Physics News
Professor Keith Mathieson named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE)
Professor Mathieson, Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies at Strathclyde, has been named as a new Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
April 2024
Spontaneously Sliding Magnetic Waves Unveil a Dissipative Time Crystal in Laser-Driven Atoms
A collaboration between the Optics Division of the Department and the Institut de Physique de Nice from the Université Côte d'Azur observed spontaneously drifting magnetic stripes in laser-driven Rubidium atoms, demonstrating a novel transport process in out-of-equilibrium magnetic systems.
April 2024
Symmetry breaking of light on a Möbius strip
An international team of scientists from New Zealand, Belgium, France and Strathclyde has devised and realised a totally new laser device where symmetry and symmetry breaking are maintained for light travelling in a resonator with a twisted (Möbius) shape.
March 2024
Innovation Node launched to drive development of new time-critical technologies
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has launched an Innovation Node at Strathclyde as part of its National Timing Centre programme, the UK’s first nationally distributed time infrastructure.
March 2024
Strathclyde to lead new Centre for Doctoral Training in Applied Quantum Technologies
The University of Strathclyde will lead a new Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Applied Quantum Technologies.
March 2024
Renowned Astrophysicist marks International Women’s Day at Strathclyde
Leading astrophysicist Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell was guest of honour at an event to mark International Women’s Day (IWD) at Strathclyde.
March 2024
Promotions
The Department congratulates Dr Paul Griffin and Dr Jonathan Pritchard on their promotion to Professor.
March 2024
Strathclyde collects Queen’s Anniversary Prize for photonics research and innovation
The University of Strathclyde has collected its fourth Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace. The Award was presented by Her Majesty The Queen in recognition of Strathclyde’s excellence in research and innovation in the field of Photonics – the science of light.
February 2024
Promotion
The Department congratulates Dr Bengt Eliasson on his promotion to Professor.
January 2024
2023
Quantum physics project with microscopy application receives €2 million grant
Dr Lucia Caspani, a Senior Lecturer in Strathclyde’s Institute of Photonics, is leading a quantum physics imaging project, with applications in microscopy, which has received a grant of nearly €2 million from the European Research Council (ERC).
November 2023
Strathclyde wins Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Photonics Innovation
The University of Strathclyde has been awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in recognition of its research and innovation in the field of Photonics – the science of light.
November 2023
The long and short of it: an add-on to lasers realises star interiors in the lab
A new method of creating laser pulses, more than 1,000 times as powerful as those currently in existence, has been proposed by scientists in the UK and South Korea.
November 2023
Optica Fellowship
Congratulations to Professor Jennifer Hastie on her election to Optica Fellow, for “leadership in the photonics and quantum technology community and pioneering technical contributions in the area of narrow-linewidth lasers”.
November 2023
£4.7M consortium to accelerate growth of Scotland’s photonics sector
The Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow are leading a new consortium which has won £4.7M in funding to support the tripling of the photonics sector across Scotland’s central belt.
October 2023
Promotions
The Department congratulates Dr Jennifer Hastie and Dr Colin Whyte on their promotions to Professor and Dr Amy MacLachlan on her appointment as Chancellor's Fellow.
September 2023
Strong chiral optical force for small chiral molecules based on electric-dipole interactions, inspired by the asymmetrical hydrozoan Velella velella
Drawing inspiration from a remarkable chiral force found in nature, we propose an optical force that discriminates between the enantiomers of a small chiral molecule. Our chiral optical force is several orders of magnitude stronger than other chiral optical forces proposed to date and has a wealth of potential applications, including chiral molecular matter-wave interferometry for precision metrology and tests of fundamental physics, the distillation of chiral molecules in chiral optical lattices as a novel form of matter and, of particular importance, the resolution of enantiomers for use in chemistry and biology.
August 2023
Celebration of Physics recognises the achievements of recent IOP Award winners (2020-2022)
Professor David Birch attended the Institute of Physics Celebration on the 27th June 2023 at Aerospace Bristol recognising the Institute’s 2020-2022 award winners.
June 2023
Strathclyde researchers advance space quantum technology on two fronts
The use of quantum technology in space is being advanced by University of Strathclyde researchers in two new projects funded by the UK Space Agency (UKSA) under the Enabling Technology Programme.
June 2023
Breakthrough results in quantum secure encryption over standard optical-fibre networks
Strathclyde physicists, working alongside Scottish and international collaborators have achieved remarkable new results in quantum secure encryption over standard optical-fibre networks.
June 2023
Best student presentation at Ultra Wide-bandgap oxides conference
David Nicol, PhD student in the Semiconductor Spectroscopy and Devices research group, won best student presentation at the Institute of Physics Ultra-wide Bandgap Oxide meeting in Bristol.
June 2023
Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship for quantum computing researcher
Dr Jonathan Pritchard has received a Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) Senior Research Fellowship, to support an industrial partnership in the development of quantum computers with M Squared.
April 2023
Ice-cold electron beams for ultra-compact X-ray lasers
Ice-cold electron beams simulated in research at the University of Strathclyde could pave the way to reducing X-ray free-electron lasers (X-FELs) to a fraction of their current size.
March 2023
‘Ghostly mirrors’ for high-power lasers
Laser-driven ‘mirrors’ capable of reflecting or manipulating light have been produced in research led at the University of Strathclyde.
January 2023
UK Government Minister visits Strathclyde to hold talks with space sector leaders
Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation, George Freeman MP, held talks with space sector leaders during a visit to the University of Strathclyde on 20th January.
January 2023
Promotions
The Department congratulates Dr Daniel Oi on his promotion to Reader, Ross Gray on his promotion to Senior Research Fellow, and Bernhard Ersfeld and Jochen Bruckbauer on their promotions to Research Fellow.
January 2023
2022
Collaboration in Science and Engineering wins research journal award
A collaboration between Science and Engineering research groups has won an award from an international journal. A paper based on the research, produced by Strathclyde’s Institute of Photonics and LiFi R&D Centre, has received the 2022 Best Paper Award from IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.
December 2022
New device can control light at unprecedented speeds
A programmable optical device for high-speed beam steering has been developed in research involving the University of Strathclyde.
November 2022
Advanced quantum computers exhibited at UK-wide showcase
Some of the UK’s most advanced quantum computing systems, developed by M Squared and the University of Strathclyde, are to be displayed at the UK National Quantum Technologies Showcase in London.
November 2022
QuForce Demo Day, Most Novel award
Strathclyde MSc students, Siddharth Rangnekar and Nizar Lethif, have won the Most Novel award for their work on “Asymmetric Bases Cloning: A Novel Approach to Cloning-based Attacks on BB84” at the QuForce Demo Day.
September 2022
Dr Brian McNeil awarded Particle Accelerator and Beams Group Prize and FEL Prize
Dr Brian McNeil has recently been awarded two professional prizes in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the advancement of the field of Free-Electron Lasers (FEL).
August 2022
A simple way of sculpting matter into complex shapes
A new method for shaping matter into complex shapes, with the use of ‘twisted’ light, has been demonstrated in research at the University of Strathclyde.
August 2022
Physicists 'switch on' the future for ultra-precise optical clocks
A major stumbling block in the development of portable ultra-precise optical clocks has been solved by an international collaboration of scientists, including the Universities of Strathclyde, Loughborough and Sussex.
August 2022
Strathclyde among Quantum Technology for Fundamental Physics winners
Professor Stuart Reid from Strathclyde is part of the 'Increasing the science reach for Quantum Enhanced Interferometry' project, one of seventeen projects funded by the STFC and EPSRC.
August 2022
A Roadmap for the Future of Quantum Simulation
A roadmap for the future direction of quantum simulation has been set out in a paper co-authored at the University of Strathclyde. The paper, published in Nature, explores near- and medium-term possibilities for quantum simulation on analogue and digital platforms to help evaluate the potential of this area.
July 2022
Promotions
The Department congratulates Dr Oliver Henrich and Dr Fabien Massabuau on their promotions to Senior Lecturer and Philip MacInnes on his promotion to Research Fellow.
June 2022
Strathclyde and National Uni of Singapore to co-ordinate quantum communications
The University of Strathclyde and the National University of Singapore (NUS) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on satellite quantum communications, to pave the way for increased joint experiments between the institutions.
May 2022
Physics Professor elected Fellow of the Royal Society
Professor Martin Dawson, Director of Research at Strathclyde’s Institute of Photonics and head of the Strathclyde-hosted Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
May 2022
New Director appointed at Strathclyde’s Institute of Photonics
Dr Jennifer Hastie has been appointed Director of the Institute of Photonics (IoP), succeeding Professor Keith Mathieson. She will be supported in her new post by Deputy Director Dr Nicolas Laurand and Director of Research Professor Martin Dawson.
May 2022
Alter Technology opens Photonics Design Centre in Technology & Innovation Centre
Alter Technology TUV Nord has opened a Photonics Design Centre in Glasgow, at the University of Strathclyde, to accelerate the commercialisation of photonic products into quantum technology and space markets.
April 2022
Pursuing Sustainable Development Goals with quantum sensor technology
A team of five researchers from Strathclyde’s Department of Physics and Institute of Photonics will be participating in the International Network for Sensor and Timing Applications in Quantum Technologies (INSTA-QT), a network which has been established to use quantum technology in tackling global challenges, as set out in the UN Development Sustainable Goals (SDGs). Their role will focus on the development of core laser technology for quantum sensors, with a major activity in building quantum magnetometers for magnetoencephalography and geophysical surveying.
March 2022
Visionary researcher awarded Ernest Rutherford fellowship
Dr Mariana Fazio is one of ten new Ernest Rutherford fellows, an STFC award, to carry out work into next generation optical coatings for gravitational wave detectors at the University of Strathclyde. Dr Fazio, a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, will work alongside Head of Biomedical Engineering, Professor Stuart Reid’s astrophysics research group.
March 2022
Taking quantum computing into real-world applications
The University of Strathclyde is a partner in the £3 million Empowering Practical Interfacing of Quantum Computing (EPIQC) project, which aims to take quantum computing from the lab to real-world applications.
March 2022
A Kerr polarization controller
In a European collaboration, Gian-Luca Oppo and Lewis Hill of the Department of Physics at Strathclyde helped to demonstrate the manipulation of light polarisation of a continuous laser wave in a special glass fibre with mirrors attached at both ends.
March 2022
Finite key effects in satellite quantum key distribution
The first realisations of satellite quantum key distribution (QKD) technologies are being rapidly developed. However, the limited contact time window between satellite and ground station severely constrains the amount of secret key that can be obtained. A team at the University of Strathclyde, led by Dr Daniel Oi, explored this effect of limited transmission times and analysed its implications on satellite quantum communication mission design and operations.
February 2022
Two international quantum networks to be led at Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde is to lead two international quantum technology networks: the International Network in Space Quantum Technologies, which will tackle the challenges of taking terrestrial quantum technologies into space, and the International Network for Microfabrication of Atomic Quantum Sensors, which will create a framework for collaboration on the next generation of fully-integrated atomic sensors.
February 2022
Strathclyde shares in EPSRC grant developing micro-laser diode technology for micro-display and VLC devices
The Department of Physics is a partner in a project developing a revolutionary new way of making micro-displays, which are set to create a new generation of smartphones, smartwatches and VR headsets with higher resolution, speed and efficiency.
January 2022
Promotions
The Department congratulates Dr Lucia Caspani and Dr Sebastian van de Linde on their promotions to Senior Lecturer and Jonathan McKendry on his promotion to Research Fellow.
January 2022
2021
New global atlas maps out ocean areas most affected by light pollution
As coastal areas become increasingly built up, concerns are growing about levels of artificial light at night (ALAN) and its potential impacts on the marine environment. A new study, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, maps out areas of the ocean most affected by light pollution.
December 2021
Rapid shaking creates stable matter-wave solitons
Active research is currently ongoing to understand the response of many-body systems to driving forces that are periodically modulated. A collaboration of researchers at the University of Strathclyde and Durham University recently demonstrated a new quantum state of matter waves in such a system, called a “Floquet soliton.”
December 2021
Scottish laser centre receives five-year funding boost
The Strathclyde-based Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics (CAP) is to receive £6.5m over the next five years from the Scottish Government.
December 2021
Strathclyde Physics Professor wins second international award in one year
Professor Martin Dawson has been named as the 2021 winner of the Global SSL Award of Outstanding Achievement by the International SSL (solid state lighting) Alliance (ISA).
December 2021
IOPP Poster Competition Winner
Many congratulations to Megan Clapperton for winning the IOP Twitter Poster Competition in the "Optics and photonics" category. Megan is a PhD student working under the supervision of Prof Gail McConnell. Megan is also known as the Tonsil Fairy for her work using the Mesolens to study tonsillitis.
November 2021
Academic receives Rank Prize Research Visionary Award
Dr Fabien Massabuau has been recognised as one of six Research Visionaries by the Rank Prize. Dr Massabuau will present his perspective on the next 50 years scientific advances in optoelectronics at a special event on the 18th January 2022.
November 2021
Promotion and Welcome
The Department congratulates Michael Strain on his promotion to Professor, and welcomes Viv Kendon as the new Professor of Quantum Technology. Viv joins us from the University of Durham and, as a theorist, she is working on quantum computation and quantum information.
November 2021
Black holes of ‘all shapes and sizes’ in new gravitational wave catalogue
The largest catalogue of gravitational wave events ever assembled has been released, with dozens of ripples in space time captured by a global network of detectors.
November 2021
Physics experiment in Earth’s atmosphere could help improve GPS performance
The Earth’s atmosphere has been used as a ‘laboratory’ to carry out a physics experiment, in research collaboration involving the University of Strathclyde which could help to improve the performance of GPS.
October 2021
APS Fellowship
Professor Andrew Daley has been elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, for his “pioneering theoretical work on the boundary between quantum optics, many-body physics, and for experiments in both atomic, molecular, and optical physics and the solid state”.
October 2021
Strathclyde researchers integrate optical devices made of multiple materials onto single chip
High-accuracy integration of photonic devices from multiple-materials in close proximity offers unique possibilities of fabricating chip-based systems of more compact designs using optical devices.
September 2021
Memory devices on satellites to enable the quantum internet
The installation of memory and ‘repeater’ devices in space, to enable use of the quantum internet, have been proposed in research by the University of Strathclyde and an international collaboration.
September 2021
Alessandro Rossi interviewed in Nature magazine
In an article in Nature magazine Alessandro Rossi talks about his research across Strathclyde and the National Physical Laboratory, and the challenges of bringing together quantum physics with metrology.
August 2021
Strathclyde Physics researcher receives Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship
Dr James McGilligan is one of 16 recipients of Research Fellowships, announced by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) to mark the programme’s 20th anniversary. His project will investigate microfabricating chip-scale atomic platforms for quantum navigators and the development of highly accurate atomic clocks.
August 2021
Two Strathclyde Academics in IOP Applied Physics Journal Emerging Leaders List
Dr Alessandro Rossi and Dr Fabien Massabuau have been named as emerging leaders by Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics (JPhysD) in a recent Special Issue.
August 2021
Scotland’s last Auschwitz survivor leaves £500,000 gift to fund quantum research
Judith Rosenberg – who died in January aged 98 and who was Scotland’s last Auschwitz survivor – left in her Will a legacy gift to the University of Strathclyde. Her donation will go towards the creation of the Harold and Judith Rosenberg Chair in Quantum Technology and the Harold and Judith Rosenberg Quantum Technology Laboratoriesin their honour.
July 2021
First experimental observations of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking of temporal cavity solitons in Kerr ring resonators
A collaboration between The University of Auckland (New Zealand), the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, the ICB laboratory in Dijon (France), the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), and the University of Strathclyde has led to the first experimental observations of the Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking (SSB) of temporal cavity solitons in Kerr ring resonators.
July 2021
The paradox of a free-electron laser without the laser: a new source of coherent radiation
A new way of producing coherent light in the ultra-violet spectral region, which points the way to developing brilliant table-top x-ray sources, has been produced in research led at the University of Strathclyde. Scientists have developed a type of ultra-short wavelength coherent light source that does not require laser action to produce coherence.
July 2021
Inspiring women celebrated in naming of Strathclyde’s new Learning & Teaching Building
The University of Strathclyde will honour three prominent women through the naming of its new Learning and Teaching Building. The former Colville building will be named the Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell Wing in recognition of the renowned astrophysicist, first woman president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Institute of Physics, and honorary graduate of Strathclyde.
July 2021
New source of gravitational waves discovered
Scientists have picked up the ripples in space-time caused by the death spiral of two celestial juggernauts – a neutron star and a black hole – for the first time.
June 2021
Fast Scrambling of Quantum Information in Atom Arrays
Understanding how information spreads in microscopic systems is important across different areas of physics, ranging from fundamental understanding of the behaviour of black holes, to the engineering and implementation of quantum computers. In a new paper in Physical Review Letters, Tomohiro Hashizume, Prof. Andrew Daley and collaborators have shown how a fast scrambler for quantum information could be built in the laboratory.
June 2021
Multiple Self-Organized Phases and Spatial Solitons in Cold Atoms Mediated by Optical Feedback
A Strathclyde-based team of researchers within the European training network ColOpt has published in PRL results that provide new insight into the physics of structural transitions and self-organisation in cold and ultracold atomic gases, and similar spontaneous symmetry breaking phenomena in photonics systems.
June 2021
A new type of miniature plasma particle accelerator
An international collaboration, involving the University of Strathclyde, combined two kinds of plasma accelerators to achieve a rapid energy gain of electrons in only a few millimetres. The accelerator could offer a compact source of high-quality electron beams for applications such as x-ray generation, material science and biomedical research.
May 2021
Promotions
The Department congratulates Alan Phelps on being made an Emeritus Professor, Antonio Hurtado on his promotion to Reader, Alessandro Rossi on his promotion to Senior Lecturer, Robert Cameron on being appointed to a Proleptic Lectureship, and Grace Manahan on her promotion to Research Fellow.
May 2021
Quantum encryption scheme to be tested on satellite
A new scheme for using quantum technology to encrypt messages with the aim of a secure global communication network, is to be tested on a satellite, in a programme involving the University of Strathclyde.
May 2021
Researchers create one-dimensional lattice for electrons
A collaboration between experimentalists at the University of Pittsburgh and theorists at the University of Strathclyde, published in Nature Physics, has directly engineered and studied the behaviour of electrons in the Kronig-Penney model within a programmable oxide material.
April 2021
Head of Department joins Scotland’s National Academy
The Department is pleased to congratulate Professor Paul McKenna on his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
March 2021
Increasing the accuracy of atomic clocks
Innovative techniques in the miniaturisation of optical atomic clocks are being developed in research involving the University of Strathclyde. Dr Paul Griffin, the University’s lead researcher for the project, said: “This project is tackling head on the difficult problem of taking research-grade technology from the laboratory and into practicable and scalable quantum devices.”
March 2021
New technologies for investigating diseases in the deep brain
Researchers at the University of Strathclyde are part of an international study creating new photonic tools for accessing the deep brain, for the study and treatment of neurological diseases. Strathclyde is the sole UK participant in DEEPER (Deep Brain Photonic Tools for Cell-Type Specific Targeting of Neural Diseases), which is investigating the deep-brain alterations underlying the origin of neurological and psychiatric diseases.
March 2021
High energy radiotherapy could ‘paint’ tumours to avoid harming healthy tissue
A radiotherapy technique which ‘paints’ tumours by targeting them precisely, and avoiding healthy tissue, has been devised in research led by the University of Strathclyde. Researchers used a magnetic lens to focus a Very High Electron Energy (VHEE) beam to a zone of a few millimetres. Concentrating the radiation into a small volume of high dose will enable it to be rapidly scanned across a tumour, while controlling its intensity.
February 2021
Cockcroft Institute awarded more than £11 million to boost Accelerator Research
The Cockcroft Institute (CI), a partnership between the Universities of Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester and Strathclyde, and the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC), has been awarded more than £11 million for R&D into accelerator science and technology.
February 2021
OSA Award for Strathclyde Professor
The Department of Physics congratulates Prof. Martin Dawson on being named as the 2021 recipient of The Optical Society’s (OSA) Nick Holonyak Jr Award. This award is presented annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to optics based on semiconductor devices and materials. Martin is the first UK-based recipient and receives the award “for wide-ranging contributions to the development and application of III-V semiconductor devices, especially including gallium nitride micro-LEDs and optically-pumped semiconductor lasers.”
February 2021
Alternation of Symmetry Breaking in Photonic Micro-resonators
An international team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, the Universities of Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt and the UK’s National Physical Laboratory has discovered a new mechanism for optical pulses where two counter-propagating beams in a micro-resonator switch dominance hundreds of thousands of times in a single second.
February 2021
New Quantum Theory demonstrates Laser Thresholds for Nano-lasers
For the past three decades mystery and debate have surrounded the existence of a threshold (the point at which a light emitting device becomes a laser) in nano-lasers, even leading many to think that there are “thresholdless” laser devices. However, thanks to the development of a new quantum laser theory we now have the answer: thresholds do exist for nano-lasers.
February 2021
Strathclyde leads team advancing 3D imaging deep in biological tissue
Dr Lucia Caspani is leading a team developing a new technique enabling 3D imaging of even the most fragile and delicate specimens. The project has received a grant from QuantIC, the UK Quantum Technology Hub in Quantum Enhanced Imaging, the first award to be made from the Hub’s Accelerated Development Fund.
February 2021
Polarisation Domain Walls in Optical Ring Resonators
A collaboration of researchers from New Zealand and the European Union has observed for the first time domain walls separating two regions of light with orthogonal polarizations in a fibre ring resonator.
February 2021
Quantum project launched to solve dark matter mysteries
International research aimed at transforming understanding of the universe and answering key questions on the nature of dark matter.
January 2021
Triple success for Strathclyde in new format EPSRC research call
Dr Sebastian van de Linde's project "What do membranes really look like? New approaches to 3D multiplexed imaging of the cell surface" is one of three University projects to have been selected for funding from the New Horizons call by EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council).
January 2021
CBE for Strathclyde professor in New Year’s Honour List
Emeritus Professor Allister Ferguson has been awarded a CBE in the New Year’s Honours List for services to science and industry.
January 2021
2020
Promotions
The Department congratulates Jonathan Pritchard on his promotion to Reader, Nicolas Laurand and Colin Whyte on their promotion to Principal Research Fellow, Niall McAlinden on his promotion to Research Fellow and Susan Spesyvtseva on her promotion to KE Fellow.
December 2020
Space mission to demonstrate future secure telecomms systems
Dr Daniel Oi is Scientific Lead for ROKS (Responsive Operations for Key Services), a space mission demonstrating technologies for future secure telecommunication systems that has won £345,000 of funding from the UK Space Agency (UKSA).
December 2020
Fellowship to deliver world-class Artificial Intelligence research
Dr Antonio Hurtado, a Photonics researcher has received a prestigious fellowship to support his development of ultra-fast Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies for medicine, security and renewable energy.
November 2020
Strathclyde joins UK’s largest industry-led quantum computing project
The University has joined DISCOVERY, a £10 million, three-year programme designed to address technology barriers to commercial quantum computing.
November 2020
Double win for Strathclyde in Institute of Physics Awards
The Department of Physics congratulates Prof. David Birch on being awarded the Institute of Physics 2020 Dennis Gabor Medal and Prize. David receives this award for pioneering the UK fluorescence lifetime industry through research publications and the market-leading company IBH, which he co-founded.
The Department also congratulates Paul Chambers on receiving the Marie Curie-Sklodowska Medal and Prize, for long service to and shaping of physics and science education in Scotland through training teachers.
October 2020
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship in Quantum Electronics
Alessandro Rossi's project is entitled ‘Quantum Electronics in Silicon Carbide (QELTIC)’ and aims to develop the first generation of electronic devices to address quantum states in silicon carbide (SiC).
Dr Rossi is one of two academics at Strathclyde and 101 academics in total to share the £109 million Future Leaders Fellowships.
October 2020
Novel Satellite Imaging Technology Highlighted
Work by a Strathclyde multidisciplinary team has been highlighted in recent publications. The Compact Multi-Spectral Imager for Nanosatellites (CMSIN) project is developing an innovative device that utilises a new kind of "single pixel" camera to detect and characterise objects with less data than traditional devices, such as those used on Earth Observation (EO) satellites.
September 2020
Proposal for observatory to detect gravitational waves
Researchers could detect more mergers of black holes and neutron stars with plans for a new flagship gravitational wave observatory in Europe moving a step closer.
September 2020
Royal Academy of Engineering award for Strathclyde researcher
Dr Michael Strain, a Reader in the Institute of Photonics, has been awarded a Senior Research Fellowship by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) to develop 3D-printing capability for nano- and micro-scale devices on a single chip.
September 2020
Strathclyde receives industry fellowship for battery research
A two-year industry fellowship has been awarded to Dr Terry Dyer by the Faraday Institution to work with cdo2, a business incubator and centre for research commercialisation, to design a micro-electrochemical system (MEMS) fabrication process for a new type of magnetometer to act as a low-cost sensor in battery management systems.
July 2020
Strathclyde PhD Graduate Spin-Out Success
Dr. Araceli Venegas-Gomez, a recent PhD Physics graduate, is on a mission to bring the benefits of Quantum Technologies to the wider world with the launch of the spin-out company QURECA Ltd.
July 2020
Promotions
The Department congratulates Elmar Haller on his promotion to Senior Lecturer, and Craig Donaldson, Adam Noble and David Speirs on their promotion to Research Fellow
July 2020
Quantum entanglement demonstrated on orbiting CubeSat
In a critical step toward creating a global quantum communications network, researchers have generated and detected quantum entanglement onboard a CubeSat nanosatellite weighing less than 2.6 kg and orbiting the Earth.
June 2020
Bacterial ‘Deathstars’ could be tricked into destroying themselves
Researchers in the Department of Physics and the Strathclyde Institute for Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences have discovered a network of channels inside bacterial communities that could be used to kill bacteria more quickly by ‘tricking’ them into transporting drugs.
June 2020
Scientists finds mystery object in 'mass gap'
Scientists with the LIGO Scientific Collaboration have announced the discovery of a mystery object around 2.6 times the mass of the sun.
June 2020
Promotions
The Department congratulates Kevin Ronald on his promotion to Professor.
June 2020
Extremely Brilliant High energy Gamma-rays from a Two-stage Laser Wakefield Accelerator
A new concept for generating extremely brilliant gamma-rays with energy up to the GeV level has been proposed in research led at the University of Strathclyde.
June 2020
Long-standing mystery of matter and antimatter may be solved
An isotope of the element thorium possesses the most pear-shaped nucleus yet discovered and could hold the key to the long-standing mystery as to why there is much more matter than antimatter in our universe in Physics research involving the University of Strathclyde.
May 2020
Tiny Devices promise New Horizon for Medical Imaging
Miniature devices that could be developed into safe, high-resolution imaging technology, with uses such as helping doctors identify potentially deadly cancers and treating them early, have been created in research involving the Institute of Photonics and reported in Science.
May 2020
Scattering of Light with Angular Momentum from an Array of Particles
In a recent Physical Review Research paper, a team of researchers from the CNQO group show how angular momentum of scattered light encodes information that can be used to analyse the medium, opening avenues for investigation of scattering media both in natural environments and in laboratory situations.
April 2020
Royal Microscopical Society (RMS) Award to Gail McConnell
Prof Gail McConnell is the first recipient of the newly-established Mid-Career Scientific Achievement Award from the Royal Microscopical Society (RMS).
March 2020
Strathclyde helps train Indian scientists to expand Global Gravitational Wave Network
Researchers from Strathclyde’s Biomedical Engineering department have worked with Indian scientists to build a specialist instrument to help enhance the detection of gravitational waves. The University is involved in expanding capacity and expertise ahead of the construction of a third LIGO instrument – the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.
February 2020
Promotions
The Department congratulates Michael Strain on his promotion to Reader.
February 2020
New design could produce accelerators for hospitals and factories
A new design for ultra-compact, powerful particle accelerators for medicine, science, and industry has been produced in an international project involving the University of Strathclyde. The EuPRAXIA design study has shown that plasma acceleration provides a viable alternative to established accelerator technologies.
February 2020
Breakthrough in quest to build the world’s most powerful particle accelerator
A new technique for forming high quality particle beams has been achieved in an international collaboration involving the University of Strathclyde. The MICE (Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment) project has shown that it is possible to channel a sufficient number of muons into a high-energy accelerator to enable research in new areas of particle physics.
February 2020
Global Gravitational Wave Network Detects Another Neutron Star Collision
The global gravitational-wave observatory network study, which involves researchers from the University of Strathclyde, confirms that the event on 25 April 2019, was likely the result of a merger of two neutron stars.
January 2020
2019
Beams to transform photon science with €2 million ERC funding
The NeXource project, led by Professor Bernhard Hidding, aims to develop next-generation plasma-based electron beam sources for photon science and high-energy physics. It is one of around 300 successful applications for grants from the prestigious ERC’s Consolidator Grant programme, from a total of 2453 submissions.
December 2019
IoP Business Innovation Award for long-established Strathclyde spinout company
Software and instrumentation manufacturing company HORIBA Jobin Yvon IBH Ltd has received a Business Innovation Award from the Institute of Physics (IOP) for the FLIMERA, a novel molecular movie camera with applications in medical research, disease diagnostics, screening, optically-guided surgery and tissue monitoring.
October 2019
Optical Peppermills
In a recent paper in Optics Express, we show how to control spatially rotating structures in optical cavities by using input light carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM).
October 2019
Strathclyde quantum technology partnership secures £4.6 million
A University of Strathclyde-led quantum technology partnership with M Squared, which is aiming to develop some of the world’s most powerful computers, has secured funding worth a total of £4.6 million.
October 2019
A single photon absorbed in two places at once?
In a recent paper in Physical Review Letters, John Jeffers shows how two separate beam splitters, each with 50% loss, can display joint coherent absorption when neither does it individually.
October 2019
Quantum Computers Built with Traditional Silicon Technology
A team of researchers from the UK and France have published research in Nature Electronics demonstrating that it may well be possible to build a quantum computer from conventional silicon-based electronic components.
September 2019
University to host new quantum research centre
M Squared, one of the world’s leading photonics and quantum technology companies, has opened a new quantum research facility in the University of Strathclyde’s Inovo building in Glasgow City Innovation District, which will be instrumental to the enhancement of M Squared’s ability to compete globally in the commercialisation of quantum technologies.
August 2019
Atomic 'Trojan horse' for a new generation of X-ray lasers
An intense electron beam that could be used in the X-ray lasers of the future has been produced in research led at the University of Strathclyde. The research has been carried out as part of the 'E-210: Trojan Horse' experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California, and is now published in Nature Physics.
August 2019
Radiotherapy targets tumours precisely - with less damage to healthy cells
A new way of concentrating radiotherapy dose in tumours, while minimising damage to healthy cells, has been proposed in research led by scientists at the University of Strathclyde. The study proposes that focusing high-energy particle beams on a small spot deep inside the body could potentially enable clinicians to target cancerous tumours precisely, while reducing the dose to surrounding tissue.
July 2019
Royal Society Research Fellowship for Strathclyde Physicist
Robert Cameron has received a prestigious award from the Royal Society to investigate how molecular chirality can be better harnessed to make food healthier and drugs more effective.
July 2019
Strathclyde Quantum Technology Hubs share in £94 million funding
The UK-wide National Quantum Technologies Programme, of which the University of Strathclyde is a major partner, is to receive government funding worth £94 million in its second phase of funding.
July 2019
Programmable Quantum Simulation promises breakthroughs in Materials Science and beyond
Cutting edge research by Strathclyde physicists has been highlighted by the European Commission in the EU Research & Innovation publication, Horizon.
June 2019
Successful Athena SWAN Bronze status renewal
The Department of Physics has had its Athena SWAN Bronze Award renewed in recognition of our continuing efforts in addressing gender equality and creating a more inclusive working environment.
June 2019
Galaxy clusters caught in the first moment of collision
For the first time, astronomers have found two giant clusters of galaxies that are just about to collide. Since large scale structures in the Universe, like galaxies and clusters of galaxies, are thought to grow by collisions and mergers, this observation can be seen as a missing ‘piece of the puzzle’ in our understanding of the formation of structure in the Universe.
June 2019
Poles apart: Determining the polarity of GaN nanowires and its influence on their light emission
A recent paper in Nano Letters from the Semiconductor Spectroscopy and Devices group presents a method to non-destructively determine polarity in a statistically significant number of 3D nanostructures and to directly correlate the polarity to light emitting properties. This new approach can nondestructively identify polarity in a wide range of other nanometer scale material systems which lack inversion symmetry, and provide direct comparison with their luminescence.
June 2019
Promotions
The Department congratulates Daniel Oi on his promotion to Senior Lecturer.
June 2019
Scientific documentary by Strathclyde researcher to be screened in cinemas across Australia
“Jeremy the Lefty Snail and Other Asymmetrical Animals” tells the fascinating story of Jeremy, the one-in-a-million snail whose shell coiled to the left rather than to the right.
May 2019
Hybrid Plasma Accelerators make a Wave
Plasma wakefield-based accelerators, driven either by intense laser pulses or intense particle beams, can generate compact and high quality electron bunches for various applications.
May 2019
New Chancellor’s Fellow joins the Department
We are excited to welcome Dr Alessandro Rossi who has just joined the Department of Physics as a Chancellor’s Fellow.
April 2019
Royal Academy of Engineering technology chair for Strathclyde Professor
Professor Keith Mathieson, Director of the Institute of Photonics, has been awarded a prestigious Chair in Emerging Technologies by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng). His appointment will enhance his research into technologies interfacing with the brain that aim to advance treatments for brain disorders, dementia and sight loss.
April 2019
Extracting something from nothing: A bright glow from empty space
Particles travelling through empty space can emit bright flashes of gamma rays by interacting with the quantum vacuum, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Strathclyde.
April 2019
Laser Cavity Solitons for Frequency Microcombs
A new frequency comb generator based on laser cavity solitons circulating in a microring optical resonator has been realised. Such device reduces the average power by an order of magnitude while increasing mode efficiency by 70%. Frequency combs find applications in optical metrology, optical atomic clocks, new GPS technologies and optical communications.
April 2019
First recipient of The Optical Society's Milton and Rosalind Chang Pivoting Fellowship
Araceli Venegas-Gomez, from the Department of Physics' CNQO group, has been announced as the first recipient of The Optical Society's Milton and Rosalind Chang Pivoting Fellowship, a program to "encourage young optical scientists and engineers of exceptional talent to pursue a newfound passion in areas like public policy, government and journalism". Araceli plans to use her fellowship to become a global ambassador for quantum technologies.
April 2019
Winter School on 'Collective Effects, Structured Light and Quantum Matter'
Thorsten Ackemann and Gordon Robb have lead the organization of a ColOpt winter school in Herrsching am Ammersee near Munich. Dept research student, Giuseppe Baio, won a joint prize for the best student talk.
March 2019
Frozen thermalisation
A new dynamical regime where energy remains unexpectedly confined for extremely long times to just a few sites of a lattice has been identified. The thermalisation of the energy to the background slows down exponentially with the height of the intensity peak. These findings are universal and apply to systems as diverse as Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices and light propagating in arrays of optical fibres with possible applications in quantum technologies and photonics.
March 2019
Professor Gail McConnell named as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE)
Professor of Biophotonics at University of Strathclyde, Gail McConnell, has been named as one of seven new Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from the University of Strathclyde.
March 2019
Professor Allister Ferguson named Robert E. Hopkins Leadership Award recipient
Photonics Professor Allister Ferguson has been named the 2019 Robert E. Hopkins Leadership Award recipient by The Optical Society. He has been honoured for his ‘extraordinary leadership’ creating major international optics and photonics research centres and programmes that support the global optics and photonics community.
February 2019
Strathclyde shares in enhancement of gravitational wave network
The University of Strathclyde has a significant role in a global network of gravitational wave observatories, which is to be upgraded to almost double its sensitivity. The Department of Biomedical Engineering hosts a variety of advanced technologies for fabricating laser mirror coatings – one of the key areas for the new upgrades.
February 2019
Light-mediated Magnetism in Cold Atoms
By shining laser light on a cloud of cold atoms and reflecting it back with a mirror, domains of spin-polarized atoms spontaneously form and arrange themselves in regular structures. These domains display configurations and phase transitions typical of magnetic systems.
February 2019
Zooplankton Super-swarms seen from Space for the First Time
Researchers from the Marine Optics and Remote Sensing (MORSE) group are co-authors on a newly published paper in Nature Scientific Reports which shows massive swarms of marine zooplankton can be identified in satellite ocean colour images.
January 2019
New Experimental Quantum Nanoscience lab
Dr Konstantinos Lagoudakis joined the Department of Physics in June 2018 from Stanford University. He is the PI of the new Experimental Quantum Nanoscience lab which will open its doors early this spring.
January 2019
2018
Jeremy the Lefty Snail and Other Asymmetrical Animals
Watch Jeremy the Lefty Snail at ytilarihc.com, a documentary by Dr Robert Cameron. It's a Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards 2019 Semi-finalist, and The Monthly Film Festival February Nominee - Documentary of the Month.
December 2018
Promotions
The Department congratulates Paul Griffin on his promotion to Senior Lecturer, Paul Edwards and Nicolas Laurand on their promotion to Senior Research Fellow, and Benoit Guilhabert to Research Fellow..
December 2018
Four new gravitational wave detections announced
New detections of gravitational waves from four black holes have been announced by an international project involving the University of Strathclyde. The new discoveries have been jointly announced by the National Science Foundation's LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and the European-based VIRGO gravitational-wave detector.
December 2018
Spiral bandwidth of four-wave mixing in Rb vapour
Collaborative work from researchers at the Universities of Strathclyde (Rachel Offer, Dalius Stulga, Erling Riis and Aidan Arnold) and Glasgow (Sonja Franke-Arnold) has just been published in the new NPG journal Communications Physics.
November 2018
Department of Physics Medal Winners
Congratulations to John Gillan and Ken Gibson for having their outstanding service to the Department and University recognised by the award of individual Strathclyde Medals.
October 2018
Generic Emergence of Objectivity of Observables in Infinite Dimensions
In quantum Darwinism, information about a system becomes classical and objective when multiple observers indirectly probe the quantum state of the system by accessing different parts of its environment.
October 2018
Postgraduate Ben Russell wins Franks Doctoral Prize from Institute of Physics
The Franks prize is jointly funded by the Nanoscale Physics and Technology (NPT) group of IOP and the National Physical Laboratory.
August 2018
Imaging technology could bring more targeted Earth observation
Led by Daniel Oi of the Unviersity of Strathclyde's Department of Physics, the project is investigating the production of a multispectral imaging (MSI) device which is a fraction of the size of conventional instruments. It could be installed in nanosatellites and used to monitor climate change, observe the activity of oceans, detect forest fires or track shipping traffic.
July 2018
Company director named Alumna of the Year
Sarah Jardine, Senior Director of Manufacturing with Optos plc, has been named the University of Strathclyde’s Alumna of the Year in recognition of her achievements in manufacturing and optics. She has been with Optos since she joined as a Senior Optical Engineer in 2000 and took up her current role in 2017. Mrs Jardine graduated from Strathclyde in 1992, with a BSc Honours degree in Laser Physics and Optoelectronics.
June 2018
Filtering the Arctic Ocean
Dr Ina Lefering (Marine Optics and Remote Sensing Group) participated in the last of three expeditions to the Arctic waters of the Barents Sea to collect optical data for Arctic PRIZE, a NERC-funded project investigating the effect of sea ice thinning and retreat on productivity in the Arctic Ocean. The project is led by colleagues from the Scottish Association of Marine Science in Oban and has partners from the Universities of Edinburgh, St Andrews and Oxford. The major modelling effort is being directed by Dr Neil Banas from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Strathclyde.
June 2018
MP and Strathclyde graduate honoured for promotion of photonics
Carol Monaghan, MP for Glasgow North West and alumna of the University of Strathclyde, received the Advocate of Optics recognition from The Optical Society (OSA) in recognition of her "public policy leadership and efforts in support of the advancement of the science of light" at the SU2P annual conference.
May 2018
Going on a Bear Hunt in the Arctic & Fishing for Phytoplankton
Dr David McKee from the Marine Optics and Remote Sensing Group returned to the Barents Sea in April-May 2018 for the second leg of three expeditions to study the impact of sea-ice thinning and early retreat on physical and chemical processes that underpin ecosystem function. The aim was to collect data for Arctic PRIZE, one of 4 main projects in the NERC-funded Changing Arctic Ocean Programme.
May 2018
New Way of Producing Intense Radiation could offer less harmful Alternative to X-rays
A new source of intense terahertz (THz) radiation, which could offer a less harmful alternative to x-rays and has strong potential for use in industry, is being developed by scientists at the University of Strathclyde and Capital Normal University in Beijing.
April 2018
Cascade Laser Plasma Wakefield Acceleration for TeV Collider
In a recent work published in Physical Review Letters 120, 154801 (2018), Prof. Zheng-Ming Sheng and Prof. Dino Jaroszynski and collaborators have proposed a new scheme of cascade acceleration based upon Laser Wakefield Acceleration
April 2018
Strathclyde partners in Manufacturing Innovation Project
Prof Martin Dawson of the Institute of Photonics is a partner in a five-year programme, named Hetero-print, which aims to develop new techniques for creating advanced optical and electronic materials and devices by specialised forms of printing on the micro- and nano-scales.
April 2018
Promotions
The Department congratulates Yu Chen and Aidan Arnold on their promotion to Reader, and Antonio Hurtado on his promotion to Senior Lecturer.
April 2018
Scientists answer question of why Comets emit X-rays
The radiation of X-rays from comets has been a long-standing mystery to science, given that X-rays are normally associated with hot objects like the sun but comets are among the coldest objects in the solar system.
March 2018
Reaching New Heights in Laser-accelerated Ion Energy
In a recent experiment, a team of researchers led by Paul McKenna have made a significant advance in laser-driven ion acceleration. They have accelerated protons to energies close to 100 MeV.
February 2018
Experimental Evidence of Radiation Friction slowing down Electrons
An international team of researchers, including Physics PhD student Matthew Duff and supervisor Paul McKenna, have for the first time experimentally demonstrated energy loss of electrons from radiation reaction arising from their interaction with extremely intense laser light.
February 2018
Searching for light in the Arctic Ocean in winter
In January 2018, Dr David McKee and Dr Ina Lefering from the Marine Optics and Remote Sensing Group (Department of Physics) set out on their first expedition to the Barents Sea (East of Svalbard) to study the impact of sea-ice thinning and early retreat on physical and chemical processes that underpin ecosystem function. The expedition is part of a series of research cruises to collect data for Arctic PRIZE, one of 4 main projects in the NERC-funded Changing Arctic Ocean Programme.
February 2018
New to Biomolecular and Chemical Physics (BCP) group: Soft Matter Theory and Simulation
Oliver Henrich has joined the Department of Physics as Chancellor’s Fellow. He brings along an almost £0.5 million EPSRC Research Software Engineer Fellowship and complements the experimental expertise of the Biomolecular and Chemical Physics group with know-how about advanced simulation methodologies.
January 2018
2017
Rolling the polarization dice: Spontaneous formation of non-trivial polarization structures in a laser
Researchers at the Department of Physics under the lead of Thorsten Ackemann with visiting researchers from the University of Montpellier and the University of Cordoba have demonstrated the spontaneous emergence of laser beams with spatially non-uniform polarization.
October 2017
A Golden (Binary) Future for Gravitational Wave Astronomy
On 17 August, 2017, the two LIGO detectors, together with Virgo, 'heard' the inspiral and merger of a pair of neutron stars for the very first time, this merger having taken place 'just' 40 million parsecs away. Moreover, this event was seen in the electromagnetic spectrum, from gamma rays to infrared light.
October 2017
Promotion
The Department congratulates Keith Mathieson on his promotion to Professor.
October 2017
Building the Quantum Space Internet
Strathclyde physics research has been recognised in a BBC article 'How do you build the next-generation internet?'
October 2017
Congratulations to the winners of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for Gravitational Wave Research
Prof. Nicholas Lockerbie and the Department of Physics congratulate the winners of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics: Rainer Weiss (MIT), Barry C. Barish (Caltech) and Kip S.Thorne (Caltech).
October 2017
Neuromorphic Photonics Research at the Institute of Photonics highlighted in Laser Focus World
Recent research in Dr Antonio Hurtado’s group at Strathclyde’s Institute of Photonics in artificial photonic neurons has been highlighted in an article in the latest issue of the magazine Laser Focus World.
August 2017
Breakthrough Technique to Generate Brightest Electron Beams in the World
A novel study, involving SCAPA Professors Bernhard Hidding and Zheng-Ming Sheng, proposes electron beams with orders of magnitude better brightness than state-of-the-art.
July 2017
Physics Lecturer wins Tom Gibson Award
Congratulations to Brian Patton from the Department of Physics who is the winner of the biennial Tom Gibson Award. The award is made to recognise the outstanding achievement of a young researcher.
June 2017
Strathclyde develops world’s highest gain high-power laser amplifier
Researchers at Strathclyde have demonstrated the feasibility of using plasma to amplify short laser pulses by a 'gain' of more than eight orders of magnitude – likened to amplifying the sound of rustling leaves to that of a jumbo jet - in just two mm of plasma.
May 2017
Promotions
The Department congratulates Alison Yao, Ben Hourahine and Michael Strain on their promotion to Senior Lecturer.
May 2017
Space radiation reproduced in the lab for better, safer missions
Man-made space radiation has been produced in research led by the University of Strathclyde, which could help to make space exploration safer, more reliable and more extensive.
May 2017
We acquire one of the world’s most powerful lasers
One of the world’s most powerful lasers – capable of bursts of light equivalent to twenty times all the power consumed on Earth, captured in fraction of a second – has been acquired by the University of Strathclyde.
May 2017
Promotions
The Department congratulates Neil Hunt on his promotion to Professor and David McKee on his promotion to Reader.
May 2017
12th FluoroFest International Workshop commemorates 40th Anniversary of the Founding of IBH, the Department’s first Spin-out Company
The Glasgow FluoroFest was attended by over 100 delegates from 14 countries, who networked with, and listened to a diverse lecture program delivered by world-renowned speakers, student flash talks, vibrant poster sessions and experienced hands-on instrument training. Papers from the workshop will be published in a special issue of the IoP journal Methods and Applications in Fluorescence.
April 2017
Strathclyde gains full membership of The Cockcroft Institute
The University of Strathclyde is delighted to announce its full membership of the Cockcroft Institute (CI). The CI, a national centre for particle accelerator R&D in the UK, is a partnership between the Universities of Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester, Strathclyde, and the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC).
April 2017
Where does laser energy go after being fired into plasma?
An outstanding conundrum on what happens to the laser energy after beams are fired into plasma has been solved in newly-published research at the University of Strathclyde.
March 2017
Ultra-Tight Light Pulses: Mode-Locked Spatial Solitons
The Strathclyde team led both the experimental realization and the theoretical confirmation of ultra-tight light pulses in the form of mode-locked spatial solitons.
March 2017
Strathclyde leads new project exploring and designing quantum dynamics
The Department of Physics at Strathclyde is leading a new research programme on "Designing out-of-equilibrium many-body quantum systems". This £5.8M project to run over five years involves highly interlinked experimental and theoretical research at the Universities of Strathclyde, Cambridge and Oxford.
February 2017
Physics awards for Strathclyders
Three physics researchers at the University of Strathclyde have received an international award for their work on the ground-breaking discovery of gravitational waves.
February 2017
Strathclyde Professor appointed to Editorial Board of Physical Review Letters
Gian-Luca Oppo of the Department of Physics has been appointed by the American Physical Society to the editorial board of Physical Review Letters from 16 January 2017 to 15 January 2020.
January 2017
ColOpt – Collective Effects and optomechanics in ultracold matter
A new European Training Network will train early-stage researchers in fundamental science and applications in the areas of cold atom and quantum physics, optical technologies and complexity science to promote European competitiveness in emergent quantum technologies.
January 2017
Light Source Discovery 'challenges basic assumption' of Physics
A widely-held understanding of electromagnetic radiation has been challenged in newly published research led at the University of Strathclyde.
January 2017
2016
Strathclyde joins Cockcroft Institute
The University of Strathclyde has become a full member of the Cockcroft Institute, the UK’s international centre for Accelerator Science and Technology at Sci-Tech Daresbury in Cheshire.
December 2016
Photons usually go straight, but their magnification power increases if they whirl
An international team of researchers, including Bob Bingham, has developed a concept to generate photons that whirl at high speed..
December 2016
Physics World's Top Ten Breakthroughs of 2016 - the Mesolens
Gail McConnell and her colleagues in SIPBS have been recognised by Physics World as one of the Top Ten Breakthroughs of 2016 for the Mesolens, a new microscope lens that offers the unique combination of a large field of view with high resolution.
December 2016
LIGO’s gravitational wave discovery is the Physics World 2016 Breakthrough of the Year
Physics World, the UK’s Institute of Physics magazine, announced recently that LIGO’s gravitational wave discovery is the "Physics World 2016 Breakthrough of the Year"
December 2016
Polarization Structured Beams go the Extra Mile
Alison M. Yao, Christopher Travis and Gian-Luca Oppo of the CNQO group, in collaboration with Robert Boyd’s group at the University of Ottawa in Canada, have demonstrated both numerically and experimentally that propagation of OAM-carrying beams is more stable if the polarization is spatially structured.
December 2016
Martin Dawson celebrates Double Medal Success
An internationally-acclaimed physicist from the University of Strathclyde has received two top awards for his pioneering research. Professor Martin Dawson landed the Gabor Medal and prize from the Institute of Physics (IOP). He also received the IEEE Photonics Society’s (IPS) Aron Kressel Award.
November 2016
IEEE Plasma Science and Applications (PSAC) Award 2017
Prof. Alan Phelps is the recipient of the IEEE 2017 Plasma Science and Applications Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of Plasma Science.
November 2016
President's Medal for gravitational wave research
Prof. Nicholas Lockerbie has been awarded a President’s Medal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) for his significant contribution to the detection of gravitational waves.
November 2016
Fresnel Diffraction used to Control Laser-proton Acceleration
A team of researchers led by Prof. Paul McKenna have demonstrated that the diffraction of intense laser light passing through a relativistic plasma aperture self-generated in a thin target foil can be used to control the acceleration of protons.
September 2016
Some types of quantum entanglement cannot be both monogamous and faithful
As might be expected, the terms “monogamous” and “faithful” mean something a little different in the quantum world than they do in everyday language.
August 2016
Herald Higher Education Awards
Dr Nicholas Lockerbie attended the Herald Higher Education Awards ceremony on 14th July, to accept the award for Research Project of the Year made jointly to the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde for the detection of Gravitational Waves.
July 2016
High N00N for random loss affecting quantum states?
A theoretical prediction made by John Jeffers in 2000 suggested that loss may not be so random after all.
July 2016
Symposium on Quantum Information, Simulation and Metrology
A one-day Symposium was held recently in recognition of Sir Peter Knight receiving and honorary Doctorate
June 2016
£4.5m ‘Lab in a bubble’ project could improve cancer care
Researchers aim to use high-powered lasers to conduct experiments in plasma bubbles so tiny that their diameters are equivalent to one tenth of a cross-section of a human hair. Such bubble-sized ‘laboratories’ could boost cancer treatment, medical imaging and industrial processes.
June 2016
Plasma optical modulators for intense lasers
Recently, Zheng-Ming Sheng and Dino Jaroszynski, together with collaborators in Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China and UCLA in USA, have proposed the idea of a plasma optical modulator for intense lasers, that not only can change the temporal profiles of intense laser pulses but also produce extremely broad spectral bandwidths, even exceeding of the central frequency
June 2016
Gravity speaks to us again – 100 years after Einstein’s prediction
An international team of scientists has this week confirmed the detection of gravitational waves from a second instance of two black holes colliding, opening the door to a new age of astronomy.
June 2016
Satellite Tests Technology for Global Quantum Network
Dr Daniel Oi, as part of an international team from Singapore amd Strathclyde, has successfully tested in space key components for building an orbital quantum network.
June 2016
Exciting Times!
Strathclyde's David Birch leading industry collaboration also involving the University of Edinburgh
June 2016
John Jeffers Promoted to Professor
The Department congratulates John Jeffers on his promotion to Professor
May 2016
Annual Teaching Excellence Awards
Congratulations to Prof Gian-Luca Oppo who won the award of 'Most Enthusiastic Teacher 2016' and to Prof Stefan Kuhr on the award of 'Best Teacher in the Faculty of Science' at the Annual Teaching Excellence Awards (TEAS).
May 2016
Special Breakthrough Prize winners at Strathclyde
In the Department of Physics, three co-researchers are to share in the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for the detection of gravitational waves: Nicholas Lockerbie (Head of Gravitational Physics), Kirill Tokmakov and Sharat Jawahar.
May 2016
Non-Conservative Interactions
A recent collaboration between Strathclyde and the University of Auckland in New Zealand has investigated the controlled collisions of two dissipative solitons in an optical fibre ring and found that they either merge or annihilate each other.
April 2016
Physicists quantify the usefulness of ‘quantum weirdness’
Quantum features have puzzled physicists since the birth of quantum mechanics, but such features are presently being tamed in the development of quantum information processing and of the next wave of quantum technologies, including quantum cryptography and quantum computers.
April 2016
Satellites Reveal Seasonal Variations of Suspended Particles in UK Coastal Waters
A recent paper from the Marine Optics and Remote Sensing Group reveals the role of mineral particles in determining seasonal variations in key optical properties of UK coastal waters.
March 2016
Entanglement Becomes Easier to Measure
Luca Tagliacozzo, together with researchers from Innsbruck and Munich, has developed a new protocol to detect entanglement of many-particle quantum states using a simple approach.
March 2016
Gravitational waves detected 100 years after Einstein’s prediction
LIGO opens new window on the Universe with observation of gravitational waves from colliding black holes. Strathclyde researchers contribute to international discovery proving Einstein was right.
February 2016
Freak Waves in an Optical Bathtub
In a recent Physical Review Letters researchers Christopher J. Gibson, Alison M. Yao and Gian-Luca Oppo of the CNQO group in the Department of Physics have shown that rogue waves can originate in the transverse area of externally driven lasers and quantum optical devices.
February 2016
Compact Synchrotron-like Radiation Sources
Feiyu Li and Zheng-Ming Sheng together with collaborators from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have reported a scheme of achieving a palmtop SR source by the use of laser-plasma acceleration in a plasma channel.
February 2016
Optical tornados could boost communication
Researchers have found a novel way of creating intense optical tornados – a discovery that could revolutionise the understanding of how matter behaves under extreme conditions.
January 2016
New Twists in Diffraction of Intense Laser Light
In a recent publication in Nature Physics, a team of researchers led by Prof. Paul McKenna have discovered that diffraction of ultra-intense laser light passing through a normally opaque plasma can be used to control charged particle motion
January 2016
2015
Fermi-type acceleration of interstellar ions driven by high-energy lepton plasma flows
In a recent paper it is found that Stochastic acceleration and shock acceleration can occur naturally in sequential two stages when a lepton flow propagates in a background interstellar plasma.
December 2015
Visiting Professor John Pickup receives Honorary Degree
Photophysics Visiting Professor John Pickup receives a Honorary DSc from our Principal Jim MacDonald at the November Graduation Ceremony.
November 2015
Hilbert's Hotel takes a quantum twist
An optical experiment realizes one of the room-changing operations in the Hilbert Hotel—a fictitious establishment that illustrates some perplexing properties of infinity.
19th October 2015
Diffraction-controlled laser-driven proton acceleration
The electron bunches were produced by focusing a high-power laser pulse into a supersonic helium gas jet. These ‘bullets’ of charged particles have a length that is one 300th of the breadth of a hair and travel at a speed close to that of light. They are also 10 times shorter than those produced from conventional accelerators.
12th October 2015
EPSRC Quantum Technology Fellowship: Hybrid Quantum Interface
Jonathan Pritchard has become one of just 10 academics in the UK to secure a prestigious fellowship worth almost £1 million for the development of hybrid quantum technologies.
29th September 2015
Research boost for future fusion reactor
The EU Funded 4-year project ADAS-EU has helped researchers understand key behaviour of hydrogen in high temperature plasmas found in fusion reactors. The project was co-ordinated by emeritus professor Hugh Summers.
15th September 2015
Next generation High Power Lasers
Researchers at the University of Strathclyde are developing groundbreaking plasma based light amplifiers that could replace traditional high power laser amplifiers.
21 August 2015
From quantum to classical
Strathclyde researcher shows that classical observations of quantum systems are a fundamental part of quantum mechanics – no assumptions necessary.
13 August 2015
Quantum particles put under the microscope
Researchers at the Department of Physics have achieved imaging of individual fermionic atoms in an optical lattice. Such an optical lattice is made of interfering laser beams, creating an “artificial crystal of light” in which atoms can be held like marbles in the hollows of an egg carton.
13th July 2015
High Power Terahertz Radiation from Laser Plasma
Recently, Zheng-Ming Sheng and co-workers from China, USA, and Japan have demonstrated to produce such a kind of THz sources via a mechanism called linear mode conversion, in which electromagnetic waves are converted from electrostatic waves excited in plasma.
24th June 2015
Optomechanical Self-Structuring in a Bose-Einstein Condensate
A team of researchers from the Department's Optics division have recently published a paper on Optomechanical Self-Structuring in a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) in Physical Review Letters.
27th May 2015
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowships
Congratulations to both Marco Piani and Bruno Peaudecerf who were awarded prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowships.
21st May 2015
Lossless Loss at the Quantum Level
John Jeffers and co-workers at Heriot-Watt, Singapore, Southampton and Troyes have performed an experiment that confirms a theoretical prediction made by John Jeffers in the Journal of Modern Optics way back in 2000.
21st May 2015
Keynote at EAP2015
David Birch was a Keynote Speaker at the Emerging Analytical Professionals conference held in Bristol on May 8th-10th 2015.
21st May 2015
SUPA Knowledge Exchange Fellowship
Congratulations to Philip Yip for being awarded a SUPA INSPIRE knowledge exchange fellowship for a secondment to Horiba Jobin Yvon IBH Ltd.
20th May 2015
Culham thesis prize winner - Dr David Maclellan
Dr David MacLellan has been awarded the Institute of Physics’ Culham Thesis Prize for 2015.
4th April 2015
Breakthrough in Particle Control creates Special Half-vortex Rotation
A breakthrough in the control of a type of particle known as the polariton has created a highly specialised form of rotation. Professor Andrew Daley was part of the research team from the Universities of Strathclyde and Pittsburgh, and Princeton University, who conducted a test in which they were able to arrange the particles into a ‘ring geometry’ form in a solid-state environment. The result was a half-vortex in a ‘quantised rotation’ form.
March 2015
Rapid-Fire Amplification beyond the Quantum Limit but without Quantum Resources
John Jeffers and recent CNQO PhD graduate Electra Eleftheriadou have recently published a paper on the State Comparison Amplifier in Physical Review Letters.
31st March 2015
Strathclyde physicist joins Scotland’s National Academy
The Department is pleased to congratulate Professor Dino Jaroszynski on his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
6th March 2015
Noted Publications of 2014
Strathclyde Physics has been recognized for papers published in 2014.
2nd March 2015
Discriminatory optical force for chiral molecules
In a recent paper in New Journal of Physics, Robert Cameron, Stephen Barnett and Alison Yao demonstrated that readily producible types of light can be employed to exert a force that accelerates chiral molecules in opposite directions.
27th February 2015
“Spooky action at a distance” key in telling physical processes apart
In their paper, Necessary and sufficient quantum information characterization of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering, published in Physical Review Letters, Dr Marco Piani of the Department of Physics and Prof John Watrous, at University of Waterloo, break new ground in the study of the usefulness of quantum steering.
14th February 2015
APS Outstanding Referee
John Jeffers has been elected as an Outstanding Referee by the American Physical Society.
5th February 2015
Optics in 2014
A joint contribution between Strathclyde Physics and the Institut Non Linéaire (INLN) in Nice on Optomechanical self-structuring of cold atoms has been highlighted as the most exciting peer-reviewed optics research to have emerged over the past 12 months in Optics & Photonics News, published by the Optical Society of America.
15th January 2015
2014
Global engineering company acquires Strathclyde physics spin-out
A University of Strathclyde spin-out company, Cascade Technologies, specialising in gas analysis and which originated in Strathclyde’s Department of Physics, has been acquired by a global engineering and technology firm, Emerson.
23 December 2014
Funding Boost for Strathclyde’s World-class Physics Research
Physicists at Strathclyde have been awarded £400,000 to develop advanced manufacturing techniques for nano-engineered semiconductors, particularly Gallium Nitride. The award is part of a £2.65million Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) five-year grant within the area of Manufacturing Advanced Functional Materials - “Manufacturing nano-GaN”.
19th December 2014
Inductive ring trap paper in Nature Communications
In a paper published in Nature Communications, physicists at the Universities of Sussex and Dr Aidan Arnold of Strathclyde show a way to make a new type of flexibly designed microscopic trap for atoms.
27th November 2014
Relativistic electron transport in melting solids
The transport physics of multi-mega-Ampere currents of laser-accelerated electrons in solids is of fundamental importance to many promising applications of high power lasers.
11th November 2014
Tom Gibson Memorial Award 2014
The 2014 recipient of the Tom Gibson Memorial Award is Prof. Gail McConnell of the Centre for Biophotonics, SIPBS.
9th September 2014
Quantum sealing with classical wax
John Jeffers and co-workers at Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh Universities, have implemented a quantum digital signature protocol that does not require the quantum signature to be stored in quantum memory.
23rd July 2014
Promotions
We are pleased to announce Adrian Cross has been promoted to Professor. This reflects Adrian's many achievements in the ABP group that he now leads.
12th June 2014
Desktop Supernova
Laser beams 60,000 billion times more powerful than a laser pointer have been used to recreate scaled supernova explosions in the laboratory as a way of investigating one of the most energetic events in the Universe.
4th June 2014
Entanglement in Space
Recent work by a Strathclyde physicist Dr Daniel Oi and others has been highlighted on the popular website phys.org. The research, published in the New Journal of Physics, is a proposal to test the effect of acceleration and orbital manoeuvres on the entanglement shared between two Bose-Einstein condensates carried by CubeSats.
2nd June 2014
Department of Physics wins Equality Award
The University of Strathclyde’s Department of Physics has received an Athena SWAN award made in recognition of its work towards achieving gender equality.
May 2014
Green Honors Visiting Chair
Professor David Birch has been appointed to the Green Honors Visiting Chair in Physics at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
Self-organized optomechanical patterns in Nature Photonics
The physics behind some of nature’s most spectacular structures have been observed in an atomic gas at very low temperatures - less than a thousandth of a degree away from absolute zero - by a collaboration of researchers from the Optics Division and the Institut Non Linéaire de Nice in Sophia-Antipolis, France.
24th March 2014
First Fraunhofer UK research chair announced
The Royal Academy of Engineering has announced the appointment of Professor Alan Kemp as the first Fraunhofer UK/RAEng research chair at the University of Strathclyde. Alan heads the Advanced Laser Group at the Institute of Photonics.
21st February 2014
Monochromatic X-ray production using Laser Back Scattering from an Electron Linac (Elbe)
In the early days of SUPA, Wilfred Galster and I won a SUPA award to build an advanced vacuum system to study monochromatic X-ray production. The principal application of monochromatic X-rays is in the field of medical diagnostics.
22nd January 2014