Professor Paul McKenna

Head Of Department

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

Cherenkov radiation-based optical fibre diagnostics of fast electrons generated in intense laser-plasma interactions: Liu H., Liao G.-Q., Zhang Y.-H., Zhu B.-J., Zhang Z., Li Y.-T., Scott G. G., Rusby D., Armstrong C., Zemaityte E., Carroll D.C., Astbury S., Bradford P., Woolsey N., McKenna P., Neely D.; Review of Scientific Instruments, (2018)
Novel scintillator-based x-ray spectrometer for use on high repetition laser plasma interaction experiments: Rusby D. R., Armstrong C. D., Brenner C. M., Clarke R. J., McKenna P., Neely D.; Review of Scientific Instruments Vol 89, (2018); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5019213
Experimental signatures of the quantum nature of radiation reaction in the field of an ultraintense laser: Poder K., Tamburini M., Sarri G., Di Piazza A., Kuschel S., Baird C.~D., Behm K., Bohlen S., Cole J. M., Corvan D. J., Duff M., Gerstmayr E., Keitel C. H., Krushelnick K., Mangles S. P. D., McKenna P., Murphy C. D., Najmudin Z., Ridgers C. P., Samarin G. M., Symes D., Thomas A. G. R., Warwick J., Zepf M.; Physical Review X Vol 8, (2018); http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.8.031004
Relativistic Doppler-boosted γ-rays in high fields: Capdessus Remi, King Martin, Del Sorbo Dario, Duff Matthew, Ridgers Christopher P., McKenna Paul; Scientific Reports Vol 8, (2018); http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27122-9
Dense relativistic electron mirrors from a Laguerre-Gaussian laser-irradiated micro-droplet: Hu Li-Xiang, Yu Tong-Pu, Li Han-Zhen, Yin Yan, McKenna Paul, Shao Fu-Qiu; Optics Letters Vol 43, (2018); http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OL.43.002615
Dual ion species plasma expansion from isotopically layered cryogenic targets: Scott G. G., Carroll D. C., Astbury S., Clarke R. J., Hernandez-Gomez C., King M., Alejo A., Arteaga I. Y., Dance R. J., Higginson A., Hook S., Liao G., Liu H., Mirfayzi S. R., Rusby D. R., Selwood M. P., Spindloe C., Tolley M. K., Wagner F., Zemaityte E., Borghesi M., Kar S., Li Y., Roth M., McKenna P., Neely D.; Physical Review Letters, (2018)

more publications

Professional activities

Invited talk at the International Conference on Ultrafast Optical Science (UltrafastLIght-2017): Speaker; 3/10/2017
Invited talk at the 2nd Conference on Extremely High Intensity Laser Physics (2017): Speaker; 6/9/2017
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL (External organisation): Advisor; 1/9/2017
Invited Lecture at the Culham Plasma Summer School 2017: Invited speaker; 25/7/2017
Invited Talk at an EPS Conference Satellite International Workshop on High Field Science: Invited speaker; 1/7/2017
Invited talk - Central Laser Facility 40th Anniversary Meeting: Invited speaker; 20/6/2017

more professional activities

Projects

Accelerating the Middle East -- EPSRC GCRF Institutional Sponsorship: Hidding, Bernhard (Principal Investigator) McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Sheng, Zheng-Ming (Principal Investigator) Jaroszynski, Dino (Principal Investigator); Compact plasma accelerators for applications e.g. in life and space sciences with sustainable socio-economic benefit for Turkey and the Middle East are being developed.; Period 01-Oct-2017 - 31-Mar-2018
Cockcroft Institute / R160525-1: Riis, Erling (Principal Investigator) Cross, Adrian (Co-investigator) Eliasson, Bengt (Co-investigator) Gray, Ross (Co-investigator) Hidding, Bernhard (Co-investigator) Jaroszynski, Dino (Co-investigator) McKenna, Paul (Co-investigator) McNeil, Brian (Co-investigator) Ronald, Kevin (Co-investigator) Sheng, Zheng-Ming (Co-investigator); Period 01-Apr-2017 - 31-Mar-2018
Cockcroft Institute: Riis, Erling (Principal Investigator) Cross, Adrian (Co-investigator) Eliasson, Bengt (Co-investigator) Gray, Ross (Co-investigator) Hidding, Bernhard (Co-investigator) Jaroszynski, Dino (Co-investigator) McKenna, Paul (Co-investigator) McNeil, Brian (Co-investigator) Ronald, Kevin (Co-investigator) Sheng, Zheng-Ming (Co-investigator); Period 01-Apr-2017 - 31-Mar-2018
Harwell Imaging Partnership project | Frazer, Timothy: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Sheng, Zheng-Ming (Co-investigator) Frazer, Timothy (Research Co-investigator); Period 01-Oct-2017 - 01-Apr-2021
Advanced laser-plasma optics technology: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator); Period 01-Mar-2018 - 31-Oct-2022
Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP 2016-2017 University of Strathclyde) | Frazer, Timothy: McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator) Sheng, Zheng-Ming (Co-investigator) Frazer, Timothy (Research Co-investigator); Period 01-Oct-2017 - 01-Apr-2021

more projects

Address

Physics
John Anderson Building

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