Professor Paul McKenna

Physics

Personal statement

Paul McKenna is a Professor of Laser-Plasma 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.

He is a member of EPSRC's Capital Infrastructure Strategic Advisory Team since 2017 and a former member of STFC's Science Board (2017-20). He holds scientific advisory roles for several international high power laser facilities and held a visiting position at the Central Laser Facility at Harwell. He was an EPSRC Leadership Fellow from 2012-17 and was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2021.

Within the University, Paul is currently the Vice Dean Research in the Faculty of Science and a member of the Faculty Executive Team. He was Head of Department of Physics from August 2018 to July 2021.

Prizes and awards

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Recipient; 30/3/2020

More prizes and awards

Publications

Inﬂuence of target-rear-side short scale length density gradients on laser-driven proton acceleration: Higginson A, Wilson R, Goodman J, King M, Dance R J, Butler N M H, Armstrong C D, Notley M, Carroll D C, Fang Y, Yuan X H, Neely D, Gray R J, McKenna P; Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Vol 63 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/ac2035
Deconvolution of multi-Boltzmann x-ray distribution from linear absorption spectrometer via analytical parameter reduction: Armstrong C D, Neely D, Kumar D, McKenna P, Gray R J, Pirozhkov A S; Review of Scientific Instruments Vol 92, pp. 113102 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0057486
Selective ion acceleration by intense radiation pressure: McIlvenny A, Doria D, Romagnani L, Ahmed H, Booth N, Ditter E J, Ettlinger O C, Hicks G S, Martin P, Scott G G, Williamson S D R, Macchi A, McKenna P, Najmudin Z, Neely D, Kar S, Borghesi M; Physical Review Letters Vol 127 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.194801
Kinematics of femtosecond laser-generated plasma expansion : determination of sub-micron density-gradient and collisionality evolution of over-critical laser plasmas: Scott G G, Indorf GFH, Ennen MA, Forestier-Colleoni P, Hawkes S, Scaife L, Sedov M, Symes D R, Thornton C, Beg F, Ma T, McKenna P, Andreev A A, Teubner U, Neely D; Physics of Plasmas Vol 28 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0038549
Magnetic field amplification by high power lasers in underdense plasma: Wilson T C, Sheng Z-M, Eliasson B, McKenna P; Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Vol 63 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/abf80c
Efficient bright γ-ray vortex emission from a laser-illuminated light-fan-in-channel target: Zhang Hao, Zhao Jie, Hu Yanting, Li Qianni, Lu Yu, Cao Yue, Zou Debin, Sheng Zhengming, Pegoraro Francesco, McKenna Paul, Shao Fuqiu, Yu Tongpu; High Power Laser Science and Engineering (2021); https://doi.org/10.1017/hpl.2021.29

More publications

Professional activities

Talk at the SPIE-2021 - High-order mode structure & spectral interferometry in ultrathin foils: underpinning physics of transparency-enhanced ion acceleration: Speaker; 20/4/2021
Talk at the SPIE-2021 - Enhanced laser intensity and ion acceleration due to self-focusing in expanding ultrathin foils: Speaker; 20/4/2021
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

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Projects

PhD Studentship for Characterising Laser-driven Particle Beams: Gray, Ross (Principal Investigator) McKenna, Paul (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2025
Advanced laser-plasma optics technology | Peat, Maia: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Gray, Ross (Co-investigator) Peat, Maia (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2024
Doctoral Training Partnership 2020-2021 University of Strathclyde | Alderton, Matthew: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Gray, Ross (Co-investigator) Alderton, Matthew (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2024
Advanced laser-plasma optics technology | Alderton, Matthew: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Gray, Ross (Co-investigator) Alderton, Matthew (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2024
Doctoral Training Partnership 2020-2021 University of Strathclyde | Peat, Maia: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Gray, Ross (Co-investigator) Peat, Maia (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2024
The new intensity frontier: exploring quantum electrodynamic plasmas: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2025

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Address

Physics
John Anderson Building

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