
and Dr Robert Forsyth present. 28
Jan 2014.
Event for schools Schools Science
Partnership Launch Event:, staff
to students from three south London
schools. 22 Jan 201415:45 - 17:15.
Training Course Dr Vijay Tymms
Imperial College presented to
students from The Royal Central
School of Speech and Drama. 12
Jan 2014.
Event for schools “What Does the
Higgs Say?" On 12th December
2013, Professor Arttu Rajantie from
the Physics Department at Imperial
College London presented to
students from Highdown School. 12
Dec 2013
Event for schools Space Weather
and Solar Storms: On Friday 6th
December 2013, Professor Schwartz
to students from The Elmgreen
School. 06 Dec 2013.
Lecture RCSU Science Challenge
Launch On 3rd December 2013, Dr
Simon Foster from Imperial College
London took part in the Royal
College of Science Union’s Science
Challenge.
External Uncovering the Dark Side
of the Universe On Tuesday 3rd
December, Dr Roberto Trotta from
Imperial College London.
ASTR has an established popular
series of public debates, the first
series in 2012 entitled “The Big
Questions” followed by “The Sensual
Universe” in 2013.
ASTR has run small sci-fi workshops
for writers yearly since 2010 –
Science for Fiction. Approximately
30 people have attended each year.
HEPP participates in the annual
National Particle Physics Master
Class.
QOLS PG students present an
annual Quantum Show (running
since 2009) with talks and
demonstrations on recent
developments in quantum physics
for a diverse public audience
numbering
around 350.
Based on the
success of the
shows the
students have
produced a
series of
workshops for
teachers and
have repeated
the show at a
variety of
schools within
the London
area, along with
a number of
music festivals.
The students
have also
undertaken a
women in
science lecture
series at four or
five London
schools in the
2012-13 period.
25
Postgraduate
Rebecca Lane
26
Postgraduate
Postgraduate Studies
Director of Postgraduate Studies
Prof. S. Maier
The Department of Physics at Imperial College is one of
the largest Physics departments in the UK. The
Department’s research covers a comprehensive range
of topics in theoretical and experimental fields and has a
flourishing postgraduate research and taught MSc
community. We offer seven Master’s level taught
postgraduate courses, as well as the extended Masters
in Physics as a two year full time course. Our first
students in this extended Masters graduated recently. A
new element in our one year MSc in Physics are two
streams dedicated to Shock Physics, and to
Nanophotonics.
Three of our masters courses are associated with
EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs), the areas
of which are Controlled Quantum Dynamics, Plastic
Electronics and Theory and Simulation of Materials. The
CDT courses can lead directly to PhD studies and were
successfully renewed this year.
PhD research fields extend from astronomy, space and
plasma physics to high energy, theoretical and atomic
physics, and condensed matter theory. Solid state
physics, plastic electronics, laser physics, applied optics
and photonics, nanophotonics/plasmonics and
metamaterials as well as quantum information are all
areas where there are close collaborations with industry,
as well as providing opportunities to study fundamental
underlying principles. The Department has had a
successful year in attracting the best students
worldwide via the Imperial College PhD Scholarship
scheme (six students funded) and the joint Imperial /
National University of Singapore (NUS) PhD
programme, where two students have joint.
There are many examples of international and industrial
collaboration involving our research groups and we are
also very strongly involved in interdisciplinary research
centres around the College. We are directly linked to the
Thomas Young Centre (TYC), the Shock Institute, the
Centre for Plastic Electronics (CPE), the Institute of
Chemical Biology, the Centre for Plasmonics and
Metamaterials and the Grantham Institute for Climate
change – all of which are centres of interdisciplinary
research within the Imperial College campus. Many
groups are involved in research using large scale
facilities. The Department has extensive internal
facilities and a tremendous range of research topics
available to postgraduate research students.
27
Postgraduate
Rebecca Lane
Group: HEPP
Supervisor: Dr D Colling
Rebecca’s Ph.D research focussed
on analysing proton-proton collision
data from the world’s largest particle
accelerator: the Large Hadron
Collider (LHC). The data was taken
by the Compact Muon Solenoid
(CMS) detector throughout the years
of 2011 and 2012 and analysed in
different ways to probe the
properties of the Higgs boson
discovered at the LHC. The Higgs
boson is observed via the final
states it decays into, and Rebecca’s
work was to study the final state of
two tau leptons. Only by observing
the Higgs boson in all of its predicted
decays and making precision
measurements of their relative
decay rates can we ensure that this
discovered particle is the Higgs
boson predicted by the Standard
Model of Particle Physics.
During Rebecca’s Ph.D, she spent
two years based at CERN near
Geneva. She worked as part of a
group of researchers from many
institutes across the world to develop
an analysis to study the Higgs in the
final state of two taus in the context
of the Standard Model, while also
developing interpretations of the
data in other possible new-physics
models. She participated in two
papers incorporating the data taken
during run 1 of the LHC - one of
which documents the first evidence
of the Higgs in the final state of the
two taus with consistency with the
Standard Model, and the other
which interprets the data in the
context of the Minimally
Supersymmetric Standard Model - a
popular beyond the Standard Model
theory which is a subset of
Supersymmetry and has not so far
been discovered. Recently Rebecca
28
gave a talk at the internationally
renowned Moriond QCD and High
Energy Interactions conference in La
Thuile, Italy, summarising the latest
results in Higgs decays in all
fermionic final states.
Oliver Pike
Supervisor: Prof Steven Rose
Group: Plasma
Ben Dive
Supervisors:
Daniel Burgarth, Florian Mintert
Group: CQD CDT
Ben Dive's project looked at the
ability to manipulate quantum
systems in the presence of a noisy
environment. He specifically looked
in ways in which the dynamics of a
qubit and its environment can be
replicated by one which is well
controlled and isolated from its
environment. He showed that in
some cases the addition of classical
probability was sufficient to do this,
and presented a poster on this at the
QUICC summer school in Exeter. In
addition, he came up with a way to
solve the problem in a general case
using only a small ancilla space and
well behaved Hamiltonians. The
project was done jointly with
Aberystwyth University, so he had
the pleasant experience of spending
half of summer working by the sea in
Wales. His current PhD is expanding
upon the work he did over summer,
and he is preparing some of the
results for publication.
Oliver Pike has been a PhD student
in the Plasma Physics Group at
Imperial College for the last three
years, funded by an EPSRC
studentship with a CASE top-up
award from AWE Aldermaston. His
work focuses on theoretical aspects
of high energy density plasma
physics and he has published
several first author papers in the
area of relativistic effects in
plasmas. One of his most notable
pieces of work explained how it may
now be possible to use ultra-highpower lasers to study fundamental
quantum physics in the laboratory.
Oliver was the lead author on a
recent Nature Photonics paper that
showed theoretically how the elusive
Breit-Wheeler two-photon pairproduction process could be studied
in the laboratory, some 80 years
after it was first proposed.
This process is the "simplest" method
by which light can be transformed
into matter, but has proven
remarkably difficult to demonstrate
experimentally due to the very
extreme conditions required. The
paper received an astonishing
amount of publicity in the scientific
and popular press. Oliver has since
been working closely with AWE on
practical designs for an experiment
that can be undertaken on their
large ORION laser facility, hopefully
in 2015.
Postgraduate
Mitesh Patel
Supervisors: Dr D Balint (Mech
Eng), Dr MR Wenman (Materials) &
Prof A Sutton
Group: TSM CDT
Nuclear power is a reliable and clean
source of energy that offers low CO2
emissions. As the industry progresses,
it is crucial that nuclear reactor
technology continues to become
safer. During the MSc I modelled a
diffusion mechanism that is responsible
for the embrittlement of nuclear fuel
cladding. This involved the classical
field theory of the interaction between
the diffusing species and continuum
fracture using Green tensors and
singular integral equations. In my
current PhD research, I am using
conformal mapping to describe the
concentration profiles ahead of elliptical
voids in the component. This work
builds on another PhD project in which
many-body quantum mechanical
simulations were used to identify the
role of the diffusing species within the
cladding material. I work at the boundary
between condensed matter physics
and engineering, interfacing theoretical
and computational methods; I am
supervised by Daniel Balint (Mechanics
of Materials, Mechanical Engineering),
Mark Wenman (Centre for Nuclear
Engineering) and Adrian Sutton
(Condensed Matter Theory, Physics).
We are applying fundamental physics
to a problem of major industrial
importance and we work in close
collaboration with Rolls-Royce.
Joe Goodwin
Supervisors: Prof Danny Segal and
Prof Richard Thompson
– Controlled Quantum Dynamics CDT
Joe's research has centred on the
development of experimental techniques
for the cooling and manipulation of
calcium ions in a Penning ion trap. In
particular, he provided the first
demonstration of resolved-sideband
laser cooling in a Penning trap,
allowing the ions to be cooled to their
motional quantum ground state. This
important result opens the door to a
wide range of new techniques that
have previously been limited to radiofrequency ion traps. Coupled with the
intrinsically low heating rate of the
Penning trap this will provide an
environment of unparalleled isolation in
which to study a range of sensitive
phenomena in quantum thermodynamics and quantum information.
Joe has also conducted theoretical
research into novel schemes for
generating many-qubit entanglement
in ion Coulomb crystal lattices. Of
special interest is the application to
small error-correctable quantum
memories in a Penning trap, where
symmetries of the crystal can be
exploited to greatly reduce the
complexity of the protocols necessary
to produce the entangled state.
The results of his work have been
published in two papers in leading
international journals, with a further
two papers currently in peer review.
He has recently been awarded an
EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship
and is currently a research associate
in the Quantum Optics and Laser
Science group at Imperial College."
Michel Buck
Supervisor: Prof F Dowker
Group: THEO
Michel Buck's thesis was in the area of
the causal set approach to quantum
gravity. The focus was investigating
a privileged state, the SorkinJohnston (SJ) state, for scalar
quantum field theory derived from
the causal structure of spacetime.
In a causal diamond in 2 dimensional
flat space, he found that for the
massless scalar field the SJ state
approximates the state between two
perfect mirrors positioned at the
spacelike corners of the diamond. In
deSitter spacetime, which is of great
interest to cosmologists both because
of inflation and the acceleration of
the expansion of the universe today,
the SJ state depends on the
spacetime dimension, mass of the
field, and on the choice of subregion,
differring in many cases from the
usual Bunch-Davies vacuum. This
may have implications for early
universe cosmology, indicating a
physical role for certain deSitter
invariant “alpha” states.
Michel published 4 papers before
graduating and in November 2014
he took up a postdoctoral research
position in the Department of
Physics at Northeastern University,
Boston MA, USA.
29
Postgraduate
Nipol Chaemjumrus
Nipol Chaemjumrus came to the
MSc in Quantum Fields and
Fundamental Forces from Thailand
on a prestigious Queen Sirikit
Scholarship.
He did exceptionally well, coming
first in the QFFF examinations and
in consequence was awarded the
Salam prize for this accomplishment,
shared with the student who came
second. His MSc Dissertation was
entitled “Non-Geometric Flux and
Double Field Theory”, supervised by
Professor Chris Hull. He is now
working on his PhD at Imperial,
supervised by Professor Chris Hull
and building on the work he did in
his MSc project.
30
the slope efficiency, the output
power, and the output wavelength
under various temperatures.
Experimental results revealed that,
in contrary to most other lasers,
Alexandrite laser can have an
enhanced performance at
temperatures higher than the room
temperature, which can be explained
by the vibronic nature of its laser
crystal. The results also provided
some preliminary data on the
optimal operating temperatures for
Wenjun Guo
different laser operation modes,
Wenjun Guo obtained a BSc in
contributing to the development of a
Optical Science and Technology
diodepumped Alexandrite laser
from Sun Yat-sen University, China,
system with a higher wall-plug
before starting his postgraduate
efficiency that is especially suitable
study in MSc in Optics and
for the space-borne lidar
Photonics at Imperial. His MSc
applications. Currently, Wenjun is a
project was on characterising the
temperature-dependent performance PhD candidate in the Francis Crick
Institute and the Photonics Group of
of diode-pumped Alexandrite laser
Imperial College London, working
under the supervision of Prof. Mike
with Dr. Peter Thorpe, Prof. Paul
Damzen. During the project, he first
French, and Dr. Chris Dunsby, on
designed a temperature-controlling
investigating the role of the protein
laser crystal holder, which had a
temperature-tuning range from 20°C Rdh54 in the mitotic checkpoint
using the optical technique FLIM
to 150°CWenjun
with anGuo
active cooling
FRET.
capability, and was then utilised to
characterise the performance of
diode-pumped Alexandrite laser in
terms of the threshold pump power,
Postgraduate
PhD Degrees awarded in
the Department in 2012
Group
Astrophysics
(M) (F)
2
Condensed
Matter Theory
6
Experimental Solid
State
High Energy
Physics
Photonics
5
1
12
2
3
Quantum Optics
& Laser Science
1
Plasma Physics
Space &
Atmospheric
Physics
Totals
1
5
Quantum Optics
& Laser Science
- MPHIL only
Theoretical
Physics
1
6
1
4
3
8
52
9
Astrophysics
W. Ball (M) “Observations
and Modelling of Total and
Spectral Solar Irradiance”
Supervisor: Dr Y Unruh
M. March (F) “Advanced
Statistical Methods for
Astrophysical Probes of
Cosmology”
Supervisors: Prof A Jaffe & Dr
R Trotta
H. Patel (M) “The Nature and
Evolution of Far-IR Luminous
Galaxies”
Supervisor: Dr D Clements
Condensed Matter
Theory
P.W. Avraam (M) “LinearScaling First-Principles
Calculations of Entire
Semiconductor Nanorods”
Supervisor: Prof P Haynes
P. Expert (M) “An Odyssey
with complexity and network
science: From the brain to
social systems”
Supervisors: Prof K
Christensen & Prof H Jensen
J. S. Gill (M) “Morphology
and vascular transport in the
human placenta”
Supervisor: Prof D Vvedensky
Y. Luo (M) “Transformation
optics applied to plasmonics”
Supervisor: Prof Sir J Pendry
A. Pusch (M) “Self-induced
transparency solitons in
nanophotonic waveguides”
Supervisor: Prof O Hess
S. Wuestner (M) “Gain and
Plasmon Dynamics in Active
Nanoplasmonic
Metamaterials”
Supervisor: Prof O Hess
Physics
W. Elder (M) “Semi-empirical
modelling of SiGe heterostructures”
Supervisor: Prof J Zhang
M. Faist (M) “Spectroscopy of
the charge transfer state and
device studies of
polymer:fullerene photovoltaic
blends”
Supervisors: Prof J Nelson &
Prof J De Mello
J. Frost (M)“Computational
Modelling and Design of
Conjugated Molecular
Electronic Materials”
Supervisor: Prof J Nelson
L. Hirst (F) “A spectroscopic
study of strain-balanced
InGaAs/GaAsP quantum well
structures as absorber
materials for hot carrier solar
cells”
Supervisor: Dr N Ekins-Daukes
PhD Thesis Awarded
R. Ward (M) “Modelling of
Silicon-Germanium Alloy
Heterostructures using
Double Group Formulation of
k.p Theory”
Supervisors: Dr P Stavrinou &
Prof J Zhang
H. Yoon (M) “Highly localised
surface plasmon polaritons in
active metallo-organic
multilayer structures”
Prof S Maier & Prof DDC
Bradley
High Energy Physics
C. Blanks (M) “V production
ratios at LHCb and the
alignment of its RICH
detectors”
Supervisor: Prof U Egede
P.N. Schaack (M)
“Measurement of the decay
BS¿¿¿¿ at LHCb”
Supervisor: Prof A Golutvin
M. Cutajar (M) “Search for
supersymmetric neutral Higgs
bosons decaying to ¿ pairs in
the e+¿-jet final state with
calibration using Z¿¿¿ events
at CMS”
Supervisor: Dr DJ Colling
M.J. Easton (M) “RFQ
Design for Pamela Injector”
Z. P. Hatherell (F) “Searching
for SUSY in events with Jets
and Missing Transverse
Energy using \alpha_{T} with
the CMS Detector at the LHC”
Supervisor: Prof J Nash
R.J. Nandi (M) “A Search for
Supersymmetry in Events
with Photons and Jets from
Proton-Proton Collisions at
\sqrt{s} = 7 TeV with the CMS
Detector”
Supervisors: Dr J Hays & Dr
C Seez
G. Ball (M) “Cross section
studies of the Z and neutral
supersymmetric Higgs
bosons decaying to tau
leptons at CMS”
Supervisor: Dr DJ Colling
J.E. Dobson (M) “Neutrino
Induced Charged Current ¿+
Production at the T2K Near
Detector”
Supervisors: Dr Y Uchida &
Dr C Andreopoulos
A.E. Guneratne Bryer (M) “A
Search for Supersymmetry
with Same-Sign Tau and
Lepton Final States at the
CMS Experiment”
Supervisor: Prof O
Buchmueller
P. Masliah (M) “Study of
muon neutrino disappearance
in the T2K experiment”
Supervisor: Dr M Wascko
A. Alekou (F) “Ionisation
Cooling Lattices for the
Neutrino Factory”
Supervisor: Dr J Pasternak
A. Currie (M) “Direct
searches for WIMP dark
matter with ZEPLIN-III”
Supervisor: Dr HdOP Araujo
Supervisor: Dr J Pozimski
A.G. Sparrow (M)
“Measurement of the
Polarisation of the W Boson
and Application to
Supersymmetry Searches at
the Large Hadron Collider”
Supervisors: Dr A Tapper &
Prof T Virdee
T. Whyntie (M) “Constraining
the supersymmetric
parameter space with early
data from the Compact Muon
Solenoid experiment”
Supervisor: Prof G Hall
Optics - Photonics
A. Favaro (M) “Recent
Advances in Classical
Electromagnetic Theory”
Supervisors: Prof M McCall
31
Postgraduate
E. Kelleher (M)
“Advancements in modelocked fibre lasers and fibre
supercontinua”
Supervisor: Prof JR Taylor
P. Ramirez Hernandez (M)
“Extended Depth of Field”
Supervisor: Prof P Török
G. Thomas (F) “High power
modelocking using a
nonlinear mirror”
Supervisor: Prof M Damzen
Optics - Quantum Optics
and Laser Science MPHIL
S. Begley (M) “Toward
implementing conditional
quantum logic on-chip using
the Kerr nonlinearity”
Supervisor: Prof E Hinds
and Laser Science
S. Donnellan (M) “Towards
Sideband Cooling of a Single
40Ca+ Ion in a Penning Trap”
Supervisors: Prof RC
Thompson & Prof D Segal
H. W. Doyle (M) “Creating
and Probing Warm Dense
Matter and High Energy
Density Blast Waves”
Supervisor: Prof R Smith
D. Herrera-Marti (M)
“Implementation of FaultTolerant Quantum Devices”
Supervisors: Dr S Barrett &
Prof T Rudolph
I. R. Hill (M) “Development of
an Apparatus for a Strontium
Optical Lattice Frequency
Standard”
Supervisors: Dr E Curtis & Dr
BE Sauer
M Kohnen (M) “Detecting
Atoms with Integrated Optics
and Frequency-Synthesised
Light”
Supervisor: Prof EA Hinds
32
Plasma Physics
J. Bissell (M) “Magnetised
Transport and Instability in
Laser Produced Plasmas”
Supervisor: Dr RJ Kingham
D. J. Moulton (M) “Numerical
Modelling of H-mode Plasmas
on JET”
Supervisors: Prof W
Fundamenski & Prof S Rose
N-P. Niasse (M)
“Development of a Pseudo
Non-LTE model for Z-pinch
simulations”
Supervisor: Prof JP Chittenden
C. Palmer (M) “Approaching
the radiation pressure regime
of proton acceleration with
high intensity lasers”
Supervisors: Prof R Evans &
Prof Z Najmudin
A. Rehman (F) “Optical
Probing of high-intensity laser
propagation through plasmas”
Supervisors: Dr B Dangor &
Prof Z Najmudin
G. Swadling (M) “An
experimental investigation of
the azimuthal structures
formed during the ablation
phase of wire array z-pinches”
Supervisors: Prof SV Lebedev
C. Willis (M) “Dust in
Stationary and Flowing
Plasmas”
Supervisor: Dr M Coppins
Space & Atmospheric
Physics
R. Beeby (M) “Validation of
the far-infrared foreignbroadened water vapour
continuum from airborne field
campaign measurements”
Supervisor: Dr J Pickering
C.H.J. Cheung (M) “A Study
of Stratosphere-Troposphere
Coupling with an Aquaplanet
Model”
Supervisors: Dr A Czaja &
Prof JD Haigh
PhD Thesis Awarded
C. Dancel (M) “An analysis of
the hydrological cycle and
poleward heat transports
simulated by two climate
models”
Supervisor: Dr AC Czaja
A. Flint (F) “Model
Sensitivities and Stratosphere
- Troposphere Interactions”
Supervisor: Prof JD Haigh
E-M. Giannakopoulou (F)
“Land - Boundary Layer - Sea
Interactions in the Middle East”
Supervisor: Prof R Toumi
G. Torri (M) “Counting gauge
invariant operators in
supersymmetric theories
using Hilbert series”
Supervisor: Prof A Hanany
PhD Degrees awarded in
the Department in 2013
N. Sparks (M) “Measurement
and analysis of local urban
CO2 emissions”
Group
Condensed
Matter Theory
R.H. White (F) “New Bias
Correction Methods for
Simulating Precipitation and
Runoff in the Weather
Research and Forecasting
Model”
Controlled
Quantum
Dynamics
Theoretical Physics
B. Hoare (M) “The S-matrix of
the Pohlmeyer-reduced AdS5
x S5 superstring”
Supervisor: Prof A TSeytlin
Y. Iwashita (M) “Quantum
aspects of Pohlmeyerreduced AdS5xS5
superstring”
Supervisor: Prof A TSeytlin
Experimental
Solid State
Grantham
Institute
High Energy
Physics
Photonics
Quantum Optics
& Laser Science
Plasma Physics
J.J. Noller (M) “Disformal
Gravity”
Supervisor: Prof J Magueijo
Plasma Institute
of Shock Physics
T. Pugh (M) “Chiral
Supergravities”
Supervisor: Prof K Stelle
W. Rubens (M) “On The
Black Hole / Qubit
Correspondence”
Supervisor: Prof MJ Duff
D.B. Thomas (M) “A Change
is as Good as a Test:
Observational Tests of
Extensions to the Concordance
Cosmological Model”
Supervisor: Dr C Contaldi
Space &
Atmospheric
Physics
Theoretical
Physics
C. Strickland-Constable (M)
“Generalised Geometry of
Supergravity”
Supervisor: Prof DJ Waldram
Theoretical
Physics
– MPHIL only
Totals
(M) (F)
1
2
1
9
1
9
1
12
10
2
1
1
1
2
2
4 1
1
52 9
Postgraduate
Condensed Matter
Theory
E. Barkhudarov (M)
“Renormalization Group
Analysis of Equilibrium and
Non-Equilibrium Charged
Systems”
Supervisor: Prof D Vvdensky
Controlled Quantum
Dynamics CDT
S Jevtic (F) “Large
Consequences of Quantum
Coherence in small systems”
Supervisor: Prof T Rudolph
M. Pusey (M) “Is quantum
steering spooky?”
M.P. Woods (M) “Orthogonal
Polynomials and Open
Quantum Systems”
Supervisors: Prof M Plenio &
Prof M Kim
Physics
N. Chan (M) “Solar electricity
from concentrator
photovoltaic systems”
Supervisors: Dr N EkinsDaukes & Dr H Brindley & Dr
B Chaudhuri
F. Colleaux (M) “Novel
Solution-Processable
Dielectrics for Organic and
Graphene Transistors”
Supervisors: Prof DDC
Bradley & Prof T Anthopoulos
R. Fernandez Garcia (M)
“Simulation and
characterization of optical
nanoantennas for field
enhancement and waveguide
coupling”
Supervisor: Prof S Maier
S. Foster (M) “On the
influence of physical and
chemical structure on charge
transport in disordered
organic semiconducting
materials and devices”
Supervisor: Prof J Nelson
D. James (M) “Developing
Structural Probes for
Designed Molecular
Architectures”
Supervisor: Dr J-S Kim
J. McGurk (M) “Analysing
Gain for Organic Laser
Applications”
Prof DDC Bradley
R. Stanley (M) “A structural
and spectroscopic
investigation of polyfluorene
copolymers in solution and
the solid-state”
Supervisor: Dr A Campbell
M. Taylor (M) “Resolving spin
physics in self-assembled
InAs/GaAs quantum dots”
Supervisor: Prof R Murray
I. Usman (M) “Investigating
Inhomogeneous FM at
SC/FM Interfaces Using
Point-Contact Andreev
Spectroscopy”
Supervisor: Prof L Cohen
Grantham Institute
E.L. Thompson (F)
“Modelling North Atlantic
Storms in a Changing
Climate”
Supervisors: Prof W Distaso
& Prof B Hoskins
High Energy Physics
P. Guzowski (M)
“Reconstruction of neutrino
induced neutral current
neutral pion events with the
T2K ND280 Tracker and
ECAL”
Supervisor: Dr M Wascko
S. Ives (F) “Study of the kaon
contribution to the T2K
neutrino beam using neutrino
PhD Thesis Awarded
interactions in the Near
Detector”
Supervisor: Dr Y Uchida
Particle Physics Detectors”
Supervisor: Prof G Hall
N. Wardle (M) “Observation
of a new particle in the search
for the Standard Model Higgs
boson at the CMS detector”
Supervisors: Prof G Davies &
Dr J Hays
M. Jarvis (M) “Measurement
of the electron charge
asymmetry in inclusive W
production in pp collisions at
¿s = 7 TeV in the CMS
experiment”
Supervisor: Prof T Virdee
E. Mitchell (M) “Development
of a miniaturised particle
radiation monitor for Earth
orbit”
Supervisor: Dr HdOP Araujo
C. Parkinson (M) “The
angular analysis of the B0 to
K*0¿+¿- decay at LHCb”
Supervisors: Dr U Egede & Dr
M Patel
S Rogerson (M) “A search
for supersymmetry using the
¿T variable with the CMS
detector and the impact of
experimental searches for
supersymmetry on
supersymmetric parameter
space”
Supervisors: Dr D Collin &
Prof O Buchmueller
M. Scott (M) “Measuring
Charged Current Neutrino
Interactions in the
Electromagnetic Calorimeters
of the ND280 Detector”
Supervisor: Dr Y Uchida
A. Shires (M) “Exploring b to
s electroweak penguin
decays at LHCb”
Supervisor: Prof U Egede
S. Short (F) “Study of
neutrino-induced neutral
current neutral pion
production in the T2K near
detector”
Supervisors: Dr M Wascko &
Prof J Nash
P. Stejskal (M) “Radiation
Effects in Optical Link
Components for Future
Optics - Photonics
I. E. Kepiro (F) “Highresolution retinal imaging with
a compact adaptive optics
ophthalmoscope”
Supervisor: Dr C Paterson
A. Thompson (M)
“Developing endoscopic
instrumentation and techniques
for in vivo fluorescence
lifetime imaging and
spectroscopy”
Supervisors: Prof M Neil & Dr
C Dunsby & Prof PW French
& Dr D Elson
and Laser Science
M. Ahmadi (M) “Resource
theory of asymmetry and
some of its applications”
N. Bulleid (M) “Slow, cold
beams of polar molecules for
precision measurements”
Supervisors: Dr MR Tarbutt &
Prof B Sauer
J. Cerrillo Moreno (M)
“Laser Cooling of Quantum
Systems”
Supervisor: Prof M Plenio
C. Hutchison (M) “High-order
harmonic generation in laser
ablation plumes”
Supervisors: Prof L Frazinski
& Prof J Marangos
G. Lepert (M) “Integrated
optics for coupled-cavity
quantum electrodynamics”
Supervisor: Prof EA Hinds
33
Postgraduate
S. Mavadia (M) “Motional
Sideband Spectra and
Coulomb Crystals in a
Penning Trap”
Supervisors: Prof RC
Thompson & Prof D Segal
S.I. Olsson Robbie (M) “High
Energy Density Physics In
Cluster Media”
Supervisor: Prof R Smith
M. Oppermann (M)
“Resolving Strong Field
Dynamics in Cation States of
CO2 via Optimised Molecular
Alignment”
Supervisor: Prof J Marangos
M. Siano (M) “Measuring
Ultrafast Chemical Dynamics
with New Light Sources”
Supervisors: Prof J Tisch &
Prof J Marangos
I. Smallman (M) “A New
Measurement of the Electron
Electric Dipole Moment Using
Ytterbium Fluoride”
Supervisors: Prof B Sauer &
Dr J Hudson
R.J. Squibb (M) “Probing
molecular structure and
dynamics with coherent extreme
ultraviolet and X-ray pulses”
Supervisor: Prof L Frasinski
S. Truppe (M) “New physics
with cold molecules: precise
microwave spectroscopy of
CH and the development of a
microwave trap”
Supervisor: Dr MR Tarbutt
Plasma Physics
C. R. D Brown (M)
“Spectroscopic Studies on
Warm and Hot Dense Matter”
Supervisor: Prof S Rose
G.C. Burdiak (M) “An
investigation of cylindrical
liner z-pinches as drivers for
converging strong shock
experiments”
Supervisor: Prof S Lebedev
34
N. Dover (M) “Exploring novel
regimes for ion acceleration
driven by intense laser
radiation”
Supervisors: Dr S Mangles &
Prof Z Najmudin
E. Khoory (M) “Experimental
Study of Plasma Implosion
Dynamics in a Two-Stage Wire
Array Z-Pinch Configuration”
Supervisor: Prof S Lebedev
H.T. Kim (M) “Physics and
Computational Simulations of
Plasma Burn-through for
Tokamak Start-up”
Supervisors: Prof W
Fundamensky & Prof S Rose
R.D. Lloyd (M) “Collisional
Particle In Cell Modelling Of
The Propagation Of Fast
Electrons In Solid Density
Plasma”
Supervisors: Prof R Evans &
Dr R Kingham
L. Pickworth (F)
“Experimental investigation of
supersonic plasma jets colliding
with thin metallic foils”
Supervisors: Dr S Bland &
Prof S Lebedev
J.W. Skidmore (M)
“Experimental study of pulsed
power driven radiative
shockwaves in noble gases”
Supervisors: & Prof S
Lebedev & Dr S Bland
A. E. Turrell (M) “Processes
driving non-Maxwellian
distributions in high energy
density plasmas”
Supervisors: Dr M Sherlock &
Prof S Rose
S.W. Vickers (M) “Particle in
Cell and Hybrid Simulations
of the Z Double-Post-Hole
Convolute Cathode Plasma
Evolution and Dynamics”
Supervisors: Prof J Chittenden
B.E.R. Williams (M) “Theory
and modelling of fast electron
PhDs Awarded
transport in laser-plasma
interactions”
Supervisor: Dr R Kingham
Type II and M Theory”
Supervisor: Prof D Waldram
S. Orani (M) “Cosmological
Perturbations from Hilltop
Potentials”
Supervisor: Dr A Rajantie
Plasma Institute of Shock
Physics
W. Neal (M) “The Role of
Particle Size in the Shock
Compaction of Brittle
Granular Materials”
Supervisor: Dr B Proud
Space & Atmospheric
Physics
R-K Seong (M) “Brane Tilings
and Quiver Gauge Theories”
Supervisor: Prof A Hanany
Theoretical Physics - MPHil
C. Ansell (F) “Evaluating
mineral dust aerosol retrieval
and its direct radiative effect
with a view towards improving
forecasts in the UK Met Office
NWP model”
Supervisors: Prof R Toumi &
Dr H Brindley
M Szmigiel (M) “Massless
preheating with full Einstein
gravity”
Supervisor: Dr A Rajantie
K.P. Chan (M) “Analysis of
Outgoing Longwave
Radiation (OLR) in different
timescales over Africa and
Atlantic Ocean”
Supervisor: Prof J Harries
J. Farley Nicholls (M)
“Modelling of the Caspian
Sea”
U. Hausmann (F) “The
signature of mesoscale
eddies on sea surface
temperature and its
associated heat transport”
Supervisor: Dr A Czaja
Theoretical Physics
D. Benincasa (M) “The
Action of a Causal Set”
Supervisor: Prof F Dowker
C.N. Clark (F) “Data Analysis
And Modelling For
Observations Of Polarisation
Of The Microwave Sky”
Supervisor: Dr C Contaldi
A.J. Coimbra (M)
“Generalised Geometries for
Postgraduate
MSc in Physics
Achilleas Athanasiou
Fragkoulis Analyses of CMS
data for the H→invisible group.
Supervisor: David Colling
Franziska Beck
Theory and simulation of
sideband cooling of ions in a
Penning trap
Supervisor: Richard Thompson
Kieran Brophy
Atmospheric signals of
carbon release from thawing
permafrost
Supervisor: Heather Graven
Christian Fuchs
Low-dimensional transport
phenomena in solution
processed metal oxide heterostructures
Supervisor: Thomas Anthopoulos
Yuan Gao
Spin properties of un-doped,
p-doped and n-doped quantum dots ensemble
Supervisor: Ray Murray
Deniz Koksal
Study of a directional analysis
on the recoil spectra induced
by astrophysical neutrino
backgrounds on the future
generation of dark matter
experiments
Supervisor: Henrique Araujo
Richard Laithwaite
Magnetosphere-atmosphere
coupling at Saturn: Response
of thermosphere and ionosphere to disturbed magnetic
storm conditions
Supervisor: Ingo MuellerWodarg
Immanuel Lorang
Principles of seismicoceanography applied to
ocean model data
Supervisor: Ralf Toumi
Junos Lukan
Simulating x-ray generation in
laser wakefield accelerators
Supervisor: Stuart Mangles
Jarand Narbuvold
Theory and simulation of
electron transmission
Supervisor: Arash Mostofi
Matthew Parker
Comparing methods of fabricating bowtie-nanoantennas
to change the optical properties of molecules
Supervisor: Stefan Maier
Jens Petersen
Path length distribution in
random directed acyclic
graphs
Supervisor: Tim Evans
Daven Raithatha
Interactions of the interplanetary cosmic rays environment
with space based gravitational wave detectors
Supervisor: Peter Wass
Anna Clare Sales
Electromagnetic Compatibility
(EMC) studies for the Solar
Orbiter instrument
boom
Supervisor: Tim Horbury
Ao Shi
Kelvin probe force
microscopy and its application
in graphene characterisation
Supervisor: Lesley Cohen
Malcolm Simpson
Resolved sideband cooling of
a single ion to the quantum
mechanical ground state in a
Penning Trap
Supervisor: Richard Thompson
Panagiota Theodoulou
Impact of restricted radiative
emission from compressively
strained quantum wells on the
photonic coupling
Supervisor:Diego Alonso
Alvarez
PGT Research Projects
Kevin van der Meij
The solar wind at 0.3 AU new observations from the
NASA Messenger spacecraft
Supervisor: Robert Forsyth
Chenhao Cui
Automated chemical classification of single cereal grains
using NIR spectroscopy
Supervisor: Kenny Weir
Renjie Yun
Many-body Green's function
theory of Penning ionisation
widths for sub-Kelvin atommolecule collisions
Supervisor: Vitali Averbukh
Biniyam Erkihun
Characterisation of the electromagnetic field In nanostructures
Maxime Dubois
Fluorescence super resolution microscopy and conical
diffraction
Supervisor: Martin McCall
Samual White
Using symbolic regression to
data mine the laws of physics
Supervisor: Jony Hudson
MSc in Physics with
Shock Physics
Stefan Heufelder
Optimisation of the optical
imaging system and methods
for image analysis in symmetric Taylor impact experiments
Supervisor: David Chapman
Lukas Schickhofer
Blast biomechanics of the
human head
Supervisor: Mazdak Ghajari
(Aeronautics)
MSc in Physics with
Extended Research
Luc Sagnières
The Influence of local ionization on ionospheric densities
in Titan’s upper atmosphere
Supervisor: Marina Galand
MSc in Optics and Photonics
Mathilde Barré
Establishment of a model and
characterization of performance of the solar simulator of
SIMDIA space environment
simulation chamber
Supervisor: Jenny Nelson
Hao Chen
Exploring a new method to
produce plasmonic bowtie
nanoantennas
Gabriel Geraci
Simulations of Young’s interference in plasmonic structures
Wenjun Guo
Temperature-control and
characterisation of a diodepumped alexandrite laser
Supervisor: Mike Damzen
Yichuan Huang
Adaptive spatial laser control
with liquid lens
Supervisor: Mike Damzen
Wentao Huang
Phase Object Imaging: A
comparison between interferometry and moiré deflectometry
Koppány Körmöczi
Trade-Off analysis of 3D fullspace electromagnetic cloaks
using inhomogeneous,
anisotropic, non-magnetic
materials in respect of
effciency and feasibility
Supervisor: John Pendry
Asilatun Nisa Mohd Azmi
“Digistain" Mid-Infrared chemical imaging for cancer diagnosis; trialling a new
technology
Supervisor: Chris Philips
Michael Ramamonjisoa
3D imaging using a synthetic
35
Postgraduate
aperture LIDAR
Supervisor: Chris Dunsby
Fransessca Shirley
A comprehensive comparison
of metal and dielectric nanostructures for enhanced scattering in solar cells
Supervisor: Nicholas EkinsDaukes
Chengze Song
Study of methods separating
Brillouin signal
Supervisor: Peter Török
Christos Theodorakis
Photoreflectance spectroscopy for the optical characterisation of InGaAs
quantum wells
Supervisor: Nicholas EkinsDaukes
Zizhen Xue
Hong-Ou-Mandel effect from
spontaneous parametric
down converted photons
Supervisor: Danny Segal
Lydia Zajiczek
An optical interferometer for
investigating the coherence
properties of a photon BoseEinstein condensate
Supervisor: Robert Nyman
Daoqin Zha
Phase object imaging: Comparing interferometry with
wave front sensing
Xiangnan Zhou
Design of an optimised optical
projection tomography instrument
Supervisors :Paul French/
James McGinty
Daniel Owton
Modelling a radiation shield
for an infra-red detector
Supervisor: Kenny Weir
MRes in Photonics
Thorin Duffin
Tetra-Pixel compressive
sensing Polarimetry
Supervisor: Peter Török
Rebecca Feeney Barry
Investigation of the implementation of laser-scanning light
sheet formation for the OPM
system
Supervisor: Chris Dunsby
Thomas Watson
Characterisation of a microscope stage plate-insert
designed for optical projection
tomography on a commercially available microscope
Supervisor: James McGinty
MSc in Quantum Fields
and Fundamental Forces
Marc Arene
Instability of extreme Reissner-Nordström black holes
Supervisor: Toby Wiseman
Paul Boes
Closure and stability in quantum measure theory
Supervisor: Fay Dowker
Christopher Bray
Dust grain charging In tokamak plasmas
Supervisor: Michael Coppins
Mohamad Husni Wan
Mokhtar
An introduction to loop quantum gravity with application to
cosmology
Supervisor: Joao Magueijo
Mohammed Hakeem
Five dimensional SUSY
gauge theories in the context
of M theory
Supervisor: Amihay Hanany
Shane Keane
Arrival time in quantum
mechanics
Supervisor: Jonathan Halliwell
Maximilian Zimmermann
Towards a covariant classification of nilpotent four-qubit
states
Supervisor: Mike Duff
Dong Woon Kim
Double field theory
Supervisor: Chris Hull
MRes in Controlled
Quantum Dynamics
Martyna Kostacinska
Primordial non-Gaussianities
in Horava-Lifshitz gravity
Katerina Apostolidou
Cooling complex molecules
for quantum interferometry
and measurements of parity
violation in chiral molecules
Supervisor: Michael Tabutt
Sangmin Lee
The Bethe/Gauge correspondence and geometric representation theory
Supervisor: Amihay Hanany
Luisa Lucie-Smith
Reheating of the universe and
gravitational wave production
Supervisor: Arttu Rajantie
Samuel McMillen
Causal set phenomenology in
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker
spacetime
Paul Plant
The AdS-CFT correspondence: A review
Supervisor: Dan Waldram
Clement Delcamp
Entanglement on spin networks in loop quantum gravity
Omar Fernando Sosa
Rodriguez
Causal set theory as a discrete model for classical
spacetime
Nipol Chaemjumrus
Non-geometric flux and
double field theory
Supervisor: Chris Hull
tion
arrival problem
Supervisor: Jonathan Halliwell
Sonny Campbell
Models of non-singular gravitational collapse
Stylianos Gregoriou
Time in quantum mechanics
and aspects of the time-of-
36
Masters Projects List
Edward Gillman
Defect formation in quantum
phase transitions
Daniel Goldwater
Examining the noise spectra
of levitated nanospheres:
Towards an experimental test
of collapse theories
Supervisor: Myunkshik Kim
Yannick Seis
Entangling qubits using global
pulses
Supervisor: Terry Rudolph
Stephen Stopyra
Higgs dynamics during infla-
Benjamin Dive
Quantum control of open systems
Supervisor: Daniel Burgarth
Pavel Hrmo
Sideband cooling to the
motional ground state of an
ion in a Penning trap
Jieyi Liu
Configurations of ion coulomb
crystals in a Penning trap
Maximilian Lock
Developing new relativistic
quantum technologies
Postgraduate
Joseph Munns
Towards noise suppression in
a broadband quantum
memory in warm caesium
vapour
Jonathan Richens
Reversible dynamics is generalised probabilistic theories
John Selby
A process theory approach to
modal quantum theory
Jimmy Stammers
Characterisation of a compact
single-beam tetrahedral MOT
Supervisor: Ed Hinds
James Tarlton
Magnetic field generation and
stabilisation for 43Ca+ clock
qubits
Andrew Tranter
Quantum computation for
electronic structure theory
Supervisor: Florian Mintert
MRes in Plastic Electronic Materials
Andika Asyuda
Hybrid solar cells based upon
mesostructured inorganicorganic nanocomposites
Supervisor: Saif Haque
Iain Andrews
Room temperature MASER –
search for new masing materials
Supervisor: Martin Heeney
Philip Bridges
Charge and ionic transport in
organic-inorganic perovskite
semiconductors
Nathan Cheetham
Supramolecular manipulation
of organic blends for stimulated emission
Supervisor: Paul Stavrinou
Tony Chiu
Enhancing OPV performance
by light and thermal process
engineering
Supervisor: Joao Cabral
Satyajit Das
Electron transport in lowdimensional solutionprocessed metal oxide
semiconductors
Supervisor: Thomas
Anthopoulos
Matthew Dyson
Excitation and charge transfer
among conjugated (macro)
molecules
Supervisor: Natalie Stingelin
Alexander Giovannitti
A new transport materials
platform for bioelectronics
Supervisor: Iain McCulloch
Iain Hamilton
Fabricating efficient nanostructured OLED lighting and
display devices
Supervisor: Ji-Seon Kim
Faldo Maldini Zaitul
Scanning-probe patterning of
electronic and photonic properties in molecular semiconductors
Supervisor: Donal Bradley
Jameel Marafie
Synthesis and colour tuning
of organometallic complexes
and polymers
Supervisor: Charlotte
Williams
Madeleine Morris
Using organic-inorganic systems to probe performance
enhancement of solar energy
systems due to the piezoelectric effect
Supervisor: James Durrant
Jason Rohr
Multifunctional mesostructured semiconductor films for
hybrid and all-inorganic optoelectronics
Supervisor: Saif Haque
Masters Projects List
Prospero Taroni
Junior Conductive polymers
and polymer nanocomposites
for flexible thermoelectrics “NANOFLEXTE”.
Supervisor: Nathalie Stingelin
Vadim Nemytov
Nanocrystals by design: combining the power of atomistic
force fields and linear scaling density functional theory
Supervisor: Paul Tangney
Yiren Xia
Energy transfer and
supramolecular manipulation
of organic blends
Supervisor: Paul Stavrinou
Farnaz Ostovari
Modelling damage in environmental barrier coatings on
woven SiC/SiC composite
substrates
Supervisor: Daniel Balint
Gwen Wyatt-Moon
Plastic nanoelectronics by
sticky-tape lithography
Supervisor: Thomas
Anthopoulos
MSc in Theory and Simulation of Materials
Amanda Diez
Modelling damage tolerant
structural ceramic systems
Supervisor: Ferri Aliabadi
Premyuda Ontawong
Atomistic-to-continuum theory
of martensitic transformations
Supervisor: Dimitri Vvedensky
Mitesh Patel
Stress-driven transport of
hydrogen in zirconium alloy
cladding of nuclear fuel rods
Supervisor: Daniel Balint
Andrew Pearce
Theory and simulation of selfassembled nanoplasmonic
metamaterials and devices
Supervisor: Alexei Kornyshev
Peter Fox
Nanoplasmonics and metamaterials at the classical/
quantum boundary
Supervisor: Ortwin Hess
Elisabeth Rice
Tight-binding approach to the
simulation of the electronic
and optical properties of
porous conjugated molecular
materials
Frederike Jaeger
Flow of fluids through disordered media with application
to membranes: from the
molecular to the continuum
through the micro scale
Supervisor: Omar Matar
Jacqueline Tan
Making materials Liquid:
designing “room temperature”
molten salts
Supervisor: Patricia Hunt
Christopher Knight
Multi-scale analysis of liquefaction phenomena in soils
Supervisor: Catherine O’Sullivan
Andrew McMahon
The behaviour of charged
species in hybrid
organic metal halide perovskite photovoltaics
Supervisor: Nicholas Harrison
Markus Tautschnig
Scale Formation: Developing
a theoretical model of the
dynamics of sweet/sour corrosion scales
Supervisor: Nicholas Harrison
Nicola Molinari
Towards a predictive model of
elastomer materials
Supervisor: Arash Mostofi
37
Postgraduate
Destinations
Table 1 - There were 87 known destinations of the 2013
postgraduates (Home & EU students
Destination
Graduates
Entered Employment
21
Further Study
57
Unemployed
4
Time Out / Unavailable for Work
5
Destinations of 2013 postgraduates
Comparison with previous years
Sector of employment entered
38
What do Physics Postgraduates do?
Examples of employers and occupations for
Physics taught-course postgraduates who entered
employment:
• Bloomberg New Energy Finance
• M & C Saatchi Mobile
• Royal United Services Institute
• Media Analyst
• Renewable Energy Analyst
• Research Intern
Examples of courses for those Physics taughtcourse postgraduates who entered further study or
training:
• EngD in Optics and Photonics Technologies (HeriotWatt University)
• MRes Controlled Quantum Dynamics (Imperial)
• MSc Photonics (Imperial)
• MSc Physics (Ecole Centrale Lyon & Universite Aix
Marseille)
• MSc Shock Physics (Imperial)
• MSc Theoretical Physics (Utrecht University)
• PhD in Atmospheric Physics (Imperial)
• PhD in Materials (Imperial)
• PhD in Mathematical Physics (Durham University)
• PhD in Mathematics (University of Cambridge)
• PhD in Optical Engineering (Heriot-Watt University)
• PhD in Particle Physics (Imperial)
• PhD in Physics (Imperial)
• PhD in Physics (University of Glasgow)
• PhD in Theoretical Physics (University of Southampton)
• Theoretical Physics Research (University of Bremen)
Examples of employers and occupations for
Physics research postgraduates who entered
employment:
• AWE plc.
• Brunel University
• Carallon
• Dalcour Maclaren
• Element Energy
• Element Six Ltd
• IIT
• Imperial College London
• ISAGRI
• Palantir Technologies
• Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
• Permasense
• TU Dortmund
• University of Birmingham
• Velocix
• Business Informatics Developer
• CAD Draughtsman
• Consultant
• Engineer
• Outsourcing Manager
• Plasma Physicist
• Post-Doctoral Fellow
• Post-Doctoral Research Associate
• Research Associate
• Research Fellow
• Research Scientist
• Software Developer
• Software Test Developer
Examples of courses for those Physics research
postgraduates who entered further study or training:
• Biomedical Engineering Research (Imperial)
• CDT in Controlled Quantum Dynamics (Imperial)
• MPhil/PhD in Physics: Nanophotonics and Metamaterials (University of Southampton)
• MRes Controlled Quantum Dynamics (Imperial)
• PhD in Chemistry (Imperial)
• PhD in Controlled Quantum Dynamics (Imperial)
• PhD in Controlled Quantum Dynamics (University of
Bristol)
• PhD in Plastic Electronics (Imperial)
• PhD in Photonics (Imperial)
• PhD in Physics (Imperial)
• PhD in Physics (University of Cambridge)
• PhD in Theory and Simulation of Materials (Imperial)
39
Research
Research Groups
Astrophysics
High Energy Physics
Photonics
Plasma Physics
Space and Atmospheric Physics
Theoretical Physics
Research Centres
Centre for Cold Matter
The Laser Consortium
Institute of Shock Physics
Centre for Plastic Electronics
40
Astrophysics
The Astrophysics group studies the Sun, the birth of stars in the Milky Way, the formation and evolution of
galaxies over cosmic time, the cosmic microwave background, and the nature of dark matter. The sophisticated
use of statistics in interpreting astronomical data is a common theme in the group’s activities.
SUN, STARS AND PLANETS
Unruh, Mohanty,
The radiation of the parent star and
its variability is crucial to the
habitability of exoplanets.
Unruh works on solar and stellar
magnetic activity and the its effect
on the radiation emitted by the star.
This is relevant to the influence of
the Sun on climate change on the
Earth, and to the habitability of
extrasolar planets.
Thousands of planets have been
discovered around other stars in
recent years, and it now seems
likely that every star has one or
more planets around it. Mohanty's
research focuses on understanding
how these planets are formed out of
the disks of gas and dust surrounding
newborn stars; how this process is
linked to the formation of the stars
themselves; and how stellar properties
influence the characteristics - in
particular, the habitability - of the
orbiting planets.
GALAXY AND QUASAR
FORMATION AND EVOLUTION
Clements, Warren, Mortlock,
Pritchard
How did the population of galaxies
that we see around us, including
spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies,
quasars and galaxy clusters, come
about? When did the first galaxies
The all-sky map of the cosmic microwave background radiation provided by the Planck satellite
form, and what processes
dominated their formation and led to
the evolution of the universe we see
today? We use data across the
electromagnetic spectrum to answer
these questions, using telescopes
such as UKIRT, Herschel, JCMT, the
SMA, and ALMA, with an emphasis
on the highest redshifts observable,
z>6. Pritchard is leading activities to
predict the 21cm radio signature of
neutral hydrogen from the first billion
years to study the nature and evolution
of the first stars and galaxies.
COSMOLOGY
Heavens, Jaffe, Mortlock, Pritchard
We aim to develop and apply new,
principled statistical methods to the
inference of cosmological
A schematic of the recently discovered planetary system Kepler-62, compared to our own Solar
System. Kepler-62 hosts two super-Earths inside the habitable zone.
[Credt: NASA]
[Credit: ESA]
parameters and model selection,
focussing on the cosmic microwave
background, weak gravitational
lensing, large-scale structure and
21cm radiation, with scientific goals
which include neutrino masses,
measurement of dark energy
properties and testing of Einstein
gravity. The group has strong
involvement in current and future
cosmology experiments including
Planck, PolarBear, Euclid and the
Square Kilometer Array.
DARK MATTER
Trotta, Scott
Decades of studies have led to the
conclusion that 80% of the matter in
the Universe is made of a new type
of particle, and the experimental
hunt for this dark matter is now in a
crucial phase. The question of the
nature of dark matter is one of the
most important in all physics.
Our work aims to put constraints on
the physical parameters of
theoretical models for dark matter
(such as Supersymmetry) by
combining four complementary
probes: cosmology, direct detection,
indirect detection and colliders. Our
group has developed the worldleading “global fits” approach to the
problem, allowing us to explore in a
statistically convergent way
theoretical parameter spaces
previously inaccessible to detailed
numerical study.
41
Research
Dr David Clements
Professor Alan Heavens
Astrophysics
the low-redshift Universe. Heavens A.F.,
Jimenez R., Verde L., arXiV:1409.6217 (Phys.
Rev. Lett., in press). 2 citations
4. 3D cosmic shear: cosmology from
CFHTLenS. Kitching T., Heavens A., et al,
MNRAS, 442, 1326 (2014). 7 citations
Professor Andrew Jaffe
The incredible success of the Herschel
mission, and especially its deep,
cosmological surveys, has continued
to shed light on the role that dusty
galaxies play in the formation of large
scale structure and the history of
galaxy formation. Multiwavelength
followup observation campaigns are
underway to determine the nature of
the reddest, and thus potentially most
distant, objects seen in these surveys.
The first fruit of this work was the
discovery of HFLS3, a massive, rapidly
star forming dusty galaxy at the
unprecedented redshift of 6.34.
Finding such an object just 880
million years after the Big Bang is
wholly unexpected in current
cosmological models. As well as
seeking individual high redshift sources,
we have been cross-matching
Herschel and Planck data to look for
groups or clusters of star forming
galaxies at somewhat lower redshifts.
The first results of this work have
uncovered four candidate galaxy
clusters whose constituent galaxies
are forming stars at a very high rate,
and which lie at significantly higher
redshifts than conventional optical/IR
or X-ray observation can easily detect
clusters. We appear to be detecting
these objects during a formative but
otherwise inaccessible phase in their
formation and evolution.
Riechers, D.A., Bradford, C.M., Clements,
D.L., et al., 2013, Nature, 496, 329
Clements, D.L., Braglia, F.G., Hyde, A.K., et
al., 2014, MNRAS, 439, 1193
42
The first Planck cosmology results
were published in 2014, showing
that primordial non-gaussianity in
the map is constrained to be very
close to zero, in agreement with the
standard inflation model for the early
Universe. The robustness of the
result was shown using a statistical
technique partly developed and
applied by us.
A key observable in cosmology is
the sound horizon (the ‘BAO’ scale),
which leaves an imprint in the
clustering of galaxies. We have
determined the length of this
standard ruler, for the first time in a
model-independent way, not even
assuming General Relativity. The
Universe still looks like the standard
LCDM model and the number of
neutrino species is constrained
almost model-independently to be
3.5 ± 0.3. Published in PRL.
We applied our method of 3D weak
lensing analysis to the leading
survey (CFHTLenS). Results show
for the first time hints of baryon
feedback or suppression of power
on small scales due to non-zero
neutrino masses.
1. Planck 2013 results. XXIV. Constraints on
primordial non-Gaussianity. Ade P.A.R. et al,
A&A, 571, 24 (2014). 300 citations
2. Planck 2013 results. I. Overview of
products and scientific results. Ade P.A.R. et
al, A&A, 571, 1 (2014). 500 citations
3. Standard rulers, candles, and clocks from
Our work has concentrated on the
analysis and interpretation of data
from the cosmic microwave
background (CMB). In particular, we
have a team (Jaffe along with
PDRAs Ducout and Feeney)
dedicated to working with data from
the Planck Satellite which has
released two rounds of cosmological
results and is poised for completion
in 2016. We have been involved in
all aspects of the analysis, from
detailed examination of the optical
properties of the instrument to the
use of Planck data to limit the largescale topology of the Universe on
scales of billions of parsecs. We
also apply this expertise to groundand balloon-based CMB
experiments such as EBEX and
PolarBear. The latter was the first to
directly detect anisotropy in the
polarization of the CMB from
gravitational lensing of structures
along the line of sight; this will prove
a strong test of instrumental
properties, astrophysical sources of
microwave emission, and,
eventually, of cosmological
parameters that will inform us about
the possibilities of an early epoch of
cosmic inflation responsible for both
the large-scale geometrical structure
of the observable Universe and the
Research
small-scale structures within it.
1. Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological
parameters, Planck Collaboration, Astronomy
& Astrophysics, Volume 571, id.A16, 201
2. Planck 2013 results. XXVI. Background
geometry and topology of the Universe,
Planck Collaboration, Astronomy &
Astrophysics, Volume 571, id.A26, 2014
3. A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave
Background B-Mode Polarization Power
Spectrum at Sub-Degree Scales with
POLARBEAR, Polarbear Collaboration,
Astrophysical Journal, 794:171, 2014
Dr Subhanjoy Mohanty
habitable zone of red dwarf stars.
The latter two projects are in
collaboration with colleagues at the
University of Florida and IAS at
Princeton, respectively; the research
is supported by both STFC funds
and a Royal Society International
Exchange grant.
which they have not previously been
used, including the assessment of
the total power emitted by the Sun
([4], relevant in particular for climate
science) and the search for the
origin of the most energetic cosmic
rays [5].
2. Dead, Undead and Zombie Zones in
Protostellar Disks as a Function of Stellar
Mass: Mohanty, S., Ercolano, B. \& Turner, N.,
Astrophysical Journal, 764, 65 (2013)
2. 'Finding the most distant quasars using
Bayesian selection methods’ Mortlock, D.J.,
2014, Statistical Science, 29, 50
1. Protoplanetary Disk Masses from Stars to
Brown Dwarfs: Mohanty, S., Greaves, J.,
Mortlock, D. et al., Astrophysical Journal, 773,
168 (2013)
Dr Daniel Mortlock
Ground and space-based missions
have uncovered thousands of
exoplanets around other stars in the
last few years. My work focusses on
how these planets form out of the
primordial disks of gas and dust
around young stars, and how the
properties of the host star influence
planetary characteristics (particularly
habitability). Highlights over the last
year include determining average
disk masses (which ultimate set the
planetary masses), from dust
emission, for a broad range of stellar
types (reference [1]), and building a
theory of how magnetohydrodynamical
processes affect the disk structure
and evolution (reference [2]).
Ongoing work includes devising a
semi-analytic model for forming
super-Earth size planets very close
to the host star (which empirically
seems to be the dominant mode of
planet formation), and constructing a
model of X-ray and UV-driven
photoevaporation of terrestrial
planetary atmospheres within the
Astrophysics
1. 'The multi-wavelength spectral energy
distribution of the z = 7.1 quasar ULAS
J1120+0641’ Barnett, R., Warren, S.J.,
Banerji, M., McMahon, R.G., Hewett, P.C.,
Mortlock, D.J, Simpson, C. & Venemans, B.P.,
2014, A&A, submitted
3. Paper 2 of SJW
4. 'Assessing the relationship between
spectral solar irradiance and stratospheric
ozone using Bayesian Inference’ Ball, W.T.,
Mortlock, D.J., Haigh, J.D. & Egerton, J.,
2014, Journal of Space Weather and Space
Climate, 4, A25
5. 'A Bayesian self-clustering analysis of the
highest energy cosmic rays detected by the
Pierre Auger Observatory’ Khanin, A. &
Mortlock, D.J., 2014, MNRAS, 444, 1591
Dr Jonathan Pritchard
The main theme of my research has
been to increase our understanding
of conditions in the first billion years
after the Big Bang during which the
first generations of stars ionised the
hydrogen in the Universe. The main
route to doing this has been to
analyse follow-up observations [1,2,]
of the quasar ULAS J1120+0641,
the most distant known to date and
hence the earliest bright
astronomical source available for
study [3]. I have been involved in
theoretical efforts to understand the
population of quasars in the early
Universe and in interpreting the
signatures of the cosmological
ionisation process as revealed in
their spectra. I have also applied
Bayesian inference techniques to
several areas of astrophysics in
This last year has been a critical
phase in the design of the Square
Kilometer Array, reviewing an initial
baseline design for its scientific
suitability and updating the 10 year
old science case. I have played a
leading role in both aspects of this –
speaking at Science Working Group
meetings at SKA-HQ in Manchester
to review the baseline design and, in
my role as co-chair of the Epoch of
Reionization SWG, leading the
43
Research
rewrite of epoch of reionization/
cosmic dawn sections of the SKA
science case and co-writing four
chapters. This connects to my new
role as a member of the UK-SKA
science committee to promote
involvement in SKA science within
the UK. Alongside this, with my
student Catherine Watkinson, I have
completed two papers demonstrating
the importance of 1-point statistics
of the 21cm signal for determining
the reionization topology and the
impact of small absorbing systems.
Finally, I completed part of a review
on atomic physics in the early
universe covering topics from the
CMB & recombination to the 21cm
signal and reionization.
1. J.R. Pritchard et al. “Cosmology from the
EoR/Cosmic Dawn”. PoS, in press (2014).
Glover, S. C. O., Chluba, J., Furlanetto, S. R.,
Pritchard, J. R., & Savin, D. W. (2014).
2. Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics in
the Early Universe: From Recombination to
Reionization. In E. Arimondo, P. R. Berman, &
C. C. Lin (Eds.), Unknown Book (Vol. 63, pp.
135-270). ELSEVIER ACADEMIC PRESS
INC. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-8001295.00003-1
3. Watkinson, C. A., & Pritchard, J. R. (2014).
Distinguishing models of reionization using
future radio observations of 21-cm 1-point
statistics. MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE
ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 443(4),
3090-3106. doi:10.1093/mnras/stu1384
Dr Roberto Trotta
Dr Yvonne Unruh
My work in astroparticle dark matter
phenomenology continues to be
focused on identifying and
characterizing dark matter using the
"global fits" approach, i.e. a
combination of all available
observational data. To this aim, I am
an Associated Scientist with the
Fermi LAT gamma-ray telescope, a
Short Term Associate of ATLAS and
an Associated Scientist with the
XENON dark matter detector. My
research has recently produced the
first statistically convergent fits to a
15-dimensional Minimal
Supersymmetric Scenario [3].
In cosmology, I have been
collaborating with David van Dyk
(Maths) to improve cosmological
parameter extraction techniques
from supernovae type Ia data [4]. I
have also an ongoing collaboration
aimed at the systematic
classification of single-field
inflationary models in the light of the
most recent Cosmic Microwave
Background data [1-2].
2. The best inflationary models after Planck,
J. Martin, C. Ringeval, R. Trotta, V. Vennin,
JCAP 1403 (2014) 039.
3. Profile likelihood maps of a 15-dimensional
MSSM, C. Strege, G. Bertone, G. J. Besjes,
S. Caron, R. Ruiz de Austri, A. Strubig, R.
Trotta, JHEP 09(2014)081
4. The efficiency on next-generation Gibbstype samplers: An illustration using a
hierarchical model in cosmology X. Jiao, D.
van Dyk, R. Trotta and H. Shariff, Proc. 2014
ICSA and KISS Joint App. Stat. Symp.,
submitted, Springer (2015)
1. Compatibility of BICEP2 and Planck in light
of inflation, J. Martin, C. Ringeval, R. Trotta,
V. Vennin (2014),
Phys.Rev.D90:063501,2014
44
Astrophysics
Solar and stellar surface magnetic
fields and their evolution are the
cause of much of solar and stellar
variability on time scales of a few
hours to months and even decades.
The emergent magnetic surface flux
forms dark spots as well as bright
points that contribute to the
changing solar and stellar emission.
The wavelength dependence of their
emission is still an outstanding
question, though much progress has
been made in the case of the Sun
where we are now able to model the
wavelength dependent irradiance
changes to a high degree of
accuracy which is needed for
modelling the Earth's (upper)
atmospheric response (e.g., Ball et
al, 2014).
Comparable stellar variability is
usually considered as `noise' and
presents a nuisance in the detection
and characterisation of exoplanets.
The importance of including stellar
variability in the exoplanet modelling
so as to minimise spurious
detections and allow the
characterisation of exoplanets
around more variable stars was
Research
presented in Haywood et al. (2014)
where we were able to use
simultaneous radial-velocity and
photometric data to estimate the
radial-velocity variations due to
magnetic activity.
1. W T Ball, N A Krivova, Y C Unruh, J D
Haigh, S K Solanki 2014, Journal of the
Atmospheric Sciences 71, 4086, A New
SATIRE-S Spectral Solar Irradiance
Reconstruction for Solar Cycles 21--23 and
Its Implications for Stratospheric Ozone
2. R D Haywood et al 2014, MNRAS 443,
2517, Planets and stellar activity: hide and
seek in the CoRoT-7 system
Professor Stephen Warren
stretched by the redshift beyond
optical wavelengths. These are
some of the most distant objects
known. Daniel Mortlock and I
recently found the first quasar at
redshift z>7, the most distant quasar
known, which provides crucial
information on conditions in the
Universe when it was only a few
percent old.
Astrophysics
1. Skrzypek N, Warren S, et al., 2015,
Photometric brown-dwarf classification. I. A
method to identify and accurately classify
large samples of brown dwarfs without
spectroscopy, A&A, 54, 7
2. Mortlock D, Warren S, et al., 2011, A
luminous quasar at a redshift of z = 7.085,
Nature, 474, 616
I am an observational astronomer
mostly interested in using
telescopes to find things that are
hard to find, either because they are
rare or faint. Over the past 7 years I
have been particularly interested in
using a new wide-area deep survey
at near-infrared wavelengths (0.92.3micron) to find brown dwarfs and
distant quasars. Brown dwarfs are
collapsed clouds of gas where the
mass is too low for the central
temperature to get high enough to
ignite hydrogen. These are some of
the closest objects to Earth. Nathalie
Skrzypek and I have developed a
new method for finding brown
dwarfs that has produced the largest
sample yet of these objects, over
1000. The near-infrared is also
useful for finding very distant
quasars where the light has been
45
The Condensed Matter Theory group studies properties, processes and emergent behaviour in solids,
liquids,nanomaterials, metamaterials, and less obvious aggregates such as ant colonies and heart muscles.Our
research draws on many areas of physics including quantum and classical mechanics, electromagnetism,
statistical mechanics, quantum optics, and thermodynamics.
MATERIALS PHYSICS
Prof Mike Finnis, Prof Matthew
Foulkes, Prof Peter Haynes,
Dr Arash Mostofi, Prof Adrian
Sutton, Dr Paul Tangney,
Prof Dimitri Vvedensky
Materials have played a central role
in the development of civilisation
from the Bronze Age to the Semiconductor Age.
We aim to understand and predict
the properties of materials and the
processes by which they grow or
transform. We also provide guidance for experimental research,
help to interpret observations, and
seek ways to enhance materials’
properties. Our theoretical work is
often helped by simulations, which
include accurate quantum mechanical calculations, atomistic and more
coarsely-grained approaches, and
continuum models.
We specialise in spanning time and
length scales by coupling methods
to achieve a consistent understanding all the way from electrons and
atoms to the macroscopic continuum. Much of the software that we
use is developed inhouse and used
by researchers around the world
COMPLEXITY AND NETWORKS
Prof Kim Christensen
Through data-driven research and
modelling, we investigate the properties of systems whose complex
behaviour emerges from large numbers of interacting components. For
example, why are ant societies,
whose elaborate highlyorganised
macroscopic (colony-level) properties
emerge from microscopic interactions
between ants, so successful?
Organs such as the brain and the
heart function through the collective
behaviour of complex networks.
Understanding how their behaviour
emerges can help us to identify and
46
KNbO3 is a ferroelectric. It is almost cubic, but it spontaneously polarizes by moving each Nb
(yellow) slightly towards three of its six O neighbours (red). The electron density is shown as
contours and isosurfaces.
treat medical conditionsthat arise
when these networks malfunction.
For example, simple models can
help explain how age-related changes
in a heart muscle’s underlying network causes atrial fibrillation.
CORRELATED QUANTUM
SYSTEMS
Dr Derek Lee, Prof Angus MacKinnon
Using theoretical techniques from
quantum field theory and computer
simulations, we study the cooperative collective behaviour of nanoscale quantum systems.
Specific systems of interest include
dissipationless phases of matter,
which may be useful for quantum
information processing, and the
dynamics of nanoscale mechanical
systems driven far from equilibrium.
Our work continually throws up fundamental questions relating to quantum mechanics and how thermodynamics may be adapted to
nanometer length scales.
METAMATERIALS
Prof Sir John Pendry, Prof Ortwin
Hess
Metamaterials are artificial solids
designed to guide electromagnetic
fields or acoustic waves. The properties of conventional materials are
determined by chemical composition
and how the atoms are arranged.
Metamaterials, on the other hand,
consist of arrays of specially-engineered units organised on much
larger length scales. They can be
designed to manipulate photons and
electrons in ways that cannot be
achieved with conventional materials. This has inspired scientists to
conceive perfect lenses, new lasers,
'invisibility cloaks’ and opened the
door to slow and stopped broadband light.
Metamaterials are lattices of metamolecules, such as “split-ring resonators” (left). A layered
metamaterial can slow a light packet while spatially separating its colours to make a “trapped
rainbow” (right).
Research
Professor Kim Christensen
in social science that contain
important information on the society.
Universality in ant behaviour: Christensen, K.;
Papavassiliou, D.; de Figueiredo, A.; Franks,
N.R.; Sendova-Franks, A.B. J.R.Soc.
Interface 12: 20140985 (2014);
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.0985
Quantitative projections of a quality measure:
Performance of a complex task: Christensen,
K.; Kleppe, G.; Vold, M.; Frette, V. Physics A,
415, 503-513 (2014).
Professor Mike Finnis
Universal relationships between city
size and pace of life have inspired a
unified theory of urban living but
individual variation within societies
poses a challenge for planning and
prediction. Controlled experiments
are essential. We demonstrate a
universal relationship in ant
societies: average ant speed is
higher for longer activity events.
This suggest that activity duration is
already specified when the ant
begins to move and this approach
may inform the engineering and
control of artificial social systems.
We are convinced that our main
conclusion that the duration of an
activity event is determined before it
commences is likely to be applicable
as a general principle of animal
behaviour across taxa including
humans. Complex data series that
arise during interaction between
humans and advanced technology
in a controlled and realistic setting
have been explored. The purpose is
to obtain quantitative measures that
reflect quality in task performance:
on a ship simulator, nine crews have
solved the same exercise, and
detailed maneuvering histories have
been logged. Quantitative measures
of task performance have been
constructed and the crews differ
significantly under these objective
measures. Our approach may be
useful for other qualitative concepts
of biased Monte Carlo `flat
histogram’ methods, which
addresses the problem of
calculating the configurational free
energy of oxides bearing a high
concentration of charged point
defects. Ongoing research is aimed
at understanding the growth
mechanism of oxide films and how it
can be controlled (ref.4) . A new
insight from this work is the need to
understand grain boundary electrical
conductivity, since it is of the same
importance for the growth rate as
ionic conductivity.
1. Rogal, J., et al., Perspectives on point
defect thermodynamics. Physica Status Solidi
B, 2014. 251: p. 97-129.
2. Sarsam, J., M.W. Finnis, and P. Tangney,
Atomistic force field for alumina fit to density
functional theory. Journal of Chemical
Physics, 2013. 139(20): p. 204704-1-11.
We have developed further the
theme of calculating hightemperature properties of materials,
linking macroscopic thermodynamic
properties with quantities that can
be calculated at the atomic scale
using density functional theory,
empirical interatomic potentials (e.g.
ref.2) or a combination of the two.
Within an ongoing project for
understanding the stability of
ceramics at high temperature I
derived (ref.1) the relation between
parameters of the standard
CALPHAD formulation of free
energy (the Compound Energy
Formalism) and the energies that
can be calculated with the defectcentric approach of our crystal
chemistry/physics communities.
This will facilitate the translation of
calculated total energies into phase
diagram calcuations. A new tool for
free energy calculation was
described in ref. [3], an application
3.Horton, R.M., et al., New Methods for
Calculating the Free Energy of Charged
Defects in Solid Electrolytes. Journal of
Physics: Condensed Matter, 2013. 25: p.
395001-1-9
4. Heuer, A.H., et al., On the growth of Al2O3
scales. Acta Materialia, 2013. 61: p. 66706683.
Professor Matthew Foulkes
Compressed hydrogen gas solidifies
at high pressure to form a crystal of
H2 molecules. As the pressure is
increased the crystal undergoes
several phase transitions, but
hydrogen atoms scatter X-rays so
weakly that the structures of the
47
Research
new phases are unknown.
Eventually, at high enough pressure,
hydrogen is thought to become not
only a metallic atomic solid
(believed present in large quantities
in the interiors of Saturn and Jupiter)
but also a high-temperature
superconductor. Investigating the
phase diagram of solid hydrogen
was the focus of much of our work
this year. We started by using
density functional theory to calculate
the low-temperature phase diagram
[1], but concluded that the results
were too inaccurate to be useful.
This led us to combine quantum
Monte Carlo simulations with a fully
anharmonic study of zero-point
fluctuations [2]. Attempts to create
metallic H on Earth have not yet
succeeded for sure, but our highly
accurate results support recent
experimental hints that success is
close. Other work has included the
development (with undergraduates
Nick Blunt and Tom Rogers) of a
new finite-temperature quantum
Monte Carlo method [3] and a
detailed study [4] of the formation of
protective oxide scales on alloys of
aluminium.
Sam Azadi and W.M.C. Foulkes, Fate of
density functional theory in the study of highpressure solid hydrogen, Phys. Rev. B 88
014115 (2013).
Sam Azadi, Bartomeu Monserrat, W.M.C.
Foulkes, and R.J. Needs, Dissociation of
high-pressure solid molecular hydrogen: A
quantum Monte Carlo and anharmonic
vibrational study, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112,
165501 (2014).
N. S. Blunt, T. W. Rogers, J. S. Spencer, and
W. M. C. Foulkes, Density-matrix quantum
Monte Carlo method, Phys. Rev. B, 89,
245124 (2014).
A.H. Heuer, T. Nakagawa, M.Z. Azar, D.B.
Hovis, J.L. Smialek, B. Gleeson, N.D.M.
Hine, H. Guhl, H.-S. Lee, P. Tangney, W.M.C.
Foulkes, and M.W. Finnis, On the growth of
Al2O3 scales, Acta Mater. 61, 6670 (2013).
48
Dr Vincenzo Giannini
Graphene sandwiches as a platform for
broadband molecular spectroscopy. ACS
Photonics, 1 (5), 437–443, 2014.
Loss mitigation in plasmonic solar cells:
aluminium nanoparticles for broadband
photocurrent enhancements in GaAs
photodiodes. Scientific reports, 3, 2013.
Professor Peter Haynes
We are interested in several aspects
of plasmons in metal nanoparticles
and their interaction with graphene.
Particularly, we are exploring the
possibility of use graphene as a
plasmon wave-guide for sensing
proposes or metal nanoparticles that
allow better solar cells efficiency.
As well as we are studying the
strong light localization possible with
hyperbolic metamaterials and the
appearance of a low-loss surface
phonon polariton (SPhP) modes in
polar dielectric crystals, a very
promising alternative to conventional,
metal-based plasmonic systems for
the realization of nanophotonic
components.
Recently, with professor Ortwin
Hess, we also started a new
research line in quantum plamonics
where our main focus is clearly to
define the transition between the
classical and quantum world in
plasmonics. As well as we are
looking for possible new analytical
approaches to the light scattering
formulation in plasmonics.
Sub-diffraction, Volume-confined Polaritons in
the Natural Hyperbolic Material, Hexagonal
Boron Nitride. Nature Communications, 5,
5221. 2014.
Low-loss, extreme subdiffraction photon
confinement via silicon carbide localized
surface phonon polariton resonators. Nano
letters 13 (8), 3690-3697, 2013.
We work on the development and
application of computational
methods for first-principles quantummechanical simulations of condensed
matter, mostly using the ONETEP
code that we develop. This software
is distributed commercially by
BIOVIA (part of Dassault Systèmes)
and employs an implementation of
density-functional theory (DFT)
where the computational effort scales
only linearly with system size. The
ONETEP collaboration includes Dr
Arash Mostofi, also in CMTH, Dr
Chris Skylaris at Southampton, Dr
Nicholas Hine (former group member)
and Prof. Mike Payne, both at
Cambridge. Highlights over the past
year involve two students in the
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training
in Theory and Simulation of
Materials. Tim Zuehlsdorff has
implemented time-dependent DFT
within ONETEP [1] to calculate the
energies of neutral excitations,
functionality that is already being
applied to the search for
chromophores for a roomtemperature MASER, exciton
transport in chlorophyll complexes [2]
Research
and inorganic nanoparticles. Niccolò
Corsini has been using ONETEP to
study structural phase transformations
in nanoparticles under pressure [3].
Both projects are part of a wider effort
by my group to develop the capability
to perform large-scale theoretical
spectroscopy: the computational
simulation of experimental spectra
such as electron energy-loss
spectroscopy [4].
Linear-scaling time-dependent densityfunctional theory in the linear response
formalism, Tim J. Zuehlsdorff, Nicholas D. M.
Hine, James S. Spencer, Nicholas M.
Harrison, D. Jason Riley and Peter D.
Haynes, J. Chem. Phys. 139, 064104 (2013)
Toward ab initio Optical Spectroscopy of the
Fenna-Matthews-Olson Complex, Daniel J.
Cole, Alex W. Chin, Nicholas D. M. Hine,
Peter D. Haynes and Mike C. Payne, J. Phys.
Chem. Lett. 4, 4206-4212 (2013)
Simulations of Nanocrystals Under Pressure:
Combining Electronic Enthalpy and LinearScaling Density-Functional Theory, Niccolò R.
C. Corsini, Andrea Greco, Nicholas D. M.
Hine, Carla Molteni and Peter D. Haynes, J.
Chem. Phys. 139, 084117 (2013)
Mapping functional groups on oxidised multiwalled carbon nanotubes at the nanometre
scale, A. E. Goode, N. D. M. Hine, S. Chen,
S. D. Bergin, M. S. P. Shaffer, M. P. Ryan, P.
D. Haynes, A. E. Porter and D. W. McComb,
Chem. Commun. 50, 6744-6747 (2014)
Professor Ortwin Hess
Physics and Physics World) and
Nature Communications. The aspect
of gain and lasing in nanoplasmonics has become an
increasingly strong activity in the
team and a collaboration with
Rupert Oulton and Stefan Maier has
led to a joint paper in Nature
Physics. We have continued to
advance our internationally leading
work on extreme chirality (supported
by a new Leverhulme grant) and
active nanoplasmonic metamaterials
and started to explore opportunities
of controlling quantum emitters with
metamaterials (perspective in
Science). Joint work with Chris
Phillips and Ned Ekins-Dukes within
the semiconductor quantum ratchets
project is progressing well, while
collaborations with Richard Craster
(Maths), Stefan Maier and John
Pendry on the one hand and Jeremy
Baumberg and colleagues from
Cambridge on the other hand have
led to awards of two new EPSRC
Programme Grants in the
mathematics of metamaterials and
on nano-photonics to controlled
nano-chemistry, respectively.
Pickering, T., Hamm, J.M., Page, A.F.,
Wuestner, S. & Hess, O. (2014). Cavity-Free
Plasmonic Nanolasing Enabled by
Dispersionless Stopped Light. Nature
Communications 5, 4972.
Sidropoulos, T. P.H., Roder, R., Geburt, S.,
Hess, O., Maier, S.A., Ronning, C., & Oulton,
R.F. (2014). Ultrafast Pleasmonic Nanowire
Lasers Near the Surface Plasmon Frequency.
Nature Physics 10, 870.
Tsakmakidis, K. L., Pickering, T. W., Hamm,
J. M., Page, A. F. & Hess, O. (2014).
Completely Stopped and Dispersionless Light
in Plasmonic Waveguides. Phys. Rev. Lett.,
112, 167401.
Our pioneering work on stopped
light and stopped-light lasing has
lead to two well-received publications
in Physical Review Letters (with
associated highlight articles in
Hess, O. and Tsakmakidis, K. L. (2013).
Metamaterials with Quantum Gain, Science
339, 654-655.
Dr Derek Lee
Superfluid helium has long been a
testing ground for the physics of
Bose-Einstein condensation and
superfluidity. Nevertheless, it
continues to come up with surprises
that challenge our understanding.
Recent experiments [1] on thin
helium films on graphite appear
contradict all textbook descriptions.
Since this is found near the
solidification of the film, a tantalising
candidate for this new phase of
matter is the elusive supersolid –dissipationless mass flow in a
crystal, originally proposed for bulk
helium but recently refuted by new
evidence.
In a theoretical collaboration
involving Imperial, Royal Holloway
University of London and Rutgers,
we are developing a theory of a
spatially modulated superfluid where
both superfluidity and broken
translational symmetry coexist,
described by a non-Abelian order
parameter.
The strange behaviour may be
connected to the fact that the
system is close to a quantum phase
transition to a solid. Quantum
criticality is an important area of
research in condensed matter
physics. Indeed, the rich physics
behind the cuprate superconductors
may be tied to its proximity to a
quantum transition to a magnetic
insulator. This helium system is
49
Research
cleaner than any solid state system,
and may shed light quantum
criticality from a new setting.
Dr Arash Mostofi
J. Nyeki, A. Phillis, A.F. Ho, D.K.K. Lee, P.
Coleman, J. Parpai, B. Cowan, J. Saunders,
Superfluid response and quantum criticality of
two-dimensional 4He on a triangular lattice,
submitted for publication (2014).
1. “Does water dope carbon nanotubes?” R. A.
Bell, M. C. Payne and A. A. Mostofi, J. Chem.
Phys. 141, 164703 (2014)
Professor Angus MacKinnon
Nano-Electro-Mechanical-Systems,
NEMS, represent an important class
of potentially useful nano-devices,
as well as a test system for
understanding the more
fundamental aspects of the
transition between classical and
quantum behaviour. Our work
continues in collaboration with
Muhammad Tahir, Concordia
University, Canada, Udo
Schwingenschlögl, KAUST, Saudi
Arabia, and Lev Kantorovitch, King’s
College. We have extended our
non-equilibrium Green’s function
approach to systems driven by an
external electric field and have
developed a methodology for
dealing with systems subject to a
general time dependent potential.
Current work includes the study of
shot noise, especially in the
quantum shuttle system.
1. Novel spectral features of
nanoelectromechanical systems: Tahir, M,
MacKinnon, A, and Schwingenshlögl, U:
Scientific Reports, Volume 4, Article Number:
4035
50
research interests include: transport
properties of nanowires and carbon
nanotube networks; surfaces,
interfaces and defects in perovskite
oxide materials; and the structure and
function of elastomer seals and
polymer desalination membranes.
Our research is dedicated to the
application and development of theory
and computational simulation tools for
solving problems in materials. We are
motivated by problems related to
energy, environment and advanced
technology. We work predominantly at
the atomistic length-scale, either
using quantum mechanics or simpler
models of interatomic bonding to
describe systems of interacting
electrons and nuclei. Such theory and
simulation is invaluable for
understanding the structure of matter
and providing microscopic insight into
the behaviour of materials. The stateof-the-art computational tools that are
developed in our group are shared
with the wider community, either
through commercial, academic or
open-source license, to benefit the
pursuit and dissemination of
knowledge in this field. In collaboration
with colleagues at universities
including Cambridge and
Southampton, and the scientific
software company BIOVIA, we
continue to develop the linear-scaling
density-functional theory code
ONETEP (www.onetep.org); and in
collaboration with colleagues at
Oxford, EPFL (Switzerland), Rutgers
(New Jersey), and San Sebastian, we
continue to enhance the Wannier90
code (www.wannier.org) for
computing maximally-localized
Wannier functions. Our current
2. “Accelerated simulations of aromatic
polymers”, R. J. Broadbent, J. Spencer, A. A.
Mostofi and A. P. Sutton, Molecular Simulation
112, 2672 (2014)
3. “Improving the conductance of carbon
nanotube networks through resonant
momentum exchange”, R. A. Bell, M. C. Payne
and A. A. Mostofi, Phys. Rev. B 89, 245426
(2014) An updated version of
4. “A first principles study of As doping at a
disordered Si-SiO2 interface”, F. Corsetti and A.
A. Mostofi, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 26,
055002 (2014)
Professor Sir John Pendry FRS
Metal surfaces support electron
density waves known as surface
plasmons which can couple to
externally incident light waves.
Since the surface plasmons have
wavelengths of the order of a few
tens of nanometres or less, they can
be focussed into extremely small
areas. This extreme concentration
has the potential for single molecule
sensing, enhanced optical non
linearity at low power input and
many other applications where an
Research
intense concentration of optical
energy is needed. Surface plasmon
properties are extremely sensitive to
surface structure, particularly to
singular features such as two
touching curved surfaces. We use
the technique of transformation
optics, developed here in London, to
explore relationships between
geometrically distinct structures, but
which can be mapped into one
another by coordinate transformations
that preserve all the spectral
properties. Apparently complex
systems can be related to simpler
ones and their spectra solved
analytically. Furthermore it has often
proved to be the case that the
simpler system is highly symmetric
enabling the spectrum to be classified
by the symmetry representations.
We call this ‘hidden symmetry’ and it
has given powerful insight into
systems which previously were
thought to be just a complex
mathematical mess
Kraft M, Pendry JB, Maier SA, et al., 2014,
Transformation optics and hidden
symmetries, Physical Review B, Vol:89,
ISSN:1098-0121
Luo Y, Fernandez-Dominguez AI, Wiener A,
et al., 2013, Surface Plasmons and
Nonlocality: A Simple Model, Physical Review
Letters, Vol:111, ISSN:0031-9007
Pendry JB, Fernandez-Dominguez AI, Luo Y,
et al., 2013, Capturing photons with
transformation optics, Nature Physics, Vol:9,
ISSN:1745-2473, Pages:518-522
Zhao R, Luo Y, Fernandez-Dominguez AI, et
al., 2013, Description of van der Waals
Interactions Using Transformation Optics,
Physical Review Letters, Vol:111, ISSN:00319007
Professor Adrian Sutton FRS
a project with Element Six on
modelling the dynamics of very
small cracks in diamond
composites.
[1] “A dynamic discrete dislocation plasticity
method for the simulation of plastic relaxation
under shock loading”, B Gurrutxaga-Lerma, D
S Balint, D Dini, D E Eakins, A P Sutton,
Proc. R. Soc. A 469, 20130141 (2013).
I am a theoretical and computational
materials physicist working with a
wide range of colleagues across
Imperial College and industrial
collaborators. Some of our most
exciting recent work has concerned
fundamental aspects of dislocation
dynamics in metals. They include
the first truly elastodynamic
simulations of dislocation generation
and motion under shock-loading
[1,2], and the first theory of the
temperature-independent
contribution to the mobility of highly
mobile dislocations in some metals
[3]. We have also shown there is a
previously unrecognised
intermediate length scale associated
with dislocations that move by a kink
mechanism, between atomistic and
the continuum scales [4]. With RollsRoyce we have two research
projects underway on fundamental
aspects of delayed hydride cracking
in Zr-alloys and cold-dwell fatigue in
Ti-alloys. We are working on the
molecular structure of polyamide
membranes with BP-ICAM for
filtration applications. We have two
projects with Baker-Hughes
modelling the absorption and
trapping of gases under high
pressure in oil well elastomer seals,
which can lead to rupture when they
are decompressed. We are
developing the first molecular theory
for the viscoelastic properties of
aligned polyethylene. There is also
[2] “Dynamic discrete dislocation plasticity”, B
Gurrutxaga-Lerma, D S Balint, D Dini, D E
Eakins, A P Sutton, Advances in Applied
Mechanics, in the press
[3] “The classical mobility of highly mobile
crystal defects”, T D Swinburne, S L Dudarev
and A P Sutton, Phys. Rev. Lett., (2014) in
the press.
[4] “Theory and simulation of the diffusion of
kinks on dislocations in bcc metals”, T D
Swinburne, S L Dudarev, S P Fitzgerald, M R
Gilbert and A P Sutton, Phys. Rev. B 87,
064108 (2013).
Dr Paul Tangney
Our work combines methods of
electronic structure theory with
computationally-efficient atomistic
models of bonding, known as force
fields. Accurate physically-motivated
force fields are constructed using
data from density functional theory
(DFT) calculations [1]. These force
fields are used to simulate bulk and
nanostructured materials at finite
temperatures on time- and lengthscales far beyond the reach of DFT
simulations.
Most of our work is on
51
Research
technologically-important oxides.
One example is alumina, where we
have studied defect structures and
diffusion mechanisms with a view to
better understanding the growth of
oxide layers on superalloys [2] .
Force fields can generate realistic
structures and the electronic
properties of these structures can
then be calculated with DFT.
We are also interested in the
nanoscale statistical mechanics of
multiferroic perovskites, the simplest
of which are BaTiO3 and SrTiO3.
With force fields we can reach a
new understanding of the
mechanism of the ferroelectric
phase transition[3] - an issue that
has been debated for half a century;
we can go further by using
advanced statistical techniques to
elucidate the complex process by
which ferroelectric domains
nucleate, grow, and coalesce.
Controlling this process is key to
improving the performance of
ferroelectric memory (FeRAM)
devices.
1. “Atomistic force field for alumina fit to
density functional theory”, J. Sarsam, M. W.
Finnis, and P. Tangney, J. Chem. Phys. 139,
204704 (2013).
2. “On the growth of Al2O3 scales”, A.H.
Heuer, T. Nakagawa, M.Z. Azara, D.B.
Hovisa, J.L. Smialek, B. Gleeson, N.D.M.
Hine, H. Guhl, H.-S. Lee, P. Tangney,
W.M.C. Foulkes, M.W. Finnis, Acta Materialia
61, 6670 (2013).
3. “Multiscale Theory and Simulation of
Barium Titanate”, J. J. Fallon, Ph.D. Thesis,
Imperial College London, 2014.
Professor Dimitri Vvedensky
transients of V-groove quantum wires formed
during metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy,'
Applied Physics Letters 103, 042103 (2013).
Statistical physics of the human placenta. In
collaboration with Dr Carolyn Salafia, we have
been analysing the statistical properties of the
human placenta at scales ranging from the
morphology of the placenta [4], to the network
statistics of the vasculature, and finally to
diffusional oxygen transport from the maternal
to the fetal blood. Our goal is to obtain
sufficient statistics on relevant placental
characteristics to obtain clinically significant
results.
Graphene growth kinetics. In
collaboration with Lev Kanotorovich
(KCL), Ian Ford (UCL), and Joel
Posthuma de Boer (Physics-CDT),
we are developing approaches to the
kinetics of grapheme growth. Our
work has included the first
comprehensive review of theoretical
and experimental work in this area [1],
an optimization algorithm for rate
models [2], and a phase-field model
for describing the growth kinetics of
graphene.
J. S. Gill, M. P. Woods, C. M. Salafia, and D. D.
Vvedensky, `Probability distributions for
measures of placental shape and morphology,'
Physiological Measurement 35, 483–500
(2014).
H. Tetlow, J. Posthuma de Boer, I. Ford, D. D.
Vvedensky, J. Coraux, and L. Kantorovich,
Growth of epitaxial graphene: Theory and
experiment, Physics Reports 542, 195–295
(2014).. J. Posthuma de Boer, I. J. Ford, L.
Kantorovich, and D. D. Vvedensky, Epitaxial
graphene on transition metals: Optimization of
rate theories, Journal of Physics: Condensed
Matter 26, 185008 (2014).
Inverted pyramidal quantum dots. In
collaboration with Emauele Pelucchi’s group
(Cork), reaction-diffusion equations have been
used to model the fabrication of quantum dots
(QDs) on GaAs(111) surfaces patterned with
inverted pyramids using metalorganic vaporphase epitaxy. Patterning provides
pre-determined sites for QDs and endows the
rates of all surface processes with a facetdependence. The rates of these processes are
determined from systematic experiments [3],
and the resulting theory accounts for the
measured concentration, temperature, and
time-dependence of QD formation.
V. Dimastrodonato, E. Pelucchi, P. A.
Zestanakis, and D. D. Vvedensky,
`Morphological, compositional, and geometrical
52
EXSS is a large group comprising 19 members of staff, 40 research staff and over 50 PhD students. Research spans
all areas of solid state physics and main themes are highlighted below. The group has strong links with other centres
within Imperial College including the Energy Futures Lab and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change.
Plastic Electronics
T.D. Anthopoulos, D.D.C Bradley,
A.J. Campbell, J.S Kim, J. Nelson
and P.N. Stavrinou
Organic semiconductors (conjugated polymers and small molecules) are finding increasing
applications in light emission, displays, energy conversion, sensors
engineering and healthcare. Experimental and theoretical programme.
Plastic electronics on flexible substrates
Energy and efficient energy use
Solar Cell Research
P. Barnes, K.W.J. Barnham, D.D.C.
Bradley, A.J. Chatten, N.J. EkinsDaukes, J. Nelson and C.C.Phillips
The two main drivers in solar cell
research are the development of
lowercost materials and improving
efficiencies.Organic photovoltaic
materials such as conjugated polymers, fullerenes and nanoparticles
can have efficiencies around 10% they are relatively cheap and are
readily processed from solution.
Inorganic semiconductors can
achieve efficiencies of 40%, particularly under “many suns” illumination,
and are well suited to satellite applications or terrestrial light concentrators.
Materials for Energy Efficient
Refrigeration
K. Sandeman, L .F. Cohen and A. D.
Caplin
Nanoscience and Technology
Frustrated Magnetic Nanostructures
W. R. Branford and L. F. Cohen
Arrays of magnetic nanostructured
honeycomb lattices impose frustration
on the magnetic order resulting in
monopole defects according to “spin
ice” rules.
Magnetic monopole defects
Nanostructured Narrow Gap
Semiconductors
L.F. Cohen and S.A. Solin
Narrow gap semiconductors such as
InAs exhibit high electron mobilities
and low surface depletion making
them ideal candidates for high sensitivity, ultra high resolution, ballistic
nanosensors.
Quantum Dots
R. Oulton, N.J. Ekins-Daukes and R.
Murray
QDs have applications in lasers, optical amplifiers, micro-lasers, qubits,
single photon sources for quantum
cryptography and tunnel junctions for
efficient tandem solar cells.
Mid-infrared Imaging for Cancer
detection
C.C. Phillips
Mid-IR radiation is absorbed by exciting localised vibrations in chemical
bonds in a way that gives each biomolecule an easily recognisable spectral “fingerprint”. If we image a slice of
human tissue at the right wavelengths, we can “see” chemicals (e.g.
the acids in DNA). Clinical trials are
showing that this technique detects
cancer earlier and with greater confidence.
Nanophotonics, Plasmonics and
Metamaterials
S. Maier, R. Oulton, L.F. Cohen, P.N.
Stavrinou, C.C. Phillips and D.D.C.
Bradley
Here we utilise metallic nanostructures in to break the diffraction limit of
light. Examples include ultrafast
nanoscale
plasmon lasers, highly sensitive
biodetectors, quantum plasmonics
and optical nanoantennas for use in
nonlinear nanooptics.
Nanophotonic structures are also
fascinating materials for combination
with graphene for novel optoelectronic
devices. At mid-infrared frequencies,
we have developed the concept of
quantum metamaterials based on
highly doped semiconductors for
novel sub-resolution imaging applications.
Utilising magnetic magnetocaloric
materials offers a route to efficient
refrigeration which avoids the use of
environmentally damaging chemicals.
Dotonic molecule
Bow-Tie Plasmonic antennae
53
Research
Professor Thomas Anthopoulos
My research programs are centered
on understanding the physical
properties of functional electronic
materials and applying this
fundamental understanding to
develop improved materials and
devices for application in
electronics, displays, lighting,
energy generation & harvesting and
different sensor technologies. I am
also interested in innovative
manufacturing technologies for
large-area nano-electronics where
device –and ultimately system–
performance is determined by key
device dimensions rather than
strictly by the physical properties of
the active material(s) used. Ultimate
aim is the development of advanced
device concepts and their
application in future generations of
ubiquitous large-area optoelectronics. Current research
interests falls into three broad
themes:
Theme 1: Functional materials and
novel fabrication paradigms
Theme 2: Devices and circuits for
opto/electronics and energy harvesting applications
Theme 3: Bottom-up fabrication
technologies for nano-scale
opto/electronics
54
Dr Piers Barnes
Solution
processed semiconductors offer the
prospect of cheap solar power, but the
stability of the materials is often
limited. We have accelerated aging in
photovoltaic devices based on low
processing cost materials such as
CH3NH3PbI3 perovskites,
conjugated polymers, and dye
sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) by
using high intensity light sources to
expose devices to the equivalent of
a year’s flux of photons on the time
scale of a few days.[1] Our approach
enables us to assess the extent of
photo-degradation and mechanisms
for change in behaviour in these the
materials. DCCS proved to be the
most stable but can suffer from
electrolyte sealing issues. To overcome
this we are exploring routes to improve
the performance of solid-state DSSCs
using lateral transport of holes through
dye monolayers attached to surfaces.
This ‘molecular wiring’ phenomenon
also has potential applications in
batteries, solar fuel photoelectrodes,
and molecular scale electronic devices.
We have developed a new method to
experimentally measure the
reorganisation energy of charge
hopping in these molecular monolayers
which shows excellent agreement
with our theoretical calculations.[2]
This allows us to predict the mobility
of holes for different molecules and
environments, suggesting interesting
new possibilities for the design of
organic electronic devices.[3]
Experimental Solid
State Physics
“Three organic or hybrid
photovoltaic technologies are
compared with respect to
performance and stability under the
harsh regime of concentrated light.
Although all three technologies
show surprisingly high (and linear)
photocurrents, and better than
expected stability, no golden apples
are awarded.”[1]
[1] Performance and Stability of Lead
Perovskite/TiO2, Polymer/PCBM, and Dye
Sensitized Solar Cells at Light Intensities up
to 70 Suns, Law C, Miseikis L, Dimitrov S,
Shakya-Tuladhar P, Li X, Barnes PRF,
Durrant J, O'Regan BC, 2014, ADVANCED
MATERIALS, Vol: 26, Pages: 6268-6273,
ISSN: 0935-9648
[2] The reorganization energy of
intermolecular hole hopping between dyes
anchored to surfaces, Moia D, Vaissier V,
Lopez-Duarte I, Torres T, Nazeeruddin MK,
O'Regan BC, Nelson J, Barnes PRF, 2014,
CHEMICAL SCIENCE, Vol: 5, Pages: 281290, ISSN: 2041-652z
[3] Effect of Molecular Fluctuations on Hole
Diffusion within Dye Monolayers, Vaissier V,
Mosconi E, Moia D, Pastore M, Frost JM, De
Angelis F, Barnes PRF, Nelson J, 2014,
CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS, Vol: 26,
Pages: 4731-4740, ISSN: 0897-4756
Professor Donal Bradley FRS
Understanding the unique properties
of molecular electronic materials and
using that knowledge to develop novel
technologies for application in the
displays and lighting, energy,
electronics, analysis and communications sectors is at the core of the
field of plastic electronics
(http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/plasticelectr
Research
onics). Our work spans fundamental
studies of electronic and photophysical properties and the
development of efficient device
structures including organic light
emitting diodes, lasers, transistors
and photodiodes/solar cells. In
addition to molecular materials
(conjugated polymers, small molecules,
fullerenes, CuSCN, etc) we also
work with solution processed metal
oxides (MoOX, ZnO, ZrO2, etc) and
combined (‘hybrid’) devices are of
increasing interest. In addition,
photonic structures incorporating
conformational metamaterials,
microcavities and plasmonic metals
are of strong interest. Close
collaborations exist with Paul
Stavrinou, Thomas Anthopoulos, JiSeon Kim and Jenny Nelson in
Physics and with colleagues from our
Chemistry and Materials
Departments. We participate in the
EPSRC Centres for Innovative
Manufacturing in Large Area
Electronics (http://www-large-areaelectronics.eng.cam. ac.uk/) and Doctoral
Training in Plastic Electronic
Materials
(http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/plasticel
ectronics/pecdt). Strong and growing
international collaborations exist with
colleagues in Switzerland (ETH),
China (Nanjing Tech, CIAC, NJUPT),
Korea (SNU, KAIST), Brazil
(CSEM) and Hong Kong (HKBU) and
we are supported by EPSRC,
Unilever, Sumitomo Chemicals,
CDT and Molecular Vision.
1. “Location, Location, Location - strategic
positioning of 2,1,3-benzo-thiadiazole units within
trigonal quaterfluorene-truxene star-shaped
structures” C.R. Belton, A.L. Kanibolotsky, J.
Kirkpatrick, C. Orofino, S.E.T. Elmasly, P.N.
Stavrinou, P.J. Skabara and D.D.C. Bradley
Adv.Funct.Mater. 23 (2013), 2792-2804. DOI:
10.1002/adfm.201202644
2. “Ultrastrongly coupled exciton-polaritons in metalclad organic semiconductor microcavities” S.
Kéna-Cohen, S.A. Maier and D.D.C. Bradley,
Adv.Opt.Mater. 1 (2013), 827-833. DOI:
10.1002/adom.201300256
3 “Interplay Between Solid State Microstructure and
Photophysics for Poly (9,9-dioctylfluorene) within
Oriented Polyethylene Hosts” A. Perevedentsev, S.
Aksel, K. Feldmann, P. Smith, P.N. Stavrinou and
D.D.C. Bradley, J. Poly. Sci. Polym. Phys. (2014), at
press. DOI: 10.1002/polb.23601
4. “High-efficiency, solution-processed, multilayer
phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes with a
copper thiocyanate hole injection/transport layer” A.
Perumal, H. Faber, N. Yaacobi-Gross, P.
Pattanasattayavong, C. Burgess, S. Jha, M.A.
McLachlan, P.N. Stavrinou, T.D. Anthopoulos and
D.D.C. Bradley, Adv. Mater. (2014), at press. DOI:
10.1002/adma.201403914
Dr Will Branford
Experimental Solid
State Physics
Anthopoulos (EXSS)[4] and crystals
from Oak Ridge. We also began a
collaboration with Lesley Cohen
(EXSS) and Peter Petrov
(Materials), producing magnetic
Skyrmion crystals in bulk form. We
are now using these bulk samples to
develop thin film growth of these
Skyrmionic materials.
1. Dynamic interaction between domain
walls and nanowire vertices. Burn, D.M., M.
Chadha, S.K. Walton, and W.R. Branford,
Physical Review B. 90: p. 144414 (2014).
2. The non-random walk of chiral magnetic
charge carriers in artificial spin ice. Zeissler,
K., S.K. Walton, S. Ladak, D.E. Read, T.
Tyliszczak, L.F. Cohen, and W.R. Branford,
Scientific Reports. 3: p. 1252 (2013).
We have ongoing work engineering
arrays of ferromagnetic nanobars to
induce a type of magnetic frustration
known as the Ice rules and
characterizing their magnetic and
transport properties. The Ice rules
initially described the residual
disorder in ice at zero temperature.
They also describe the local
ordering principle of the spins in
spin ice materials and "artificial spin
ice" nanoarrays. In the last year we
explored how we can use the
properties of ferromagnetic domain
walls to direct magnetic charges
move through these artificial spin ice
structures.[1] To do this we
developed new methods of imaging
this magnetic charge flow (including
central facilities work at Advanced
Light Source (Berkeley),[2] Paul
Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) and
Diamond (UK) and collaboration
with Solveig Felton (Queens,
Belfast).[3] We have explored the
interplay between structure and
magnetotransport properties in
graphene and other Dirac cone
materials, including graphene
device structures from Thomas
3. MALTS: A Tool to Simulate Lorentz
Transmission Electron Microscopy From
Micromagnetic Simulations. Walton, S.K., K.
Zeissler, W.R. Branford, and S. Felton, Ieee
Transactions On Magnetics. 49(8): p. 47954800 (2013).
4. Observation of wrinkle induced potential
drops in biased chemically derived graphene
thin film networks. Ladak, S., J.M. Ball, D.
Moseley, G. Eda, W.R. Branford, M.
Chhowalla, T.D. Anthopoulos, and L.F.
Cohen, Carbon. 64: p. 35-44 (2013).
Dr Alasdair Campbell
Working with Matthew Fuchter in the
Department of Chemistry, strong
progress has been made in the
novel field of organic chiral photonics
and optoelectronics. Using a
helically-shaped molecular
semiconductor known as a helicene
which comes in both left-and righthanded spiral forms we were able to
create organic light emitting diodes
55
Research
and organic phototransistors which
emit and detect circularly-polarised
(CP) light [1, 2]. Such devices have
application in protein detection, CP
based tomography, optical
spintronics and quantum computing,
and displays, and a patent from this
work has led to further funding and
an industrial collaboration [3]. We
also have strong activity in the
POLARIC (printed organic largearea realisation of integrated
circuits) EC FP7 project, which has
involved printing high performance
organic transistors and
complementary circuits. As well as
ultra-thin contact printed dielectric
dielectrics [4], we have successfully
created high-frequency nanoscale
self-aligned transistors and circuits
using a combination of
nanoimprintlithography and
conventional photolithography. Work
has also been conducted in the area
of hybrid inorganic-organic light
emitting diodes and transistors,
involving the creation of inverted
and conventional devices using
transition metal oxide and hybrid
hole and electron injection layers.
New activity has also begun on
organic bioelectronic sensors and
transistors.
1. Induction of Circularly Polarized
Electroluminescence from an Achiral LightEmitting Polymer via a Chiral Small-Molecule
Dopant Y. Yang, R. Correa da Costa, D. M.
Smilgies, A. J. Campbell and M. J. Fuchter
Advanced Materials, 25, 2624 (2013)
2. Circularly polarized light detection by a
chiral organic semiconductor transistor Y.
Yang, R. Correa da Costa, M. J. Fuchter and
A. J. Campbell Nature Photonics, 7, 634
(2013)
3. “Electroluminescent Compositions”
Fuchter, M. J.; Campbell, A. J., Yang, Y.
PCT/GB2013/052007
4. High-Performance Flexible Bottom-Gate
Organic Field-Effect Transistors with Gravure
Printed Thin Organic Dielectric, N. L. Vaklev,
R. Müller, B. V. O. Muir, D. T. James, R.
Pretot, P. van der Schaaf, J. Genoe, J.-S.
Kim, J. H. G. Steinke and A. J. Campbell
Advanced Materials Interfaces, 1300123
(2014)
56
Professor Lesley Cohen
Experimental Solid
State Physics
2. A Raman spectroscopic study of the
carbon deposition mechanism on Ni/CGO
electrodes during CO/CO2 electrolysis:
Duboviks, V.; Maher, R. C.; Kishimoto, M.; et
al., PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL
PHYSICS Volume: 16 Issue: 26 13063 (2014)
3. Influence of Cu substrate topography on
the growth morphology of chemical vapour
deposited graphene: Xiao, Ye; Kim, HoKwon,
Mattevi, Cecilia; et al., CARBON 65 7 (2013)
4. Andreev spectroscopy of CrO2 thin films
on TiO2 and Al2O3: Yates, K. A.; Anwar, M.
S.; Aarts, J.; et al. EPL Volume: 103 Issue: 6
Article Number 67005 (2013)
Our work
on CVD
graphene materials characterisation
and integration with plasmonic
structures has become an active
area in the group and we are
working with Rupert Oulton and
Stefan Maier to develop our
interests in graphene
photoconductivity detectors and
dynamics of photoinduced carriers.
Our interests in materials for energy
applications continue: We have
studied the vortex pinning properties
in single crystals superconducting
pnictides, in collaboration with
colleagues at UFRJ in Brazil, and
the magnetotransport properties of
the parent compounds; Raman
spectroscopy of solid oxide fuel cell
electrodes together with colleagues
in the Energy Futures Laboratory;
and the entropy change contribution
in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 for solid state
magnetic cooling applications. One
of the most interesting areas has
been to understand the potential
influence of Andreev bound states in
the electrical conductance spectra
generated at a superconducting
ferromagnet interface. This work
was performed in collaboration with
Matthias Eschrig and colleagues at
Royal Holloway.
1. Spontaneous magnetization above TC in
polycrystalline La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 and
La0.7Ba0.3MnO3: Turcaud, J. A.; Pereira, A.
M.; Sandeman, K. G.; et al., PHYSICAL
REVIEW B Volume: 90 Issue: 2 024410
(2014)
Dr Nicholas Ekins-Daukes
One of the first ever demonstrations
of a hot carrier photovoltaic device
was demonstrated in the group,
showing a hot carrier photocurrent
at a device cooled to 10K. Research
is on-going in collaboration with Sharp
Laboratories Oxford to demonstrate
a hot carrier photovoltaic device at
higher working temperature and with
a broader absorption profile. A new
milestone for multi-junction solar cell
development was passed in a
collaborative project with the
University of Tokyo where a 1.15eV
band-edge using aggressively
strain-balanced GaAsP/InGaAs
quantum well was demonstrated.
Further research has shown that
radiative transport within a 4J
structure will lead to efficiencies in
excess of 50%. Further, we have
discovered remarkable microsecond
minority carrier lifetimes present in
lateral GaAsP/InGaAs quantum wire
solar cells in collaboration with the
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy
Systems in Freiburg. Our research
Research
on the application of metal
nanoparticles to promote scattering
has been conducted in collaboration
with Stefan Maier and Vincenzo
Giannini and recently demonstrated
that aluminium nanoparticles offer
low loss scattering across most of
the solar spectrum.
1 Hirst, L. C., Walters, R. J., Führer, M. F., &
Ekins-Daukes, N. J. (2014). Experimental
demonstration of hot-carrier photo-current in
an InGaAs quantum well solar cell. Applied
Physics Letters, 104(23), 231115.
doi:10.1063/1.4883648
2 Toprasertpong, K., Fujii, H., Thomas, T.,
Führer, M. Alonso-Álvarez, D. Farrell, D.J.
Watanabe, K. Okada, Y. Ekins-Daukes, N.J.
Sugiyama, M. and Nakano Y. (2014)
Absorption Threshold Extended to 1.15 eV
Using InGaAs/GaAsP Quantum Wells for
Over-50%-efficient Lattice-matched Quadjunction Solar Cells Progress in
Photovoltaics, in press .
3 Alonso-Alvarez, D., Thomas, T., Fuhrer, M.,
Hylton, N. P., Ekins-Daukes, N. J., Lackner,
D., et al. (2014). InGaAs/GaAsP strain
balanced multi-quantum wires grown on
misoriented GaAs substrates for high
efficiency solar cells. Applied Physics Letters,
105(8), 083124.
4 Hylton, N. P., Li, X. F., Giannini, V., Lee, K.
H., Ekins-Daukes, N. J., Loo, J., et al. (2013).
Loss mitigation in plasmonic solar cells:
aluminium nanoparticles for broadband
photocurrent enhancements in GaAs
photodiodes. Scientific Reports, 3, 2874.
Dr Ji-Seon Kim
techniques continues to improve the
performance of devices, further
research is required to gain crucial
insights into the fundamental
relationships between nanostructures
of materials and their optoelectronic
properties to inform future design
strategies. To achieve this goal, our
principal research has been focused
on two main themes, Nanoscale
Functional Materials and
Nanometrology; (a) to facilitate the
rational design of functional
materials, device architectures and
fabrication methods via increased
understanding and control of the
nanostructures and fundamental
properties of these materials; (b) to
develop advanced structural
nanoimaging techniques that have
the unique capability to probe nonperiodic structures with high chemical
sensitivity and high spatial resolution.
Our research benefits from strong
collaborative links to Physics,
Chemistry, Engineering, Materialsbased groups at Imperial under the
Centre for Plastic Electronics and
the Centre for Doctoral Training in
Plastic Electronic Materials
(http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/plasticel
ectronics/pecdt), as well as
local/international universities and
industrial organisations, which
include SNU, KAIST, POSTECH,
UNIST, BNU, Ewha (Korea), Technion
(Israel), CDT/ Sumitomo Chemicals
(UK/ Japan), Samsung Electronics
(Korea) and NPL (UK).
1. “Controlling Microstructure of Pentacene
Derivatives by Solution Processing – Impact
of Structural Anisotropy on Optoelectronic
Properties”, James, D. T., Frost, J. M., Wade,
J., et al., ACS Nano 7(9) (2013) 7983-7991,
DOI: 10.1021/nn203397m
Plastic Electronics enables
electronic devices to be printed onto a
range of surfaces for large area,
flexible and low-cost applications.
While innovation in new organic
semiconductors and hybrid materials
as well as solution-processing
2. “Performance Enhancement of Fullerene
Based Solar Cells by Light Processing”, Li Z.,
Wong H. C., Huang Z., et al., Nature Comm.
4 (2013) 2227, DOI:10.1038/ncomms3227
3. “Germanium- and Silicon-Substituted
Donor–Acceptor Type Copolymers: Effect of
the Bridging Heteroatom on Molecular
Packing and Photovoltaic Device
Performance”, Kim J. S., Fei Z., Wood S., et
al., Adv. Energy Mater. (2014), 1400527, DOI:
Experimental Solid
State Physics
10.1002/aenm.201400527
4. “Highly efficient inverted polymer lightemitting diodes using surface modifications of
ZnO layer”, Lee B. R., Jung E. D., Park J. S.,
et al., Nature Comm. 5 (2014) 4840, DOI:
10.1002/admi.201300123
Professor Stefan Maier
Our work in nanophotonics
advanced substantially over the last
year with a big push towards active
materials for optoelectronic control
on the nanoscale. Together with
researchers of the Naval Research
Laboratory and the University of
Manchester, we demonstrated a
new class of materials for highconfinement and enhancement of
radiation at mid-infrared frequencies,
based on hexagonal boron nitride
[1]. Furthermore we demonstrated
gigantic enhancement of higher
harmonic generation in hybrid
plasmonic nanoantennas based on
indium tin oxide decorated with gold
nanoantennas [2]. We also showed
Bose-Einstein condensation at room
temperature in an organic material,
an important step towards practical
polariton lasers[3]. Lastly, in research
led by our colleague Rupert Oulton,
we demonstrated ultrafast lasing
modulation in a plasmonic nanolaser
based on zinc oxide nanowires
coupled to surface plasmon
polaritons in a silver thin film [4].
1. Caldwell, J.D., Kretinin, A.V., Chen, Y.,
Giannini, V., Fogler, M.M., Francescato, Y.,
Ellis, C.T., Tischler, J.G., Woods, C.R., Giles,
A.J., Hong, M., Watanabe, K., Taniguchi, T.,
Maier, S.A., & Novoselov, K.S., Subdiffractional, volume-confined polaritons in
the natural hyperbolic material hexagonal
57
Research
boron nitride, Nature Communications 5,
5221 (2014) doi:/ 10.1038/ncomms6221
2. Aouani, H., Rahmani, M., Navarro-Cía, M.,
& Maier, S.A., Third-harmonic-upconversion
enhancement from a single semiconductor
nanoparticle coupled to a plasmonic antenna,
Nature Nanotechnology 9, 290 (2014)
3. Daskalakis, K.S., Maier, S.A., Murray, R., &
Kéna-Cohen, S., Nonlinear interactions in an
organic polariton condensate, Nature
Materials 13, 271 (2014)
4. Sidiropoulos, T.P.H., Röder, R., Geburt, S.,
Hess, O., Maier, S.A., Ronning, C., & Oulton,
R.F., Ultrafast plasmonic nanowire lasers
near the surface plasmon frequency, Nature
Physics (2014) doi:/ 10.1038/NPHYS3103
Professor Ray Murray
studies of strong light matter
coupling3 using optical cavities,
paving the way for electrically driven
room temperature (RT) polariton
laser devices. Cavity polaritons form
a macroscopic condensate in the
ground state. We have demonstrated
an organic polariton condensate at
room temperature in a microcavity4.
At threshold we observe the
spontaneous formation of a linearly
polarized condensate which exhibits
a superlinear power dependence,
long-range order and a powerdependent blueshift: a clear
signature of Frenkel polariton
interactions.
1 Matthew W. Taylor, Peter Spencer,
Edmund Clarke, Edmund Harbord and Ray
Murray “Resolving Zeeman splitting in
quantum dot ensembles” App.Phys.Lett. 102
171909 (2013)
2 F.S.F. Brossard, B.P.L. Reid, C.C.S. Chan,
X. L. Xu, J. P. Griffiths, D.A. Williams, R.
Murray, and R.A. Taylor “Confocal
microphotoluminescence mapping of coupled
and detuned states in photonic molecules”
Optics Express 21 16934 (2013)
QDs are contenders for quantum
computation schemes and accessing
spin information to/from quantum
dots (QDs) is crucial. We have
developed methods of determining
the polarisation states and g-factors
for QD ensembles1 using circularly
polarised light. In conjunction with the
Oxford and Hitachi Cambridge we
have studied the coupling of cavities
defined by the local modulation of
the waveguide width using confocal
photo-luminescence microscopy2. We
are able to spatially map the profile of
the antisymmetric (antibonding) and
symmetric (bonding) modes of a pair of
strongly coupled cavities (photonic
molecule) and follow the coupled
cavity system from the strong coupling
to the weak coupling regime in the
presence of structural disorder.
GaN and its alloys have large
exciton binding energies which
makes them ideal candidates for
58
3 K. S. Daskalakis,P. S. Eldridge, G.
Christmann, E. Trichas, R. Murray,
E. Iliopoulos,E. Monroy, N. T. Pelekanos,J. J.
Baumberg and P. G. Savvidis “All-dielectric
GaN microcavity: Strong coupling and lasing
at room temperature.” App.Phys.Lett. 102
101113 (2013)
4 K. S. Daskalakis, S. A. Maier, R. Murray
and S. Kéna-Cohen “Nonlinear interactions
in an organic polariton condensate” Nature
Professor Jenny Nelson
Reducing the cost of solar electricity
is key to building an affordable and
secure future energy supply. We study
Experimental Solid
State Physics
the physics, chemistry, materials
science and device engineering of
new, solution processible materials
for solar cells. These include organic
semiconductors such as conjugated
polymers and small molecules,
hybrid inorganic:organic materials
and dye sensitised and perovskite
materials. We study the factors
controlling current generation and
charge recombination in organic and
hybrid solar cells, such as the role of
trap states, doping and interface
recombination using detailed analysis
to determine the practical and
theoretical limits to device performance.
We use a wide range of characterisation
techniques to study how the chemical
and physical structure of materials
control the processes of light
absorption, charge generation and
charge transport, and how these
processes influence photovoltaic
device performance. We are particularly
interested in charge transport and
photo-induced charge separation.
We have also developed methods to
simulate the physical structure of
materials, and the resulting electronic
and optoelectronic properties. Our
long term aim is the rational design of
functional electronic materials.
Together with the Grantham Institute
for Climate Change, we also research
the potential of new PV (and other)
materials technologies to contribute
to carbon emissions reductions.
Representative publications:
Mark A. Faist et al., “Understanding the
Reduced Efficiencies of Organic Solar Cells
Employing Fullerene Multiadducts as
Acceptors” Advanced Energy Materials 3,
744-752 (2013).
Neha Bansal et al., “Influence of Crystallinity
and Energetics on Charge Separation in
Polymer–Inorganic Nanocomposite Films for
Solar Cells” Scientific Reports 3, Article
number: 1531 (2013)
Anne A. Y. Guilbert et al. , “Influence of
Bridging Atom and Side Chains on the
Structure and Crystallinity of
Cyclopentadithiophene–Benzothiadiazole
Polymers” Chem. Mater.26, 1226–1233
(2014).
Florian Steiner et al.“Distinguishing the
influence of structural and energetic disorder
on electron transport in fullerene multi-
Research
adducts”, Mater. Horiz. 2, 113-119 (2015).
D. A. Vithanage et al., “Visualizing charge
separation in bulk heterojunction organic
solar cells”, Nature Communications 4, 2334
(2013).
Dr Rupert Oulton
in the form of metallic nano-particles
that scatter light more strongly than
atoms or molecules3. This leads to
diverse optical methods from
coupling light into photonic microchips4 to characterizing aberrations
in optical systems.
1. Sidiropoulos, T. P. H., Hess, O., Maier, S.
A. & Oulton, R. F. Ultrafast plasmonic
nanowire lasers near the surface plasmon
frequency. Nat. Phys. 10, 870–876 (2014).
2. Lafone, L., Sidiropoulos, T. P. H. & Oulton,
R. F. Silicon-based metal-loaded plasmonic
waveguides for low-loss nanofocusing. Opt.
Lett. 39, 4356–4359 (2014).
My research involves engineering
the interaction of light and matter.
The stark difference in characteristic
length scales of photons and
electrons makes optical interactions
extremely weak despite light being
our primary means of experiencing
the world around us. However, the
characteristic wavelength light can
be matched with that of electrons in
materials with metal optics. Metal
surfaces support excitations, called
surface plasmons, that can be
squeezed into spaces just tens of
nanometres in size where lightmatter interaction are greatly
accelerated. While this technique
can be used to make brighter and
more efficient light sources, Dr.
Oulton is currently using this
concept to create ultrafast lasers
capable of turning on and off within
a few hundred femtoseconds1. The
approach also strengthens the
weakest non-linear optics effects.
Metal-optics, or plasmonics, allows
light focussing down to the
nanometre scale2, far beyond the
diffraction limit of conventional
optics. This boosts light’s intensity to
enhance non-linear response. The
concept is also used in reverse:
artificial material states are created
3. Gennaro, S. D. et al. Spectral
interferometric microscopy reveals absorption
by individual optical nanoantennas from
extinction phase. Nat. Commun. 5, 1–8
(2014).
4. Sidiropoulos, T. P. H. et al. Compact
Optical Antenna Coupler for Silicon Photonics
Characterized by Third-Harmonic Generation.
ACS Photonics 1, 912–916 (2014).
Professor Chris Phillips
Experimental Solid
State Physics
absorption that lies at the heart of
the idea1.
In a similar vein, we make quantum
metamaterial “superlenses”, using
quantum theory to design structures
where light beams propagate
without spreading by diffraction2. To
test them we have developed a new
s-SNOM microscope, capable of
mapping IR spectra at a resolution
of 100th of a wavelength, and we
are using it to measure chemical
distributions within single cells for
the first time3.
Our “Digistain” IR imaging method
for earlier cancer detection is
undergoing clinical trials in Charing
Cross Hospital, and work with
Southampton and Bath promises a
new form of coherent radiation
emitter, that uses a quantum-optical
effect known as “Rabi flopping” in an
asymmetric nanostructure, to
generate tunable THz beams.
1. Megumi Yoshida1, Hemmel Amrania1,
Daniel J. Farrell2, Ben Browne, Edward
Yoxall1, Nicholas J. Ekins-Daukes1 and Chris
C. Phillips1 “Progress towards Realizing
Intermediate Band Solar Cell – Sequential
Absorption of Photons in a Quantum Well
Intermediate Band Solar Cell”. IEEE Journal
of Photovoltaics, Vol 4, (2), 634-638 (March
2014).
2. A. O. Bak, V. Giannini, S. A. Maier, and C.
C.Phillips, “Super-resolution with a positive
epsilon multi-quantum-well super-lens” Appl.
Phys. Letts. 103, 261110 (2013)August 2013.
We with the help of a new EPSRC
grant we have assembled a team to
put our “Quantum Ratchet” Solar
cell idea to the test. Our modelling
has shown conversion efficiencies
exceeding 60 % are possible, and
now we are exploring practical
implementations, with collaborators
in Japan, the US, Diamond, Sheffield
and Sharp labs. Mostly they use
nanostructured semiconductor
devices based on GaAs/AlGaAs
and the nitrides. The race is on to
be the first to convincingly
demonstrate the sequential photon
3. Edward Yoxall,, Miguel Navarro-C,
Mohsen Rahmani, Stefan A. Maier, and Chris
C. Phillips, “Widely tuneable scattering-type
scanning near-field optical microscopy using
pulsed quantum cascade lasers” Appl. Phys.
Letts. 103, 213110 (2013).
4. Nathan Shammah, Chris C. Phillips, and
Simone De Liberato”Terahertz emission from
AC Stark-split asymmetric intersubband
transitions” PHYSICAL REVIEW B 89,
235309 (2014).
59
High Energy Physics
The High Energy Physics Group has activity across a broad front in exploiting particle physics experiments at existing facilities
as well as designing detectors and accelerators for future experiments. These investigate the fundamental particles
and the forces between them, with a primary aim to address basic questions such as the origin of mass and the
charge-parity (CP) asymmetry between matter and antimatter. The group have also been exploring possible
applications of accelerator technology in healthcare, working jointly with the Imperial College Medical Faculty.
HIGH ENERGY PARTICLES
High Energy Particle Collider Studies
O. Buchmueller, D. J. Colling,
P. D. Dauncey, G. J. Davies, P. J.
Dornan, U. Egede, A. Golutvin, G. Hall,
J. A. Nash, M. Patel, A. Tapper, T.
Virdee
We have been heavily involved in the
CMS detector at the LHC and in the
discovery of the Higgs since inception.
The trigger (a real-time background
rejection) and the entire tracking detector and forward calorimeters will be
replaced within the next decade. We
develop custom readout electronics for
the new tracker and trigger and we lead
the design of a novel high granularity
calorimeter.
neutrino disappearance.
SuperNEMO searches for neutrinoless
double-beta decay, a process that
allows access the fundamental nature
of the neutrino mass. We lead the software development. Intense beams of
muons at high energy can give neutrino
beams with a well known composition
and energy spectrum – the so called
Neutrino Factory (NF). We lead the
MICE experiment to provide the proof
of principle for the technique.
Many models for new physics predict
lepton flavour violation, such as muon to
electron conversion. COMET/PRISM will
be sensitive to this process, with
COMET Phase-I currently under construction as a flagship experiment at
the J-PARC laboratory alongside T2K.
Particle Phenomenology
O. Buchmueller
The custom readout board for the CMS trigger
upgrade
The LHCb detector at the LHC is optimised for measuring b-quark hadrons.
Imperial's main contributions to the
detector were the Ring Imaging
Cherenkov detector, and the High Level
Trigger that makes the current physics
programme possible. We lead the
search for CP violation and new
physics. We have also continued to
jointly lead Higgs studies at DZero at
the Tevatron, culminating in further evidence for a 125GeV Higgs boson in
fermion decays, along with a measurement of its spin state.
Neutrino and Charged Lepton
Physics
P. D. Dauncey, P. J. Dornan, K. Long,
J. A. Nash, J. Pasternak, J. K.Sedgbeer,
Y. Uchida, M. Wascko
60
The Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K) experiment in Japan is the flagship of the
global neutrino oscillation programme.
In 2013 we published the world’s first
high-significance measurement of electron neutrino appearance and muon
The Standard Model leaves open significant questions in particle physics
and cosmology that may be answered
by new physics at TeV masses. Our
work through the London Centre for
TeraUniverse Studies is directly connected to our experimental activities
and focuses on dark matter and new
physics at the LHC.
Limits on masses of SuperSymmetric particles
from LHC data
DARK MATTER AND GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
Direct Dark Matter Searches
H. Araujo, T. J. Sumner
We are heavily involved in direct
searches for the dark matter particles,
which are thought to account for most
of the mass in the Universe. Currently,
the LUX experiment at the Sanford Lab
in the US places the most stringent
limits on the interaction of these particles with ordinary matter. In
The LUX-ZEPLIN detector
parallel with this, we lead the UK programme towards the next-generation
experiment, LUX-ZEPLIN, which is
entering its construction phase.
Gravitational Wave Detection
H. Araujo, T. J. Sumner
We have recently seen two major milestones in the LISA low-frequency gravitational wave ‘telescope’ in space. We
have delivered flight hardware for the
ESA LISA Pathfinder technology mission for launch in mid-2015 and also
ESA has earmarked LISA for the 2034
L3 launch slot.
MEDICAL APPLICATIONS
Accelerator Developments and
Hadron Therapy
K. Long, J. Pasternak, P. A. Posocco,
J. Pozimski
We have established a comprehensive
programme on proton accelerators for
science and medical applications. The
group is leading the high-intensity
proton beam Front End Test Stand project to test technologies required for a
Neutrino Factory, a neutron spallation
source, and LHC upgrades. The activities include the development of a compact proton accelerator based on
laser-plasma technology and the
design of innovative beam gantries
using FFAG technology.
e-SCIENCE
D. J. Colling
We have been one of the most active
groups within the GridPP distributed
computing project since its formation
and provide regional coordination
through our leadership of LondonGrid.
We also have significant experimentspecific development
activities.
Research
Dr Henrique Araújo
A first HMRM prototype was
launched recently onboard the
TechDemoSat-1 satellite.
1. First Results from the LUX Dark Matter
Experiment at the Sanford Underground
Research Facility, Akerib, D.S.; et al; Phys.
Rev. Lett. 112, 091303
2. Radiogenic and Muon-Induced
Backgrounds in the LUX Dark Matter
Detector, Akerib, D.S.; et al.; Astropart. Phys.
62: 33 (2014)
3. The Highly Miniaturised Radiation Monitor,
Mitchell, E.; Araujo, H.; et al.; Journal of
Instrumentation 9: P07010 (2014)
This year saw the publication of the
world’s best exclusion limits on the
interaction of dark matter particles
from the LUX experiment, which is
operating a mile underground at the
Sanford Lab in South Dakota. Our
result rules out previous ‘hints’ for
light particles reported by other
teams. A reanalysis to enhance our
sensitivity to even lower particle
masses is near publication, led by
Alastair Currie from Imperial. A yearlong run is now underway which
should see LUX extend its reach
into unexplored parameter space. In
parallel, the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) nextgeneration experiment, presently
completing the conceptual design
phase, was selected by the US
funding agencies to become a
construction project from 2015. LZ
counts some 30 institutes mostly in
the US and in the UK (the UK
contribution is led by Imperial). We
are continuing our LZ-related R&D
programme here: our team is
investigating the phenomenology of
high-field breakdown processes in
liquid xenon, studying in particular
the emission of photons and
electrons from thin wires at several
hundred kV/cm. Another strand of
our work involves radiation detection
high above the Earth, rather than
underground. We are developing the
Highly Miniaturised Radiation
Monitor (HMRM) with RAL and ESA.
4. Liquid noble gas detectors for low energy
particle physics, Chepel, V. and Araujo, H.,
Journal of Instrumentation 8: R04001 (2013)
Dr Oliver Buchmueller
My work in CMS focused on the
final physics exploitation of the
RUN1 data taking campaign (20102012) analysing the so-called
“parked data”, which since the
middle of 2013 have been made
available for analysis. Furthermore,
in 2014 I have continued my
coordination role for the planning of
the CMS trigger upgrade strategy
for the High-Luminosity LHC. This
work has come to a first conclusion
by assembling a Technical Design
Report, to which I have made very
significant contributions. This report
will be made public in early 2015.
In addition I have further expanded
my work on particle physics
phenomenology, establishing closer
High Energy Physics
links to theorists via the award of a
Senior Experimental Followship with
the IPPP (Institute for Particle
Physics Phenomenology in
Durham). This has resulted in two
publications on how to characterise
Dark Matter searches at colliders
and direct detection experiments. In
addition I have also contributed to
new work of the MasterCode
collaboration.
CMS Technical Design Report for Phase2
CMS collaboration, to be published in early
2015
Characterising dark matter searches at
colliders and direct detection experiments:
Vector mediators
Oliver Buchmueller (Imperial Coll., London),
Matthew J. Dolan (SLAC), Sarah A. Malik
(Imperial Coll., London), Christopher McCabe
(Durham U., IPPP), submitted to JHEP
Interplay and Characterization of Dark Matter
Searches at Colliders and in Direct Detection
Experiments
Sarah Malik (Imperial Coll., London),
Christopher McCabe (Durham U.), Henrique
Araujo (Imperial Coll., London), A. Belyaev,
Celine Boehm, J. Brooke, Oliver Buchmueller
(Imperial Coll., London), et al., submitted to
Journal for Physics of the Dark Universe.
The NUHM2 after LHC Run 1
O. Buchmueller (Imperial Coll., London), R.
Cavanaugh (Fermilab & Illinois U., Chicago),
M. Citron (Imperial Coll., London), A. De
Roeck (Antwerp U. & CERN), M.J. Dolan
(SLAC), J.R. Ellis (King's Coll, London &
CERN), H. Flaecher (Bristol U.), S.
Heinemeyer (Cantabria U., Santander), S.
Malik (Rockefeller U.), J. Marrouche (Imperial
Coll., London) et al., submitted to JHEP
61
Research
Professor Paul Dauncey
Dauncey et al., arXiv:1408.6865, submitted to
J. INST.
2. Observation of the diphoton decay of the
Higgs boson and measurement of its
properties, V. Khachatryan et al.,
EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL C,
Volume: 74 3076 (2014)
Professor Gavin Davies
High Energy Physics
boson with exotic spin and parity in
VH→Vbb¯ final states, D0 Collaboration,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 113 (2014) 161802.
3. Search for invisible decays of Higgs
bosons in the vector boson fusion and
associated ZH production modes, CMS
Collaboration, Eur.Phys.J. C74 (2014) 2980.
4. Interplay and Characterization of Dark
Matter Searches at Colliders and in Direct
Detection Experiments, S. Malik et al., ArXiv:
1409.4075.
Professor Peter Dornan
My major research project is the
CMS experiment at the LHC.
Following the discovery of the Higgs
Boson by the CMS and ATLAS
collaborations in 2012, the main aim
of our work has been to characterise
the newly discovered particle as
precisely as possible. In particular,
we need to check if the production
rates (in several production modes)
and the decay rates (in several decay
channels) are consistent with the
theoretical predictions. I have
concentrated on one particular decay
mode, which is Higgs to two
photons. This was one of the two
main channels contributing to the
discovery, mainly because it can be
reconstructed efficiently and so gives
high statistical power. As part of this,
we produced a paper describing a
new statistical method to allow for
background uncertainties. A final
paper on H→γγ decays using all the
CMS data from the 2012/13 LHC
runs was recently produced and so
far, all measurements are consistent
with the theory. However, the LHC
will turn on again in 2015 and run for
three years at a higher centre-of-mass
energy, increasing the Higgs data
sample by an order of magnitude
and allowing improved precision.
1. Handling uncertainties in background
shapes: the discrete profiling method, P. D.
62
My research has continued to focus
on characterisation of the recently
observed Higgs boson, both with
the CMS experiment at the LHC
and the D0 experiment at the
Tevatron, as well as searching for
non-standard model Higgs boson at
CMS. We published the legacy
paper in the Higgs to diphoton
decay mode, one of the principal
discovery channels, achieving
single channel evidence. The
combination of results from the
various decay modes continues to
yield results for the couplings and
spin in agreement with expectations
for the SM Higgs boson. Our
searches for invisible decay modes
constrain new physics theories,
including dark matter models.
Returning to this topic has been the
other thread in my recent research,
and I was very pleased to welcome
a JRF, Bjoern Penning, in this area.
1. Observation of the diphoton decay of the
Higgs boson and measurement of its
properties, CMS Collaboration, Eur.Phys.J.
C74 (2014) 3076.
2. Constraints on models for the Higgs
As Professor Emeritus I now use
my time to take an overall view of
the state of particle physics and
explore new directions which I feel
can be positive for the group. The
recent observation of the Higgs
boson at the LHC completes the
standard model and although this
explains almost all particle
interactions there remain areas
such as neutrino oscillation, gravity,
the matter-antimatter asymmetry
and dark matter still to be
understood. Thus our experiments
must now search for signals from
the physics beyond the standard
model. New avenues must be
explored in addition to the ongoing
LHC programme which has yet to
uncover any evidence.. Neutrino
oscillation is one observation not
predicted by the standard model
and hence the lepton sector is a
prime area to search for new
physics and the great prize would
be to see charged lepton violation
Research
such as a muon changing to an
electron. I therefore now support
the COMET experiment at the
JPARC laboratory in Japan to
search for mu to e conversion.
Additionally more accurate
experiments are necessary in the
neutrino area and for this a neutrino
factory, long supported in this
group, remains the optimal
procedure.
Professor Ulrik egede
quark. A precision measurement is
important for measuring the least
well constrained free parameter of
the Standard Model. The present
measurements suffer from systematic uncertainties that can be
reduced by an analysis of the decay
Λb→pµν, something that can only
be done with the data from the
LHCb experiment. Further developments have been made in particle
physics phenomenology to improve
the interpretation of future experimental measurements.
1. Observation of a resonance in
B+→K+μ+μ− decays at low recoil, R. Aaij et
al. [LHCb Collaboration],
Phys. Rev. Lett. 111 (2013) 112003.
2. Differential branching fractions and
isospin asymmetries of B→K(∗)μ+μ- decays,
R. Aaij et al. [LHCb Collaboration], J. High
Energy Phys. 06 (2014) 133.
The exploitation of the very large
datasets produced by the LHCb
experiment located at the Large
Hadron Collider has been my main
involvement. Effort has concentrated on looking for signatures that
can constrain the nature of dark
matter or explain the prevalence of
matter over antimatter in the Universe. This means a continuation of
the analysis of B meson decays
where new types of particles are
created within virtual loops. The discovery of a resonant structure in the
dimuon mass spectra of the
B+→K+μ+μ− decay led to subsequent big developments for the
theory required to determine the
influence of possible particles not
described within the Standard
Model. A new direction of research
is related to semileptonic decays of
B mesons, with an emphasis on
measuring the strength of the coupling between the b and the u
3. Measurement of the semileptonic CP
asymmetry in B0−B0 mixing, R. Aaij et al.
[LHCb Collaboration], arXiv:1409.8586, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.
4. The effect of S-wave interference on the
B0→K∗0ℓ+ℓ− angular observables, T Blake,
U. Egede and A. Shires, J. High Energy
Phys. 03 (2013) 027.
Professor Andrey Golutvin
High Energy Physics
candidate for dark matter and the
baryon dominated Universe, require
further dedicated experiments.
Together with my colleagues I have
recently proposed a new experiment, SHIP, which will be based at
CERN’s Super Proton Synchrotron.
The experiment will search for heavy
Majorana neutrinos and any other
new particles that could be messengers between the Standard Model
particles and some “Hidden Sector”
of new physics. In particular, the
existence of Majorana neutrinos is
strongly motivated by both theory
and experimental evidence, as such
particles can simultaneously explain
the matter-antimatter asymmetry of
the Universe and account for the
non-zero neutrino masses. I have
been elected spokesperson of SHIP
and represent the 35 collaborating
institutes. CERN has asked our collaboration to produce an engineering design by the spring.
The LHCb experiment has recently
started a dedicated programme on
the exploration of hidden portals of
the Standard Model. Analyses of
large, and nearly background free data
samples of B decays to the final states
with muons have lead to strong
constraints on the couplings of the
Majorana neutrino and low energy
s-goldstinos.
1. Proposal to search for heavy neutral leptons at the SPS , CERN-SPSC-2013-024 /
SPSC-EOI-010
2. Search for rare B(s) → μμμμ decays,
LHCb collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110
(2013) 1528276
Recent results from the LHC experiments, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb,
have provided further strong confirmation of the Standard Model. However, a number of experimental
shortcomings, such as the finite
mass of neutrinos, the absence of a
3. Search for Majorana neutrinos in B→πμμ
decays, LHCb collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett.
112 (2014) 131802
4. First observation of the rare decays
B→Kππμμ and B→φKμμ, LHCb collaboration, JHEP10 (2014) 064
63
Research
Professor Geoffrey Hall
G. Hall , M. Pesaresi, M. Raymond, D. Braga
et al CBC2: A CMS microstrip readout ASIC
with logic for track-trigger modules at HLLHC Nuclear Instruments and Methods in
Physics Research A 765 (2014) 214–218
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2014.04.056
G. Hall, D. Newbold, M. Pesaresi, A. Rose A
time-multiplexed track-trigger architecture for
CMS 2014 JINST 9 C10034
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/17480221/9/10/C10034
I am the UK PI for the CMS experiment
at the CERN LHC. This includes
many activities on the experiment,
including supervision of the UK
detector operational responsibilities,
especially on the Tracker which
involved much Imperial effort and
hardware, and other managerial
activities. CMS is preparing an
upgrade and much of my time is
spent on that, where our group is
currently replacing the Level-1
calorimeter trigger and engaged in
R&D for new tracker detector
modules based on silicon microstrips
and a specialised front-end
electronic integrated circuit. This
module will provide new functions by
selecting data to permit reconstruction
of many of the charged particle
tracks emerging from p-p collisions,
and allowing this information to be
used in the L1 trigger for the first
time. This will increase the power of
the trigger, allowing CMS to be
more selective in data which are
preserved for full analysis, by
selecting high transverse momentum
tracks and associating them with
calorimeter and muon system
information. A prototype module of
this type was demonstrated in a
DESY test beam last December for
the first time. We have also carried
out experiments on silicon crystal
channeling in CERN proton beams.
64
W. Scandale, W. Ferguson, J. Fulcher, G.
Hall, M. Pesares, M. Raymond et al Mirroring
of 400 GeV/c protons by an ultra-thin straight
crystal. Physics Letters B734, (2014) 1–6
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2014.04.
062
The CMS collaboration. Alignment of the
CMS tracker with LHC and cosmic ray data
2014 JINST 9 P06009
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/17480221/9/06/P06009
Dr John Hassard
High Energy Physics
Senior Advisor to Sir Magdi
Yacoub’s Qatar Cardiovascular
Research Centre.
We have also been adopted by
several oil companies in the MENA
region for real-time oil analytics and
production allocation. Our team –
mostly physicists – has set up a new
company in Bahrain, to address the
Saudi market, and to complement
our Qatari company. We also have
a contract within Dubai and will
establish a company there in 2014.
In addition, our gas sensing
technologies (as demonstrated in
the 2012 London Olympics, and
built on HEP heavy quark separation
algorithms) is being adopted by a
GCC nation for air quality sensing,
and is being studied by a National
Oil Company, as a means of rapidly
detecting the leakage of Toxic
Industrial Chemicals.
Publications
The Internet of Things: Smart Cities: Meeting
the Threat. Invited talk at University of
Shanghai, December 2011
FICCI Conference, Chemical, Biological,
Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE)
Conference, Home Office Invitee and
Plenary Speaker. New Delhi, February 2012
I remain on Leave of Absence,
promoting technologies derived
from Particle Physics into a wider
technical and commercial sphere.
Our HEP-derived company deltaDOT
has gone from strength to strength
with tools built on early CMS pattern
recognition algorithms (with Dr David
Colling) and vertex finding in b quark
decays. It has been adopted by the
largest vaccine programme in the
US, a highly topical development,
and has been used in a wide range
of biomedical applications, most
notable in novel point-of-care
cardiovascular biomarker analytics.
In Sept 2012, I was appointed
GB Patent GB 1404756.7 2014: Rapid
Petroleomic Profiler, Chenevière, Dessort,
Al-Mohannadi, Al-Dahik, Chapron, Hassard
Filing made 2014.
Professor Ken Long
Muon accelerators have been
proposed as intense neutrino
sources and as a means to deliver
Research
multi-TeV lepton-antilepton
collisions. What makes the muon
ideal for these applications is its
mass, 200 times that of the
electron, and the fact that its decays
are precisely calculable. We have
played seminal and leading roles in
the international and European
design studies that have established
the feasibility of such facilities.
Within these studies we have
contributed designs for the proton
source, the muon acceleration
systems and the muon storage ring.
The muon beam is produced from
the decay in flight of pions, which
means that it occupies a large
volume of phase space. Before the
muons can be accelerated it is
necessary to reduce the phase-space
volume that the beam occupies, a
process referred to as cooling. The
muon lifetime is so short that a
novel technique, ionization cooling,
is required to compress the phase
space. We have taken the lead in
the execution of the international
Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment
by which we hope to prove the
principle of the ionization cooling
thereby establishing high-intensity,
cold muon beams as a new
technique for particle physics.
1. Physics at a future Neutrino Factory and
super-beam facility, Bandyopadhyay, A. et
al., The ISS Physics Working Group
Collaboration, Rept. Prog. Phys. 72 (2009)
106201, 0710.4947
2. Bogomilov, M. et al., The MICE
Colaboration Collaboration, The MICE Muon
Beam on ISIS and the beam-line
instrumentation of the Muon Ionization
Cooling Experiment, JINST 7 (2012) P05009,
1203.4089
3. Characterisation of the muon beams for
the Muon Ionisation Cooling Experiment,
Adams, D. et al., The MICE Collaboration
Collaboration, Eur.Phys.J. C73 (2013) 2582,
1306.1509
4. Adey, D. et al., the nuSTORM
Collaboration, Light sterile neutrino sensitivity
at the nuSTORM facility, Phys.Rev. D89
(2014) 071301, 1402.5250
Dr Jaroslaw Pasternak
Jaroslaw Pasternak was focusing
on MICE experiment and nuSTORM
project for the last year. In particular
as the Imperial responsibilities in
MICE have increased significantly
with Prof. K. Long taking the
position of the Spokesman in
November last year, Jaroslaw took
over the leadership of the Imperial
MICE group. He also accepted a
role of the Accelerator Integration
Scientist and he leads the preparation
for commissioning of the MICE
experiment at Step IV including the
beam commissioning currently
envisaged in summer 2015.
Recently he led the redesign effort
of the final stage of MICE experiment
dedicated to demonstration of
ionization cooling with RF reacceleration to be operational in
2017. He is also working with his
RA Dr J-B. Lagrange on the design
of the nuSTORM FFAG ring option,
which is one of the main options.
He published 2 papers: one on
nuSTORM and another on older
work within IDS-NF project and two
more are in preparation.
1. Adey D et al., Light sterile neutrino
sensitivity at the nuSTORM facility,
PHYSICAL REVIEW D 89(7):7 pages Article
number ARTN 071301 09 Apr 2014.
2. Diktys Stratakis, H. Kamal Sayed, Chris T.
Rogers, Androula Alekou, and Jaroslaw
Pasternak, Conceptual design and modeling
of particle-matter interaction cooling systems
for muon based applications ,Phys. Rev. ST
Accel. Beams 17, 071001, 14 July 2014.
High Energy Physics
Dr Mitesh Patel
My research is primarily focused on
the LHCb experiment at CERN's
Large Hadron Collider. I am
particularly interested in the use of
rare decay modes as probes for
physics beyond the current
"Standard Model" of particle
physics.
My recent papers include the first
measurements of the rare decay
B0s→μ+μ− that has been sought
for more than 30 years. The
measurements constrain the
properties of any new scalar
particles and have implications for
many new physics models. My
measurements of B0→K∗0μ+μ−
show some tension with the
Standard Model that may indicate the
existence of a new vector particle.
Further measurements of this and
related decays should help clarify
the situation. Similarly, my
measurements of B+→K+ℓ+ℓ−
decays, where ℓ=e, μ, show
electrons and muons, which behave
identically in the Standard Model,
have different decay rates. This has
stimulated interest in a whole raft of
similar measurements. Finally, I
have also made new asymmetry
measurements to probe anomalous
results obtained at other experiments.
I am also a member of the SHiP
collaboration. We are proposing a
new and uniquely sensitive
experiment at CERN to search for
new light particles that could help
65
Research
solve a number of problems of the
Standard Model.
http://lhcb.web.cern.ch/lhcb/ ;
http://ship.web.cern.ch/ship
1. Test of lepton universality using
B+→K+ℓ+ℓ− decays, R. Aaij et al, [LHCb
Collaboration], Phys.Rev.Lett. 113 (2014)
151601 (10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.151601)
2.First measurement of the charge
asymmetry in beauty-quark pair production
at a hadron collider R. Aaij et al, [LHCb
082003 (10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.082003)
3.Measurement of Form-Factor-Independent
Observables in the Decay B0→K∗0μ+μ−, R.
Aaij et al, [LHCb Collaboration],
Phys.Rev.Lett. 111 (2013) 19, 191801
(10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.191801)
4.Measurement of the B0s→μ+μ− branching
fraction and search for B0→μ+μ− decays at
the LHCb experiment, R. Aaij et al, [LHCb
101805 (10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.101805) /
devising a technique to tailor the
wide laser-generated proton
spectrum to maximise the yields in
the Mo-100 (p, n) Tc-99m channel
for direct production. Our approach
is based on a revised design of the
Gabor lens, which soon will be
tested with beam at the Cerberus
laser facility at Imperial.
High Energy Physics
[2] Pasternak J, Aslaninejad M, Holland P,
Walton G, Posocco PA, 2013, A novel
solution for FFAG proton gantries,
Proceedings of PAC2013, Pages: 14061408, ISBN: 978-3-95450-138-0.
to search for NDBD as evidence for
Majorana neutrino masses down to
a level below 0.05eV (equivalent to
a half-life of about 1026 years), the
region suggested by neutrino
oscillation experiments. The first
SuperNEMO module will be installed
in the Modane underground
laboratory, France, over the next
two years and will then begin datataking. I lead the SuperNEMO
group at Imperial and the software
development group within the
collaboration. The Imperial group’s
main activities are development of
physics analysis and software with
contributions also to the tracking
detector and its commissioning.
Within the area of neutrino physics,
neutrinoless double beta decay
(NDBD) - a rare, lepton-number
violating, nuclear decay process –
is of particular current interest. The
observation of neutrino oscillations
demonstrated that neutrinos have
mass; a consequence of this new,
beyond the Standard Model physics
is renewed activity in NDBD
experiments which provide the only
way to determine the fundamental
nature of the neutrino (Dirac or
Majorana). In addition, NDBD
experiments offer the possibility of
determining the absolute neutrino
mass scale.
An international collaboration is
currently constructing a nextgeneration experiment, SuperNEMO,
This year has seen delivery of our
flight hardware for the European
Space Agency LISAPathfinder
mission. This mission will be
launched next year (2015) and it is
a technology precursor for the ESA
L3 mission in gravitational waves.
ESA recently selected the
gravitational wave theme for L3 and
this represents the successful
culmination of two decades of work
in developing the technology and
promoting the pioneering new
science opportunities in the fields of
astrophysics, cosmology and
particle physics. Following the
completion of our ZEPLIN direct
dark matter search programme we
now moved on with collaboration on
[1] Pozimski J, Aslaninejad M, 2013, Gabor
lenses for capture and energy selection of
laser driven ion beams in cancer treatment,
LASER AND PARTICLE BEAMS, Vol: 31,
Pages: 723-733, ISSN: 0263-0346.
Dr Julia Sedgbeer
Professor Tim Sumner
Dr Piero Antonio Posocco
We have been working in a multidisciplinary team with members of
the Faculty of Medicine on the
development of new approaches to
proton therapy. We have identified
three different applications of our
expertise, namely proton
acceleration using laser-plasma
technology [1], proton delivery using
the FFAG technology [2], and
evaluating the effects of proton
therapy combined with new
metabolic drugs like ADI-PEG20.
We extended our work towards
modern challenges in medical
diagnostics, like the worldwide
shortage of Tc-99m for SPECT by
66
Research
the US-led project LUX which has
published the world’s best result to
date and continues with a second
more sensitive run at the moment.
In addition the LUX-ZEPLIN project,
which we co-founded in 2008, has
gone through an extensive design/
R&D phase and has been selected
as one of two next generation direct
dark matter search projects in the
US. The UK is intending to provide a
significant share of the experiment
with Imperial playing key roles, and
an application for funding is ongoing.
1. First results from the LUX dark matter
experiment at the Sanford Underground
Research facility: Akerib, D.S.; et al.,
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS Volume: 112
Issue: 9 091303 (2014), preprint
(arXiv:1310.8214)
2. eLISA: astrophysics and cosmology in
the millihertz regime: Amaro-Seoane, P.; et
al., Gravitational Wave Notes Volume: 6 4110 (2013), preprint (arXiv:1201.3621)
3. Radiogenic and muon-induced
backgrounds in the LUX dark matter
detector: Akerib, D.S.; et al.,
ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS Volume: 62 3346 (2015), preprint (arXiv:1403.1299)
4. Science with LISPathfinder: Sumner, T.J.,
ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY of the PACIFIC
Conference Series Volume: 467 129-140 (2013)
Dr Alexander Tapper
College, Bristol, STFC and the US
my group have been searching the
data taken by the CMS experiment
at the LHC for evidence of new
particles predicted by the theory of
Supersymmetry. So far no evidence
has been found and we have two
papers in preparation, which will
complete the searches with the
available data, and set stringent
limits on the allowed theoretical
parameter space.
The other focus of my work is
preparations for the restart of the
LHC at higher energy and
luminosity in 2015. To fully benefit
from the improved performance of
the LHC the CMS experiment must
be upgraded and working with
colleagues from Bristol, STFC and
the US my group is delivering an
improved triggering system for the
experiment. This will benefit our
searches for new physics, with
exciting prospects for the new run
next year!
• M. Baber et al., Development and testing of
an upgrade to the CMS level-1 calorimeter
trigger, JINST 9 (2014) C01006.
• A. Tapper (ed.) et al., CMS Technical
Design Report for the Level-1 Trigger
Upgrade CMS-TDR-012, CERN-LHCC-2013011 (2013).
• P. Klabbers et al., CMS level-1 upgrade
calorimeter trigger prototype development,
JINST 8 (2013) C02013.
Dr Yoshi Uchida
My research has focused recently
on completing the analysis of the
data taken in the first physics run of
the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at
CERN from 2010 to 2012, and
preparing for the restart of the LHC,
at higher energy in 2015. Together
with colleagues from Imperial
High Energy Physics
muons—whose existence we have
known about for many decades—
the detailed behaviour of which can
yield more hints about the nature of
the fabric of our Universe. I have
worked on the T2K neutrino
oscillation experiment since 2004,
and in the past few years we have
discovered that muon neutrinos can
turn into electron neutrinos, which in
turn unlocks a new set of possible
measurements to search for matterantimatter differences in neutrinos.
This shapes our ongoing T2K work,
and work towards the nextgeneration Hyper-K experiment. For
the latter, I have contributed a new
idea for how to calibrate the
neutrino detectors.
I am also working on the COMET
experiment, where we will make
18
about 10 muons over a few years,
to see if some convert to an
electron. This cannot happen under
physics as we understand it now—
but is quite difficult to exclude when
we try to extend this
understanding—hence is an
extremely sensitive indicator
towards the next step in modelling
the Universe. COMET Phase-I is
due to turn on in the next couple of
years, and our group is working
hard on building the experiment.
1. Measurement of the inclusive electron
neutrino charged current cross section on
carbon with the T2K near detector: K. Abe et
al (T2K Collaboration); PHYSICAL REVIEW
LETTERS (accepted November 2014)
2. Precise Measurement of the Neutrino
Mixing Parameter θ23 from Muon Neutrino
Disappearance in an Off-Axis Beam: K. Abe
et al (T2K Collaboration); Phys. Rev. Lett.
112, 181801
3. Experimental Proposal for Phase-I of the
COMET Experiment at J-PARC: R.
Akhmetshin et al (COMET Collaboration);
KEK/JPARC-PAC 2012-10
My research centres on studying
particles such as neutrinos and
4. Indication of Electron Neutrino
Appearance from an Accelerator-Produced
Off-Axis Muon Neutrino Beam: K. Abe et al
(T2K Collaboration); Phys. Rev. Lett. 107,
041801
67
Research
Dr Morgan Wascko
My research probes the most
fundamental aspects of the nature
of matter and energy. In particular, I
am engaged in the study of neutrino
flavour oscillation, which is the
first—and so far only—discovery
that lies outside the current
predictions of the standard model of
particle physics. I work on
accelerator neutrino experiments,
currently focussing on the T2K
experiment in Japan.
68
T2K sends a beam of muon
neutrinos from the J-PARC facility in
Tokai-mura across the main island
of Japan to the Super-Kamiokande
detector deep within the Kamioka
mine. We have recently published
a stunningly large excess of
electron neutrino events allowing us
to measure the heretofore
unobserved subdominant oscillation
and its mixing angle, theta_1-3.
These are the next steps toward the
goal of searching for violation of
charge-parity symmetry with
neutrinos.
I am also a member of the HyperKamiokande collaboration, which is
working toward a megatonne scale
water Cherenkov detector. This
experiment would provide exquisite
sensitivity to the search for violation
of charge-parity symmetry in
neutrinos, which could explain why
the universe is made of matter and
not antimatter.
http://t2k-experiment.org
High Energy Physics
1. Measurement of the Inclusive Electron
Neutrino Charged Current Cross Section on
Carbon with the T2K Near Detector, K Abe,
et al. [T2K Collaboration], accepted by Phys.
Rev. Lett. ( arXiv:1407.7389 [hep-ex] )
2. Measurement of the inclusive νμ charged
current cross section on iron and
hydrocarbon in the T2K on-axis neutrino
beam, K Abe, et al. [T2K Collaboration],
Phys. Rev. D90 (2014) 052010
3. Precise Measurement of the Neutrino
Mixing Parameter \theta_{23} from Muon
Neutrino Disappearance in an Off-axis
Beam, K Abe, et al. [T2K Collaboration],
Phys. Rev. Lett. 112 (2014) 181801
4. Observation of Electron Neutrino
Appearance in a Muon Neutrino Beam, K
Abe, et al. [T2K Collaboration], Phys. Rev.
Lett. 112 (2014)
Photonics
The Photonics Group conducts fundamental research into optical science and develops and applies new
technologies for the physical and life sciences, medicine and ICT. Our projects are mostly interdisciplinary and we
work closely with industry and external agencies.
LASER TECHNOLOGY
Prof R. Taylor, Prof M. Damzen,
Dr S. Popov, Dr E. Kelleher, Dr G.
Thomas
We conduct a world-leading research
activity on fibre and all-solid-state
lasers developed for many real-world
applications from precision laser manufacturing, remote sensing through to
medical imaging and therapeutics.
Fibre Lasers
This activity is currently focused on
development of compact and high
power fibre laser sources, engineered
to create new wavelengths and ultrashort pulse formats including: supercontinuum generation in photonic
crystal fibres; visible fibre sources by
Raman or parametric conversion of IR
fibre-lasers; near and mid-infrared
sources based on novel Bismuth and
Thulium-doped fibre lasers; ultrashort
pulse generation using carbon nanotubes or graphene as ‘universal’ saturable absorbers that can operate
across all wavelength regions.
Diode-Pumped Solid-State Lasers
This activity develops all-solid-state
lasers and nonlinear optical technologies to provide efficient sources of
high energy pulses including: diodepumped micro-slab lasers (commercialised by Mike Damzen’s spin-out
company, Midaz Lasers Ltd); worldleading diodepumped Alexandrite
lasers, supported by the European
Space Agency (ESA) for next-generation satellite-based remote sensing
and future femtosecond laser applications; and resilient “selforganising”
lasers based on dynamic nonlinear
optical holography that selfcorrect for
thermally-induced aberrations in high
power lasers.
a) fibre laser supercontinuum source; b) satellite-based remote sensing laser application
imaging for high content analysis and
sensing and manipulating pathogenic
bacteria. We have particular strengths
in fluorescence lifetime imaging
(FLIM) for quantitative molecular contrast, including of protein-protein interactions, superresolved microscopy
(including STED, PALM and STORM)
for imaging below the diffraction limit,
and confocal Brillouin scattering
microscopy to measure
the micromechanical properties of biological tissues. Our fluorescence
imaging and measurement technology
is being applied in hospitals to clinical
diagnostic challenges for cancer,
osteoarthritis, heart disease and ophthalmology and to preclinical tomographic imaging of disease models.
Programmable light
Building on our heritage of computerbased optical design, we utilise adaptive optics and structured illumination
to manipulate optical wavefronts for
applications ranging from ophthalmology to metrology of astronomical
optics, exploiting segmented mirror
and spatial light modulator technologies. For imaging
we use structured illumination to
realise wide-field optical sectioning
(with Mark Neil’s spin-out company,
Aurox Ltd) and adaptive optics techniques to measure and correct aberrated wavefronts, including for in vivo
studies of the retina for ophthalmology. Non-imaging applications of programmable light include precision
opto-genetics and optical tweezers.
ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY &
PHOTONIC STRUCTURES
Prof M. McCall, Prof P. Török, Dr K.
Weir
Rigorous electromagnetic theory and
experimental analysis is applied to
photonic and nanophotonic structures
such as chiral media and metamaterials. The theoretical development of
“space-time cloaking” was founded in
our group; ultrahigh-resolution micropolarimetry is being applied to plasmonics, metamaterials, micromagnetics and to optical data storage
using polarisation to encode multiple
bits into each pit of an optical disc.
BIOPHOTONICS
Prof P. French, Prof M. Neil, Prof P.
Török, Dr C. Paterson, Dr C. Dunsby,
Dr J. McGinty
Our optical imaging and metrology
encompasses technology development for biomedical applications in
research, drug discovery and healthcare, including microscopy, endoscopy
and tomography as well as automated
a) fibre laser supercontinuum source; b) satellite-based remote sensing laser application
69
Research
Professor Michael Damzen
length can be rapidly adjusted with a
control current. The liquid lenses
have been used to construct a laser
beam quality measurement
instrument; laser colour marking of
metals; and recently adaptive spatial
control of a laser cavity.
1. “High efficiency >26 W diode end-pumped
Alexandrite laser”, A.Teppitaksak, A. Minassian, G. M. Thomas, and M. J. Damzen, Optics
Express, 22, 16386 (2014)
70
We have performed the world-first
high power development of diodepumped Alexandrite as a new laser
technology with broad wavelength
tunability [ref. 1]. This work is being
supported by the European Space
Agency as a new technology for
satellite-based remote sensing of
the atmosphere and ground
vegetation. It also has potential as a
low-cost replacement for the
femtosecond Ti-sapphire laser. We
have generated > 26W, more than
an order of magnitude higher than
previous diode end-pumping systems,
highest ever slope efficiency 49%, and
the first Q-switched laser operation
of diode-pumped Alexandrite
producing ~mJ-pulse energy at 1kHz
pulse rate in fundamental TEM00
mode. It was recently presented as
an invited Keynote talk at the Optical
Engineering and Design conference
and reported in trade journal [ref. 2].
We have also patented and
implemented a novel technique for
obtaining enhanced control of pulsing
parameters in a laser [ref. 3]. The
method uses a secondary laser cavity
to control the gain in a Q-switched
primary laser cavity and has enabled
clean single-pulse Q-switched
operation to be obtained across a
very wide repetition rate range of 1–
800 kHz and control of pulse energy.
In another project supported by Paul
Instrument Fund (Royal Society), we
are using liquid lenses, whose focal
2. “High-power Alexandrite laser developed
for space lidar”, M. J. Damzen, Electrooptics,
Technology news (2014) http://www.electrooptics.com/news/news_story.php?news_id
=2265.
3. “Pulse control in a Q-switched Nd:YVO4
bounce geometry laser using a secondary
cavity”, Optics Letters, 39, 3437 (2014)
Dr Christopher Dunsby
The main focus of our work is the
application of photonics technology to
quantitative fluorescence imaging and
sensing. This includes collaborations
with clinicians that aim to exploit
endogenous tissue autofluorescence for the detection and
diagnosis of disease. Currently, we
(PF&CD) have an EPSRC funded
project with the National Heart and
Lung Institute and the Kennedy
Institute for Rheumatology to apply
point-probe and endoscopic
measurements of fluorescence
lifetime to study of heart disease
and arthritis. We also have a second
EPSRC funded project
(CD,PF,MN&CP) in collaboration with
the University of Bath to develop
Photonics
novel multiphoton microscopes and
endoscopes for clinical applications.
Our technology (PF&CD) is also
applied to measurements of
exogenous fluorophores, for e.g.
quantification of photosensitiser
penetration with Moorfields Eye
Hospital, or in cells through
fluorescence lifetime imaging of
protein-protein interactions, including in
multi-well plate formats. We also have
projects developing optical
superresolution techniques
(PF,MN&CD) including stimulated
emission depletion microscopy. A
recent collaboration with colleagues at
King’s College London and the
Department of Bioengineering at
Imperial has translated optical
methods for superresolution imaging
to ultrasound superresolution
imaging, including in vivo, for the
first time. Finally, we continue to
develop a high speed 3-D
fluorescence microscopy technique
called oblique plane microscopy.
1. Fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy of tissue
autofluorescence in normal and diseased colon
measured ex vivo using a fiber-optic probe S.
Coda*, A. J. Thompson*, G. T. Kennedy, K. L.
Roche, L. Ayaru, D. S. Bansi, G. W. Stamp, A. V.
Thillainayagam**, P. M. W. French** and C.
Dunsby** Biomedical Optics Express 5(2), pp.
515-538, 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/BOE.5.000515
2. Two-Photon Fluorescence Microscopy of
Corneal Riboflavin Absorption D. M. Gore, A.
Margineanu, P. French, D. O'Brart, C. Dunsby,
and B. D. Allan Investigative Ophthalmology &
Visual Science 55(4), pp. 2476-2481, 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1167/iovs.14-13975
3. In Vivo Acoustic Super-Resolution and SuperResolved Velocity Mapping Using Microbubbles
K. Christensen-Jeffries, R. J. Browning, M.-X.
Tang*, C. Dunsby* and R. J. Eckersley* IEEE
Transactions on Medical Imaging, early online
publication, 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TMI.2014.2359650
4. Application of time-resolved autofluorescence
to label-free in vivo optical mapping of changes in
tissue matrix and metabolism associated with
myocardial infarction and heart failure J. Lagarto*,
B. T. Dyer*, C. Talbot, M. B. Sikkel, N. S. Peters,
P. M. W. French, A. R. Lyon** and C. Dunsby**
Accepted for publication in Biomedical Optics
Express
(* and ** indicates equal contributions)
Research
Professor Paul French
In the last year I have continued to
develop and apply multi-dimensional
fluorescence imaging technology,
particularly for super-resolved
microscopy (SRM), high content
analysis (HCA) and preclinical and
clinical imaging, in close collaboration
with Chris Dunsby, James McGinty,
Mark Neil and Carl Paterson. All of our
projects are inherently multidisciplinary
with collaborations across College
and beyond. With respect to SRM,
we (with CD, MN) are funded to work
with the MRC Clinical Sciences
Centre to develop 5 advanced SRM
instruments for the study of cellular
structure and function beyond the
diffraction limit. For HCA, we (with
CD) are developing automated
multiwell plate readers incorporating
fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM)
technology to assay protein
interactions and cellular metabolic
processes. We are also developing
open source software tools for
automated acquisition, rapid analysis
and management of image data –
particularly developing OMERObased tools in collaboration with the
University of Dundee. For preclinical
imaging we (with JM) are working
with Department of Life Sciences
and UCL to develop a platform
longitudinal imaging of whole zebrafish
from larvae to adults, which is being
applied to studies of cancer,
inflammation and bacterial infection.
For clinical imaging we (with CD)
are working on the application of
novel instrumentation to measure
autofluorescence lifetime for readouts
of heart disease and osteoarthritis
and (with CD, MN, CP) are working
on a compact handled multiphoton
microscope and an ultranarrow
multiphoton endoscope exploiting
adaptive optics to eliminate need for
distal scanning or focussing systems.
3-D stimulated emission depletion
microscopy with programmable aberration
correction, M. O. Lenz, H. G. Sinclair, A.
Savell, J. H. Clegg, A. C. N. Brown, D. M.
Davis, C. Dunsby, M. A. A. Neil and P. M. W.
French, J. Biophotonics 7 (2013) 29-36
doi: 10.1002/jbio.201300041
S.C. Warren, A. Margineanu, D. Alibhai, D.J.
Kelly, C. Talbot, Y. Alexandrov, I. Munro, M.
Katan, C. Dunsby and P.M.W. French, Rapid
global fitting of large fluorescence lifetime
imaging microscopy datasets, PLoS ONE
8(2013) e70687
An automated multiwell plate reading FLIM
microscope for live cell autofluorescence
lifetime assays, D. J. Kelly, S. C. Warren, S.
Kumar, J. L. Lagarto, B T. Dyer, A.
Margineanu1, E. W.-F. Lam, C. Dunsby and
P. M. W. French, J. Innov. Opt. Health Sci.. 7
(2014) 1450025-15 pages, DOI:
10.1142/S1793545814500254
A flexible wide-field FLIM endoscope utilising
blue excitation light for label-free contrast of
tissue, Hugh Sparks, Sean Warren, Joana
Guedes, Nagisa Yoshida , Nadia Guerra,
Taran Tatla, Chris Dunsby, Paul French, J
Biophotonics 2014, DOI
10.1002/jbio.201300203
Dr Edmund Kelleher
My work on ultrafast nonlinear fibre
optics is conducted in close
Photonics
collaboration with Prof. Roy Taylor
and Dr. Sergei Popov and is a key
theme within the Photonics activity
at Imperial. Our shared interest in
the development of high-brightness,
short-pulse fibre laser sources for
target wavelengths in the visible
and mid-infrared is supported by
industrial collaborations with IPG
Photonics Inc. and Gooch and
Housego PLC, and is focussed on
bio-photonic specific applications –
lead by Prof. French.
My interest in power-scaling modelocked fibre lasers has led to
research studying the formation and
stabilisation of dissipative solitons
and involvement in a project run my
the University of British Columbia:
using such lasers as seed-sources for
frequency upconverted systems
based on high-harmonic generation in
passive femtosecond enhancement
cavities, providing a source of
synchrotron-level energy XUV for
table-top ARPES experiments.
I also continue to work closely with the
Graphene Centre at the University of
Cambridge on the fundamental study,
and application of low-dimensional
materials in ultrafast optics, recently
broadening the scope of this study
– through a collaboration with
Nanjing University, China – to
include graphene-enabled
plasmonic devices.
Additionally, diversification of
theories and models applied widely
in my research in optics has led to
collaboration with the Swinburne
University of Technology, where
nonlinear Schrödinger-type equations
are applied to understand the dynamics
of deep ocean waterwaves. In
particular, modulation instability and
the formation of rogue solitons have
particularly strong analogues in
both the optical and hydrodynamic
context.
1. “Tunable Q-switched fiber laser based on
saturable edge-state absorption in few-layer
molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂),” R. I.
Woodward, E. J. R. Kelleher, F. Torrisi, T.
71
Research
Hasan, R. C. T. Howe, G. Hu, S. V. Popov, J.
R. Taylor, Optics Express, Accepted for
publication, (2014).
2. “Double wall carbon nanotubes for wideband, ultrafast pulse generation,” T. Hasan,
Z. Sun, P. Tan, D. Popa, E. Flahaut, E. J. R.
Kelleher, F. Bonaccorso, F. Wang, Z. Jiang,
F. Torrisi, G. Privertera, V. Nicolosi and A. C.
Ferrari, ACS Nano 8, 4836 (2014).
3. “Chirped pulse formation in ultra-long
mode-locked fiber lasers,” E. J. R. Kelleher,
M. Erkintalo, J. C. Travers, Optics Letters 39,
1398 (2014).
4. “Simultaneous scalar and cross-phase
modulation instabilities in highly birefringent
photonic crystal fiber,” A. Kudlinski, A.
Bendahmane, D. Labat, S. Virally, R. T.
Murray, E. J. R. Kelleher and A. Mussot,
Optics Express 21, 8437 (2013).
Professor Martin McCall
‘interrupt-without-interrupt’
functionality potentially allows
priority processing whilst a clock
signal remains undistorted, despite
being temporally suspended.
In another project, we have recently
been able to calculate the modes of
a laser for which the active medium
is structurally chiral. Such lasers
issue circularly polarized light, of
potential interest and application to
3-D display technology.
1. Transformation Optics and Cloaking:
McCall, M.W., CONTEMPORARY PHYSICS,
Volume: 54 Issue: 6 273 (2013).
2. Cloaks, editors, and bubbles: applications
of spacetime transformation theory: Kinsler,
P. and McCall, M.W., ANN. PHYS (BERLIN),
Volume: 526 Issue: 1-2 51 (2014).
3. Transformation devices: Carpets in space
and space-time: Kinsler, P. and McCall, M.
W., PHYS. REV. A. (Accepted) (2014).
4. Modes of structurally chiral lasers: Topf,
D. M. and McCall, M. W., PHYS. REV. A.
(Accepted) (2014).
Dr James McGinty
Our recent research has sought to
understand some of the
implications of our introduction of
the so-called Spacetime cloak in
2011. This new type of cloak was
based on a radically novel
interpretation of transformation
optics which allowed the
concealment of events rather than
objects. It was subsequently
demonstrated experimentally. We
have studied how event cloaks can
be designed for simple wave
systems, and have examined their
directional nature – events
concealed in one direction are
visible, but distorted, in another.
We have considered applications in
optical processing, where an
72
Photonics
to cm sized volumes is optical
projection tomography (OPT). OPT
is the optical analogue of X-ray CT,
where wide-field images of a
transparent sample are acquired
while the sample rotates. I have
been working on improvements to
enhance both the spatial resolution
and light efficiency while minimising
the acquisition time. The condition
for transparency can be realised for
ex vivo samples by chemical
clearing processes – essentially
exchanging the water in the sample
for a liquid of higher refractive index
that matches that of the tissue and
therefore suppresses the scattering
of light. For in vivo imaging,
samples that are inherently
transparent can be used, for
example the nematode worm and
the zebrafish embryo (∼mm scale).
In addition to producing 3-D
structural reconstructions, I am also
translating the quantitative
techniques applicable in
microscopy to OPT. In particular I
am working on techniques to realise
time-lapse 3-D imaging of dynamic
processes and fluorescence lifetime
imaging for measuring protein
interactions using Förster
resonance energy transfer.
R.K. Mitchell, A. Mondragon, et al. ‘Selective
disruption of Tcf7l2 in the pancreatic β cell
impairs secretory function and lowers β cell
mass.’ Hum. Mol. Genet. [Epub ahead of
print] (2014).
M. Kone, T.J. Pullen, et al. ‘LKB1 and AMPK
differentially regulate pancreatic β-cell
identity.’ FASEB. J. 28: 4972-4985 (2014).
My main area of research is centred
on developing techniques for
quantitative 3-D optical imaging of
mesoscopic sized samples (∼mmcm), with particular emphasis on
biological and biomedical
applications. One such imaging
technique for 3-D imaging of
transparent samples that is scalable
L. Chen, S. Kumar, et al. ‘Remote focal
scanning optical projection tomography with
an electrically tunable lens. Biomed.’ Opt.
Express. 5: 3367-3375 (2014).
Research
Professor Roy Taylor
The work of the Femtosecond
Optics Group is directed towards the
development of spectral and
temporal versatility in fibre based
sources with the objective of
applications and potential
commercialization.
Compact, short pulse, moderate
average power (~10s W), fully fibre
integrated, chirped pulse, masteroscillator power fibre amplifier
configurations are being developed,
with the emphasis on Yb-doped
systems for operation in the 1 μm
window. Following first stage pulse
compression in conventional grating
pairs, generation of pulses ~100s
femtoseconds allows further
compression in gas filled photonic
crystal fibre grating assemblies to
pulses ~10s femtoseconds that can
be applied to non-linear conversion
studies in gases, allowing tuneable
uv generation. Extension of the
technique to Tm based fibre
assemblies has supplied moderate
average power, femtosecond pump
pulses for broad band supercontinuum
generation in the 2-3.5 μm range in
silica based fibres containing a high
Germania content. With planned
power scaling, through initial pulse
compression spectral coverage up to
5 μm should be possible.
Broadly tuneable visible generation
in compact all fibre configurations
has been achieved through using
frequency-doubled, laser-diode
seeded, single-pass cascaded
Raman generation in integrated
silica fibre assemblies. With near
infra-red pumping, highly efficient
optical parametric generation in
photonic crystal fibres has also
allowed spectral generation towards
visible wavelengths.
In collaboration with Polytechnique
Montreal pulse compression of
pulses from giant chirped pulsed
fibre lasers has been demonstrated
in long ( up to 0.5m) chirped fibre
Bragg gratings, confirming
theoretical models on the
performance of this unique class of
laser.
1.Mid-infrared Raman-soliton continuum
pumped by a nanotube–mode-locked subpicosecond Tm-doped MOPFA” M.Zhang,
E.J.R. Kelleher, T.H. Runcorn, V.M.
Mashinsky, O.I. Medvedkov, E.M. Dianov, D.
Popa, S. Milana, T. Hasan, Z. Sun, F.
Bonaccorso, Z. Jiang, E. Flahunt, B.H.
Chapman, A.C. Ferrari, S.V. Popov and J.R.
Taylor Optics Express 21, 23261 (2013)
“Widely tunable polarization maintaining
photonic crystal fiber based parametric
wavelength conversion” R.T. Murray, E.J.R.
Kelleher, J.M. Stone, S.V. Popov, A. Mussot,
A. Kudlinski and J.R. Taylor
Optics Express 21, 15826 (2013)
Professor Peter Török
Photonics
Bioengineering, includes subcellular resolution confocal Brillouin
microscopy to observe elastic
properties of endothelial cells of the
Schlemm canal, both low and high
resolution Brillouin imaging to study
the stiffness of coronary artery walls
and Brillouin endoscopy to provide
in-vivo analysis of membrane
stiffness of plaques in coronary
arteries. Our Brillouin microscope is
also used to study mechanical
properties of biofilms and those
matrices they populate. This work is
carried out in collaboration with
Thorsten Wohland and Yehuda
Cohen of NUS.
Simultaneously, in collaboration
with Stefan Maier, capitalising on
our earlier work on Müller matrix
polarimeter microscopy, we are in
the process of building a
spectroscopic version of this
microscope that will permit 3D
functional imaging of plasmonic
structures and photonic crystals.
We also have developed, together
with Stefan Maier, a novel form of
super-resolving optical microscope
to map the electromagnetic field
around subwavelength plasmonic
structures, such as nanoantennae
that cannot be observed by any
other means.
1. Macias-Romero C, Foreman MR, Munro
PRT, Török P, 2014, Confocal polarization
imaging in high-numerical-aperture space,
OPTICS LETTERS, Vol: 39, Pages: 23222325, ISSN: 0146-9592
2. Antonacci G, Foreman MR, Paterson C,
Török P, 2013, Spectral broadening in
Brillouin imaging, APPLIED PHYSICS
LETTERS, Vol: 103, ISSN: 0003-6951
Our group is developing advanced
techniques in optical imaging,
sensing and microscopy. Our work
on Brillouin scattering sensing and
imaging, done in collaboration with
Carl Paterson from Physics and
Rob Krams and Darryl Overby from
3. Foreman MR, Sivan Y, Maier SA, Török P,
2012, Independence of plasmonic near-field
enhancements to illumination beam profile,
PHYSICAL REVIEW B, Vol: 86, ISSN: 10980121
4. Foreman MR, Török P, 2011, Spin-orbit
coupling and conservation of angular
momentum flux in non-paraxial imaging of
forbidden radiation, NEW JOURNAL OF
PHYSICS, Vol: 13, ISSN: 1367-2630
73
Plasma Physics
We are one of the largest plasma physics groups in the world, and deal with plasmas ranging from the low
densities and temperatures found in industrial processes to the extreme conditions at the centre of a laser driven
capsule of fusion fuel or the core of a star. The group's research links experiments, many performed on in-house
facilities to complex theory and numerical simulations using super computers. We also host the Centre for Inertial
FusionStudies which connects high energy density science to the search for fusion energy production, and the
Institute of Shock Physics which creates and studies materials and systems under extremes of pressure.
STRONGLY MAGNETISED PLASMAS
S Lebedev, RA Smith, J Chittenden,
S Bland, F Suzuki-Vidal.
We build and operate multi-terawatt
(1012W) electrical machines and
short-pulse lasers to create and study
exotic plasma conditions. The group’s
1.4 million amp Z-pinch MAGPIE is
the largest open-access machine of
its kind in the world and linked to the
UK's largest University based laser
system Cerberus. MAGPIE allows us
to creates plasmas from arrays of
wires or foils and then accelerate or
‘pinche’ them with strong magnetic
fields. We use this to launch high
speed ~100 kms-1 plasma jets or
shock waves which simulate astrophysical processes such as star
formation in the laboratory.
The group’s experimental work is supported by complex computer simulations using tools we develop such as
the 3D Magneto-hydrodynamics computer code GORGON. This is now
used to simulate plasma dynamics in
experiments in laboratories across the
world including the 26 mega-amp Z
facility in the US. Gorgon is also used
to simulate complex laser based
experiments such as the stability of
NIF inertial fusion implosions.
HIGH ENERGY DENSITY PLASMAS
Z Najmudin, S Mangles, RA Smith, R
Kingham
The group creates and studies high
energy density plasmas using powerful lasers, both at Imperial and major
laboratories worldwide. Lasers can
accelerate particles to very high energies over remarkably short distances
and we have produced GeV electron
beams in just 1 cm of plasma. These
beams can be used to create ultrabright x-ray sources and could one
day replace low energy synchrotrons.
We have used them to trial new applications including medical imaging and
we are also exploring similar laser
driven techniques for cancer therapy,
where the short stopping distance of a
proton beam may be used to target
tumours with low collateral damage
and high precision.
74
Cylindrically converging supersonic plasma streams imaged inside a wire array z-pinch (left)
and a 3D simulation of a NIF laser fusion implosion (right).
INERTIAL FUSION
S Rose, J. Chittenden, R Kingham,
Z Najmudin
Compressing and heating a mix of
hydrogen isotopes can lead to thermonuclear fusion and potentially a
huge energy release that might one
day underpin a new generation of
power stations. In fusion ignition
experiments the plasma density and
temperatures created far exceed
those at the centre of the sun.
Through experiment and computer
simulations we study both fundamental plasma processes at these conditions, and advanced fusion concepts
such as "fast ignition" and "shock
ignition" that may allow us to reach
"breakeven", the point where more
energy is released from the plasma
than required to heat and confine it.
The tools and concepts we develop
for inertial fusion research also allow
us to study in the laboratory scale
models of some of nature's most
extreme phenomena. In "laboratory
astrophysics" experiments we probe
the formation of accretion disks
around black holes and the dynamics
of supernova explosions.
MAGNETIC CONFINEMENT FUSION
M Coppins, S Cowley, M. Lilley
We investigate magnetic confinement
fusion using a doughnut shaped
Tokamak, in which a low density
plasma is held inside strong magnetic
fields and heated over multiple seconds with a combination of electric
current, microwaves and particle
beams. The world’s largest and most
successful Tokamak JET is based at
Culham, along with a more compact
machine, MAST.
Tokamaks are affected by dust, small
grains of solid material that are carried
along with the plasma. Dusty plasmas
occur naturally in space and are also
found in industry and affect the production of materials and components.
We study them because of their
potential to trap radioactive tritium and
disrupt future magnetic fusion test
machines.
A 3D tomogram of a ~2mm cube of human bone
imaged using laser driven betatron radiation.
Research
Dr Simon Bland
states produced. This technique
demonstrates the ability to
miniaturise high pressure
experiments, and, with the X-pinch,
could provide a new probing
method for large facilities.
1. “Radiative precursors driven by
converging blast waves in noble gases”,
Burdiak et al, Phys Plasmas 21 033302
(2014).
2. “Metal liner-driven quasi-isentropic
compression of deuterium” Weinwurm et al,
Phys Plasma 20 092701 (2013)
On the MAGPIE facility a series of
experiments examined the
production of radiative shock waves
within gas filled cylindrical liners,
and how the application of a
magnetic field affected their
dynamics (1). Such experiments
could influence the design of
magnetised inertial fusion targets,
and in collaboration with
Loughborough University a 10Tesla
magnetic field system is being
developed to aid experiments.
A new method of isentropically
compressing a cylinder of material
to extreme pressures (>>Mbar) has
been explored (2). Critically this
technique produces large volumes
of compressed material, held at
pressure for many ns, hopefully
enabling phase changes – e.g.
metallisation of hydrogen – to occur.
The technique is presently being
examined at Sandia National labs.
Working with colleagues at CEA
Gramat, an ‘X-pinch’ system has
been developed to provide X-ray
diffraction measurements of
materials being dynamically
compressed (3). In a separate
series of collaborations with the
CEA and ESRF, a low energy (50J)
laser was used to drive very small
samples of iron to MBar pressures,
whilst the high precision, micron
sized X-ray beam from the
synchrotron was used to explore the
3. Characteristics of a molybdenum X-pinch
X-ray source as a probe source for X-ray
diffraction studies, Zucchini et al, submitted
to RSI
Professor Jerry Chittenden
Plasma
cylindrical fusion targets driven by the
20MA generator at Sandia National
Laboratory. We have adapted this work
to develop new techniques for
isentropic compression of materials
which can be used to recreate the
extreme conditions at the centre of gas
giant planets. We are also utilising
kinetic models of the fast particle
species within these plasmas to study
the generation of K-alpha photons by
runaway electrons, the generation of
secondary nuclear fusion reaction
products, beam-target reaction
processes due to runaway ions and
the ignition of a fusion plasma by
energetic alpha particles.
1. Effects of perturbations and radial profiles on
ignition of inertial confinement fusion hotspots,
Taylor S, Chittenden JP, Physics of Plasmas, 21,
p062701 (2014).
2. Relativistically correct DD and DT neutron
spectra, Appelbe B, Chittenden JP, High Energy
Density Physics, High Energy Density Physics,
11, p30 (2014)
3. Stability of shocks relating to the shock ignition
inertial fusion energy scheme, Davie CJ, Bush
IA, Evans RG, Physics of Plasmas, 21, p082701
(2014)
Our work concentrates on numerical
modelling of high energy density
physics experiments relating to Inertial
Confinement Fusion and magnetised
Z-pinch plasmas. We have recently
developed a new 3D radiation
hydrodynamics model ‘Chimera’,
designed to simulate ICF experiments
on the National Ignition Facility. We
have been collaborating with LLNL on
understanding the influence of
radiation asymmetry and capsule
defects on the energy yield from fusion.
Much of this can be inferred from
detailed analysis of the distribution of
neutron energies emerging from the
reacting region. Similarly, using our
magneto-hydrodynamics codes, we
have studied the role of material
strength in determining the dominant
instability wavelengths in imploding
4. Metal liner-driven quasi-isentropic
compression of deuterium, Weinwurm M, Bland
SN, Chittenden JP, Physics of Plasmas, 20,
p092701 (2013).
Dr Michael Coppins
Our work on dusty plasmas
concentrates on the basic physics
of the dust-plasma interaction, and
dust in tokamaks. We collaborate
with John Allen (Oxford), Umberto
75
Research
deAngelis (Naples), and Alex
Robinson (RAL). On the basic physics
side, three topics can be mentioned
from the last 12 months. Firstly, we
have found the equilibrium charge
distribution for large (i.e., larger
than a Debye length) dust grains
[1], due to fluctuations in the charge.
Secondly, the planar source-sheath
configuration has been studied
computationally and theoretically
[2]. Although dust is not directly
involved, results from this work
have subsequently been used to
construct a new model for the
charging of large dust grains.
Thirdly, the charging of small dust
grains in a flowing plasma, and the
formation of associated structures
in the surrounding plasma, has
been studied using kinetic theory
[3]. In contrast to the large grain
case, we find upstream structures.
In the other area, dust in tokamaks,
we are currently preparing a paper
on hypervelocity dust [4], i.e.,
particles with speeds > 1.0 km/s
which have been reported in some
tokamaks. It has been suggested
that such particles may significantly
damage the vessel walls. Our
studies indicate that this is not the
case.
1. D.M. Thomas, M. Coppins, Equilibrium
probability distribution of a conductive
sphere's floating charge in a collisionless,
drifting Maxwellian plasma, Phys. Rev. E, 88,
023110 (2013).
2. N. Rizopoulou, A.P.L. Robinson, M.
Coppins, M. Bacharis, A kinetic study of the
source-collector sheath system in a drifting
plasma, Plasma Sources Science Technol.,
22, 035003 (2013).
3. C. Stavrou, U deAngelis, J.E. Allen, M.
Coppins, A small body in a plasma: effects of
ion flow and capture on potential, poster
presented at 56th APS Annual Conference
on Plasma Physics (New Orleans, 2014).
4. N. Somboonkittichai, M. Coppins, M.
Bacharis, U. deAngelis, High velocity dust
grain production in tokamaks (in
preparation).
76
Dr Robert Kingham
Plasma
ignition: Robinson, A. P. L.; Strozzi D.J.; Davies
J.R.; et al., NUCLEAR FUSION 54, 054003
(2014)
2. Hybrid simulations of fast electron
propagation including magnetized plasma
transport and non-local effects in the background
plasma: Williams B. E. R.; Kingham R. J.,
PLASMA PHYS. CONTROLLED FUSION 55,
124009 (2013)
3. Super-Gaussian Transport Theory and the
Field-Generating Thermal Instability in LaserPlasmas: Bissell J. J.; Ridgers C. P.; Kingham R.
J., NEW J. PHYS. 15, 025017 (2013)
Professor Sergey Lebedev
Our recent work focuses on theory and
simulation of high-power laser-plasma
interaction, in the context of Inertial
Fusion Energy and High Energy
Density Plasmas. We have been
developing and using a new
computational approach for calculating
transport of laser-generated relativistic
electron beams for igniting precompressed fuel. Our semi-kinetic
treatment of the background plasma,
including magnetic field, has revealed
new mechanisms capable of altering
beam propagation. In collaboration
with colleagues at the University of
York and LLNL, we are using our
Vlasov-Fokker-Planck codes to
validate and improve the heat flow
model used in radiation-hydrodynamic
codes, for improved modelling of the
NIF. We continue research into the
dynamics of under-dense plasma
heated by nanosecond laser beams.
We have extended our magnetothermal instability to include both
hydrodynamics and non-equilibrium
thermodynamics due to nonMaxwellian electron distributions. To
get a complete self-consistent
description of the entire system,
refraction and filamentation of the laser
beam has been added. We are
collaborating on several, multiinstitutional laser experiments at UK
laser facilities (Vulcan and Orion) to
explore this complex physics
1. Theory of fast electron transport for fast
Our experimental work at the
Imperial College’s MAGPIE pulsed
power facility concentrated on
studies of high energy density
plasmas and on development and
implementation of advanced plasma
diagnostics such as collective
Thomson scattering, Faraday
rotation and interferometry. We
continued work on the physics of
wire array z-pinches, focusing on
detailed measurements of the
distribution of the ablated plasma,
advection of magnetic field by the
plasma flows, and on collisionless
interpenetration of counterstreaming ions. We also continued
and extended our work in the area
of Laboratory Astrophysics: we
investigated properties of strong
shocks created by colliding
supersonic magnetised plasma
flows and found that two-fluid
plasma effects (Hall term) strongly
Research
affect the shock structure; we
detected existence of protons
trapped and accelerated to MeV
energies by the MHD processes in
the laboratory magnetic-tower jets
under conditions scalable to the
dynamics of magnetised
astrophysical jets. We continue
collaborations on this work with
colleagues at Rochester, Cornell,
Rice and Sorbonne Universities.
1. Interpenetration, deflection, and
stagnation of cylindrically convergent
magnetized supersonic tungsten plasma
flows: Swadling, G. F.; Lebedev, S.V.;
Harvey-Thompson, A.J.; et al., PHYSICAL
REVIEW LETTERS, Volume: 113, 035003
(2014).
2. The formation of reverse shocks in
magnetized high energy density supersonic
plasma flows: Lebedev, S.V.; Suttle, L.;
Swadling, G.F.; et al., PHYSICS OF
PLASMAS, Volume: 21, 056305 (2014).
3. Diagnosing collisions of magnetized, high
energy density plasma flows using a
combination of collective Thomson
scattering, Faraday rotation and
interferometry: Swadling, G.F.; Lebedev,
S.V.; Hall, G.N. et al., REVIEW SCIENTIFIC
INSTRUMENTS, Volume: 85, 11E502
(2014).
4. Observation of energetic protons trapped
in laboratory magnetic-tower jets: SuzukiVidal, F.; Patankar, S.; Lebedev, S.V. et al.,
NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS, Volume: 15,
125008 (2013).
Dr Stuart Mangles
imaging, with both soft tissue phasecontrast imaging and tomographic
reconstruction of bone demonstrated.
A collaborative experiment with QUB
also demonstrated the potential for
using interaction of the laser wakefield
electron beam with a colliding high
power laser to produce a bright source
of γ–rays [2]. For the generation of ion
beams work continued both at the
Rutherford Lab [3] and on experiments
performed at the ATF (Brookhaven
National Laboratory), where a
successful experiment to demonstrate
the importance of plasma profiling on
shock wave acceleration of ions was
reported. An initiative to develop an ion
source in the basement of Blackett Lab
in collaboration with Roland Smith and
Piero Posocco has also begun. Our
development of a plasma source for
the planned proton driven wakefield
experiments at CERN continued with
the extension of the grant for a further
year [4], and improved reliability of the
plasma discharge.
1. Laser wakefield accelerator based light
sources: potential applications and requirements:
F Albert, F.; Thomas, A.G.R.; Mangles S.P.D. et
al., PLASMA PHYSICS AND CONTROLLED
FUSION, Volume 56, Issue 8, 084015 (2014)
2. Multi-pulse laser wakefield acceleration: a new
route to efficient, high-repetition-rate plasma
accelerators and high flux radiation sources:
Hooker, S.M.; Bartolini, R.; Mangles S.P.D. et
al., JOURNAL OF PHYSICS B: ATOMIC,
MOLECULAR AND OPTICAL PHYSICS, to be
published 2014
3. Direct imaging of the dynamics of a laserplasma accelerator operating in the
bubble-regime: Sävert, A; Mangles S.P.D;
Schnell, M et al, arXiv 1402.3052 (2014)
Following our work on characterisation
of laser wakefield driven betatron x-ray
sources [1], a successful experiment
performed on the Astra Gemini Facility
was able to demonstrate the
application of this source for medical
Plasma
Professor Zulfikar Najmudin
Following our work on characterisation
of laser wakefield driven betatron xray sources [1], a successful
experiment performed on the Astra
Gemini Facility was able to demonstrate
the application of this source for
medical imaging, with both soft
tissue phase-contrast imaging and
tomographic reconstruction of bone
demonstrated. A collaborative
experiment with QUB also
demonstrated the potential for using
interaction of the laser wakefield
electron beam with a colliding high
power laser to produce a bright
source of γ–rays [2]. For the
generation of ion beams work
continued both at the Rutherford
Lab [3] and on experiments
performed at the ATF (Brookhaven
National Laboratory), where a
successful experiment to demonstrate
the importance of plasma profiling
on shock wave acceleration of ions
was reported. An initiative to
develop an ion source in the
basement of Blackett Lab in
collaboration with Roland Smith and
Piero Posocco has also begun. Our
development of a plasma source for
the planned proton driven wakefield
experiments at CERN continued
with the extension of the grant for a
further year [4], and improved
reliability of the plasma discharge.
1. Najmudin, Z., et al., Compact laser
accelerators for X-ray phase-contrast
77
Research
imaging. Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society a-Mathematical Physical and
Engineering Sciences, 2014. 372(2010): p.
20130032.
2. G. Sarri, et al., Ultrahigh Nonlinear
Brilliance Multi-MeV γ-Ray Beams from
Nonlinear Relativistic Thomson Scattering.
Physical Review Letters, 2014: p. To be
published.
3. Green, J.S., et al., Enhanced proton
beam collimation in the ultra-intense short
pulse regime. Plasma Physics and
Controlled Fusion, 2014. 56(8): p. 084001.
4. Assmann, R., et al., Proton-driven plasma
wakefield acceleration: a path to the future of
high-energy particle physics. Plasma Physics
and Controlled Fusion, 2014. 56(8): p.
084013.
Professor Steven Rose
working with scientists at the US
Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, home to the National
Ignition Facility laser system, to try to
get closer to that goal.
We are also interested in developing
fundamental physics experiments
using HED plasmas produced by highpower lasers. Recently we published
the design of an experiment that will,
for the first time, demonstrate the twophoton Breit-Wheeler QED process in
the laboratory (turning pure light into
matter). We are now working closely
with several groups around the world
to undertake that ground-breaking
experiment.
1. "A photon-photon collider in a vacuum
hohlraum", O J Pike, F Mackenroth, E G Hill and
S J Rose, Nature Photonics, 8, 434
(2014).http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/
nphoton.2014.95
2. "Intensity enhancement of O VI ultraviolet
emission lines in solar spectra due to opacity", F
Keenan, J G Doyle, M S Madjarska, S J Rose, L
A Bowler, and J Britton, L McCrink and M
Mathioudakis, Ap J Letts, 78, L39 (2014).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/784/2/L39
3. "Electron-positron pair creation in burning
thermonuclear plasmas", S J Rose, High Energy
Density Physics, 9, 480 (2013).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hedp.2013.04.002
My research group works in the area of
High Energy Density Physics (HEDP)
which is the study of matter in the
plasma state at temperatures typically
in excess of a million degrees at solid
density and above. Our work is
theoretical and we develop new
models of HED plasmas. We are also
involved in the design and analysis of
experiments which use high-power
lasers or pulsed-power machines to
test the validity of those models and
generally to better understand the
HED regime.
Our work is relevant to Inertial
Confinement Fusion (ICF) which
attempts to produce energy gain by
thermonuclear reactions in HED
plasmas. Energy gain has not yet
been demonstrated and our group is
78
4. "A Monte Carlo algorithm for degenerate
plasmas", A E Turrell, M Sherlock, and S J Rose,
J Comp Phys 249, 13 (2013).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2013.03.052
Plasma
Professor Roland Smith
My research focuses on the
development and exploitation of
advanced laser sources to produce
ultra-short and ultra-high-intensity
light pulses. We use these to
create and probe exotic states of
matter, ranging from laboratory scale
simulations of supernova remnants
and plasma jets launched during star
formation through to the subfemtosecond dynamics of
nanometer scale "clusters" of
atoms. To underpin our
experiments we operate the UK's
largest University based laser
Cerberus, which delivers high
energy ns and sub-ps pulses to
multiple experimental areas.
Cerberus is also linked to MAGPIE,
one of the world's largest Zpinches. This combination of
pulsed power and laser systems
allows us to explore the complex
behaviour of high-energy-density
plasmas in which huge magnetic
fields play a dominant role. We
also develop new types of target for
laser-matter interaction studies,
most recently a unique optical
levitation trap able to fix isolated
few-micron objects with micron
precision in vacuum. We have
recently used high-energy laser
probes to measure the distribution of
magnetic fields dragged about by a
high velocity plasma flow impacting
Research
a surface. We have also shown
that levitated droplet targets provide
a unique way of creating small,
high-brightness x-ray sources with
minimal debris, and extremely low
electromagnetic pulses.
1. Interpenetration, Deflection, and
Stagnation of Cylindrically Convergent
Magnetized Supersonic Tungsten Plasma
Flows. Swadling, G, Lebedev, SV, HarveyThompson, AJ, Rozmus, W, Burdiak, GC,
Suttle, L, Patankar, S, Smith, RA, Bennett,
M, Hall, GN, Suzuki-Vidal, F and Yuan, J. .
Phys. Rev. Lett. Vol. 113, Iss. 3, Art. No.
035003 (2014).
2. The formation of reverse shocks in
magnetized high energy density supersonic
plasma flows. Lebedev, SV, Suttle, L,
Swadling, GF, Bennett, M, Bland, SN,
Burdiak, GC, Burgess, D, Chittenden, JP,
Ciardi, A, Clemens, A, de Grouchy, P, Hall,
GN, Hare, JD, Kalmoni, N, Niasse, N,
Patankar, S, Sheng, L, Smith, RA, SuzukiVidal, F, Yuan, J, Frank, A, Blackman, EG
and Drake, RP. Phys. Plas, Vol. 21, Iss. 5,
(2014).
3. Flat-top picosecond pulses generated by
chirped spectral modulation from a Nd:YLF
regenerative amplifier for pumping few-cycle
optical parametric amplifiers. Mecseki, K,
Bigourd, D, Patankar, S, Stuart, NH and
Smith, RA. Appl. Optics. Vol. 53, Iss. 10,
PP 2229-2235 (2014).
4. Spectral enhancement in optical
parametric amplifiers in the saturated
regime. Bigourd, D, Patankar, S, Robbie, SI,
Doyle, HW, Mecseki, K, Stuart, N, Hadjicosti,
K, Leblanc, N, New, GHC and Smith, RA.
Appl. Phys. B Vol. 113 Iss. 4, PP 627-633
(2013).
Dr Francisco Vidal Suzuki
experiments, a new field also known
as Laboratory Plasma Astrophysics.
The experiments are typically
conducted on the MAGPIE pulsedpower facility at Imperial College, with
astrophysical applications ranging from
the formation of jets in young stars, the
physics of accretion discs, and
supersonic, magnetised plasma flows
and shocks. The experiments are part
of collaborative work with researchers
worldwide including Observatoire de
Paris (France), Universidad de las
Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) and
University of Rochester (US). In early
2015 I will be leading a series of
experiments looking at the formation of
radiative shocks of astrophysical
interest at the world-class Orion laser
at AWE Aldermaston, as part of a
successful bid on their academic
access program.
Plasma
1. Observation of energetic protons trapped in
laboratory magnetic-tower jets: Suzuki-Vidal, F.;
Patankar, S.; Lebedev, S. V.; et al., New Journal
of Physics 15, 125008 (2013)
2. Interaction of radiatively cooled plasma jets
with neutral gases for laboratory astrophysics
studies: Suzuki-Vidal, F.; Lebedev, S. V.;
Krishnan, M.; Skidmore, J.; et al., High Energy
Density Physics 9, 141-147 (2013)
3. New probing techniques of radiative shocks:
Stehlé, C.; Kozlová, M.; Larour, J.; Nejdl, J.;
Champion, N.; Barroso, P.; Suzuki-Vidal, F.; et
al., Optics Communications 285, Issue 1, p. 6469 (2012)
My research is aimed at reproducing
astrophysical phenomena by the
means of carefully scaled laboratory
79
The Institute of Shock Physics
Over the past few years the Institute of Shock Physics has established a diverse research profile probing the
response of condensed matter under ultra-fast and extreme compression. These necessarily multi-scale, multidisciplinary studies require both experimental and computational activities extending to MBar pressures,
intermediate to very high strain rate regimes, and from kilometers to sub-micrometer length scales. Supported by
a unique suite of state-of-the-art experimental facilities the institutes’ research activities understanding
fundamental processes occurring in materials under extreme conditions, find relevance to a wide range of
applications in both natural and man-made environments; from fusion technologies to astrophysical events such
as interplanetary impact.
Time sequence of synchrotron X-ray images captured during the impact loading of a high-Z rapid prototyped lattice.
Synchrotron X-ray Studies of
Extreme Processes
Dr Daniel Eakins, Dr David Chapman
We are developing a new capability for
the X-ray imaging of extreme physical
processes which leverages the brilliance of third generation light sources.
Classically our understanding of materials under extreme conditions is
determined indirectly using non-penetrating diagnostics (visible light); the
use of X-rays provides a unique
opportunity to probe within a material
while it is dynamically loaded, to
directly study its equation of state,
strength and failure properties.
By integrating a purpose-built impact
system with the I12 high-energy
beamline at the Diamond Light
Source, we have performed the first
experiments involving time-resolved
synchrotron X-ray imaging of dynamic
compression in high-Z materials. This
pioneering experimental work will enable
more faithful macroscopic representation
of statistical microstates in heterogeneous systems, the study of shock
energy localization during instability
growth, and direct density probing of
material states under extreme conditions. The team also collaborates
internationally participating in dynamic
X-ray experiments in both Europe and
the US. A recent highlight is the
involvement in the first EXAFS experiment on Fe driven to Mbar pressures
using a high-power laser at the ESRF.
Royal British Legion Centre for
Blast Injury Studies
Dr William G Proud
80
CBIS conducts research into understanding the process of blast injury on
people. It has strong links to the Institute
of Shock Physics. The institute has
designed and instrumented a range of
loading devices for the centre including shock tubes and Split Hopkinson
Pressure Bars (SHPB).
Our overall aim is to ensure that the
loading conditions on these complex
materials are understood and are in
the correct pressure-time space for
blast processes.
Two specific research projects highlight
the synergistic nature of the interaction.
(a) examining the effect of representative pressure pulse from the blast
waves on STEM cells. The SHPB was
used to provide the loading and a
sample cell was developed which had
to be fully calibrated mechanically, able to
withstand the pressures imposed on it
and also be biologically inert. The
results indicate that pressures as low
as 100 atmospheres for 100 microseconds can result in the destruction of
10% of STEM cells. The debris from
these cells is biologically active and
may cause longer term pathologies
(b) Modifying the output of the Shock
Tube to produce the blast loading seen
from a range of explosive masses, over
distance through a variety of mitigation. This required precise control of
the shock tube operation. As a result
of this we can produce blast loadings
equivalent to 25 kg of TNT at 2 m distance or, at the other extreme, the
loading produced inside a vehicle from
a small external charge.
Pulsed Power driven High Pressure
Physics Experiments
Dr Simon Bland, Dr Jeremy Chittenden
We are developing a series of new
capabilities to drive matter into high
pressure states without the use of
shock waves. Such capabilities allow
new areas of the equation of state to
be explored, enabling low temperature
phase changes to be examined and
provide the basis for studying the
cores of giant planets planetary cores.
The new 2 Mega-Ampere current generator, MACH, has recently begun
operations, demonstrating methods of
tailoring the pressure drive onto an
target. Simultaneously the use of convergent targets, to significantly
increase the available pressures, has
been explored using the world leading
Gorgon MHD code. To directly probe
the states produced in these experiments, a new, ns timescale, multi-KeV
X-ray source is being developed with
colleagues at CEA Gramat. Already
this source has been used to demonstrate X-ray diffraction and future
experiments will explore its use in Xray absorption spectrometry.
Diffraction pattern produced using an Xpinch at CEA Gramat.
Acknowledgements ; The Institute acknowledges the support of Imperial College
London and AWE, Aldermaston
Research
Dr Daniel Eakins
Institute of Shock Physics
understanding of the role of
defects/interfaces can lead to a new
design capability for materials with
predefined shock properties.
1. R.E. Winter, M. Cotton, E.J. Harris, D.J.
Chapman, D.E. Eakins, G. McShane, "Plateimpact loading of cellular structures formed
by selective laser melting", Modelling and
Simulation in Materials Science and
Engineering (2014) vol. 22 (2) pp. 025021
doi:10.1088/0965-0393/22/2/025021.
My research is directed toward the
mechanisms of deformation in
condensed matter at extreme
strain-rates, from the bulk to submicron scale. I focus on the
transition between elastic and
plastic behaviour, with specific
attention to the processes of
ultrafast inelastic deformation
(defect generation, plasticity,
localisation, fracture, etc.). My work
seeks to resolve the relationship
between the structure of solid
phases and their pathway through
various defect states, from the early
moments of loading to their bulk
conclusions. Within this area, I am
presently working on the effect of
alloying and other impurities on
ultrafast elastoplasticity, new
analytical methods for simulating
true dislocation dynamics under
dynamic loading, and the
temperature dependence of
dynamic fracture mechanisms.
My work also involves the study of
heterogeneous materials, and the
statistical representation of nonuniform material response at
various microstructural levels. This
area extends my earlier work on
powder systems into new territory
through the coupling of novel
experimental techniques and
spatially-resolved diagnostics with
2D/3D numerical simulation. One of
the primary drivers for this work is
to establish a “Materials by Design”
theme, whereby improved
2. D.R. Jones, D.J. Chapman, D.E. Eakins,
"A gas gun based technique for studying the
role of temperature in dynamic fracture and
fragmentation", Journal of Applied Physics
(2013) vol. 114 pp. 173508
doi:10.1063/1.4828867.
3. B. Gurrutxaga-Lerma, D.S. Balint, D. Dini,
D.E. Eakins, A.P. Sutton, "A dynamic discrete
dislocation plasticity method for the
simulation of plastic relaxation under shock
loading", Proceedings of the Royal Society
A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering
Sciences (2013) vol. 469 (2156) pp.
20130141–20130141
doi:10.1098/rspa.2013.0141.
4. V.H. Whitley, S.D. McGrane, D.E. Eakins,
C.A. Bolme, D.S. Moore, J.F. Bingert, "The
elastic-plastic response of aluminum films to
ultrafast laser-generated shocks", Journal of
Applied Physics (2011) vol. 109 (1) pp.
013505 doi:10.1063/1.3236654.
Dr William Proud
My personal research is best
summarised as:(a) the high-rate
loading of granular and piezo-electric
materials, determining how their nonlinear behaviour changes with stress
level, load duration, strain-rate, and
temperature (b) optical effects of shock
in birefringant materials to develop a
fundamental understanding of nonisotropic materials (c) biological and
other soft materials under blast and
impact loading. I also retain a string
interest in energetic materials. The
references below are relatively brief
conference papers, more detailed
articles can be found visiting the
Institute of Shock Physics Website.
The area of shock physics is multidisciplinary and this research has
progressed quickly thanks to
colleagues in bio-engineering, civil
engineering, medicine, materials
science and earth sciences and
engineering. I am closely involved with
the management and research
direction of The Royal British Legion
Centre for Blast Injury Studies and the
Institute of Security Science and
Technology, both of which are
stimulating and vibrant research
centres cutting across traditional
research boundaries.
(1) Temperature effects on the mechanical
behaviour of PZT 95/5, A S Khan, J E Balzer, J
M Wilgeroth and W G Proud, Journal of Physics:
Conference Series Vol. 500. (2014) 1742-6596
500 112038 doi:10.1088/17426596/500/11/112038
(2) Gas percolation through sand, W G Proud,
Journal of Physics: Conference Series Vol. 500.
(2014) 1742-6596 500 112052
doi:10.1088/1742-6596/500/11/112052
2014 has been very productive for the
Institute of Shock Physics. A lynchpin
is the application of time-resolved
diagnostic techniques to wellcontrolled loading scenarios. This
allows excellent interact with
modellers, theoreticians and
experimental groups. Linkage to other
Imperial departments and cross-faculty
is a strength.
(3) Technique to measure change in
birefringence under shock compression, G R
Tear, D E Eakins, D J Chapman and W G Proud,
(2014) 1742-6596 500 192020
doi:10.1088/1742-6596/500/19/192020
(4) Integrated experimental platforms to study
blast injuries: a bottom-up approach. C Bo, A
Williams, S Rankin, W G Proud and K A Brown,
(2014) 1742-6596 500 102001
doi:10.1088/1742-6596/500/10/102001
81
Quantum Optics and Laser Science
The research mission of QOLS is to carry out basic science using lasers and to investigate, utilize and control
photonic and material states and processes down to the quantum level.
LASER CONSORTIUM
Jon Marangos, Vitali Averbukh,
Leszek Frasinski, Peter Knight, John
Tisch and Amelle Zair
This major grouping of experimental
and theoretical physicists is concerned with the interaction of highintensity and ultra-short laser pulses
with matter.
Attosecond (As) Science We are pioneering new methods to measure
electron motion in matter in real time.
Through this we are learning how
electrons move inside molecules and
solids on a timescale of ~100 As vital
for revealing the correlations in many
electron quantum systems. Ultrafast
science with X-ray free electron
lasers Free electron lasers are opening new frontiers in the imaging of
matter at the nanoscale with full time
resolution. We are studying ways to
make few-fs time resolved measurements using these instruments.
Development of ultrafast, high power,
laser sources. The group has pioneered the development of new
sources including high power fiber
based systems. High energy density
science with intense lasers In collaboration with the Plasma Physics
group this research uses various
high power laser facilities at CLF as
well as our in-house Cerberus laser
system.
CENTRE FOR COLD MATTER
Ed Hinds, Jony Hudson, Rob Nyman,
Ben Sauer, Danny Segal, Mike Tarbutt and Richard Thompson
Cold atoms and Molecules: We use
the techniques of laser cooling and
trapping to control and manipulate
matter onto microchips (Atom chips)
at temperatures a few billionths of a
degree above absolute zero . With
these devices, we aim to build ultra
precision sensors and components
for quantum information processing.
Ultracold molecules offer new opportunities because of increased
degrees of freedom and because
they interact strongly with applied
electric fields and with one another,
allowing for the study of the physics
of strongly-interacting many-body
quantum systems. Electron electric
82
dipole moment We measure the
shape of the electron – its electric
dipole moment. This is a test of
physics beyond the Standard Model
of particle physics and a test of timereversal symmetry violation.
Quantum nanophotonics Single photons are the essential building blocks
for photonic information processing.
We use single organic dye molecules
at cryogenic condition because they
can serve as an efficient source of
indistinguishable single photons.
Bose-Einstein condensation of photons At low temperature and high
density, the properties of a fluid
depend on the quantum nature of its
constituents, whether they are
bosons or fermions. Bosons tend to
bunch together, and in extreme
cases form a giant wave called a
Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC).
We are making a room temperature
BEC of photons. Our aim is to understand how photon BECs form, study
their properties and their interactions.
Ion traps Here we test the predictions
of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED)
using highly-charged ions and also
investigate the fascinating physics of
"ion Coulomb crystals", which can be
used in applications such as quantum simulation and studies of quantum tunnelling. We carry out our
experiments with a Penning trap,
which uses static electric and magnetic fields to confine atomic ions.
We use laser cooling to reduce the
temperature of calcium ions to less
than 1 kelvin and study the ions
using precision laser spectroscopy
and high resolution imaging of the ions.
CONTROLLED QUANTUM DYNAMICS THEORY
David Jennings, Myungshik Kim,
Peter Knight, Florian Mintert, Geoff
New and Terry Rudolph
The theoretical research interest of the
group is the control and manipulation of
physical systems to exhibit manifestly
quantum mechanical effects such as
quantum correlations and quantum
interference. The emphasis is on using
these effects to perform novel protocols
in e.g. quantum computing in hybrid
architectures, quantum communication
and quantum simulations or to uncover
the subtle role quantum mechanics may
play in natural phenomena. Our general
approaches can also be used, for
instance, to elucidate the role of fundamental symmetries in nature, as well as
metrology (precision measurement).
Finally, the study of controlled quantum
dynamics may lead us to new insights
in the foundations of quantum mechanics itself.
Research
Dr Vitali Averbukh
Quantum Optics and Laser
Science
dynamics”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 083004
(2013).
[2] K. Schnorr, A. Senftleben, M. Kurka, A.
Rudenko, L. Foucar, G. Schmid, A. Broska, T.
Pfeifer, K. Meyer, D. Anielski, R. Boll, D.
Rolles, M. Kübel, M. F. Kling, Y. H. Jiang, S.
Mondal, T. Tachibana, K. Ueda, T.
Marchenko, M. Simon, G. Brenner, R.
Treusch, S. Scheit, V. Averbukh, J. Ullrich, C.
D. Schröter, and R. Moshammer, “Timeresolved measurement of interatomic
Coulombic decay in Ne2 ”, Phys. Rev. Lett.
111, 093402 (2013).
[3] J. Leeuwenburgh, B. Cooper, V. Averbukh,
J. Marangos and M. Ivanov, “High- order
harmonic generation spectroscopy of
correlation-driven electron hole dynamics”,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 123002 (2013).
The main direction of out work has
been development and theoretical
modelling of time-resolved
attosecond spectroscopic
techniques for the study of ultrafast
electron hole migration in
molecules. We have suggested
several such techniques that are
now being at various stages of
experimental realisation: (1) singlephoton laser-enabled Auger decay
(spLEAD) spectroscopy of hole
migration, (2) high-order harmonic
generation spectroscopy of electron
correlation-driven hole dynamics, (3)
time-dependent Auger spectroscopy
of hole migration. In addition, we
have provided theoretical support
for one of the first two time-resolved
measurements of the inter-atomic
Coulombic decay in clusters. Finally,
we have developed the first of its
kind first-principles molecular
method for numerical modelling of
many-electron dynamics in strong
external field based on B-spline
single-electron basis and the manybody Green's function approach,
B-spline algebraic diagrammatic
construction (B-spline ADC). First
successful applications of the new
methodology to molecular strong
field processes have been published
and more are in progress.
[1] B. Cooper and V. Averbukh, “Singlephoton laser enabled Auger spectroscopy for
measuring attosecond electron hole
[4] J. P. Marangos, B. Cooper, P. Kolorenč, L.
Frasinski, and V. Averbukh, “Analysis of a
measurement scheme for ultrafast hole
dynamics by few femtosecond resolution
Professor Leszek Frasinski
Leszek Frasinski collaborated in
experiments performed at the Linac
Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at
Stanford [1,2] and the free electron
laser (FLASH) in Hamburg [3]. His
main contribution to this collaboration
was adaptation of the covariance
mapping technique to the high event
rate induced by free electron lasers.
The success of these experiments led
to theoretical developments of the
technique [4]. The aim of this research
is to gain understanding into electron
dynamics of atoms and molecules
under intense x-ray irradiation. It is
expected that this understanding will
allow us to study large biological
molecules, such as viruses, with atomic
resolution on the femtosecond
timescale.
1. “Dynamics of Hollow Atom Formation in
Intense X-ray Pulses Probed by Partial
Covariance Mapping” L J Frasinski, V
Zhaunerchyk, M Mucke, R J Squibb, M Siano, J
H D Eland, P Linusson, P v.d. Meulen, P Salén,
R D Thomas, M Larsson, L Foucar, J Ullrich, K
Motomura, S Mondal, K Ueda, T Osipov, L Fang,
B F Murphy, N Berrah, C Bostedt, J D Bozek, S
Schorb, M Messerschmidt, J M Glownia, J P
Cryan, R Coffee, O Takahashi, S Wada, M N
Piancastelli, R Richter, K C Prince, and R Feifel,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 111 073002, 5 pages (13 August
2013) [DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.073002]
[URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/12267]
2. “Femtosecond X-ray-induced explosion of C60
at extreme intensity” B F Murphy, T Osipov, Z
Jurek, L Fang, S-K Son, M Mucke, J H D Eland,
V Zhaunerchyk, R Feifel, L Avaldi, P Bolognesi, C
Bostedt, J D Bozek, J Grilj, M Guehr, L J
Frasinski, J Glownia, D T Ha, K Hoffmann, E
Kukk, B K McFarland, C Miron, E Sistrunk, R J
Squibb, K Ueda, R Santra, and N Berrah, Nat.
Commun. 5 4281 (27 June 2014) [DOI:
10.1038/ncomms5281]
3. “Coulomb explosion of diatomic molecules in
intense XUV fields mapped by partial covariance”
O Kornilov, M Eckstein, M Rosenblatt, C P
Schulz, K Motomura, A Rouzée, J Klei, L Foucar,
M Siano, A Lübcke, F Schapper, P Johnsson, D
M P Holland, T Schlatholter, T Marchenko, S
Düsterer, K Ueda, M J J Vrakking and L J
Frasinski, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46
164028, 11 pages (13 August 2013)
[DOI:10.1088/0953-4075/46/16/164028] [URI:
http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/11746]
4. “Theory and simulations of covariance
mapping in multiple dimensions for data analysis
in high-event-rate experiments” V Zhaunerchyk,
L J Frasinski, J H D Eland and R Feifel, Phys.
Rev. A 89 053418 (22 May 2014) [DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevA.89.053418] [URI:
http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/13752]
Dr Jony Hudson
I have continued my work on
measuring the shape of the
electron. We have developed new
83
Research
measurement techniques [1] and
are currently engaged in a
comprehensive set of technical
upgrades to the apparatus. These
will build on our world-leading 2011
measurement, aiming to improve our
sensitivity by over three orders of
magnitude [2]. One of the techniques
we are developing, laser cooling for
simple molecules [3], looks particularly
promising, and has broad applicability
beyond our field. I have also started
a new research direction, applying
the techniques of machine learning
and artificial intelligence to data
mine laws of physics directly from
experimental data.
[1] Stochastic multi-channel lock-in detection
By: Hudson, J. J.; Tarbutt, M. R.; Sauer, B.
E.; et al.
NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS Volume: 16
Article Number: 013005 Published: JAN 2
2014
[2] Design for a fountain of YbF molecules to
measure the electron's electric dipole
moment By: Tarbutt, M. R.; Sauer, B. E.;
Hudson, J. J.; et al.
NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS Volume: 15
Article Number: 053034 Published: MAY 22
2013
[3] Laser cooling and slowing of CaF
molecules By: Zhelyazkova, V.; Cournol, A.;
Wall, T. E.; et al. PHYSICAL REVIEW A
Volume: 89 Issue: 5 Article Number: 053416
Published: MAY 16 2014
Dr David Jennings
Science
entanglement, the development of
entropic uncertainty relations [2,3] and
several papers on quantum
thermodynamics [4], which is a very
active and important field in recent
times. The geometric work on
entanglement is currently being
extended by a PhD student, under my
supervision, and Ref [1] has already
had good impact in the community. The
uncertainty relations work was
extremely timely -- much dispute had
emerged on the correct way of
quantifying measurement-disturbance
in quantum theory, and we were able to
place very general constraints on what
form this could ever take. The
thermodynamic work has aimed to
identify the genuinely quantummechanical aspects of
thermodynamics. Ref [4] is currently
under review in Nature
Communications, and we are in the
process of revising the manuscript.
This too has attracted attention in the
community, and I expect this to initiate
a meaningful and significant new line of
research.
[1] Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 020402 (2014)
[2] Phys. Rev. A 89, 052108 (2014)
[3] Phys. Rev. A 89, 042122 (2014)
[4] http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.2188 (2014)
Professor Myungshik Kim
macroscopic systems which is why
quantum mechanics was thought to
be applied only to a sub-atomic
system. Kim’s research interests in
the foundations of quantum physics
are concentrated on the issues of
the manifestations of wave-particle
duality and the quantum-to-classical
transition. Why is it not possible to
observe quantum superpositions
and nonlocality in everyday life? For
this question, he came up with a
possible solution based on
fuzziness in operations [1]. His
suggestion is in contrast to the usual
assumption based on decoherence
and coarsening of measurements.
He then considered another
fundamental problem in relation to
the wave-particle duality and the
impact of measurements on this [2].
The quantum-mechanical
superpositions are more easily
generated in an isolated system
such as a cavity. However, in order
to characterise and control the
superpositions, we need to bring
them out. He and his colleagues
show how those quantum states can
be taken out from the cavity in [3].
1. H. Jeong, Y. Lim and M. S. Kim,
‘Coarsening measurement references and
the quantum-to-classical transition’, Phys.
Rev. Lett. 112, 010402 (2014).
2. J-C Lee, H-T. Lim, K-H Hong, Y-C Jeong,
M.S. Kim and Y-H Kim, ‘Experimental
demonstration of delayed-choice
decoherence suppression’ Nature Comm.5,
4522 (2014).
3. T. Tufarelli, A. Ferraro, A. Serafini, S. Bose
and M.S. Kim, ‘Coherently opening a high-Q
cavity’, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112,133605 (2014).
In the period 2013-2014 I (together with
collaborators) have put 9 papers on the
arxiv, with most of these now
published. The topics included work on
geometric properties [1] of quantum
84
The paradoxical ideas that quantum
mechanics promotes are welldeveloped for simple quantum
systems. However, it is hard to
observe its unique properties in
Research
Professor John Marangos
Science
J.P.Marangos and L.E. Chipperfield
"Optimization of Quantum Trajectories Driven
by Strong-Field Waveforms," Physical
Review X 4, 021028 (2014).
2. B.Cooper, P.Kolorenc, L.J.Frasnski,
V.Averbukh and J.P.Marangos, “Analysis of a
measurement scheme for ultrafast hole
dynamics by few-femtosecond resolution Xray pump-probe Auger spectroscopy”,
DOI:10.1039/C4FD00051J Faraday
Discussion
3. S.J.Weber, M.Oppermann and
J.P.Marangos, “Role of rotational
wavepackets in strong field experiments”,
Physical Review Letters 111, 263601 (2013)
My main activity as Director of the
Blackett Laboratory Laser
Consortium has been in leading the
research in the Attosecond Science
Programme, which is funded by two
grants (EPSRC Programme Grant
“Attosecond electron dynamics in
molecular and condensed phase
systems”, and ERC Advanced Grant
“Attosecond science by emission
and transmission of X-rays”). The
research has been progressing in
the following main areas: (a)
development of high harmonic
generation (HHG) sources driven by
few-cycle mid-IR pulses for
attosecond transient absorption
measurements, (b) HHG
spectroscopy for direct
measurement of attosecond
resolved electronic and nuclear
motion in molecules following
ionization, (c) development of
sources for attosecond pump-probe
measurements, (d) measurement of
the photoelectric effect from solid
surfaces with attosecond resolution
and (e) development of X-ray
pump/X-ray probe methods for
ultrafast structural dynamics studies
using X-ray free electron lasers.
This has resulted in the publication
of more than 18 journal papers in
the 2013-14 period including:
1. S. Haessler, T. Balčiunas, G. Fan, G.
Andriukaitis, A. Pugžlys, A. Baltuška, T.
Witting, R. Squibb, A. Zaïr, J.W.G Tisch,
4. J. Leeuwenburgh, B. Cooper, V. Averbukh,
J. P. Marangos, and M.Y. Ivanov, "High-Order
Harmonic Generation Spectroscopy of
Correlation-Driven Electron Hole Dynamics,"
Physical Review Letters 111, 123002 (2013).
Dr Florian Mintert
the fundamental property of
complete positivity [3] (which is
imposed by the probabilistic nature
of quantum mechanics). As specific
goal of control we target the creation
of long-distance entanglement in
disordered spin chains. A
description in terms of matrixproduct states allows us to describe
systems of one hundred interacting
spins. We implemented a method
based on Lyapunov control in terms
of this description and designed
control fields that establish strong
entanglement in chains with ten
percent relative fluctuation in the
nearest neighbor interaction [4].
[1] Accurate effective Hamiltionans via flow in
Floquet space Albert Verdeny Vilalta,
Andreas Mielke & F.M.Phys. Rev. Lett. 111,
175301 (2013)
[2] Optimal Control of Effective Hamiltonians
Albert Verdeny, Łukasz Rudnicki, Cord A.
Müller & F.M. Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 010501
(2014)
[3] Completely positive approximate solutions
of driven open quantum systems Farhang
Haddadfarshi, Jian Cui & F.M.
arXiv:1409.6184
[4] Long distance entanglement in disordered
spin chains Jian Cui & F. M. arXiv:1407.1327
Professor Terry Rudolph
During the last year, the main focus
of our work was on the optimal
control of quantum systems through
polychromatic driving. We
developed a framework to identify
effective Hamiltonians with
renormalization techniques in
Floquet theory [1] and developed a
formalism for the construction of
polychromatic control fields that
realise desired effective dynamics
with high accuracy [2]. Currently, we
are extending these endeavors to
open quantum systems, and we
identified means to devise
approximate solutions for driven
open quantum systems that respect
Published 18 papers since January
2013. Topics covered include
foundations of quantum
thermodynamics, new mathematical
representations of quantum states,
some important simplifications of
85
Research
photonic quantum computation (for
which IP protection is currently
being sought) and a variety of
abstract results in quantum
foundations and quantum
information.
[arXiv:1405.2188 [pdf, other]
Thermodynamic laws beyond free energy
relations Matteo Lostaglio, David Jennings, Terry
Rudolph
(Acceptance to Nature Communications appears
likely)
arXiv:1303.4724 [pdf, other]
Quantum Steering Ellipsoids Sania Jevtic,
Matthew F. Pusey, David Jennings, Terry
RudolphJournal-ref: Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 020402
(2014)
arXiv:1311.2913 [pdf, other]
On the experimental verification of quantum
complexity in linear optics Jacques Carolan,
Jasmin D. A. Meinecke, Pete Shadbolt, Nicholas
J. Russell, Nur Ismail, Kerstin Wörhoff, Terry
Rudolph, Mark G. Thompson, Jeremy L. O'Brien,
Jonathan C. F. Matthews, Anthony Laing
Journal-ref: Nature Photonics 8, 621 (2014)
arXiv:1306.2724 [pdf, ps, other]
Efficient universal blind computation
Vittorio Giovannetti, Lorenzo Maccone, Tomoyuki
Morimae, Terry G. Rudolph
Journal-ref: Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 230501 (2013)
Science
recently surpassed in sensitivity by
the ThO experiment run by a
Harvard-Yale collaboration. We are
making a number of improvements
to the apparatus to regain the lead.
On CaF, there is strong interest to
make an ultra cold gas of polar
molecules, not least to study dipoledipole interactions in this strongly
quantum limit. We have made
measurements of cooling and
slowing in CaF and are currently
working on a slow CaF source so
that we can bring the molecules to
rest.
Laser cooling and slowing of CaF molecules,
Zhelyazkova V, Cournol A, Wall TE,
Matsushima A, Hudson JJ, Hinds EA, Tarbutt
MR, Sauer BE PHYSICAL REVIEW A 89(5)
053416, 2014.
Stochastic multi-channel lock in detection,
Hudson JJ, Tarbutt MR, Sauer BE, Hinds EA,
NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS 16: 013005,
2014
Dr Mike Tarbutt
Dr Ben Sauer
I have been working on improvements
to out experiment to measure the
permanent electric dipole moment
(EDM) of the electron, and on
experiments to directly laser cool
CaF molecules. While the EDM
experiment did provide the most
stringent limit on the size of this
time-reversal violating effect, it was
86
on the local density of matter, as
hypothesized in some extensions of
the Standard Model. We found no
dependence and set new bounds on
such variations of the constants [1].
We then extended this work to
precise measurements of millimetrewave transitions in CH [2]. These
transitions have been observed in
extra-galactic sources at high redshift, and so can be used to test
whether the fundamental constants
vary with time. Precise
measurements using molecules
benefit from cooling the molecules
to very low temperatures. We have
demonstrated that laser cooling, a
method commonly used to cool
atoms, can also be used to slow and
cool a beam of CaF molecules [3].
We then analysed how laser cooling
can be used to make a magnetooptical trap of these molecules [4].
[1] “A search for varying fundamental
constants using hertz-level frequency
measurements of cold CH molecules”, S.
Truppe, R.J. Hendricks, S.K. Tokunaga, H.J.
Lewandowski, M.G. Kozlov, Christian Henkel,
E.A. Hinds and M.R. Tarbutt, Nat. Commun.
4, 2600 (2013).
[2] “Measurement of the lowest millimetrewave transition frequency of the CH radical”,
S. Truppe, R. J. Hendricks, E. A. Hinds and
M. R. Tarbutt, Astrophys. J. 780, 71 (2014).
Our work focusses on the
production of cold molecules and
their applications in fundamental
physics. We have made extremely
precise frequency measurements of
microwave transitions in the CH
molecule and have compared these
laboratory measurements to
astrophysical measurements of the
same transitions in CH observed in
cold molecular clouds in the Milky
Way. Through this comparison, we
have tested whether the values of
the fundamental constants depend
[3] “Laser cooling and slowing of CaF
molecules”, V. Zhelyazkova, A. Cournol, T. E.
Wall, A. Matsushima, J. J. Hudson, E. A.
Hinds, M. R. Tarbutt, B. E. Sauer, Phys. Rev.
A 89, 053416 (2014).
[4] “Magneto-optical trapping forces for atoms
and molecules with complex level structures”,
M. R. Tarbutt, accepted for publication in New
J. Phys., arXiv:1409.0244 (2014).
Research
Professor John Tisch
My research within the Blackett
Laboratory Laser Consortium is
concerned with Attosecond Science
and Technology and can be divided
into three interconnected themes: i)
the development of state-of-the-art
ultrafast laser technology, ii) the use
of these lasers to develop novel
short-wavelength (UV to X-ray)
coherent light sources, with focus on
Science
those providing attosecond (10-18
sec) pulse durations, iii) the
application of i) and ii) to implement
novel techniques for tracking
attosecond time-scale electron
dynamics in matter. Recent work on
theme (i), in collaboration with LOA
Paris, has been a detailed study [1]
of the hollow-fibre pulse
compression technique used by labs
around the world to produce highpower laser pulses of durations
approaching 1 optical cycle.
Towards theme (ii), we have
demonstrated for the first time the
generation of synchronised VUV
and XUV attosecond pulses for
pump probe experiments, with
support from collaborators in
Hannover [2]. Also, we have made
the first spatial coherence
measurements of high order
harmonic radiation generated in
laser-ablated plumes [3]. A recent
highlight from theme (iii) is the first
measurement of temporal
broadening of attosecond
photoelectron wavepackets from
solid surfaces [4], in collaboration
with Imperial colleagues from the
EXSS group and from CFEL in
Hamburg.
1. W.A. Okell et al. "Carrier-envelope phase
stability of hollow fibers used for high-energy
few-cycle pulse generation." Optics letters 38,
3918 (2013).
2. J. Henkel et al. "Prediction of attosecond
light pulses in the VUV range in a high-orderharmonic-generation regime." Physical
Review A 87, 043818 (2013).
3. R.A. Ganeev et al. "Spatial coherence
measurements of non-resonant and resonant
high harmonics generated in laser ablation
plumes." Applied Physics Letters 104, 021122
(2014).
4. Okell, W. A., et al. "Attosecond streaking
of photoelectron emission from disordered
solids." arXiv preprint arXiv:1410.5613
(2014).
87
The group studies interplanetary space and planetary environments, as well as the Earth's atmosphere and oceans.
A major part of the group’s activity is the development and operation of numerical models and sensitive
instrumentation for space science and Earth observation.
SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS
Dr Jonathan Eastwood, Dr Bob Forsyth,
Prof Tim Horbury, Prof Steve Schwartz
Fundamental Plasma Processes:
Magnetic reconnection, turbulence, and
shock waves govern much of the
dynamics of plasmas, giving rise to the
transport of momentum and energy while
accelerating charged particles to high
energies in the process. Our internationally recognised leadership in understanding these fundamental plasma
processes employs spacecraft data,
theory and modeling. We lead the magnetic field instruments on important current spacecraft (ESA’s Cluster and
Cassini missions) and future missions
(ESA’s Solar Orbiter and JUICE). Applications of Space Plasma Physics: Interplanetary space is pervaded by a
supersonic solar wind emanating from
the Sun’s corona. Variability in that
solar wind, due to solar activity and
eruptions from the solar surface, often
termed “Solar Storms” leads to “Space
Weather” which can energise the Earth’s
radiation belts and lead to spectacular
aurorae. Space Weather also has a
huge impact on satellites and groundbased systems (e.g., electricity grids)
representing risks to vital services and
expensive infrastructure, and now forms a
major element in the national risk register.
PLANETARY PHYSICS
Dr Marina Galand, Prof Michele
Dougherty FRS, Dr Ingo MuellerWodarg
88
Planetary research is focused on the
Cassini mission to Saturn and its
largest moon Titan, which has a dense
“Earthlike” atmosphere. The group
leads the magnetometer team and
investigates Saturn’s magnetosphere,
its plasma boundaries, as well as the
internal magnetic field of the planet. We
study planetary ionospheres, some, such
as Titan, hosting heavy organics, others,
such as at Saturn, playing a key role in
closing the global magnetospheric currents which arise. We study the upper
atmosphere of Saturn using our Saturn
Thermosphere Ionosphere model. We
lead the Venus Express Atmospheric
drag experiment and use it to determine
the polar thermosphere structure at
Venus. We lead the operation of the
Plasma Consortium suite of instruments
on board ESA’s Rosetta mission to the
comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
We lead the magnetometer team on
the JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer)
mission to Jupiter and its icy moons
and are designing the instrument in
order that it can resolve induced currents
flowing in the liquid water oceans at
Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.
CLIMATE PHYSICS
Dr Helen Brindley, Dr Arnaud Czaja,
Dr Heather Graven, Prof Joanna Haigh
FRS, Dr Juliet Pickering, Prof Ralf Toumi,
Dr Apostolos Voulgarakis
Modelling: We study the physical
processes and composition in the
atmosphere and ocean using idealised,
regional and global models (e.g.
HadGEM, NASA GISS). Key expertise
lies in the impact of key physical
processes on our climate system, such
as solar variability, the coupling of tropical and extra-tropical storms with the
ocean, the impact of changes in atmospheric composition on radiation and
precipitation, and the role of fires in the
Earth System.
Earth Observation: Scientific lead for
the Geostationary Earth Radiation
Budget (GERB) project, the only instrument to observe the broadband energy
emitted and reflected by the Earth at
high temporal resolution. GERB data
are used to quantify, the diurnal variability in Saharan dust net radiative
forcing at the top of the atmosphere,
the surface, and within the atmosphere.
Our Tropospheric Airborne Fourier
Transform Spectrometer (TAFTS) participates in national campaigns to
assess the radiative effect of cirrus
clouds across the electromagnetic
spectrum, again with the ultimate aim
of using observations to improve modelling capability. Satellite observations
from instruments such as the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES)
and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding
Interferometer (IASI) play a vital role to
better understand feedbacks operating
in the Earth system. A new activity
relates to the carbon cycle via measurements and modelling of atmospheric
CO2 and CO2 isotopes.
INSTRUMENTATION
Chris Carr, Dr Helen Brindley,
Dr Heather Graven, Dr Juliet Pickering
Our research is underpinned by instrumentation projects for spaceflight,
research aircraft, and in the laboratory.
Our magnetometers fly on the Cluster,
Cassini, Solar Orbiter and JUICE missions. the Plasma Consortium instrumentation on the Rosetta mission, and
the GERB instruments for the Meteosat
2nd Generation spacecraft. In the laboratory, our unique visible-vacuum ultraviolet Fourier Transform Spectrometer
studies atomic and molecular spectra
of importance for interpretation of spectral measurements of planetary
atmospheres and astrophysical objects. Measurements of atmospheric CO2
and its isotopic composition
are being developed to
study anthropogenic emissions and their impacts on
the global carbon cycle.
Research
Dr Helen Brindley
Space and Atmospheric
Physics
reshaped National Centre for Earth
Observation (NCEO).
1. Achieving climate change absolute
accuracy in orbit: Wielicki, B., Young, D.,
Mlynczak, M., Thome, K., et al., Bull. Amer.
Meteorol. Soc., doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-1200149.1, (2013)
2. Intercomparison of satellite dust retrieval
products over the west African Sahara during
the Fennec campaign in 2011: Banks, J.,
Brindley, H., Flamant, C., Garay, M., et al.,
Rem. Sens. Env., 136, 99-116, (2013)
Work over the last year has had
three main foci: 1. The role of
mineral dust in shaping the Earth's
Radiation Balance over Africa and
the Middle East; 2. The use of
spectrally resolved radiances,
measured from satellite, to diagnose
climate change; 3. The assessment
of different dust/aerosol retrieval
schemes and application of these in
multi-disciplinary areas (e.g. solar
energy resources). All of these
topics are areas of ongoing activity
and have resulted in the
establishment of a number of
collaborations and associated
publications. Specific examples
include the first ever quantification
of the net top-of-atmosphere dust
radiative effect over the Sahara at a
sub-diurnal timescale; the use of
multi-platform observations to
provide recommendations regarding
the strengths and weaknesses of
various commonly used dust
retrieval products; the assessment
of the relative importance of
environmental factors influencing
energy production from a multijunction concentrating solar
photovoltaic system; and, as part of
the NASA led CLARREO Science
Definition Team, the development of
a robust strategy for climate
monitoring space mission design.
These activities have led to a major
role for Imperial in the recently
3. Validation of energy prediction method for
a concentrator photovoltaic module in
Toyohashi Japan: Chan, N., Young, T.,
Brindley, H., Ekins-Daukes, N., et al.,
Progress in Photovoltaics, 21, 1598-1610,
(2013)
4. Mineral dust aerosol net direct radiative
effect during GERBILS field campaign period
derived from SEVIRI and GERB: Ansell, C.,
Brindley, H., Pradhan, Y. and Saunders, R., J.
Geophys. Res., 119, 4070-4086, (2014)
Dr Arnaud Czaja
Efforts in my group have recently
focused on understanding how
warm and fast ocean currents such
as the Kuroshio and the Gulf Stream
impact on storms and atmospheric
motions of larger scales in the extratropics. Using a combination of high
resolution numerical experiments
(UK Met Office Model) and
atmospheric reanalysis data (ERA
interim, 1979-present), we have
shown that the Gulf Stream affects
both the cold and warm sectors of
cyclones, although with very
different mechanisms (shallow
convection and moist inertial
instability, respectively). We have
also shown that atmospheric heat
transport in the storm track is
sporadic in nature, with a large
contribution to the mean arising
from shirt-lived and extreme bursts
of heat transport.
1. O'Reilly, C. and A. Czaja: The response of
the Pacific storm track to Kuroshio variability,
Quart. J. Roy. Met. Soc.,
DOI:10.1002/qj.2334 (2014).
2. Parfitt, R. And A. Czaja: On the diabatic
forcing the North Atlantic storm-track,
submitted to Quart. J. Met. Soc. (2014).
3. Messori, G. and A. Czaja: Some
considerations on the spectral properties of
meridional heat transport by transient eddies,
Quart. J. Roy. Met. Soc, DOI:10.1002/qj.2224
(2013).
4. Sheldon, L. and A. Czaja, Seasonal and
interannual variability of an index of deep
convection over western boundary currents,
Quart. J. Roy. Met. Soc., DOI:
10.1002/qj.2103. (2013)
Dr Jonathan Eastwood
My research currently centres on
understanding how magnetic
reconnection across current sheets
in collisionless space plasmas
works. This process lies at the heart
of many solar, space and
astrophysical plasma phenomena
such as solar flares and
geomagnetic storms. Working with
postdoc Dr. Heli Hietala and PhD
student Rishi Mistry, and in
collaboration with UC Berkeley, the
University of Maryland, and the
University of Delaware, we have
recently published new research
89
Research
showing for the first time how the
energy explosively released by
reconnection is partitioned, and
demonstrating how reconnection
can operate in a bursty fashion over
a prolonged period of time.
This work is intimately related to the
applied science of space weather,
which represents a threat to
infrastructure resilience and is now
included on the UK national risk
register. In collaboration with the
plasma physics group (Prof. Jerry
Chittenden), and PhD student Lars
Mejnertsen we have adapted the
Gorgon computer code (used for
laboratory plasmas) to simulate the
solar wind-magnetosphere
interaction, most recently using the
DiRAC high performance computing
facility. These simulations, informed
by our group’s research into the
underpinning physics, will be both
useful for interpreting satellite
observations and are directly
relevant for improving future space
weather forecasts.
1. Eastwood, J. P., H. Hietala, G. Toth, T. D.
Phan and M. Fujimoto, What controls the
structure and dynamics of Earth’s
magnetosphere?, in Structures in Cosmic
Plasmas edited by A. Balogh, Springer (NL),
2014 (reprinted in Space Sci. Rev., 2014).
2. Hietala, H., J. P. Eastwood and A. Isavnin,
Sequentially released tilted flux ropes in the
Earth's magnetotail, Plasma Phys. Control.
Fusion, 56, 064001, 2014.
3. Eastwood, J. P., T. D. Phan, J. F. Drake,
M. A. Shay, A. L. Borg, B. Lavraud and M. G.
G. T. Taylor, Energy partition in magnetic
reconnection in Earth’s magnetotail, Phys.
Rev. Lett., 110, 225001, 2013.
4. Eastwood, J. P., T. D. Phan, M. Øieroset,
M. A. Shay, K. Malakit, M. Swisdak, J. F.
Drake and A. Masters, Influence of
asymmetries and guide fields on the
magnetic reconnection diffusion region in
collisionless space plasmas, Plasma Phys.
Control. Fusion, 55, 124001, 2013.
90
Dr Marina Galand
Physics
1. Predictions of ion production rates and ion
number densities within the diamagnetic cavity of
comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at
perihelion: Vigren, E. and Galand M., ApJ,
772:33, doi:10.1088/0004-637X/772/1/33 (2013).
2. On the thermal electron balance in Titan’s
sunlit upper atmosphere: Vigren, E.; Galand, M.;
Yelle, R.V.; et al., Icarus, 223, 234-251,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2012.12.010
(2013).
3. Increasing Positive Ion Number Densities
Below the Peak of Ion-Electron Pair Production in
Titan's Ionosphere, Vigren E.; Galand M.;
Shebanits O.; et al., ApJ, 786, 69,
doi:10.1088/0004-637X/786/1/1 (2014).
We have developed a new expertise
and led original work in the active field
of cometary plasma in relation with the
on-going ESA/Rosetta mission which
reached its target, comet 67P, in
August 2014. We have been closely
involved in this mission through the
Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC)
and the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer
for Ion and Neutral Analyzer (Rosina).
We have pursued our research on
Titan’s complex ionosphere using multiinstrumental dataset from the Cassini
spacecraft. We have in particular
identified a key role played by negative
ions unexpectedly discovered in Titan’s
deep ionosphere. This work was
performed with colleagues from Europe
(France, Sweden, UK) and from
University of Arizona. We have also
continued our participation to Saturn’s
ionospheric studies with application to
the ring rain and have led work on the
characterization of the acceleration
processes above Saturn’s auroral
regions. Our giant planet interest has
expended to the Jovian system – with
our involvement in the plasma package
and UV spectrometer onboard the
ESA/Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE)
– and to exoplanets under stellar
radiation. In collaboration with
colleagues from Boston University we
have broaden our expertise of CO2dominated atmospheres from Venus to
Mars, with original work applied to the
plasma heat budget.
4. Numerical simulations of ion and electron
temperatures in the ionosphere of Mars: Diurnal
variations at solar minimum conditions: Matta, M.;
Galand M.; Moore L; et al., Icarus, 227, 78-88,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ j.icarus.2013.09.006
(2014).
Dr Heather Graven
My research focuses on
atmospheric CO2 and the global
carbon cycle. I study the influences
of fossil fuel combustion and natural
exchanges with the ocean and
terrestrial biosphere on CO2 by
combining observations and models
in regional and global-scale studies.
In a recent paper in Science we
showed long-term changes in the
observed seasonal cycle of CO2
concentration. The observations
show a 50% increase in the
amplitude of the seasonal cycle,
reflecting changes in northern
ecosystems that are much larger
than predicted by current IPCC
Research
models. Before joining Imperial in
late 2013, I began a collaborative
project to study CO2 fluxes from
fossil fuel emissions and biospheric
exchange in California with a grant
from NASA’s Carbon Monitoring
System. I was also awarded funding
from the European Commission and
the Royal Society in 2013-14. I am
developing new collaborations in the
UK with researchers at Imperial and
at the University of Oxford,
University of Bristol, Queens
University Belfast, and the
University of East Anglia. Themes
that will be explored involve the
oceanic sink of CO2 and its
sensitivity to ocean circulation
change, and development of
innovative atmospheric observations
to distinguish anthropogenic from
natural influences on the carbon
cycle.
Goldberg, S.J., G.I. Ball, B. Allen, G.S.
Schladow, A.J. Simpson, H. Masoom, R.
Soong, H. Graven, and L.I. Aluwihare, 2014.
Refractory Dissolved Organic Nitrogen
Accumulation in High Elevation Lakes,
Nature Communications, in revision.
Graven, H.D., R.F. Keeling, S.C. Piper, P.K.
Patra, B.B. Stephens, S.C. Wofsy, L.R. Welp,
C. Sweeney, P.P. Tans, J.J. Kelley, B.C.
Daube, E.A. Kort, G.W. Santoni and J.D.
Bent, 2013. Enhanced seasonal exchange of
CO2 by northern ecosystems since 1960,
Science, 341, 1085-1089,
doi:10.1126/science.1239207.
Graven, H.D., X. Xu, T.P. Guilderson, R.F.
Keeling, S.E. Trumbore, and S. Tyler, 2013.
Comparison of independent Δ14CO2 records
at Point Barrow, Alaska. Radiocarbon, 55 (23), 1541-1545,
doi:10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16220.
Khatiwala, S., T. Tanhua, S. Mikaloff Fletcher,
M. Gerber, S.C. Doney, H.D. Graven, N.
Gruber, G.A. McKinley, A. Murata, A.F. Ríos,
C.L. Sabine, and J.L. Sarmiento, 2013.
Global ocean storage of anthropogenic
carbon. Biogeosciences, 10, 2169-2191,
doi:10.5194/bg-10-2169-2013.
Professor Jo Haigh FRS
Physics
be refined.
1. Orr, A., T.J. Bracegirdle, J.S. Hosking, W.
Feng, H. K. Roscoe and J. D. Haigh 2013
Strong dynamical modulation of the cooling of the
polar stratosphere associated with the Antarctic
ozone hole. J. Clim. 26, 662-668.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00480.1
2. Wen, G., R.F. Cahalan, J.D. Haigh, P.
Pilewskie, L. Oreopoulos and J.W. Harder 2013
Reconciliation of modeled climate responses to
spectral solar forcing. J. Geophys. Res., 118,
6281-6289, DOI:10.1002/jgrd.50506
My work concerns how variations in
solar UV radiation influence the
structure of the stratosphere3 and how
changes in the stratosphere influence
the climate below1. Measurements
from the SORCE satellite suggest
larger solar cycle trends in UV than
previously thought and we have shown
that they imply very different impacts on
ozone and surface climate2. The
calibration of these data is being
continuously revised, and the
remaining lifetime of the satellite is
uncertain, while the successor mission
is not expected to launch until mid2017. With no other measurements
having the calibration required for the
investigation of multi-year trends there
will not only be a gap in the record but
also insufficient new data to confirm the
SORCE measurements. To address
this data gap, in such an important
climate variable, we have proposed a
new approach for measuring the solar
spectrum4. The basis of the method is
to take measurements of atmospheric
ozone, and other parameters sensitive
to solar irradiance, and to analyse
variations in these to deduce what
changes in the spectrum must have
produced them. To date we have
demonstrated the statistical methods
but not produced a robust change in
solar spectrum Nevertheless the
technique is promising and we are
developing new ways in which it might
3. Solanki, S.M., N.A. Krivova and J.D. Haigh
2013 Solar irradiance variability and climate.
Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys., 51, 311-351.
4. Ball, W.T., D.J. Mortlock, J.S. Egerton, and
J.D. Haigh 2014 Assessing the relationship
between spectral solar irradiance and
stratospheric ozone using Bayesian inference. J.
Spac. Wea. Spac. Clim., 4, A25, DOI:
10.1051/swsc/2014023.
Professor Tim Horbury
Development of the Solar Orbiter
magnetometer continues well, led
by the Instrument Manager Helen
O’Brien, with launch planned for
2017. Major challenges remain from
the thermal, vibration and
electromagnetic environment of the
spacecraft but the magnetometer
team are on track for our first
hardware delivery, of our Electrical
Model, by the end of 2014: the final,
Flight Model is due for delivery by
the end of 2015.
Research work has concentrated on
collaborations regarding solar wind
91
Research
waves and turbulence (with Lorenzo
Matteini and Junior Research Fellow
Chris Chen) and, with PhD student
Martin Archer, dynamics of the
interaction of the solar wind with the
Earth’s magnetosphere.
1. Archer MO, Horbury TS, 2013,
Magnetosheath dynamic pressure
enhancements: occurrence and typical
properties, ANNALES GEOPHYSICAE, Vol:
31, Pages: 319-331, ISSN: 0992-7689
2. Archer MO, Horbury TS, Eastwood JP,
Weygand JM, Yeoman TKet al., 2013,
Magnetospheric response to magnetosheath
pressure pulses: A low-pass filter effect,
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCHSPACE PHYSICS, Vol: 118, Pages:
5454-5466, ISSN: 2169-9380
3. Matteini L, Horbury TS, Neugebauer M,
Goldstein BE et al., 2014, Dependence of
solar wind speed on the local magnetic field
orientation: Role of Alfvenic fluctuations,
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, Vol:
41, Pages: 259-265, ISSN: 0094-8276
4. Owens MJ, Horbury TS, Wicks RT,
McGregor SL, Savani NP, Xiong Met al.,
2014, Ensemble downscaling in coupled solar
wind-magnetosphere modeling for space
weather forecasting, SPACE WEATHER-THE
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH
AND APPLICATIONS, Vol: 12, Pages: 395405, ISSN: 1542-7390
Dr Adam Masters
Physics
MESSENGER, and also involves
analytical modelling. The programme
covers a range of space plasma
phenomena and processes, including
Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, collisionless
shock waves, and magnetic
reconnection. Advances have
implications for energy transport
through the space environments
surrounding different planets, can be
extrapolated to exoplanets, and have
the potential to change our
fundamental understanding of how
space plasma systems work in our
Solar System and beyond. Results
published in recent years include: 1.
Data taken by the Cassini spacecraft at
Saturn shows that we need to revise
our understanding of how the solar
wind interacts with the planet’s
magnetic field; 2. Modelling of magnetic
reconnection between Uranus’
magnetic field and the solar magnetic
field reveals the uniqueness of the
Uranian system; 3. The detection of
relativistic electrons in the near-Saturn
solar wind shows that high-Mach
number shock waves are more efficient
cosmic particle accelerators than
previously thought. This work is
supported by a wide international
network of collaborators, most notably
at the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency.
1. Magnetic reconnection at Uranus’
magnetopause, A. Masters, Journal of
Geophysical Research: Space Physics, , Volume
119, pp. 5520-5538, Published online in Jul 2014,
DOI: 10.1002/2014JA020077.
2. Neptune and Triton: Essential pieces of the
Solar System puzzle, A. Masters, et al., Planetary
and Space Science, in press,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2014.05.008i.
My
research focuses on space plasma
physics in diverse planetary
environments. Work in this area is
driven by in situ data returned by
missions to explore the Solar System,
such as Cassini-Huygens and
92
3. Can magnetopause reconnection drive
Saturn's magnetosphere?, A. Masters, et al.,
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 41, Issue
6, pp. 1862-1868, Published in Mar 2014,
DOI: 10.1002/2014GL059288.
4. Electron acceleration to relativistic energies at
a strong quasi-parallel shock wave, A. Masters, et
al., Nature Physics, Volume 9, Issue 3, pp. 164167, Published in Mar 2013, DOI:
10.1038/nphys2541.
Professor Steve Schwartz
Work initiated with a previous STFC
post-doc on the heating of electrons
at the bow shock located sunward of
the Earth’s magnetosphere has
reached a definitive, though
provocative conclusion. We showed
that the high mobility of the collision
free electron population together
with the curved nature of the bow
shock couples distant regions of the
shocked plasma (the magnetosheath).
The result, predicted based on
simulations and tested with data
from the Cluster and THEMIS
spacecraft, is that, despite the
strong variation in Mach number and
therefore total heating rate around
the bow shock, the magnetosheath
electron temperature is roughly
constant, implying a varying
proportion of heat taken up by other
species. The electron heating is
controlled by as yet unknown
processes that occur at the point
where the interplanetary magnetic
field first touches the bow shock,
i.e., where it is tangent to the
surface. Other work, with post-doc
Matteini, has explored the dynamics
of different solar wind ions in the
presence of interplanetary turbulence,
and a first look at data from the
European Space Agency’s comet
chaser, Rosetta at comet P67
Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
1 J. J. Mitchell and S. J. Schwartz.
Isothermal magnetosheath electrons due to
nonlocal electron cross talk. J. Geophys.
Research
Res., 119:1080-1093, 2014.
2 V. See, R. F. Cameron, and S. J.
Schwartz. Non-adiabatic electron behaviour
due to short-scale electric field structures at
collisionless shock waves. Annales
Geophysicae, 31:639-646, 2013.
3 S. J. Schwartz, E. G. Zweibel, and M.
Goldman. Microphysics in Astrophysical
Plasmas. Space Sci. Rev., 178:81-99, 2013.
4 A. Masters, L. Stawarz, M. Fujimoto, S. J.
Schwartz, N. Sergis, M. F. Thomsen, A.
Retino, H. Hasegawa, B. Zieger, G. R. Lewis,
A. J. Coates, P. Canu, and M. K. Dougherty.
Electron acceleration to relativistic energies
at a strong quasi-parallel shock wave. Nature
Physics, 9:164- 167, 2013.
Professor Ralf Toumi
Physics
[Radu, Raluca; Toumi, Ralf; Phau, Jared
Influence of atmospheric and sea surface
temperature on the size of hurricane Catarina
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL
METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY Volume: 140
Issue: 682 Pages: 1778-1784 Part: A
2. Nicholls, James Farley; Toumi, Ralf On the
lake effects of the Caspian Sea QUARTERLY
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL
METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY Vol: 140 Iss:
681 Pages: 1399-1408 Part: B 2014
2. White, R. H.; Toumi, R. River flow and
ocean temperatures: The Congo River
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCHOCEANS Volume: 119 Issue: 4 Pages:
2501-2517 2014
4. Nissan, Hannah; Toumi, Ralf On the impact
of aerosols on soil erosion GEOPHYSICAL
RESEARCH LETTERS Volume: 40 Issue:
22 Pages: 5994-5998 2013
Dr Apostolos Voulgarakis
atmospheric models and remote
sensing observations (Marlier et al.,
2014). A further focus of the team
has been understanding the
changes of short-lived gaseous
constituents in the atmosphere from
pre-industrial times to present-day,
and into the future (Voulgarakis et
al., 2013a). This has also included
the study of aerosol interactions
(Voulgarakis et al., 2013), which is also
a topic currently investigated in the
team from a hydrological perspective.
Voulgarakis, the leader of the team,
is currently analysis lead for the
international Chemistry-Climate
Model Initiative (CCMI) and a
member of the Scientific Steering
Committee of the Precipitation
Driver and Response Model
Intercomparison Project (PDRMIP).
Marlier, M. E., R. S. DeFries, A. Voulgarakis,
P. L. Kinney, J. T. Randerson, D.T. Shindell, Y.
Chen and G. Faluvegi (2013), El Niño and
health risks from landscape fire emissions in
Southeast Asia, Nature Clim. Change, 3, 131136 doi:10.1038/NCLIMATE1658.
Our principal work is on regional
climate modelling (1-4 ) and
stochastic weather generators to
gain a physical understanding of
processes particularly as they relate
to extreme events such as cyclones
and floods. We are strongly
engaged with industry. In the
Climate KIC we lead the OASIS
project (www.oasislmf.org) which is
an exciting project to develop open
source catastrophe modelling for
insurance and other sectors. One of
the highlights of our recent work is
that we have demonstrated how
tropical cyclones become larger in a
warmer environment (1). This
discovery of the size effect is
important for impacts which are
directly proportional to the footprint.
of cyclones.
Marlier, M. E., A. Voulgarakis, D.T. Shindell,
G. Faluvegi, Henry, C. L., and Randerson, J.
T. (2014), The role of temporal evolution in
modeling atmospheric emissions from
tropical fires, Atmos. Environ., 89, 158-168,
doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.02.039.
The composition-climate team
investigates the interactions between
atmospheric constituents and climate
change, from regional to global scales.
For this, global climate models that
involve interactive composition are
used in conjunction with
observations, especially from
satellites. A major focus over the
past few years is the study of fireatmosphere interactions. Recent
work in the team investigates the
interannual variability of pollution from
wildfires, its climatic drivers, and its
effects on human health (Marlier et al.,
2013). Furthermore, the impact of the
temporal resolution of fire emissions on
atmospheric composition and climate
forcing has been explored, using global
Voulgarakis, A., V. Naik, J.-F. Lamarque, D.T.
Shindell, P.J. Young, M.J. Prather, O. Wild,
R.D. Field, D. Bergmann, P. Cameron-Smith,
I. Cionni, W.J. Collins, S.B. Dalsøren, R.M.
Doherty, V. Eyring, G. Faluvegi, G.A.
Folberth, L.W. Horowitz, B. Josse, I.A.
McKenzie, T. Nagashima, D.A. Plummer, M.
Righi, S.T. Rumbold, D.S. Stevenson, S.A.
Strode, K. Sudo, S. Szopa, and G. Zeng
(2013a), Analysis of present day and future
OH and methane lifetime in the ACCMIP
simulations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 25632587, doi:10.5194/acp-13-2563-2013.
Voulgarakis, A., D.T. Shindell, and G.
Faluvegi (2013a) Linkages between ozone
depleting substances, tropospheric oxidation
and aerosols, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 49074916, doi:10.5194/acp-13-4907-2013.
93
Theoretical Physics
The research of the Theoretical Physics Group covers a wide range of areas bound together by the theme of
fundamental questions in cosmology, gravity, particle physics, and quantum theory.
STRING/M-THEORY AND
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
Duff, Gauntlett, Hanany, Hull, Stelle,
Tseytlin, Waldram, Wiseman
Within this subtheme we work on
the physical and mathematical
structure of string/M-theory as a proposed frameworkfor unifying the
Standard Model of Particle Physics
with General Relativity.
In addition, string/M-theory provides
deep insights into the non-perturbative structure of quantum field
theory.
The AdS/CFT correspondence,
which relates strongly coupled
quantum field theory to weakly coupled gravitational descriptions in
higher spacetime dimensions, is one
of the most profound discoveries in
string/M-theory and is a major focus
of the group. Our activities of the
Group in this area are supported
by two ERC Advanced Grants. One
is focussed on exploring integrability
structures present in particular systems. The second Is focussed on
trying to apply the AdS/CFT correspondence to poorly understood
strongly coupled systems that arise
in condensed matter physics, such
as the high temperature superconductors. The properties of black
holes play a central role in this work,
as they do in other areas of
research in this subtheme.
The Group also actively investigates
the very rich mathematical structure
of string/M-theory. This line of
research could lead to a precise
mathematical definition of what
string/M-theory is. It is also important in connecting string theory with
particle phenomenology and in
obtaining exact non-perturbative
results in quantum field theory. This
area is supported by an EPSRC
Programme Grant.
COSMOLOGY AND QUANTUM
FIELD THEORY
Contaldi, Dowker, Magueijo,
Rajantie, Wiseman.
Emeritus: Jones, Kibble and Rivers
94
The principal objective in this subtheme is to discover ways of testing
innovative particle physics and
quantum gravity theories against
hard astrophysical data. A particular
strength of the Group is the leading
expertise in both theoretical cosmological models and the extraction of
phenomenology from the data.
We have made significant contributions to the inflationary theory of
cosmological perurbations, using
both analytical and lattice techniques. One focus is on the physics
arising at the end of inflation, particularly in relation to defect production.
Alternatives to inflation are also
investigated including cyclic universe models and varying speed of
light theories. Modified theories of
gravity obviating the need for dark
matter are another focus. The cosmology group has been pioneering
the extraction of phenomenology
from quantum gravity in several
guises and testing it against data.
On the more observational side, we
continue to work on the development and application of methods of
CMB data analysis, including
involvement in a number of experimental efforts such as Planck and
Spider.
Image © R. Dijkgraaf
QUANTUM GRAVITY AND
FOUNDATIONS OF QUANTUM
MECHANICS
Dowker, Halliwell. Emeritus: Isham
The Group also works on other
approaches to quantum gravity
including causal set theory, which
posits that spacetime is fundamentally discrete. The foundations of
quantum mechanics, including the
emergence of classicality, are investigated both in connection to low
energy phenomenology and to provide insights into the structure of
quantum gravity.
COMPLEXITY AND NETWORKS
Evans Emeritus: Rivers
The group also has a keen interest
in statistical physics arising in classical systems. This ranges from applications of graph theory, to discrete
space times, to citation networks
and to studies of how spatial constraints alter the structure of networks, both in theoretical models
and in data from actual
Research
Professor Carlo Contaldi
Contaldi, Carlo R., Journal of Cosmology and
Astroparticle Physics, Issue 09, article id.
001, pp. (2014).
Professor Fay Dowker
Theoretical Physics
2.Introduction to Causal Sets and Their
Phenomenology, by Fay Dowker, General
Relativity and Gravitation 45 (2013) pp 16511667
3.A histories perspective on characterizing
quantum non-locality, by Fay Dowker, Joe
Henson and Petros Wallden, New Journal of
Physics, 2014 New J. Phys. 16 033033
4.Quantum Information Processing and
Relativistic Quantum Fields, by Dionigi M.T.
Benincasa, Leron Borsten, Michel Buck and
Fay Dowker, Class. Quantum Grav. 31 075007
Professor Michael Duff FRS
In a highly cited paper, showed how
suppression of primordial perturbations
on the largest cosmological scales
could reconcile the observations
announced by BICEP2 collaboration
in April 2014. We also introduced a
new formalism to reconstruct the
acceleration trajectory during inflation
from existing data. With student
Jonathan Horner we also showed
how to obtain the latest constraints
in general Hubble flow inflationary
trajectories from the Planck satellite
observations. A second paper with
Horner calculated non-Gaussianity
from the same generalised trajectories.
We continued work in preparation for
the SPIDER balloon-borne CMB
polarisation telescope that is scheduled
to fly in Antarctica during the first
week of December 2014 after
suffering a delay last year due to
Antrctic operations being curtailed
by the U.S. government shutdown.
1. Suppressing the impact of a high tensor-toscalar ratio on the temperature anisotropies,
Contaldi, Carlo R.; Peloso, Marco; Sorbo,
Lorenzo, Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle
Physics, Issue 07, article id. 014, pp. (2014).
2. BICEP's acceleration, Contaldi, Carlo R.,
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle
3. PLANCK and WMAP constraints on
generalised Hubble flow inflationary trajectories,
Contaldi, Carlo R.; Horner, Jonathan S.,
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle
4. Non-gaussian signatures of general
inflationary trajectories, Horner, Jonathan S.;
My research on the causal set
approach to quantum gravity continued
with the discovery of a family of
discrete non-local Lorentz invariant
D’Alembertian operators for scalar
fields extending results in 2 and 4
dimensions to all dimensions. I
continued my work on Foundations
of Quantum Mechanics with work on
characterising non-locality from the
perspective of a sum-over-histories
approach to quantum theory. We
discovered a strong connection
between a condition on sets of
experimental probabilities – a quantum
analogue of a non-contextuality
condition – that arises naturally in a
histories approach and a condition
that is known in the quantum
information literature as “Almost
Quantum.” We did work highlighting
the fact that a relativistic quantum
field theory lacks a set of rules
specifying what interventions by
external observers, including
measurements, are possible.
Restricting measurements and
interventions to those that do not
violate relativistic causality puts
constraints on the processing of
quantum information using quantum
fields.
1.Causal Set D’Alembertians for various
dimensions, by Fay Dowker and Lisa Glaser,
Class. Quantum Grav. 30 195016
My recent work in collaboration with
Leron Borston and my students Alex
Anastasiou, Leo Hughes and Silvia
Nagy is devoted to finding a consistent
quantum theory of gravity. We
address the question of whether
gravity, a force traditionally described
by Einstein’s general relativity, can
be regarded as the product of two
Yang-Mills theories (quantum field
theories used in the standard model
of particle physics to describe the
strong, weak and electromagnetic
forces). There has already been
some progress in this direction at
the level of scattering amplitudes in
momentum space but our goal is
more ambitious. We aim to find an
exact correspondence at the level of
off-mass-shell fields in coordinate
space. A key ingredient will be our
recent unified description of all
supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories
[3] in terms of the four division
algebras; real (R), complex (C),
quaternion (H) and octonion (O).
The global symmetries that result
95
Research
from tensoring one (R, C, H, O) theory
with another are then just those of
the so-called Freudenthal magic
square, well-known to mathematicians
[2.4]. But even more interesting is
the Yang-Mills origin of local
gravitational symmetries such as
general coordinate invariance and
local supersymmetry [1].
1) Yang-Mills origin of gravitational
symmetries By A. Anastasiou, L. Borsten,
M.J. Duff, L.J. Hughes, S. Nagy.
arXiv:1408.4434 [hep-th].
Phys.Rev.Lett (to appear)
http://journals.aps.org/prl/edannounce/PhysR
evLett.111.180001
2) A magic pyramid of supergravities
By A. Anastasiou, L. Borsten, M.J. Duff, L.J.
Hughes, S. Nagy. arXiv:1312.6523 [hep-th]
10.1007/JHEP04(2014)178.
JHEP 1404 (2014) 178.
3) Super Yang-Mills, division algebras and
triality By A. Anastasiou, L. Borsten, M.J.
Duff, L.J. Hughes, S. Nagy. arXiv:1309.0546
[hep-th]. 10.1007/JHEP08(2014)080.
JHEP 1408 (2014) 080.
4) A magic square from Yang-Mills squared
By L. Borsten, M.J. Duff, L.J. Hughes, S.
Nagy. arXiv:1301.4176 [hep-th].
10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.131601.
Phys.Rev.Lett. 112 (2014) 131601.
Dr Tim Evans
2013 on different aspects of this
work while my collaboration with
archaeologist in Toronto produced
several more publications (e.g.
Evans, 2014).
I organised two international meetings
at Imperial in September, attended by
around fifty academic each. This was
part of my involvement in a UK EPSRC
NetworkPlus collaboration on
Emeregence and Non-Equilibrium
Physics.
I continue to work as scientific advisor
for two companies: Symplectic Ltd (part
of the Digital Science division of
Macmillan) and the start-up Newflo.
This has included some consultancy
work.
My paper on 3D printing and
complexity published in December
2013 (Reiss et al, 2013) was selected
by the editors of the journal, and
received widespread coverage
resulting in the sixth highest ever rating
for an article in that journal (EPL) on
altmetrics.com.
1. DS Reiss, and JJ Price, and TS Evans,
Sculplexity: Sculptures of Complexity using 3D
printing, European Physics Letters, 104 (2013)
48001 [altmetric id 1871611].
2. JR Clough, J Gollings, TV Loach and TS
Evans, Transitive reduction of citation networks,
Journal of Complex Networks, 2014 (in press)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/comnet/cnu039
3. TS Evans, Which Network Model Should I
Use? Towards a Quantitative Comparison of
Spatial Network Models in Archaeology, in The
Connected Past: challenging networks in
archaeology and history, T. Brughmans A. Collar
& Coward, F. (Eds.), Oxford University Press,
2014.
96
I pursued my interest in complexity and
networks in two main directions. My
new programme of research on
temporal networks has produced its
first paper (Clough et al. 2014) with
others submitted. On the other hand
my long standing interest in
networks constrained by space
continues. I gave three invited talks
at international venues in November
Theoretical Physics
Professor Jerome Gauntlett
The AdS/CFT correspondence, which
arose out of string theory, is a
powerful theoretical tool to study
strongly coupled quantum field
theories using weakly coupled
gravitational descriptions in higher
spacetime dimensions. In recent
years there has been a concerted
effort to apply these “holographic”
techniques to vexing condensed
matter systems such as high
temperature superconductors and
strange metal phases using, amongst
other things, novel black hole solutions.
In ref 4 we used these techniques to
model the rapid quench of a
superconductor and discovered an
emergent temperature scale in the
superconducting phase below which
the approach to equilibrium is
oscillatory and above which it is not.
We have pioneered the study of
spatially modulated phases and in
ref 3 we investigated the competition
between striped phases and
superconducting phases and in the
process discovered black holes
describing meta-magnetic phases.
In refs 1 and 2 we pioneered the
construction of a class of black hole
solutions that incorporate momentum
dissipation and hence provide more
realistic models of metals. We found
models of coherent metals, with
Drude peaks, incoherent metals
(with some similarity to the strange
metals) and insulators as well as
transition between these states.
Research
1. Novel metals and insulators from
holography, A. Donos and J.P. Gauntlett,
JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS
Issue: 6, Article Number: 007, Published:
JUN 3 2014
2. Holographic Q-lattices, A. Donos and J.P.
Gauntlett, JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY
PHYSICS Issue: 4, Article Number: 040
Published: APR 7 2014
3. Competing orders in M-theory: superfluids,
stripes and metamagnetism, A. Donos, J.P.
Gauntlett, J. Sonner and B. Withers,
JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS
Issue: 3, Article Number: 108 Published:
MAR 2013
4. Holographic Superfluids and the Dynamics
of Symmetry Breaking, M.J. Bhaseen, J.P.
Gauntlett, B.D. Simons, J.Sonner and T.
Wiseman, PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Volume: 110 Issue: 1 Article Number:
015301 Published: JAN 2 2013
Professor Jonathan Halliwell
proofs of Fine's theorem, which is
essentially the logical converse of
Bell's theorem -- it states that the
CHSH inequalities are not only a
necessary condition for the existence
of an underlying hidden variables
theory, they are also a sufficient
condition.
1. Suppression of quantum-mechanical
reflection by environmental decoherence: D.
J. Bedingham and J. J. Halliwell, Phys. Rev. A
88, 022128 (2013)
2. Classical limit of the quantum Zeno effect
by environmental decoherence:
D.J.Bedingham, J.J.Halliwell: Phys. Rev. A
89, 042116 (2014)
3. Quantum backflow states from eigenstates
of the regularized current operator:
J.J.Halliwell, E.Gillman, O.Lennon, M.Patel,
I.Ramirez,, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 46,
475303 (2013)
4. Two proofs of Fine's theorem: J.J.Halliwell,
Phys Lett A 378, 2945 (2014).
Professor Amihay Hanany
In the last year or so I completed
two substantial papers with my
postdoc Dan Bedingham, which
demonstrate two closely related
results for a point particle system:
both quantum-mechanical reflection
off a simple step potential and the
Zeno effect arising from very frequent
position measurements are
suppressedas a result of environmental
decoherence. The classical limit of
these two non-classical effects is
thereby obtained. With four undergraduate project students, I wrote a
paper on how to generate an
exhaustive class of backflow states,
states of positive momenta but
negative current so that the probability
flows backwards, an intriguing nonclassical effect awaiting experimental
confirmation. I also wrote a short
letter offering a new and transparent
Theoretical Physics
we used these results to predict
moduli spaces of Argyres Douglas
theories. In 2 we solved a long
standing problem of finding the
moduli space of instantons for
exceptional groups.
Other topics of study included the
moduli space of vortices in 6, the
deformation of brane tilings by mass
terms in 4, and development of
Hilbert series techniques in 3.
1.T r (G) Theories and Their Hilbert Series
Stefano Cremonesi (King's Coll. London, Dept.
Math & Imperial Coll., London), Amihay Hanany
(Imperial Coll., London), Noppadol Mekareeya
(CERN), Alberto Zaffaroni (Milan Bicocca U. &
INFN, Milan Bicocca). Oct 6, 2014. 56 pp.
s
2.Coulomb Branch and The Moduli Space of
Instantons Stefano Cremonesi, Giulia Ferlito,
Amihay Hanany (Imperial Coll., London),
Noppadol Mekareeya (CERN). Aug 28, 2014. 41
pp. IMPERIAL-TP-14-AH-08, CERN-PH-TH2014-136
3.Highest Weight Generating Functions for
Hilbert Series Amihay Hanany, Rudolph Kalveks
(Imperial Coll., London). Aug 20, 2014. 68 pp.
Published in JHEP 1410 (2014) 152 IMPERIALTP-14-AH-07
4. Mass-deformed Brane Tilings Massimo
Bianchi (Rome U.,Tor Vergata & INFN, Rome2),
Stefano Cremonesi, Amihay Hanany (Imperial
Coll., London), Jose Francisco Morales (Rome
U.,Tor Vergata & INFN, Rome2), Daniel Ricci
Pacifici (Padua U., Astron. Dept. & INFN, Padua),
Rak-Kyeong Seong (Korea Inst. Advanced
Study, Seoul). Aug 8, 2014. 34 pp. Published in
JHEP 1410 (2014) 27 IMPERIAL-TP-13-AH-04,
KIAS-P14038, IMPERIAL-TP-13-AH-06 DOI:
10.1007/JHEP10(2014)027
During this year the attention was
devoted to the study of the Coulomb
branch of N=4 supersymmetric
gauge theories in 3 dimensions.
We developed a new formula for the
Coulomb brach Hilbert series, and
this is based on the contributions
from monopole operators to the
chiral ring. This led to a collection of
new results. In 9 we showed how to
get new mirror pairs by gauging a
global symmetry, which amounts to
ungauging a gauge symmetry in the
mirror. In 8,7,1 we developed
technical tools related to this
formula that involve Hall Littlewood
polynomials in various forms. In 5
5.Complete Graphs, Hilbert Series, and the
Higgs branch of the 4d N=2 (An,Am) SCFT's
Michele Del Zotto (Harvard U., Phys. Dept.),
Amihay Hanany (Imperial Coll., London). Mar 25,
2014. 20 pp.
6.Hilbert Series and Moduli Spaces of k U(N)
Vortices Amihay Hanany (Imperial Coll.,
London), Rak-Kyeong Seong (Korea Inst.
Advanced Study, Seoul). Mar 19, 2014. 102 pp.
IMPERIAL-TP-13-AH-04, KIAS-P14016
7.Coulomb branch Hilbert series and Three
Dimensional Sicilian Theories Stefano
Cremonesi, Amihay Hanany (Imperial Coll.,
London), Noppadol Mekareeya (CERN), Alberto
Zaffaroni (INFN, Milan Bicocca & Milan Bicocca
U.). Mar 10, 2014. 45 pp.
CERN-PH-TH-2014-036, IMPERIAL-TP-14-SC02 DOI: 10.1007/JHEP09(2014)185
8.Coulomb branch Hilbert series and HallLittlewood polynomials Stefano Cremonesi,
Amihay Hanany (Imperial Coll., London),
Noppadol Mekareeya (CERN), Alberto Zaffaroni
97
Research
(INFN, Milan Bicocca & Milan Bicocca U.). Mar 3,
2014. 67 pp. CERN-PH-TH-2013-278,
IMPERIAL-TP-14-SC-01 DOI:
10.1007/JHEP09(2014)178
9.Mirror Symmetry in Three Dimensions via
Gauged Linear Quivers Anindya Dey (Texas U.
& Texas U., TCC), Amihay Hanany (Imperial
Coll., London), Peter Koroteev (Perimeter Inst.
Theor. Phys.), Noppadol Mekareeya (CERN).
Jan 31, 2014. 73 pp. Published in JHEP06
(2014) 059 UTTG-36-13, TCC-030-13, CERNPH-TH-2013-279 DOI:
10.1007/JHEP06(2014)059
Professor Chris Hull FRS
Hull and Zwiebach in a highly cited
paper from 2009. The geometry and
physics of doubled spacetime were
developed and discussed in [2].
Explicit forms were found for finite
gauge transformations, elucidating
the nature of tensors and showing
the relation with generalised
geometry. The development of
these results and their application to
the global structure of doubled
geometry is the subject of on-going
research.
Theoretical Physics
the first has been published [2]. There
is however an ongoing dispute about
the validity of this work.
[1. T.W.B. Kibble, The standard model of particle
physics, European Rev. 23, 36–44 (2014)
2. Richard Lieu, T.W.B. Kibble and Lingze Duan,
Measurement of the dispersion of radiation from
a steady cosmological source, Ap. J. 778, 73
(2013)
Professor João Magueijo
1) Emergent Time and the M5-Brane By C.M.
Hull and N. Lambert, arXiv:1403.4532 [hepth] , JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS
1406 (2014) 016.
2) Finite Gauge Transformations and
Geometry in Double Field Theory By C M
Hull. arXiv:1406.7794 [hep-th], to appear in ,
JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS.
Professor Sir Tom Kibble FRS
In joint work with Neil Lambert, the
possibility of time emerging from a
theory without time was discussed.
We argued that the strong coupling
limit of the maximal super-YangMills theory in 5 Euclidean
dimensions has an emergent time
dimension and gives a description of
the 5+1 dimensional M5-brane
theory, compactified on a timelike
circle. The discussion involved
questions of how to quantise
Euclidean theories without time, and
indeed the meaning of quantum
theory in such systems. Issues of
space-time signature, emergent
dimensions and periodic time were
also addressed.
98
String theory has duality symmetries,
which allow the construction of nongeometric backgrounds. String
theory on a torus requires dual
coordinates conjugate to winding
number. This leads to physics and
novel geometry in a doubled
spacetime. This is formulated in
double field theory, introduced by
Not a lot to report! Much of my activity
in the last two years has been directed
towards giving historical talks about the
origins of the Higgs mechanism and
the unified electroweak theory, or the
wider standard model. None has been
published yet, but one, given at
DICE2014 in Castiglioncello will be
published next year. A semi-popular
invited talk I gave at the annual
meeting of the Academia Europaea in
Wrocław has been published [1]. I also
provided some theoretical input to a
project undertaken by Richard Lieu and
his student Lingze Duan of the
University of Alabama at Huntsville on
possible methods of improving
astrophysical measurements, of which
Over the past year I continued to
investigate the cosmology of models
with deformed dispersion relations,
and their relation to dynamical
dimensional reduction, as seen in
many quantum gravity schemes. A
remarkable dual picture was
discovered in [1] dispensing with the
dubious concept of spectral
dimension, replacing it by the
straightforward Hausdorff dimension
o fmomentum space, and shedding
light on they scale-invariance of the
associated cosmological
fluctuations. A better understanding
of how departures from exact scaleinvariance may arise was also
obtained in a couple of papers (e.g.
[2], where a connection with
intermediate inflation was found).
More importantly, a method was
found for introducing deformed
dispersion relations representative
of dimensional reduction without
picking out a preferred frame. This
may prove to be the best set up for
studying these scenarios, with a
minimal number of free parameters.
On different front I continued to
Research
investigate the cosmological
consequences of Cartan gravity,
e.g. regarding signature change
(see [4]). This followed up on earlier
work on torsion and spin cosmology.
1. G.Amelino-Camelia, M.Arzano, G.Gubitosi
and J.Magueijo, Dimensional reduction in
momentum space and scale-invariant
cosmological fluctuations, Phys. Rev. D {bf
88}, no. 10, 103524 (2013)
2. J.D.Barrow and J.Magueijo, Intermediate
inflation from rainbow gravity, Phys. Rev.
D88, no. 10, 103525 (2013)
3. G.Amelino-Camelia, M.Arzano, G.Gubitosi
and J.Magueijo, Planck-scale dimensional
reduction without a preferred frame,Phys.
Lett. B736, 317 (2014)
4. J.Magueijo, M.Rodriguez-Vazquez,
H.Westman and T.G.Zlosnik, Cosmological
signature change in Cartan Gravity with
dynamical symmetry breaking, Phys. Rev.
D89, 063542 (2014)
Professor Arttu Rajantie
Collider at CERN, which will be
searching for magnetic monopoles. I
have worked on identifying theories
that would predict light magnetic
monopoles and developed methods for
calculating their predictions from
quantum field theory.1
1. MoEDAL Collaboration (B. Acharya et al.),
“The physics programme of the MoEDAL
experiment at the LHC”, International Journal of
Modern Physics A29 (2014) 1430050
Theoretical Physics
conformal theory in n-1 dimensions
and higher spin theory in AdSn
space showing the equality of the
corresponding partition functions
and Casimir energies on a spatial
sphere. The higher spin theory in
AdSn is also closely related to
higher-derivative conformal higher
spin theory in n-1 dimensions for
which we determined the conditions
of cancellation of conformal anomalies.
2. L. Bethke, D. G. Figueroa and A. Rajantie, “On
the Anisotropy of the Gravitational Wave
Background from Massless Preheating”, Journal
of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 1406
(2014) 047
1. A.A. Tseytlin,On partition function and Weyl
anomaly of conformal higher spin fields, Nucl.
Phys.B 877, 598 (2013)
3. L. Bethke, D. G. Figueroa and A. Rajantie,
“Anisotropies in the gravitational wave
background from preheating”, Physical Review
Letters 111 (2013) 011301
3. S.Giombi, I.R.Klebanov and A.A.Tseytlin,
Partition Functions and Casimir Energies in
Higher Spin AdS(d+1)/CFT(d), Phys. Rev. D
90, 024048 (2014)
3. S. Orani and A. Rajantie, “Supersymmetric
hybrid inflation with a light scalar”, Physical
Review D88 (2013) 043508
Professor Arkady Tseytlin
2. B.Hoare, A.Stepanchuk and A.A.Tseytlin,
Giant magnon solution and dispersion
relation in string theory in AdS3xS3xT4 with
mixed flux, Nucl. Phys.B 879, 318 (2014)
4. B.Hoare, R.Roiban and A.A.Tseytlin, On
deformations of AdSn x Sn supercosets,
JHEP 1406, 002 (2014)
Professor Daniel Waldram
I have investigated the cosmological
implications of the Higgs field and other
possible light scalar fields. Together
with my PhD student Laura Bethke and
Daniel Figueroa from University of
Geneva, we showed that in the
presence of a light scalar field, the
gravitational wave background from the
end of inflation in the early universe
would be anisotropic, and that if
observed, these anisotropies could be
used to test and constrain cosmological
theories.2,4 With another PhD student
Stefano Orani, we showed a light
scalar field can arise from a
supersymmetric theory, with interesting
cosmological consequences.3 I am
also a member of the new MoEDAL
experiment at the Large Hadron
Our work on AdS/CFT duality
continued along several directions.
We developed an integrabilitybased approach to superstrings in
AdS3 x S3 space discovering that
the corresponding disperstion
relation for elementary magnons has
a novel form different from the one in
the much studied AdS5 x S5 case.
We also investigated integrable
deformations of AdSn x Sn supercoset
models finding new relations between
previously known integrable sigma
models in AdS2 x S2 and AdS3 x S3
cases. We also studied vectorial
AdS/CFT between singlet sector of
free scalar or free fermion
My work has focused on understanding
the geometric structures underlying
string theory generalisations of Einstein
gravity, with implications for the AdS/cft
correspondence, flux compactifications
and more generally the symmetry
structure underlying M theory. In
collaboration with two (now former)
PhD students, André Coimbra and
Charles Strickland-Constable, we
defined a generalised notion of
Riemannian geometry, based on
exceptional groups, that gives a
reformulation of type II and eleven-
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Research
dimensional supergravities as
generalised pure Einstein theories
[1,2]. With Strickland-Constable (then
at DESY) and a postdoc at Imperial
College, Kanghoon Lee, we used this
formalism to derive a universal
description of consistent truncations of
supergravities as generalised ScherkSchwarz reductions, giving for the first
time a geometrical understanding of
the remarkable sphere consistent
truncations first discovered in the late
1980s. With Mariana Graña (IPhT,
Saclay), Jan Louis (Hamburg Univ and
DESY) and Ulrich Theis (Hannover) we
analysed the structure of string and
quantum corrections to type II
reductions on SU(3) structure
manifolds, showing that they closely
mirror the correction on conventional
Calabi-Yau manifolds. Finally with
Coimbra, Ruben Minasian (IPhT,
Saclay) and Hagen Triendl (CERN) we
showed how the string corrections to
heterotic sueprgravity could again be
described using the formalism of
generalised geometry. Results from
these last three projects all appeared
as preprints during the year.
1. Ed(d)×ℝ+ generalised geometry, connections
and M theory: A. Coimbra, C. StricklandConstable and D. Waldram, JHEP 1402, 054
(2014).
100
2. Supergravity as Generalised Geometry II:
Ed(d)×ℝ+ and M theory: A. Coimbra, C.
Strickland-Constable and D. Waldram, JHEP
1403, 019 (2014).
Dr Toby Wiseman
During the period 2013-2014 my
research has been focussed on the
gravitational aspects of the AdSCFT correspondence. I have
continued to use numerical methods
to solve the bulk gravitational
Einstein equations in situations of
relevance for dual field theory
physics. In particular I showed how
quench dynamics relevant for
describing holographic
superconductors can be reproduced
[1], and also discussed a new class
Theoretical Physics
of black holes with non-Killing
horizons [2] which is important in
understanding plasma flow in
strongly coupled gauge theory via
holography. I co-authored an invited
review [3] on these and related
topics applying gravitational
methods to study strongly coupled
field theory. I have also developed
new methods to understand the
emergence of black hole physics in
thermal supersymmetric gauge
theory, starting with the work [4],
and this is now an on-going
program.
1. Holographic Superfluids and the
Dynamics of Symmetry Breaking: J.
Bhaseen, J. Gauntlett, B. Simons, J.
Sonner, T. Wiseman; Phys.Rev.Lett. 110
(2013) 015301
2. Stationary holographic plasma
quenches and numerical methods for nonKilling horizons: P. Figueras, T. Wiseman;
Phys.Rev.Lett. 110 (2013) 171602
3. Holographic thermal field theory on
curved spacetimes: D. Marolf, M.
Rangamani, T. Wiseman ;
Class.Quant.Grav. 31 (2014) 063001
4. On black hole thermodynamics from
super Yang-Mills: T. Wiseman ; JHEP
1307 (2013) 101
Technical Development, Intellectual Property and
Commercial Interactions, the Blackett Laboratory
Industry Club
Research in the Physics Department at Imperial College is a mix of fundamental and end-user-inspired
interdisciplinary science. This profile promotes the primary role of physics in advancing elemental knowledge
and also highlights its crucial role in stimulating economic growth,and in tackling key global issues.
We engage with over 60 external companies through
collaborative research, consultancy, knowledge transfer
and patenting/licencing of our intellectual property. We
also contribute to economic growth through setting up
commercially successful spinout companies.
We collaborate with the commercial sector at all levels
and of course PhD students within the Department benefit from direct industrial sponsorship and EPSRC
CASE awards.
The Department set up an industry club in 2010 in order
to interact on a more regular basis with companies who
are interested to recruit our students and postdocs and
engage with the department on collaborative research
projects.
101
Industry Club
The technology developments and commercial activities
within our research groups include the following:
Astrophysics
Both the Herschel and Planck teams continue the
development of data reduction and analysis software for
these two missions. For Planck our work is aimed at the
determination of beam shapes and focal plane geometry from actual survey data using either scans across
individual bright sources or through combination of data
on large numbers of fainter sources. This work is crucial
to the science goals of the Planck mission. For Herschel we are coordinating the development of data
reduction and analysis software for the whole of the
SPIRE instrument and have special responsibility for
mapmaking codes through a contract from the European Space Agency which will be used for both the
SPIRE and PACS instruments.
The group has a wide-ranging computational and theoretical research portfolio with a strategic focus on materials for structural, electronic and photonic applications,
providing theoretical and computational expertise.
Many projects have direct relevance to the next generation of technologies. Our work on metamaterials has
shown how to create perfect lenses that beat the diffraction limit, how to harvest light efficiently, and how to
make objects invisible. Our work on functional and
structural materials includes studies of radiation
damage in fusion and fission reactors, surfaces and
grain boundaries in perovskites for functional applications, the high-temperature corrosion of Ni- and Febase structural alloys, thermoelectrics for power
generation, capacitors for energy storage, and plasticity
under shock loading.
The Group enjoys working relationships with Accelrys,
Astron, Antenova, Argonne National Laboratory, Baker
Hughes, BP, BAE, Element Six, Materials Design, Placental Analytics, Rolls-Royce, the UK Atomic Energy
Authority, the UK Defence Science and Technology
Laboratory, and the US Air Force Office of Scientific
Research. We hold several patents.
The experimental Solid State Physics Group develops
technologies across a broad range of areas that have
impact on the displays and lighting sector, the information and communication technologies sector, the solar
102
energy sector, and the health care and security sectors.
Our innovations derive largely from expertise in molecular electronic materials and devices, inorganic semiconductors and devices, nanomagnetism and transition
metal oxides and devices. Programmes span materials
design, synthesis and processing, device fabrication
and optimization and applications assessment. Welldeveloped skills in optical and electrical materials and
device characterization and modelling underpin this
activity. Much of the work in the group proceeds through
collaborative research programmes frequently involving
industrial partners. Leading international companies
that have supported our work include BP Solar, Merck,
DuPont Teijin Films, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Philips
Research Labs., Solvay, Unilever, CDT, Toshiba, BASF,
LG, Solenne B.V., Toyota, and Oxford Instruments. The
group also benefits from collaborations with the NPL at
Teddington.
The group also has a strong record of protecting intellectual property and exploiting it through spinout companies such as QuantaSol and Molecular Vision.
High Energy Physics
The dark matter experimental part of the High Energy
Physics group is dedicated to the development of
advanced particle detectors for 1- 100 keV energies
and associated technology (high precision ultra-high
vacuum technology in copper, partper-billion level gas
purification, charge/light readout technologies, cryogenics). A joint development programme has being undertaken with UK-based ET Enterprises Ltd (formerly
Electron Tubes Ltd) to develop a photomultiplier tube
with ultra-low radioactive background. This work is in
its final stages and promises to deliver the world’s most
radio-pure phototube, which will find world-wide application in large experiments for neutrino detection, dark
matter searches, and neutrinoless double-beta decay.
The underground laboratory at Boulby represents a
symbiotic relationship between industry (CPL mine) and
university research. The gravitational-wave project
drives charge control systems and associated technology (UV light sources, particle guns, satellite instrumentation). For this work the group collaborates with EADS
(Astrium UK, Astrium Germany), Carlo Gavazzi Space
(Italy), ETL, the European Space Agency, SciSys and
SEA.
Plasma Physics
The Group is engaged in work involving the development and exploitation of high-voltage pulsed power sys-
Industry Club
tems and high-power lasers. Our research using lasers
has led to developments in the field of 'compact'
plasma-based particle accelerators with many potential
applications ranging from advanced light sources to
medical imaging and hadron therapy. We also investigate dusty plasmas, an understanding of which is
important in integrated circuit manufacture and for future
fusion power plant designs.
We collaborate with many companies and organisations
that provide support for our activities in a broad range of
ways including commercial contracts, knowledge transfer secondments, PhD support and through joint grant
awards. These include UKAEA Culham, the Rutherford
Appleton Laboratory, AWE Aldermaston plc, Sandia
National Laboratory, the Laboratory for Laser Energetics
(University of Rochester), the Institute of Laser Engineering (University of Osaka), the US Naval Research
Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Labo-
ratory. We also host the Centre for Inertial Fusion Studies (CIFS) and the Institute of Shock Physics (ISP)
which has substantial links with commercial and industrial organisations, include QinetiQ, THALES and BAE
as well as its major sponsor, AWE. These involve investigations of high-speed impacts e.g. on electronic components, high strain-rate loading of engineering and
biological materials and the development of robust predictive capabilities for systems under extremes of strain
and pressure.
Laser Consortium
Our technology is associated with developing high
intensity and ultra short laser pulses. Theoretical
descriptions of the effect of these intense fields have led
to technology that can be used to produce microscopic
optical structures by laser induced modification (through
multiphoton ionisation) of media. The attosecond basic
103
Industry Club
technology programme promises to open up new fields
of ultra high time resolution measurement in surface science etc. Technology recently developed as part of this
project has been spun out and a second custom system
for hollow fibre pulse compression to generate 10 fs
pulses has been delivered to RAL under contract. A
broadband phase shaper for high intensity laser pulses
is also in the process of being patented. Plasmas produced by interaction of short pulse lasers with sub
wavelength clusters and micronscale objects are a
promising source for x-ray generation at lithographically
important wave-lengths. They also produce high energy
density plasmas of interest for the testing of numerical
codes. Blast waves in extended cluster media can be
used to model astrophysical and other strongly driven
systems and produce high quality data useful in the
benchmarking of complex radiation hydrocodes. We
have an active collaboration with AWE including funding, personnel exchange and equipment loan.
Quantum Optics and Laser Science
The Group applies cutting edge laser technology, quantum-enhanced technology and detailed numerical modeling to a broad range of measurement and control
problems in information processing, metrology, sensing
and basic physics research. The Centre for Cold Matter
has an ongoing collaboration with the K. J. Lesker company investigating transparent conductive films for polymers. There are also links with PG Technology
(Precision machining company) on design of molecular
decelerators, and with Shimadzu Research Laboratories
(Europe) on the development of novel THz detectors
which has recently resulted in a joint patent.
There are ongoing collaborations with the National
Physical Laboratory (NPL) on ion trapping and the
development of ultra-stable lasers. This has included
supervision of students funded by the NPL who carry
out most of their experimental work there, but who are
registered as students at Imperial College. The Quantum Information Theory sub group has links with a
number of companies including Toshiba and NTT.
Photonics
In the Photonics group, most of our projects are interdisciplinary and we work closely with industry. Direct support for research into high throughput and
multidimensional fluorescence imaging, particularly fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) has come from Perkin
Elmer Life and Analytical Sciences (UK) Ltd and GE
Healthcare. ‘In kind’ support has come from
AstraZeneca UK Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline R&D, Kentech
Instruments Ltd, Leica Microsystems (UK) Ltd, Olympus
104
Optical Co UK Ltd. We also have a founding interest in
Aurox Ltd, a spin-out from Oxford University, manufacturing optical microscopy equipment. Our fibre laser programme addresses wavelength and pulse length
versatile, all-fibre configurations primarily deploying
MOPFA (Master Oscillator Power Fibre Amplifier) technology including development of versatile compact seed
sources, to generate high average power, spectrally
bright single mode sources. The fibre laser work has
long-standing collaboration and support from the IPG
Group of Companies. Direct support in the area of high
power diode-pumped solid-state lasers and nonlinear
optics has come from the Electro-Magnetic Remote
Sensing (EMRS) Defence Technology Centre, established by the UK Ministry of Defence and run by an
industrial consortium of SELEX Sensors and Airborne
Systems, Thales Defence, Roke Manor Research and
Filtronic. This involves novel adaptive sensors and laser
sources for enhancing signal and information retrieval in
complex remote sensing scenarios. Pilkington Optronics
(now Thales) have supported CASE awards and ‘in
kind’ support has come from Shell Research Labs,
Spectra-Physics and Spectron Laser Systems. The
European Space Agency is sponsoring the development
of new high efficiency tunable lasers for next generation satellite-based remote sensing for atmospheric and
earth science addressing climate change, weather prediction and monitoring the health of the Earth’s biosystem.
Industry Club
The group has a long history of leading magnetometer
instruments for space research. Our continued collaboration with Ultra Electronics Ltd has resulted in a new
fluxgate design which at 100g is half the mass of any
sensor we have previously flow in space. We completed
a collaboration with EADS Astrium, MSSL (UCL) and
SciSys Ltd to validate new data-handling architectures
for future small satellites where processing power and
resources will need to be shared amongst many users.
We have also completed a first stage of testing new,
commercially available, solid state magnetoresistive
sensors, with promising results.
As part of an EU Marie Curie Research Training Network GLADNET we are also studying the characteristics
of Glow Discharges, used as an analytical method in
industrial applications for example in quality testing of
thin coatings.
The group is strongly engaged with the Climate knowledge Innovation Community (KIC) and is developing the
next generation catastrophe model software for the
insurance sector.
Theoretical Physics
The dominant part of the Group's activities lie in studying theories of the fundamental nature of the universe
and associated commercial applications arise in the
very long term. However, there are some subsidiary
consultancy activities.
Tim Evans is a consultant with Digital Science
http://www.digital-science.com/ who produce software to
collate and analyse information for academics and academic institutions, for instance Digital Science produces
Symplectic's Elements software which manages the
publications of academics at Imperial College. He is
also a Scientific Advisor to NewsfFlo http://www.newsflo.net who produce software to collate and analyse
information from News outlets for academic institutions.
Jerome Gauntlett is a Scientific Advisor for the Arts Club
in Mayfair and he was the Theoretical Physics consultant for the film the Theory of Everything.
105
Industry Club
BLACKETT LABORATORY INDUSTRY CLUB
In 2010 the department set up the Industry Club, with
the aim to enhance the good working relationships that
exist between the Imperial College Physics Department
and a number of companies and to develop such relationships with new partners. The department set about
creating two departmental wide events per year inviting
all Industry club members. The PGR Research Symposium event which is held in June each year, is a show
casing event where all second year PhD students present posters and all third year PhD students give talks.
Industry club members are involved in choosing poster
prize winners. The second major event of the year is the
industry club recruitment event, which is a more traditional career fair. Both events are well attended.
Laboratory, Oxford Instruments, IPG Photonics, Qioptiq,
RBS, Renishaw, TTP, Toshiba, Winton Capital.
Bespoke recruitment events were held for Winton Capital, Renishaw and Electronic Arts.
In 2014, the industry club co-sponsored our international undergraduate summer research exchange programme (i-UROP) at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, University of British Columbia,and Seoul
National University creating the opportunity for seven of
our third year Physics undergraduates to enjoy a state
of the art research experience.
The industry club also sponsors a PhD thesis prize and
two of our club members AWE and Winton Capital also
sponsor their own named post graduate thesis prize.
2014 Industry Club members include:
AWE,BP, Bloomberg, Electronic Arts National Physical
106
Prizes and Awards
Prizes & Awards 1.1.13-31.12.14
Astrophysics
• Astrophysics Group – The Herschel-SPIRE Team, in
which Imperial’s Astrophysics Group played a major
role, has been awarded the 2014 Royal Astronomical
Society Group Achievement Award.
• Dr Dave Clements – The Herschel-Spire Team, of
which Imperial is a part has been awarded the 2013
Arthur C Clarke Award for Academic Study/Research
– 2014
• Dr Jonathan Pritchard – Awarded the Rees Rawlings
Prize for the best PGCert portfolio of 2013 (by the
Imperial EDU Group) - 2014
• Mr Hikmatali Shariff – 3 Minute Thesis Competition
winner – 2014
• Dr Roberto Trotta - awarded an STFC Impact Acceleration Account award entitled “From Supernovae to
Road Safety: Astrostatistical data analysis techniques
for accident prevention” - 2014
• Prof Sir John Pendry – Won the Isaac Newton Medal
of the Institute of Physics 2013
• Prof Sir John Pendry – Awarded the Julius Springer
Prize for Applied Physics 2013
• Prof Sir John Pendry - awarded a share of the 2014
Kavli Prize in Nanoscience – 2014
• Prof Mike Finnis - received a von Humboldt Research
Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
in Germany. The award comprises 60K Euros in Germany - 2014
• Prof Donal Bradley – Received the Founders Prize
Lecture of the IOP/RSC Polymer Physics Group at the
Physical Aspects of Polymer Science biennial meeting
in Sheffield – 2013
• Professor Donal Bradley - awarded an Honorary DSc
from the University of Sheffield – 2014
• Professor Jenny Nelson - awarded a Fellowship of the
Royal Society – 2014
• Dr John Labram has been awarded the Elings Prize
Fellowship from the University of California Santa Barbara - 2014
• Mr Gianluca Bovo – awarded a Spring E-MRS’ 2014
Graduate Student Award - 2014
• Mr James Semple – 3 Minute Thesis Competition
winner - 2014
• Mr Ed Yoxall – Awarded the Solid State Physics Prize
- 2014
• Ms Katharina Zeissler - Awarded the Winton Capital
Prize - 2014
High Energy Physics
• Prof Tijinder Virdee – received Honorary Doctorate
(Honoris Causa) from Queen Mary University of
London – 2013
• Prof Tijinder Virdee – Received Honorary Doctorate
from the Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon,
France; Awarded the Asian GG2 Award; Named 37th
on the list of Britian’s 101 Most Influential Asians.
• Prof Sir Tejinder Virdee was knighted in the 2014
Queen’s Birthday Honours List - 2014
• Dr Lyn Evans - is a Visiting Professor in High Energy
Physics – is the first winner of the prestigious St David
Award for Innovation and Technology - 2014
• Dr Gregory Iles – Received the CMS 2013 Achievement Award from the CMS Experiment at CERN – ‘For
his leading contribution to electronics design’ - 2014
• Mr Nick Wardle – Awarded the Winton Capital Prize 2014
• Prof Lyndon Rees Evans – Awarded Dirac Medal by
the International Centre for Theoretical Physics at Trieste and won the Glazebrook Medal and Prize – Institute of Physics – 2013
ISP
• Miss Chiara Bo – Awarded AWE PhD Prize – 2014
• Mr Michael Rutherford – Won 1st place at the RAL
High Power Laser meeting Student Poster Competition - 2014
PE CDT
• Mr Joseph Shaw – awarded both a Fall and a Spring
E-MRS’ 2014 Poster Prize - 2014
Photonics
• Mr Ben Chapman – Awarded the Blackett Laboratory
– Industry Club Thesis Prize - 2014
Plasma Physics
• Dr Guy Burdiak - awarded 2014 Culham Thesis –
2014
• Professor Steve Cowley - awarded a Fellowship of the
Royal Society – 2014
• Professor Steve Cowley - awarded a Fellowship of the
Royal Academy of Engineering in recognition of his
outstanding and continuing contributions to engineering - 2014
• Mr Arthur Turrell - Awarded AWE PhD Prize - 2014
• Prof Sir Peter Knight – Received Imperial College
Medal – 2013
• Prof Sir Peter Knight awarded Honorary Degree of D
107
Prizes and Awards
Litt by Macquarie University – 2014
• Prof Sir Peter Knight elected Honorary Fellowship of
the Institute of Physics - 2014
• Dr Ben Brown – EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship 2014
• Mr Steffen Driever – Awarded a Newport Research
Excellence Travel grant to attend the Photonics west
Conference in San Francisco. Also won the best student paper award - 2014
• Mr Sandeep Mavadia - Awarded the Anne Thorne
Thesis Prize - 2014
• Mr Malte Oppermann – Awarded the Anne Thorne
Thesis Prize - 2014
• Mr Stefan Truppe - Awarded the Blackett Laboratory
– Industry Club Thesis Prize - 2014
• Prof Michele Dougherty and the Magnetometer Team
– won the Group Achievement Award in Geophysics,
awarded by the Royal Astronomical Society – 2014
108
• Professor Michele Dougherty - awarded a Royal
Society Research Professorship - 2014
• Emeritus Prof John Harries – Awarded Fellowship of
Aberystwyth University (equivalent to an Honorary
Degree elsewhere) - 2014
• Ms Minyi Liang - awarded a Kristian Gerhard Jebsen
Scholarship within the Grantham Institute to undertake research in the Department of Physics - 2014
Theoretical Physics
• Prof Tom Kibble – Awarded Dirac Medal by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics at Trieste and
Honorary Fellow status of the Institute of Physics –
2013
• Professor Tom Kibble - received the 2014 Einstein
Medal of the Albert Einstein Society of Bern, Switzerland - 2014
• Professor Tom Kibble - awarded the Royal Medal of
the Royal Society of Edinburgh – 2014
• Professor João Magueijo - awarded a Leverhulme
Research Fellowship for “Dimensional reduction at
Prizes and Awards
the Planck scale and models of the early universe” 2014
Teaching
• These members of staff were shortlisted as nominees
for the Student Academic Choice Awards: Dr Simon
Bland, Dr Tim Evans, Dr Joachim Hamm, Prof Martin
McCall, Prof Peter Torok - 2013
• Faculty of Natural Sciences Awards for Teaching
Excellence were awarded to:
• Prof Steven Cowley
• Prof Matthew Foulkes
• Prof Terry Rudolph
• Dr Richard Hendricks
• Dr Edward Hill
• Dr Subhanjoy Mohanty
• Dr Alexander Richards
• Dr Francisco Suzuki Vidalm
• Miss Giulia Ferlito
• Mr Peter T Fox
• Mr Jeremey Turcaud
• Mr John Wood
UG Student
• Leo Hughes - awarded the Julian Schwinger Prize for
the Best Student Presentation - 2014
• Renjie Yun - awarded a prestigious Lee Family PhD
Scolarship -2014
Abdus Salam Postgraduate Prize 2013
For annual award to a student in the Department of
Physics for the best performance in the Quantum Fields
and Fundamental Forces MSc Peter Jones (M) £250
Adrian Sutton Prize
Prize for a major contribution to the life of the Centre for
Doctoral Training in Theory and Simulation of Materials
Andrea Greco (M) £600
Gladys Locke Prize in Applied Optics
For annual award to the student who achieves the best
overall performance in the Applied Optics MSc course,
taking into account written examinations, laboratory and
project work.
Paloma Matia Hernando (F) £100
Winton Capital Prize for the Best PhD Thesis in
Physics
For annual award to the student with the best PhD
thesis in Physics using computational methods.
Nick Wardle (M) £250
Winton Capital Prize for the Best PhD Thesis in
Physics
For annual award to the student with the best PhD
thesis in Physics using computational methods.
Katharina Zeissler (F) £250
Director's Prize
For annual award to the student with the best overall
performance in the Plastic Electronics MRES.
Scott Wheeler (M) £250
Anne Thorne Thesis Prize
A PhD thesis in experimental physics concerned with
the development and / or use of new experimental
instrumentation or techniques.
Malte Oppermann (F) £200
Anne Thorne Thesis Prize
A PhD thesis in experimental physics concerned with
the development and / or use of new experimental
instrumentation or techniques.
Sandeep Mavadia (M) £200
Research Prize for best MRes Project in PE CDT
The MRes in Plastic Electronics will have a prize sponsored by Sigma-Aldrich for best MRes Project
David Harkin (M) £250
Alina Khmelevskaya receiving her Ken Allen prize from
Prof Jordan Nash.
109
Prizes and Awards
For 5 years from 2011
In recognition of doctoral thesis work that has made a
significant scientific or technology contribution as measured by peer review publications or patents filed in an
area of applied physics.
Ben Chapman (M) £200
area of applied physics.
Stefan Truppe (M) £200
area of solid state physics.
Ned Yoxall (M) £200
Materials Design Prize - For 5 years from 2011
For annual award to students who make the most significant progress at the early stage assessments.
Gabriel Lau(M) £300
Materials Design Prize For 5 years from 2011
For annual award to students who make the most significant progress at the late stage assessments.
Thomas Swinburne(M) £300
Prize for Outstanding Contribution to the Life
Centre for Doctoral Training in Theory and Simulation of Materials for 7 years from 2013
For Outstanding Contribution to the Life Centre for Doctoral Training in Theory and Simulation of Materials
Anthony Lim (M) £200
Prize for Outstanding Contribution to outreach or
public engagement by a student in the Centre for
Doctoral Training in Theory and Simulation of Materials for 7 years from 2013
For Outstanding Contribution to outreach or public
engagement by a student in the Centre for Doctoral
Training in Theory and Simulation of Materials
Marc Coury(M) £200
Prize for Outstanding Contribution to the Life of the
TSM CDT - For 5 years from 2011
For annual award to the student who makes the most
outstanding (non-academic) contribution to the success
and development of the Centre.
Vincent Chen (M) £100
110
Mohammed Khawaja (M) £100
Daniel Rathbone (M) £100
Chiara Liverani (F) £100
Prize for innovation in computation or experimental
physics on graduation for 5 years from 2013
Best PhD in the field of High Energy Density, shock
regimes and plasma Physics. AWE will provide the
department with an annual sum.
Chiara Bo(F) £250
Prize for innovation in computation or experimental
physics on graduation for 5 years from 2013
Best PhD in the field of High Energy Density, shock
regimes and plasma Physics. AWE will provide the
department with an annual sum.
Arthur Turrell (M) £250
College Prize for award for outstanding achievement
Jassell Majevadia(F) £250
Aeneas Wiener(M) £250
Sir Peter Knight Award
Best overall performance in the MRes year by a Controlled Quantum Dynamics Centre for Doctoral Training student.
Antony Milne (M)
£200
Prizes and Awards
PGR Symposium (25/06/2013)
Winner of talk Session 1
Peter Sinclair (M) £200
Winner of runner up talk Session 1
Andrew Gilbert (M) £100
Winner of talk Session 2 Giuliana Di Martino (F) £200
Ben Chapman (M) £100
Joe Fallon (M) £200
Gabriele Messori (M) £100
Winner of talk Session 4 Lionel Fafchamps(M) £200
Alex Perevedentsev (M) £200
Aisha Kaushik (F) £200
Matthew Kenzie (M) £100
Winner of poster
Michel Buck (M) £100
Winner of poster
Zara Abdelrahman (F) £100
Winner of poster
Anthony Lim (M) £100
Winner of poster
Leo Hughes (M) £100
Winner of poster
Yen-Hung Lin(M) £100
Winner of poster
Joshua Chadney (M) £100
111
Grants Awarded
ASTRO
Imperial College STFC Impact Acceleration Account
Dr Roberto Trotta, Pathways to Impact Astrostatistical data analysis
£14,836
Science and Technology Facilities
Council
Prof Stephen Warren, STFC studentship enhancement programme for
Nathalie Skrzypek
£12,958
CMTH
Engineering & Physical Science
Research Council
Dr Yan Francescato, Doctoral Prize Fellowship
£47,306
Research Council
Prof Peter Haynes, Capital Equipment for
Centres for Doctoral Training
£397,033
The Leverhulme Trust
Prof Ortwin Hess, Extreme nonlinear
chirality in THz metasurfaces £184,819
Research Council
Prof Ortwin Hess, Programme Grant:
Mathematical fundamentals of Metamaterials for multiscale Physics and
Mechanics (led by Department of Maths)
£589,286
European Office Of Aerospace
Research & Development
Prof Ortwin Hess, Full-Time-Domain
Maxwell-Bloch Modelling of Semiconductor Lasers
£28,546
Research Council
Prof Ortwin Hess, Programme Grant:
Nano-Optics to controlled Nano-Chemistry Programme Grant (NOtCH) (led by
University of Cambridge)
£1,039,871
The Royal Society
Dr Johannes Lischner,
University
Research Fellowship (held jointly with
Department of Materials)
£612,046
EXSS
Cambridge Display Technology Ltd
Prof Thomas Anthopoulos, Solutionprocessed hybrid complementary circuits on plastic
£195,000
Imperial College EPSRC Impact
Acceleration Account
Prof Donal Bradley, Knowledge Transfer
Secondment for Jim Bailey to NPL
£44,588
112
Prof Donal Bradley, Pathways to Impact
- Copper thiocyanate as an anodeenhancing overlayer for low-temperature
solution-processed optoelectronic
devices
£113,015
Prof Stefan Maier, Hybrid nanoantennas
£197,120
Research Council
Dr Alasdair Campbell,
Asymmetric
Synthesis and Study of Platinum Metallahelicenes in Circularly Polarised Phosphorescent Organic Light Emitting Diodes
(led by Department of Chemistry)
£88,824
Research Council
Prof Stefan Maier, Strategic Equipment:
Optical Fabrication and Imaging Facility
for three-dimensional sub-micron
designer materials for bioengineering
and photonics
£718,553
Imperial College Trust
Dr Will Branford, Topological Spin Textures
£20,223
Dr Alasdair Campbell,
Pathways to
Impact (led by Department of Chemistry)
£69,470
Dr Amanda Chatten,
trochemical reactor
Photo-elec£5,034
Prof Lesley Cohen, Knowledge Transfer
Secondment for Milan Bratko to Cryogenic Ltd
£23,492
European Space Agency / Estec
Dr Ned Ekins-Daukes,
Highly Radiation Tolerant Multi-Junction Solar Cells
£61,538
Commission of the European
Communities
Dr Worawat Khunsin,
Marie Curie
Fellowship: Photonic-plasmonic hybrid
for optical switching and biosensing
application
£171,319
Prof Stefan Maier, Nano-particle
assisted super-resolution microscopy for
live cell imaging
£68,089
Office Of Naval Research Global
Prof Stefan Maier, Beyond Nanoplasmonics Platform
£54,286
Research Council
Prof Stefan Maier, Programme Grant:
Mathematical fundamentals of Metamaterials for multiscale Physics and
Mechanics (led by Department of Maths)
£569,856
Research Council
Prof Stefan Maier, TERACELL: Integrated Microwave-to-Terahertz Sensors
for label-free circulating tumour cell
detection (led by Department of Materials)
£293,308
Communities
Prof Jenny Nelson, CHEETAH - Cost
reduction through material optimisation
and HIgher EnErgy outpuT of solAr pHotovoltaic modules - joining Europe's
Research and Development efforts in
support of its PV industry (led by Department of Chemistry at Imperial) £41,692
Met Office
Prof Jenny Nelson, AVOID 2 (led by
Grantham Institute)
£2,318
Prof Jenny Nelson, Knowledge Transfer
Secondment for Wing Chung Tsoi to
NPL
£52,558
Research Council
Prof Jenny Nelson,SUPERSOLAR Solar
Energy Hub
£185,749
Research Council
Dr Paul Stavrinou, FPP3D: Coupling
frontal photopolymerisation and interfacial wrinkling for single shot 3D patterning (led by Department of Chemical
Engineering)
£13,138
Research Council
Dr Paul Stavrinou, Capital Equipment for
Centres for Doctoral Training £384,892
Research Council
Dr Katharina Zeissler, Doctoral Prize
Fellowship
£49,724
Grants Awarded
HEP
Council
Prof Ulrik Egede, STFC studentship
enhancement programme for Greg
Ciezarek
£9,719
Council
Prof Geoffrey Hall, Added Capital Equipment for CMS
£109,000
Council
Prof Ken Long, MICE Spokesperson
support
£263,501
Wellcome Trust internal scheme
Dr Piero Posocco, Towards a compact
proton irradiator for in-vitro radiobiological studies
£62,430
Council
Prof Tim Sumner, LISA Pathfinder Mission Support
£125,696
Council
Dr Yoshi Uchida, STFC studentship
enhancement programme for Ben Smith
£9,719
Council
Dr Morgan Wascko, The Hyper-K UK
Proposal
£98,328
PHOTONICS
Prof Paul French, Pathways to Impact Translating automated FLIM-HCA to
drug discovery, systems biology and
basic research
£124,591
Prof Paul French, Nano-particle assisted
super-resolution microscopy for live cell
imaging (led by Experimental Solid
State)
£56,055
Royal Academy Of Engineering
Dr Edmund Kelleher, RAE Fellowship:
Next generation short-pulse lasers for
the visible and ultraviolet
£434,126
Communities
Prof Martin McCall, GoPhoton! £39,773
Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council
Dr James McGinty, Enhancing spatial
and temporal resolution for isotropic vol-
umetric imaging and 3D cell tracking
£163,322
Prof Mark Neil, Pathways to Impact Micro_led array optical projection systems ñ applications in optogenetics
£66,091
PLASMA
US Department of Energy
Dr Simon Bland, Pulsed Power High
Energy-Yr 3
£132,353
Research Council
Dr Michael Coppins, Dust in Magnetized
Plasmas
£417,696
Communities
Dr Christos Kamperidis, Marie Curie
Fellowship: Construction and Optimization of a Novel, Ultra-Compact, UltraFast X-Ray Coherent Source £164,153
Council
Prof Zulfikar Najmudin, Plamsa wakefield acceleration
£88,948
Defence Science and Technology
Laboratory (DSTL)
Dr William Proud, Frangible Simulants
£1,876
AWE Plc
Prof Steven Rose, ORION opacity
Phase 2
£330,000
Prof Roland Smith, Knowledge Transfer
Secondment for Siddharth Patankar to
AWE
£23,908
Prof Roland Smith, Knowledge Transfer
Secondment for Chris Price to RAL
£49,460
QOLS
Research Council
Dr Ben Brown, Doctoral Prize Fellowship for for Ben Brown
£36,370
Prof Edward Hinds, Knowledge Transfer Secondment for Ben Yuen to NPL
£81,242
Research Council
Prof Edward Hinds, Institutional Sponsorship for Quantum Technologies 2014
£300,000
Qatar Foundation
Prof Myungshik Kim, Quantum state
engineering - Y3
£63,211
Prof Myungshik Kim, Proposal for quantum optical tests of the minimum length
scale
£118,662
Research Council
Prof Myungshik Kim, Capital Equipment
for Centres for Doctoral Training
£116,557
Communities
Dr Florian Mintert, ERC Starting Grant:
Optimal dynamical control of quantum
entanglement (grant transferred from
Freiburg)
£356,980
U.S Army (US)
Prof Terry Rudolph, Photonic Quantum
Characterization, Verification and Validation
£23,435
Engineering & Physical Sciences
Research Council
Prof Terry Rudolph,Programme Grant:
Engineering Photonic Quantum Technologies (led by University of Bristol)
£612,782
The Royal Society
Dr Vijay Singh, Newton Fellowship:
Design for a fountain of YbF molecules
to measure the electron's electric dipole
moment
£66,000
Research Council
Dr William Okell, Doctoral Prize Fellowship
£62,124
SPAT
Council
Mr Chris Carr, Cluster FGM (2014)
£103,959
Council
Prof Michele Dougherty, Cassini (2014)
£330,702
The Royal Society
Prof Michele Dougherty, Royal Society
Professorship
£912,156
113
Grants Awarded
Communities
Dr Jonathan Eastwood,
Heliospheric
Cataloguing, Analysis and Techniques
Service (HELCATS)
£172,190
Communities
Dr Heather Graven, Marie Curie Career
Intergration Grant: Observing Carbon
Dioxide Emissions at Regional Scales
(OCDERS)
£74,074
Council
Prof Tim Horbury, STFC studentship
enhancement programme for Martin
Archer
£12,958
Council
Prof Tim Horbury, Solar Orbitor additional equipment
£52,000
Council
Prof Steven Schwartz, Cluster CSC
(2014)
£102,169
114
Imperial College EPSRC, NERC and
STFC Impact Acceleration Accounts"
Prof Steven Schwartz, Support for
SpaceLab conference 2014
£18,000
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology
Prof Ralf Toumi, Stochastic Parameterization and Forecasting of Wind Energy
in India
£191,472
Theoretical Physics
Commission of the European Communities
Prof Jerome Gauntlett, ERC Advanced
Grant: GravQuantMat - Gravity, black
holes and strongly coupled quantum
matter
£1,402,530
Council
Prof Jerome Gauntlett, Consolidated
Grant: M Theory, Cosmology and Quantum Field Theory
£1,909,894
Prof Jerome Gauntlett, String Theory,
Quantum Field Theory and Cosmology
£20,000
Communities
Dr Steffen Gielen, Marie Curie Fellowship:
Cosmology from QGó What quantum
gravity teaches us about the origin of the
universe: Extension of early universe
cosmology by using non-perturbative
quantum gravity.
£164,152
John Templeton Foundation
Prof Joao Magueijo, What banged?
£269,881
Prof Joao Magueijo, Research Fellowship: Dimensional reduction at the
Planck scale and models of the early
universe
£41,610
Council
Prof Arttu Rajantie, STFC studentship
enhancement programme for Laura
Bethke
£12,958
Blackett Laboratory Alumni Events 2013-14
Early in 2014, the department was approached by the
1974 undergraduate cohort, a subset of which keeps in
regular contact with each other. The group got in touch
with Linda Jones, now Departmental Administrator,
asking whether a function could be held for them over
the Imperial Festival in May. The request resulted in the
Department hosting a social event for over 100 alumni
within (the very fondly remembered) Blackett level 8
common room. Linda toured many of the alumni to visit
the level1 main lecture theatre and other familiar
haunts.
Inspired by the success of this event, and recognising
the need to provide Physics focused alumni visits, the
department contacted the College Alumni office to ask
them to help organise the first formal Departmental
alumni function. In September 2014, over 120 alumni
attended an exclusive Physics event to hear Professor
Sir Tom Kibble talk about his role in the prediction of the
Higgs Boson. the elusive particle whose existence was
finally confirmed at CERN in 2012. Alumni were offered
tea and cake in the Blackett Laboratory foyer (a trip
down memory lane for many) followed by a champagne
reception in the common room and the 8th floor roof terrace overlooking the West London skyline and the
Royal Albert Hall. The appeal of such a prestigious
speaker was apparent as the event attracted a huge
range of alumni from recent graduates through to those
who were taught by Professor Kibble himself.
Friends of Imperial Theoretical Physics
In 2013 the Theoretical Phyiscs Group at Imperial College initiated a new association called "Friends of Imperial Theoretical Physics" or FITP for short. The purpose
of FITP is to host periodic popular talks at South Kensington campus allowing members to keep abreast of the
exciting research that is currently going on in the Group
and in theoretical physics more generally.
115
Blackett Laboratory Alumni Events 2013-14
In 2013 FITP hosted a Symposium celebrating Tom
Kibble's 80th Birthday concluding with a keynote talk by
Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg to a packed audience
of over 700 people in the Great Hall.
In 2014 FITP organised a talk titled "The World in
Eleven Dimensions" by Professor Michael Duff FRS, the
Abdus Salam Professor of Theoretical Physics.
getting the message that science is fun, worthwhile,
interesting and exciting out to the next generation.
Janet (nee Eccles) and Gwyndaf John
Physics 1971
A Grand Day Out!
Imperial Festival 2014, the dates went straight into our
calendar when we received our email from
the Friends. This was our third Festival, and
it didn’t disappoint, the event seems to be
going from strength to strength.
First of all, a visit to the Alumni base in the
Senior Common Room. Always a cheerful
welcome with a good cup of coffee and biscuits to get us going. Everyone is keen to
chat and within minutes we had been
exchanging words with an alumnus of 1958
Elec Eng who was visiting with a fellow student and a recent alumnus of 2013 Computer Science who had climbing the Queen’s
Tower firmly on her agenda.
Next the big marquee. So much to see, so
much to learn about, so much to try. Knowledgeable students keen to share their enthusiasm; explaining, demonstrating and
inspiring the Festival visitors. Great to see so
many children who had come along with
their families having such a good time controlling skiing
penguins by nodding their head, whizzing cars down
tracks to simulate DNA, looking at tape worms in jars,
ugh! My own favourites included the 3D printer attached
to the scanning fluid pipette which generated amazing
models such as of the eye of a fly. Also the enthusiastic
epigenetics student whose patience whilst trying to
explain to two physicists what it was all about was
impressive.
Lectures to go to, workshops to try out, Jezebel and Bo
to visit, the day sped by but we were keeping an eye on
the time as we had an important date at 4:30pm. The
Physics Department had invited alumni for a nostalgic
visit to the department- and they did it in style. We met
in the Senior Common Room on level 8, scene of our
post finals party so many years ago. We were warmly
welcomed by organiser Linda Jones, the Physics
Department Operations Manager, and Professor Lesley
Cohen, Director of External Liaison. Wine and a superb
buffet ensured that people relaxed, mixed, reminisced
and generally had a really good time.
Thank you for a day to remember for alumni like us. It is
also great to see that IC is doing such an excellent job in
116
Juno Transparency and Opportunity Committee
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/physics/staff/juno
117
Juno Transparency and Opportunity Committee
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/physics/staff/juno
The Juno Transparency and
Opportunity Committee meets
monthly throughout the year. The
business of the meetings is driven
by (i) the evaluation of progress on
the action plan from the last AthenaSWAN application, and (ii) new and
on-going initiatives related to wider
issues, such as the gender and the
racial imbalance among physics
students. Information about the
committee’s activities, including the
minutes, are disseminated to the
department through the committee
website, which is accessible through
the departmental website.
The activities of the committee are
often driven by an individual
member, which is then supported by
the committee as a whole through
advice and concrete action. During
the previous year, the main output of
the committee is as follows:
118
1. Following a meeting between
several members of the committee
and Elizabeth Truss MP (at the time
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of
State for Education and Childcare)
at the Department for Education
(DoE) an invitation was issued and
accepted for her to visit Imperial in
2014. That visit happened on May
14, 2014, when the Under-Secretary
emphasised the need for better math
and science teaching to encourage
more pupils to take up STEM
subjects after the age of 16,
particularly girls and those from less
affluent backgrounds. This was also
a central theme during the visit to
the DoE.
focus the interview on the personal
and career development of the
appraisee. The new form has
already been used in PRDP cycle
during 2014.
5. One of the main activities of the
Juno Committee is the preparation
of the Departments application for
2. As an outgrowth of Mark Richards’ an Athena-SWAN Gold Award, which
Insights programme, Lesley Cohen
will be submitted in April 2015. The
spearheaded a Women’s Day on
Department currently holds the
June 4, 2014. Presentations
Silver Award, which was first
included an overview, female
awarded in 2009, and renewed in
researchers/academics talking about 2012. There is only one department
their journey, tours and lunch, where within Imperia (Chemistry) and one
staff talked informally with the
physics department in the UK
students about all aspects of
(Cambridge) with Gold Awards.
academic life at Imperial.
3. Following the successful initiation
of the PDRA committee to provide a
forum for the concerns of that
community, Rob Nyman (Juno
Committee member) has established
a committee for Early Career
Researchers.
4. Training sessions for the new form
for the personal review and
development plan (PRDP) began in
November 2013, with additional
sessions to be added as needed.
The new form is designed for use
across all job categories and to
Artist in Residence
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120
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Department of Physics - Imperial College London

Transcription

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