Professor Paul McKenna

Head Of Department

Physics

Personal statement

Professor Paul McKenna is a laser-plasma physicist and presently Head of the Department of Physics. His research focuses on ultra-intense laser-plasma interactions, including the development and application of laser-driven particle and radiation sources, plasma optics and high field science.

After graduating with a PhD from Queen’s University Belfast and undertaking a short period of postdoctoral research at the University of Glasgow, Paul moved to the University of Strathclyde upon award of a Royal Society of Edinburgh personal research fellowship in 2002. He was appointed to an academic position in 2005, and promoted to Reader in 2008 and to Professor in 2011. He has also held a visiting position at the Central Laser Facility at Harwell and was an EPSRC Leadership Fellow from 2012-2017.

Publications

Determining the short laser pulse contrast based on X-Ray emission spectroscopy: Martynenko AS, Skobelev IYu, Pikuz SA, Ryazantsev SN, Baird C, Booth N, Doehl L, Durey P, Farley D, Kodama R, Lancaster Kate, McKenna P, Murphy C, Spindloe C, Pikuz TA, Woolsey N; High Energy Density Physics Vol 38 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hedp.2021.100924
Optimization of a laser plasma-based x-ray source according to WDM absorption spectroscopy requirements: Martynenko AS, Pikuz SA, Skobelev IYu, Ryazantsev SN, Baird C, Booth N, Doehl L, Durey P, Faenov A Ya, Farley D, Kodama R, Lancaster KL, McKenna P, Murphy CD, Spindloe C, Pikuz T A, Woolsey N; Matter and Radiation at Extremes Vol 6 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0025646
HPLSE editorial tribute to Professor David Neely: Danson Colin, McKenna Paul; High Power Laser Science and Engineering Vol 9 (2021); https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1017/hpl.2020.52
Bremsstrahlung emission and plasma characterization driven by moderately relativistic laser-plasma interactions: Singh Sushil Kumar, Armstrong Chris, Kang Ning, Ren Lei, Liu Huiya, Hua Neng, Rusby Dean R, Klimo Ondrej, Versaci Roberto, Zhang Yan, Sun Mingying, Zhu Baoqiang, Lei Anle, Ouyang Xiaoping, Lancia Livia, Garcia Alejandro Laso, Wagner Andreas, Cowan Thomas E, Zhu Jianqiang, Schlegel Theodor, Weber Stefan, McKenna Paul, Neely David, Tikhonchuk Vladimir Timofeevich, Kumar Deepak; Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Vol 63 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/abcf7e
High-density electron-ion bunch formation and multi-GeV positron production via radiative trapping in extreme-intensity laser-plasma interactions: Capdessus R, Gremillet L, McKenna P; New Journal of Physics Vol 22 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/abc1fa
Development of control mechanisms for a laser wakefield accelerator-driven bremsstrahlung X-ray source for advanced radiographic imaging: Underwood C I D, Baird C D, Murphy C D, Armstrong C D, Thorton C, Finlay O J, Streeter M J V, Selwood M P, Brierley N, Cipiccia S, Gruse J-N, McKenna Paul, Najmudin Z, Neely D, Rusby D, Symes D R, Brenner C M; Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Vol 62 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/abbebe

More publications

Professional activities

Plenary Invited Talk at International Workshop on Laboratory Astrophysics: Speaker; 7/12/2020
Co-Chair of the Superstrong field session of the International Conference on Laser Optics - ICLO2020: Participant; 2/12/2020
External Advisor for a new Physics UG course at the University of Birmingham: Examiner; 1/12/2020
UKRI-EPSRC ARCHER2 Pioneer Projects Panel member (External organisation): Advisor; 1/12/2020
ELI-NP First Users Workshop: Participant; 17/11/2020
Talk at the International Conference on Laser Optics - ICLO2020: Speaker; 3/11/2020

More professional activities

Projects

Cockcroft Institute Covid-19 Grant Extension (CoA) Allocation: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2021
Doctoral Training Partnership 2020-2021 University of Strathclyde | Bacon, Ewan: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Gray, Ross (Co-investigator) Bacon, Ewan (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2020 - 01-Jan-2024
STFC Strathclyde 2020 DTP: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator); 01-Jan-2020 - 30-Jan-2024
PANAMA: Plasma Accelerators for Nuclear Applications and Materials Analysis (panama) - National Nuclear User Facility Phase 2: Renshaw, Joanna (Principal Investigator) Jaroszynski, Dino (Co-investigator) Lunn, Rebecca (Co-investigator) McKenna, Paul (Co-investigator) Bots, Pieter (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2023
Doctoral Training Partnership 2018-19 University of Strathclyde | Goodman, Jack: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Gray, Ross (Co-investigator) Goodman, Jack (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2019 - 01-Jan-2023
Doctoral Training Partnership 2018-19 University of Strathclyde | Dolier, Ewan: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Gray, Ross (Co-investigator) Dolier, Ewan (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2019 - 01-Jan-2023

More projects

Address

Physics
John Anderson Building

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