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Physics and Astronomy ANNUAL REVIEW 2007 Contents UCL DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY Physics and Astronomy ANNUAL REVIEW 2007 Contents Introduction Page 1 Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students Page 2 Staff Highlights and News Page 5 Alumni Matters Page 7 Public Outreach Page 8 Obituary to Professor Mike Seaton Page 9 Careers with a Physics Degree Page 10 Research Groups: Astrophysics Page 12 Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Positron Physics Page 15 High Energy Physics Page 18 Condensed Matter and Materials Physics Page 20 Grants and Contracts Page 23 Publications Page 25 Staff Page 32 Cover image is a Joseph Wood (University College London) and Jarlath McKenna (Queen’s University Belfast) from the Ultrafast While every effort has been made to ensure the Physics UCL/QUB collaboration working on the hollow fibre chirped accuracy of the information in this document, the mirror pulse compressor at the Central Laser Facility (Rutherford Department cannot accept responsibility for any Appleton Laboratory).The ten femtosecond laser pulses generated errors or omissions contained herein. are used to create, image and control nuclear wavepackets in hydrogenic molecular systems. The trace in the A copy of this review and further details about the background of the page is an illustration of a vibrational revival department may be found on the website in deuterium ions, which have been modelled and experimental http://www.phys.ucl.ac.uk imaged by the collaboration. This work was recently published in Physical Review A. Edited by Kate Heyworth, if you have any comments or suggestions for the 2008 issue please contact Kate at [email protected] Introduction “UCL is booming”, so started the White Paper on Modernising UCL published by the Provost in Introduction Page 1 June. The same can certainly be said of the Department of Physics and Astronomy: 2007 saw us welcome our largest ever and best qualified set of undergraduate entrants in terms ofA level Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students Page 2 grades and our biggest ever cohort of graduate students, along with the arrival of a significant Staff Highlights and News Page 5 number of new members of academic staff. Alumni Matters Page 7 Public Outreach Page 8 The one thing, however that has not complete research degrees. 2007 accomplished largely by Professor boomed is the amount of space we saw the graduation of the first cohort Nella Laricchia and Kate Heyworth. Obituary to Professor Mike Seaton Page 9 have available for both teaching and of students taking the MSc in The results of this exercise are due research activities. While we are Nanotechnology, a degree run from in December 2008. Careers with a Physics Degree Page 10 actively looking for room to house Electrical and Electronic our increased student and staff Engineering with the close Not unrelated to the RAE, is the Research Groups: capacity, it is clear that we cannot involvement of Physics and large number of new academic continue to admit undergraduate Astronomy. A new MSc in Advanced appointments we have been able Astrophysics Page 12 students in such large numbers and High Energy Physics is due to start to make during the last year. It is a Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Positron Physics Page 15 maintain our current teaching in 2008 and a Planetary Sciences pleasure to welcome them all to the standards. As a result there has MSc, run by Physics and Astronomy Department and to comment on the High Energy Physics Page 18 been a gentle rise in our standard A in collaboration with the uniformly high standard of level offer. Departments of Earth Sciences and applicants interviewed. Applications Condensed Matter and Materials Physics Page 20 Space and Climate Physics is on to UCL are truly global and we now We aim however, in line with UCL course to start in 2009. have at least one representative Grants and Contracts Page 23 policy, to continue to increase our from every continent on our post graduate teaching by Like most of the UK University academic staff (for Antartica see the Publications Page 25 continued recruitment of PhD sector, much effort during 2007 was article on ANITA!). students and by expanding our expended on completing our return Staff Page 32 taught graduate courses. Our MSc for the 2008 Research Assessment Professor Jonathan Tennyson Degrees in Physics and in Exercise (RAE). The Physics and Astrophysics are now firmly Astronomy return, which also (Head of Department) established and have been included Space and Climate Physics successful in attracting well and most of Medical Physics and qualified students from around the Bioengineering, was the second world into the Department. Many of biggest from UCL. Putting it these continue their studies to together was a huge task Sunset above the clouds from La Palma Observatory. Photo by Dr Francisco Diego during a trip to observe the perseid meteor shower in August 2007. Edited by Kate Heyworth, if you have any comments or suggestions for the 2008 issue please contact Kate at [email protected] 1 Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students in 2007 Prizes and Awards 30th October 2007 saw the Departmental Prize giving ceremony in the Old Refectory. This event is considered a valuable opportunity to acknowledge students who have performed outstandingly during their studies and the ceremony was attended not only by the prize winners and their guests, members of the Department and the Dean, but also Mrs Sally Darius as guest of honour. Sally generously endowed a new “Jon Darius Prize” for the best PhD in Astrophysics in memory of her late husband who was a PhD student and post-doctoral researcher in the Department working with Professor Sir Robert Wilson. As Professor Marshall Stoneham has also generously funded a new prize for the best PhD in Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, we are now in the position to award a prize for the best PhD in each of the four research areas in the Department. This increase is appropriate given our expanding numbers and of our PhD cohort. At the same time we have taken the opportunity to rename the MSc prize after long-time Head of Department, Sir Harry Massey. Additionally the Department’s inaugural prize for Teaching was awarded to Professor Raman Prinja at the same ceremony. A warm thank you to all the sponsors of our prizes, who also include the publishers Wiley and scientific software company Tessella. Congratulations go to the following prize winners: Undergraduate Prizes Setrak Balian OLIVER LODGE PRIZE (Best performance 1st year Physics) Holly Alexander HALLEY PRIZE (Best performance 1st year Astronomy) Jonathan Heslop C.A.R. TAYLER PRIZE (Best 2nd Year Essay) Yuval Ben-Haim WOOD PRIZE(Best performance 2nd year Physics) Kalle Karhunen HUGGINS PRIZE (Best performance 2nd year Astronomy) Gihan Weerasinghe The 2007 Prize winners at the award ceremony. The platform party (seated) are Prof Jonathan Tennyson DAVID PONTER PRIZE (Most (Head of Department), Prof Mike Barlow (Director of Teaching), Prof David Price (the Dean of Mathematical improved performance in and Physical Sciences and now Vice-Provost Research) and Mrs Sally Darius. Standing are the prize winners with Prof Raman Prinja in the centre with the tie. Department, 2nd year) Salim Damani Daniel Ryan Smith Efstathios Stefanidis CORRIGAN PRIZE (Best BRIAN DUFF MEMORIAL PRIZE (Postgraduate Research, Physics performance in experimental work, (Best 4th Year project in the HEP) 2nd year) department) Sascha Khakshouri Sidney Tanoto Alana Rivera E Ingraham MARSHALL STONEHAM PRIZE ADDITIONAL SESSIONAL PRIZE LONDON GRANVILLE PRIZE (Best (Postgraduate Research, Physics FOR MERIT graduating student in the University CMMP) Catherine White of London in Physics and Alexandros Attikis BEST PERFORMANCE 3rd YEAR Astronomy) Sarah Skoff PHYSICS WILLIAM BRAGG PRIZE (Best HARRIE MASSEY PRIZE – Joint Daniel Short overall undergraduate) Winners (Best MSc Student) BEST PERFORMANCE 3rd YEAR Simon Binnie Tom Bell ASTRONOMY TESSELLA PRIZE FOR JON DARIUS PRIZE (Postgraduate Simon Robert Heard SOFTWARE (Best use of software Research, Astronomy) ADDITIONAL SESSIONAL PRIZE in final year Physics/Astronomy Daniel Murtagh FOR MERIT projects) IOP STUDENT TRAVEL PRIZE IN Luke Austen POSITRON PHYSICS BURHOP PRIZE (Best performance Postgraduate Prizes Daniel Burgarth 4th year Physics) Ralf Gommers 2006 CAREY FOSTER PRIZE (best Daniel John CAREY FOSTER PRIZE PhD thesis in Physics within the HERSCHEL PRIZE (Best (Postgraduate Research, Physics Department) performance 4th year Astronomy) AMOPP) 2 Degrees Awarded In 2007 Physics and Astronomy welcomed 134 undergraduates to the department, 18 MSc students and 40 Post- graduate Research Students. Undergraduate Physics and Astronomy students have the option of completing a three year degree leading to a Bachelor of Sciences (BSc) award or a Master in Science (MSci) award which takes four years to complete. Pass Figures for 2007: MSc: Undergraduate degrees: Award Class Number of students Degree Class: Number of students Distinction 7 BSc MSci Pass 6 1st 6 22 2:1 11 9 2:2 19 4 3 20 1 PhD Degrees awarded in the dusty main sequence stars Konstantinidis) 2007 (Supervisor Prof. M Barlow) Philip Taylor Investigations into a Developments novel processing route for diamond Cristiana Arcidiacono Ionisation Sascha Khakshouri studies of positron impact in mean field density functional at low pressure (Supervisor Prof. M (Supervisor Prof. G Laricchia) theory of simple fluids and charged Stoneham) colloidal suspensions (Prof. I Ford) Magnetic and Milena Benedettini The structure Helen Walker and the origin of the molecular gas Stephen Malton Laser interactions quadrupolar ordering in (U, Np) Pd3 along chemically rich outflows with high-brightness electron beams (Supervisor Prof. K McEwen) (Supervisor Dr S Viti) (Supervisor Dr N Konstantinidis) Thomas Weller C6Ca and C6Yb: Stability of small Daniel Burgarth Quantum Sukina Natarajan New graphite based communication with spin chains molecular clusters modelled with superconductors (Supervisor Prof. (Supervisor Prof. S Bose) stochastic and deterministic N Skipper) dynamaics (Prof.
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