Department of Physics
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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 101 Technical Development, Intellectual Property & Commercial 7 Department Information Interactions 8 Academic, Research and Support staff 107 Prizes awarded 7 Teaching 112 Grants awarded 13 Undergraduate studies 115 Alumni 19 International exchange scheme 22 Outreach 27 Postgraduate studies 117 Juno 28 Highlighted Postgraduate Case Studies 119 Artist in residence Research in progress 40 Groups 41 Astrophysics 46 Condensed Matter Theory 53 Experimental Solid State Physics 60 High Energy Physics 69 Photonics 74 Plasma Physics /ISP 82 Quantum Optics & Laser Science 88 Space & Atmospheric Physics 94 Theoretical Physics www3.imperial.ac.uk/physics Department of Physics Review 2013 -14 3 4 www3.imperial.ac.uk/physics Department of Physics Review 2013 -14 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 generation of physicists. Professor Jordan Nash 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 stu- dents 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 post- graduate 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 www3.imperial.ac.uk/physics Department of Physics Review 2013 -14 5 6 www3.imperial.ac.uk/physics Department of Physics Review 2013 -14 Department Information Head Associate Operations Research Operations of Department Head of Department Manager Manager Professor Jordan Nash Dr Kenny Weir Linda Jones Louise Hayward Tel: 020 7594 7500 Tel: 020 7594 7501 Tel: 020 7594 7502 Tel: 020 7594 7679 Email: Email: Email: Email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [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 Email: [email protected] Senior Administrator Kalvinder Chana Tel: 020 7594 6113 Email: [email protected] Undergraduate Teaching Postgraduate Teaching Director of Undergraduate Studies Admissions and Disabilities Officer Director of Postgraduate Studies Professor Angus Mackinnon Ms Mery Fajardo Professor Lesley Cohen Tel: 020 7594 7505 Tel: 020 7594 7513 Tel: 020 7594 7598 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Senior Tutor Examinations and Information Officer Postgraduate Development Officer Professor Danny Segal Mr Edward Charnley Dr Andrew Williamson Tel: 020 7594 7779 Tel: 020 7594 7508 Tel: 020 7594 7631 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Admissions Tutor (Undergraduate) Undergraduate Administrator Postgraduate Administrator Dr Bob Forsyth Ms Stephanie Smallwood Mrs Loli Sanchez Tel: 020 7594 7761 Tel: 020 7594 7511 Tel: 020 7594 7512 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Examinations Co-ordinator Undergraduate Administrator Dr Julia Sedgbeer Ms Geetika Tewari Tel: 020 7594 7811 Tel: 020 7594 7510 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Undergraduate Education Manager Mr Derryck Stewart Tel: 020 7594 7561 Email: [email protected] www3.imperial.ac.uk/physics Department of Physics Review 2013 -14 7 Academic, Research and Support Staff Professors Prof Alan Heavens, PhD Prof Steven Schwartz, BSc, PhD Prof Thomas Anthopoulos, BEng, PhD [Astrostatistics] [Space and Atmospheric Physics] [Experimental Physics] Prof Ortwin Hess, PhD Prof Daniel Segal, BSc, DPhil Prof Donal Bradley, BSc, PhD, ARCS, FRSA, [Metamaterials] [Quantum Optics] CPhys, FInstP, FRS [Experimental Physics] Prof Edward Hinds, BA, DPhil, FRS Prof Roland Smith, BSc, PhD Prof Jeremy Chittenden, BSc, PhD, DIC, [Quantum Optics] [Laser Physics] CPhys, MInstP [Physics] Prof Timothy Horbury, BSc, PhD Prof Kellogg Stelle, AB, PhD, FInstP Prof Kim Christensen, PhD [Physics] [Theoretical Physics] [Theoretical Physics] Prof Timothy Sumner, BSc, DPhil, CPhys, Prof Christopher Hull, BA, PhD, FInstP, FRS BSc, PhD FInstP, FRAS [Experimental Astrophysics] Prof Lesley Cohen, [Physics] [Solid State Physics] Prof Adrian Sutton, BA, MSc, PhD, FRS Prof Misha Ivanov, MSc, PhD Prof Carlo Contaldi, MSci, PhD [Nanotechnology] [Physics] [Theoretical Physics] Prof Roy Taylor, BSc, PhD BS, MS, PhD, MInstP, Prof Steven Cowley, BA, MA, PhD, FRS Prof Andrew Jaffe, [Ultrafast Physics and Technology] [Plasma Physics] FRAS [Astrophysics and Cosmology] Prof Richard Thompson, MA, DPhil Prof Michael Damzen, PhD Prof Myungshik Kim, BS, MSc, MBS, PhD, [Physics] [Experimental Laser Physics] PGCHET [Theoretical Quantum Information] Prof John Tisch, BSc, PhD Prof Paul Dauncey, BA, DPhil Prof Sergey Lebedev, MS, PhD, FInstP, F.APS [Laser Physics] [Particle Physics] [Plasma Physics] Prof Peter Török, DPhil, DSc Prof Gavin Davies, BSc, PhD Prof Kenneth Long, BSc, DPhil [Optical Physics] [High Energy Physics] [Experimental Particle Physics] Prof Ralf Toumi, BSc, PhD, ARCS Prof Michele Dougherty, BSc, PhD, FRS Prof Angus Mackinnon, PhD [Atmospheric Physics] [Space Physics] [Physics] Prof Arkady Tseytlin, MS, PhD Prof Fay Dowker, BA, MA, PhD Prof Joao Magueijo, BA, PhD [Physics] [Physics] [Physics] Prof Tejinder Virdee, Prof Michael Duff, BSc, PhD, DIC, FInstP, FRS Prof Stefan Maier, PhD PhD, FRS [Physics] [Theoretical Physics] [Nanophotonics] Prof Dimitri Vvedensky, PhD Prof Ulrik Egede, BSc, PhD Prof Jonathan Marangos, PhD, ARCS, DIC [Theoretical Solid State Physics] [Physics] [Laser Physics] Prof Daniel Waldram, BA, MA, PhD [Theoretical Physics] Prof Michael Finnis, BSc, PhD Prof Martin McCall, PhD [Theoretical Optics] [Materials Theory and Simulation] Prof Stephen Warren, MA, PhD [Astrophysics] Prof Matthew Foulkes, PhD Prof Raymond Murray, BSc, PhD [Solid State Physics] [Physics] Prof Jing Zhang, BSc, PhD, DIC, ARCS BA, PhD [ [Physics] MSc, PhD, FInstP Prof Zulfikar Najmudin, Prof Leszek Frasinski, Physics] [Atomic and Molecular Physics] Prof Jordan Nash, BSc, PhD Readers PhD Prof Paul French, [Physics] Dr Henrique Araujo, PhD [Physics] Dr Oliver Buchmueller, PhD Prof Mark Neil, BA, MA, PhD BSc, PhD,FInstP Dr Alasdair Campbell, BSc, MSc, PhD Prof Jerome Gauntlett, [Physics] [Physics] Dr David Colling, BSC, BA, PhD Prof Jenny Nelson, BA, PhD, FRS BSc, PhD Prof Andrey Golutvin, PhD [ Dr Michael Coppins, [Physics] PhD Physics] Dr Arnaud Czaja, Prof Sir John Pendry, MA, PhD, FRS Dr Robert Forsyth,