Prof Paul McKenna

Physics

Personal statement

Paul McKenna's research interests focus on high power laser-plasma interactions. His present research topics include: laser-driven ion acceleration; fast electron generation and transport in dense plasma, and application to the development of advanced schemes for inertial fusion energy; high field physics at the focus of ultra-intense laser pulses; plasma optics; and, laser-driven nuclear physics.

He is an EPSRC Leadership fellow since 2012 and a Professor of Laser-Plasma Physics at the University of Strathclyde since 2011. He received his PhD at Queens University Belfast in 2000, before becoming a postdoctoral fellow at the university of Glasgow from 2000-2002. From 2002-2005, he held a Royal Society of Edinburgh Personal Research Fellowship at the University of Strathclyde, and was appointed to a Lectureship at the university in 2006, and a Readership in 2008.

Publications

Experimental demonstration of a compact epithermal neutron source based on a high power laser: Mirfayzi S. R., Alejo A., Ahmed H., Raspino D., Ansell S., Wilson L.A., Armstrong C., Butler N.M.H., Clarke R. J., Higginson A., Kelleher J., Murphy C., Notley M., Rusby D.R., Schooneveld E., Borghesi M., McKenna P., Rhodes N. J., Neely D., Brenner C.M., Kar S.; Applied Physics Letters, (2017)
Modelling the effect of the radiation reaction force on the acceleration of ultra-thin foils: Duff M. J., Capdessus R., King M., Del Sorbo D., Ridgers C. P., McKenna P.; Proc. SPIE 10241, Research Using Extreme LightProceedings of SPIE Vol 10241, (2017); http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2267424
Polarization dependence of bulk ion acceleration from ultrathin foils irradiated by high intensity, ultrashort laser pulses: Scullion C., Doria D., Romagnani L., Sgattoni A., Naughton K., Symes D.R., McKenna P., Macchi A., Zepf M., Kar S., Borghesi M.; Phys. Rev. Lett., pp. 1-6, (2017)
Ion acceleration with radiation pressure in quantum electrodynamic regimes: Del Sorbo Dario, Blackman David R., Capdessus Remi, Small Kristina, Slade-Lowther Cody, Luo Wen, Duff Matthew James, Robinson A. P. L., McKenna Paul, Sheng Zheng-Ming, Pasley John, Ridgers Christopher; Proc. SPIE 10241, Research Using Extreme Light: Entering New Frontiers with Petawatt-Class Lasers III, (2017); http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2271137
Scaling of X-ray flux from high-intensity laser-solid interactions as a function of energy: Rusby Dean R., Brenner Ceri, Armstrong Chris, Wilson Lucy, Clarke Rob, Alejo Aaron, Deas Robert, McKenna Paul, Kar Satya, Neely David; Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), (2017); http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/CLEO_SI.2017.SF1K.6
Diagnosis of Weibel instability evolution in the rear surface scale lengths of laser solid interactions via proton acceleration: Scott G G, Brenner C M, Bagnoud V, Clarke R J, Gonzalez Izquierdo B, Green J S, Heathcote R I, Powell H W, Rusby D R, Zielbauer B , McKenna P , Neely D; New Journal of Physics Vol 19, (2017); http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aa652c

more publications

Professional activities

EPSRC, Swindon (External organisation): Member; 3/2017
External examiner for PhD candidate at Ecole Polytechnique, Paris: External Examiner; 12/2016
STFC - Central Laser Facility: Visiting researcher; 28/2/2016
CHILI-2016 Conference on High Intensity Lasers and attosecond science: Invited speaker; 22/2/2016
Invited talk at the 2nd International Symposium on High Power Laser Science and Engineering (HPLSE2016).: Invited speaker; 2016
Invited talk - 17th International Conference on Laser-Optics 2016: Invited speaker; 2016

more professional activities

Projects

Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP 2016-2017 University of Strathclyde) | Carnell, Katie: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Gray, Ross (Co-investigator) Carnell, Katie (Research Co-investigator); Period 01-Oct-2016 - 01-Oct-2019
Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP 2016-2017 University of Strathclyde) | Davidson, Zoe: Gray, Ross (Principal Investigator) McKenna, Paul (Co-investigator) Davidson, Zoe (Research Co-investigator); Period 01-Oct-2016 - 01-Apr-2020
Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP 2016-2017 University of Strathclyde) | Jarrett, Jonathan: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Gray, Ross (Co-investigator) Jarrett, Jonathan (Research Co-investigator); Period 01-Oct-2016 - 01-Apr-2020
Industrial Case Account 2015 | Zemaityte, Egle: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Gray, Ross (Co-investigator) Zemaityte, Egle (Research Co-investigator); Period 01-Oct-2015 - 01-Oct-2019
Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP - University of Strathclyde) | Wilson, Thomas: Sheng, Zheng-Ming (Principal Investigator) McKenna, Paul (Co-investigator) Wilson, Thomas (Research Co-investigator); Period 01-Oct-2015 - 01-Apr-2019
iCASE studentship with DSTL: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator); Period 01-Oct-2015 - 30-Sep-2019

more projects

Address

Physics
John Anderson Building

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