Professor Bowman's main research interests are in the discovery, development and properties of materials and artificial multilayers structures that offer new functionality and behaviour but with a strong pull/view to applications. In particular, he is currently investigating; in photonics, alternate plasmonic materials for harsh environments and, in magnetics, multilayers and materials with tailored permeability response in the GHz regime and the development of synthetic ferrimagnetic materials.
Increasingly, he is incorporating atomistic modelling into and complimenting the experimental programmes. He has authored/co-authored more than 120 publications in the refereed/conference literature. His research is recognised by the award of a prestigious Seagate Technology / Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Advanced Materials for Data Storage. He is also the Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Photonic Integration and Advanced data Storage in partnership with University of Glasgow and over twelve industry partners (www.cdt-piads.ac.uk) His research has attracted major funding over a decade now from Seagate Technology and is also supported by EPSRC and EU.
,
My research uses high performance computational methods for intense laser-matter interactions. I develop the R-matrix with time-dependence computer code, which is the world’s leading approach for describing multielectron dynamics stimulated by intense, ultrashort, arbitrarily polarised laser pulses.
,
Quantum Thermodynamics Quantum information & quantum computing Entanglement and QIT in solid state systems Quantum phase transitions in low dimensional systems Density matrix renormalization group and tensor networks Quantum optimal control Berry's phase and geometrical dephasing
,
Dr Dundas' research focuses on simulating the response of materials to external forces. The materials range from atoms and molecules in the gas phase to complex nanoscale materials while the external forces include high intensity, short duration laser pulses and dc bias voltages.
This work has been carried out through the development of computer codes that harness high performance computingprovision. His research has attracted funding from sources including the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the European Union.
,
Dr Field investigates electron molecule collisions on the sub-nanometer molecular scale with experiments and quantum mechanical theoretical calculations. He also works at the macroscopic scale on plasmas in liquids and gases as atmospheric pressure. This work has led to pure and applied research projects such as; investigation of possible mechanisms for the formation of negative ions in space and collaborations with companies related to development of monitoring tools for plasmas and other applications.
,
Professor Fitzsimmons is an expert in the field of asteroid and cometary science. He usesworld-leading observatories to measure the physical properties of Solar System bodies and their composition.
Highlights have ranged from studying the first asteroid predicted to impact the Earth, to investigating the nature of the first object discovered visiting us from another star.
He is an author on over 130 peer-reviewed publications, and his research has been funded by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Royal Society, the European Space Agency, the Leverhulme Trust, and the European Union (FP7 & H2020).
,
Marty Gregg leads the nanoscale ferroelectric activity in QUB. His main themes of research to date have been:
The study of ferroelectric thin films and superlattices grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD);
The characterisation and understanding of well-controlled nanoscale ferroelectric entities cut from high purity bulk crystals using Focused Ion Beam milling;
Control of domain wall dynamics and functional properties.
Microscopy is critical and consequently Marty has been heavily involved in electron, ion and scanning probe techniques for most of his career.
,
Dr Gribakin’s research interests are in theoretical atomic physics and matter-antimatter interactions. His main research interests are in various elementary atomic processes that arise in collisions between positrons and atoms or molecules (scattering, annihilation), electrons and positive ions (recombination), photons and atoms or negative ions (photoionisation and photodetachment), in particular for strong laser fields, as well as cold-atom collisions and many-body quantum chaos. He also have an interest in the problem of positron-atom and positron-molecule binding and resonances, and in low-energy positronium scattering from atoms.
,
Dr Gruning's main research interests are in the development and application of first-principles approaches to the electronic and optical properties of materials.
She is one of the core developers of the Yambo and is collaborating in the development of Questaal, which both are codes for many-body calculations in solid state.
Regarding the applications of the theory and codes, she is currently working on the nonlinear optical properties of nanostructures and on the engineering of the band offset in heterojunctions.
,
Dr Fumin Hunag is a lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Physics specialising in nanophotonics and nanomaterials.
,
Dr Huettemann’s research interests are in homological and graded algebra, algebraic K-theory and abstract homotopy theory.
Recent research centres on algebraic finiteness conditions, using homological, combinatorial and K-theoretical methods in the framework of graded algebra. Of particular interest are homolgical criteria for finite domination using Novikov homology, and splitting results in algebraic K-theory.
,
Dr. Jess’ research interests are in the areas of solar physics.
He works with multi-wavelength observations of the solar atmosphere acquired using high-resolution ground- and space-based observatories. His work focuses on the propagation and dissipation characteristics of MHD waves and oscillations as they propagate through the solar atmosphere, and he investigates their energy dissipation in order to constrain atmospheric heating mechanisms.
He has authored/co-authored more than 60 publications in refereed literature, and my research has attracted funding from a number of sources, including the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Royal Society, NASA, the European Union (FP7 & H2020), Randox Laboratories Ltd. and Invest NI.
,
Dr. Kar’s research interests are in the areas of high intensity laser plasma interaction, specifically in the development and optimisation of laser driven ion and neutron sources for their wide-ranging applications in Science, security and healthcare. His recent patented invention of miniature proton accelerators has attracted significant interest in the community and has been included in the technical design report of the ELI-Nuclear Physics facility.
He held an EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship through 2012-16 and is a Lecturer at QUB since July 2013. He has been PI on two EPSRC and one Invest NI grants of value ~£1M in total. He is also an active member in several large grants from EPSRC and STFC. His main expertise is in experimental activities using high power lasers at large scale facilities, such as CLF, STFC, UK; Titan, LLNL; US, PALS, Cz; availed though highly comparative facility access panels.
To date he has been PI in ~10 experimental campaigns, corresponding to beamtime valued at several £M. Dr. Kar has delivered ~20 invited talks, including twice at European Physical Science and once in American physical science conferences, two of the most recognised conferences in his field. His publication track record (140 papers, 3,000 citations, h=26) includes 1 Nature Physics, 2 Nature Communications and 21 Phys. Rev. Letts.
,
Dr. Keys’ research interests are in solar physics. Specifically, he is interested in the formation and evolution of small-scale magnetic fields on the Sun using high resolution images. As well as the formation mechanisms of these features, he is interested in how they link between layers of the solar atmosphere to channel energy between regions.
,
Dr Lamrock’s main research interests involve combining the research areas of statistics, decision modelling, pharmacoeconomics and data analytics.
Her current research includes using deep learning for personalised medicine, novel decision modelling approaches in healthcare, and using prediction algorithms to incorporate into cost-effectiveness analyses for health technology assessments.
,
Dr Lin’s research interests are in the areas of Operator Algebras, Abstract Harmonic Analysis, Linear Preservers and their interactions. More specifically, she is interested in operator algebras arising from locally compact groups, and in their concrete descriptions in terms of operator fields, as well as their rigidity properties.
She studies linear preservers in a variety of settings, including disjointness preserving maps, compactness properties and completely positive maps. She is also interested in applications of linear preservers to Abstract Harmonic Analysis, in particular to objects such as the Fourier algebra, the C*-algebra and the von Neumann algebra of a locally compact group.
,
Dr. Margarone's main research interests are in the areas of laser driven ion acceleration, innovative target geometries for ion acceleration, real-time diagnostics of particles and radiation generated in laser-plasmas, generation of brilliant particle streams from nuclear fusion reactions, production of laser-based secondary sources for multidisciplinary applications, including new compact approaches to hadrontherapy for cancer treatment and enhancement of cancer cell killing efficacy through the proton boron nuclear fusion reaction.
,
The area of research within Pure Mathematics Dr Mathieu has been involved in over the last number of years can be most adequately described as Noncommutative Functional Analysis.
Traditional Functional Analysis, as it was formed by Stefan Banach early in the 20th century on the basis of the work of many others, seeks to understand Banach spaces and operators between them. Noncommutative Functional Analysis grew out of the theory of C* -algebras, which are algebras of bounded linear operators on Hilbert space.
The new structure arises by enriching a Banach space with a 'noncommutative' structure allowing an embedding into a space of operators on Hilbert space. Being a subspace of an algebra whose multiplication is in general noncommutative, many new features appear for an operator space which are invisible or non-existent at the Banach space level.
,
Professor Paternostro’s research interests are in the areas quantum information and quantum technology. He has worked on the foundations of quantum mechanics and the design of quantum technologies for all his academic career. His work has pioneered the fields of cavity optomechanics, quantum communication, quantum thermodynamics, and the foundations of quantum mechanics.
He has authored 180+ research papers published in top-tier international journals (including Nature and Phys. Rev. Lett.) and has attracted 7000 citations (h-index = 42) and €9+ Million of research funding from various sources.
He is Vice Chair and Grant Holder of COST Action CA15220, of which he was one of the primary proposers. He is Chief Editor of the De Gruyter journal “Quantum Measurement and Quantum Metrology” and served as Editorial Board Member of Phys. Rev. A (2011-2014).
He held Visiting Professor positions at Ecole Normale Superieure de Paris (France), Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), Universität Ulm (Germany), and the Federal University of ABC (Sao Paulo, Brazil).
,
Professor Mathioudakis research interests are in the areas of solar and stellar astrophysics. More specifically he is interested in the observational signatures of chromospheric and coronal heating both in terms of MHD waves and flare phenomena.
He has authored/co-authored more than 160 publications in the refereed literature. His research has attracted funding from a number of sources including the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Royal Society, NASA, the Leverhulme Trust, the Daphne Jackson Trust, the British Council, the European Office of the US Airforce Research Division and the European Union (FP7 & H2020)
,
Dr McQuaid’s research interest is in the functional properties of nanoscale oxide materials, specifically, in the fundamental dynamical behaviour of ferroic domain walls as well as their influence on electrical and thermal transport phenomena. These studies typically involve use of novel scanning probe microscopy techniques, electrical characterisation and low-temperature setups.
,
I am interested in problems from computational topology, discrete and stochastic geometry as well as digital image analysis. Furthermore, I work on problems from uniform distribution theory and its use in quasi-Monte Carlo integration.
,
Dr Ramsbottom has worked on the calculation of atomic data of relevance to astrophysics for over 20 years, and previously held a PPARC Advanced Fellowship. She has a recognised international reputation in the field and is now leading the research programme on the calculation of complex (open d-shell) atomic data for astrophysics with the new state-of-the-art R-Matrix codes on massively parallel supercomputers around the world.
Her research has attracted funding from a number of sources including the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the European Union and the Leverhulme Trust.
,
Professor Riley's main interests are in warm dense matter, laser plasmas and low temperature atmospheric plasmas. He has, in the past, developed experiments on X-ray scattering from warm dense matter and is currently working on experiments to explore continuum lowering and XUV absorption in warm dense matter.
Recently, he has started to work on photo-ionized plasmas as laboratory analogues to astrophysical systems. He has published over 120 papers and has had success in attracting funding from UK Research Councils.
,
Dr Sarri works on developing and using ultra-intense lasers to generate exotic states of matter and study their unique properties. In particular, he works on the next generation of ultra-compact particle accelerators, laboratory astrophysics(reproducing, in the labroatory, conditions found close to black-holes and massive stars), generation of high-quality x-ray, gamma-ray, and positron sources, and high-field quantum electrodynamics.
He is a member of European programmes ELI, EuPRAXIA, ALEGRO, PWASC, EuroNNAC, ARIES.
,
Probing the Solar System’s Small Body Populations in particular focusing on the Kuiper belt and Inner Oort Cloud
Utilizing crowdsourcing/citizen science to tackle big data challenges in planetary astronomy
Studying the seasonal winds and atmosphere/surface interactions of Mars’ South Pole
Extrasolar planet detection and population statistics
,
Dr Stanislav's main research interests are in the fields of functional analysis and operator theory with an emphasis in linear dynamics. Other interests include infinite dimensional topology and certain branches of algebra. I have authored/co-authored more than 90 publications in the refereed literature. I've been an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow, a researcher in the frame of an EPSRC project on multidimensional numerical ranges of linear operators and I have organiseda number of conferences supported by LMS grants.
,
Dr Sim’s research interests lie in the numerical modelling of radiation transport and spectral synthesis. His studies have included applications to stellar chromospheres/coronae, hot star winds, outflows from accreting systems, and supernovae.
Currently, the focus of his work is in the development and testing of theoretical models for thermonuclear supernova explosions. In particular, he develops Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations that allow synthetic light curves, spectra and spectropolarimetry to be computed and used to interpret observational data and constrain explosion theories.
,
Dr Stella's research activities involve the use and development of numerical models often in partnership with experimentalists in the School of Maths and Physics of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.
Those models include classical and quantum Monte Carlo techniques, nonadiabatic molecular dynamics, time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) for nanoplasmonics, out-of-equilibrium molecular dynamics by the generalised Langevin equation (GLE), and finite-element methods for radiation damage. Those activities are partially funded by the EPSRC, the Royal Society, and the European Union.
,
Professor Todorov’s research interests are in the areas of Operator Algebras, Abstract Harmonic Analysis, Quantum Information Theory and their interactions. More specifically, he is interested in the theory of operator systems and their applications to zero-error quantum information theory and the theory of non-local games.
He also studies locally compact groups and their applications to operator algebras, as manifested in the study of special sets in harmonic analysis, Schur and Herz-Schur multipliers, theory of non-commutative dynamical systems and others.
,
Dr Todorov’s research interests are in the area of nanoscale systems. His main research areas are transport in nanostructures and electron-nuclear dynamics. Nanostructures under bias can carry current densities 5-7 orders of magnitude higher than those in a lightbulb. How do electrons and atomic motion behave under these extreme conditions? This is a rich field, both theoretically and experimentally.
Himeslf and his colleagues work on the theory and simulation of these systems. Funding has come from EPSRC, the Leverhulme Trust and the Royal Society.
,
Dr Tribello’s research is in the field of classical molecular simulation. More specifically he works with methods that ensure rare events such as chemical reactions, protein folding and nucleation happen in short simulations.
He is one of the core developers of the PLUMED plugin for enhanced sampling and was also a developer of the sketch-map algorithm for dimensionality reduction. His research has attracted funding from a number of sources including the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the European Union.
,
Dr Watson's main research interests are in the field of stellar astrophysics and extrasolar planets. In particular he is interested in how to improve the detection of exoplanets against the backdrop of noise due to stellar activity, as well as probing the atmospheres of exoplanets.
He has authored/co-authored more than 100 publications in the refereed literature, including Science and Nature. In addition, he is co-PI on a number of exoplanet discovery instruments, including the Next Generation Transit Survey and HARPS-N.
His research has attracted funding from a number of sources including the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Leverhulme Trust, and the European Union (FP7).
,
Dr Yeung's research interests are in the field of intense laser interactions with plasmas through both experimental studies and numerical simulations. He studies the unique secondary radiation sources that result from these interactions including attosecond scale, extreme-ultraviolet pulses and ultrafast bursts of fast ions.
He has authored/co-authored more than 30 peer reviewed publications including Nature Photonics and Physical Review Letters. His research has funding support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
,
Prof Stephen Smartt is one of the global leaders in astronomy in the field of sky surveys and astrophysical transients. He has led innovative international projects that survey the sky to find supernovae and exploding stars. Using the Hubble Space Telescope he has directly identified which stars explode as supernovae making a series of discoveries that advanced our understanding of what causes these brilliant flashes of light across the Universe.
He has discovered the most powerful of these explosions, called “super-luminous” supernovae and with his team proposed that the theory of magnetic neutron stars causes their extreme brightness. In 2017, he led one of the international teams to pinpoint the source of gravitational waves, showing that merging neutron stars can produce a brief but luminous explosion powered by radioactivity of the heavy elements.
,
Dr Moutari research interests are in the following areas: traffic and transportation system modelling, road safety, network analysis; optimisation and machine learning.
My current research interests include traffic modelling, modelling and management of transportation systems, development of mathematical models for road safety assessment, network analysis; optimisation and machine learning applied in various areas ranging from engineering to medicine.
,
Professor Millar’s research interests are in the areas of astrochemistry and star formation, combining theoretical modelling with observations of molecular emission lines using the ALMA interferometer in Chile. I also collaborate with theoretical and experimental chemists to study reactions that are critical in astrochemistry.
His research has attracted funding from a number of sources including the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Royal Society, NATO, the Leverhulme Trust, the British Council and the European Union (FP6, FP7 & H2020).
,
Understanding energy release and transport mechanisms during solar flares, and the impact the resulting increase in radiation can have on planetary atmospheres. In particular, I use Extreme Ultra-violet and X-ray diagnostics from space-based solar telescope (SDO, RHESSI, GOES, Hinode, STEREO, etc.) to evaluate the plasma conditions in the solar chromosphere.
,
Prof Keenan’s research interests span a range of areas, including solar and stellar astrophysics; plasma physics (including the study of astrophysical-type plasmas in the laboratory, and research on magnetically-confined tokamak plasmas for fusion work); spectral modelling of astrophysical plasmas using atomic physics data generated at Queen’s University.
His research has attracted funding from numerous sources, including the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, AWE Aldermaston, UK Atomic Energy Authority, the Royal Society, Leverhulme Trust and EU.
,
I study ultrafast processes in molecular systems using femtosecond and attosecond lasers. In particular, I use novel schemes to identify static and dynamic chiral states of molecules. I also have close links with the Radiotherapy Physics in a local Cancer Centre hospital and currently have a PhD student doing research there.
,
I work in the area of analysis of partial differential equations (PDEs) and their applications to modelling of migration processes in biology. PDEs are equations stated for functions of several variables which involve the functions and their derivatives. Often too complicated to be solved by hand, they can be studied using a wide range of analytical tools. Models involving PDEs arise in various sciences, including physics and biology.
,
My research focuses mainly on the theory of quantum information technologies with continuous variables and quantum optics. My research also spans more fundamental aspects of quantum correlations and non-locality, and I have also contributed with various publications to the research at the interface between quantum information, quantum thermodynamics and many-body quantum systems.
,
My group develops state-of-the-art methods in theoretical and computational atomic, molecular and condensed matter physics. In particular, we develop many-body theory and new computational approaches to describe the fundamental quantum mechanical interactions of antimatter (positrons and positronium) with matter. We also have interests in atomic and molecular scattering, ultracold molecules, quantum chaos, and intense laser-matter interactions. Projects can be available in all areas, and could involve developing computational methods like stochastic Monte Carlo and machine learning approaches for quantum systems.
,
Dr Kiss is interested in nonlinear dynamical systems, nonlinear functional differential equations and mathematical epidemiology.
,
I perform experiments using high-intensity and high-power lasers to explore fundamental plasma physics relevant to compact particle accelerators, laboratory astrophysics and inertial confinement fusion. I am particularly focused on how the new generation of high-repetition rate lasers can help us to transform our research and provide deeper insight into the behaviour of plasmas in extreme environments.
,
My research is focused on the characterisation of exoplanet atmospheres, circum-planetary gas and exo-rings mainly using ground-based telescopes. Using high-resolution spectrographs on ground-based telescopes it is possible to directly and uniquely detect atomic and molecular species in exoplanet atmospheres. In addition, I am also working to improve current, and develop new, observation and analysis techniques for this purpose.
,
Solveig Felton joined the Centre for Nanostructured Media as a lecturer in 2013. She has a broad background in magnetic materials, having used a wide range of different materials characterisation techniques. Currently her interests are focused on nanomagnetism, studying magnetic domain structures and artificial frustrated magnets using techniques such as Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) and Lorentz Transmission Electron Microscopy (LTEM) and studying the magnetic interactions in molecular materials using Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometry.
,
Our research focuses on the interaction between state-of-the-art laser fields with atoms and small molecules. We develop world-leading HPC computer codes, based on R-matrix theory, to solve the time-dependent Schrodinger equation from first principles. We describe real systems, with full inclusion of the interplay between electrons. The codes have been applied to a wide range of physical processes, including, amongst others, harmonic generation, and transient absorption spectroscopy.
,
My research interest is in the development and application of spatial analysis techniques, stochastic processes and survival analysis.
Transmission electron microscopy In-situ studies of ferroelectric domains
High-resolution quantitative techniques
Dr Arredondo research interests are in the areas of Electron microscopy techniques and functional materials.
Her main research interests are in the field of transmission electron microscopy. More specifically she is interested on studying ferroelectrics and other functional materials via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques.
She has authored/co-authored more than 30 publications in the refereed literature. Her research has attracted funding from a number of sources including various UK and European schemes to access advanced microscopy facilities, EPSRC and the US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership.
Dr Connor Ballance's research interests involve the fundamental exploration of atomic and molecular structure, associated collisional and laser-driven processes and their interpretation to plasma observation. This includes both astrophysical and magnetically-confined fusion plasmas. We maintain strong links to fusion experiments both in the US and Europe. My group at Queen's involves first principle investigations of atomic and molecular structure, subsequent atomic collisional calculations such as electron-impact excitation, ionisation and recombination and also photoionisation.
Electron-photon collisions, e2e , R-matrix, fusion diagnostics, stellar opacities , high performance computing
Dr Barnes studies algebraic topology, specifically stable homotopy theory, usually with an equivariant or monoidal flavour. The method of algebraic topology is to assign algebraic objects (such as vector spaces) to topological shapes in a homotopy invariant manner. When these shapes are chosen to have some group of symmetries, the vector spaces assigned to them become representations of the symmetry group. Thus his interests include stable homotopy theory, homotopy functor calculus, homotopical algebra, model categories and equivariant homotopy theory.
Advanced schemes for ion- acceleration using lasers
Particle radiography of ultrafast plasma phenomena
Generation and propagation of collisionless shocks in tenuous plasmas
Radiobiology and dosimetry of laser-accelerated ions
Professor Borghesi’s research interests lie in the area of intense laser-plasma interactions, with particular expertise in laser-driven acceleration of ion beams. He is involved in the development of innovative acceleration schemes as well as the application of laser-driven proton beams to plasma radiography (e.g. for laboratory astrophysics studies) and in the biomedical field.
Most of his research is carried out at large national facilities (e.g. Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) and is funded by large projects supported by EPSRC.
Artificial and structured magnetic thin films and multilayers
Professor Bowman's main research interests are in the discovery, development and properties of materials and artificial multilayers structures that offer new functionality and behaviour but with a strong pull/view to applications. In particular, he is currently investigating; in photonics, alternate plasmonic materials for harsh environments and, in magnetics, multilayers and materials with tailored permeability response in the GHz regime and the development of synthetic ferrimagnetic materials.
Increasingly, he is incorporating atomistic modelling into and complimenting the experimental programmes. He has authored/co-authored more than 120 publications in the refereed/conference literature. His research is recognised by the award of a prestigious Seagate Technology / Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Advanced Materials for Data Storage. He is also the Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Photonic Integration and Advanced data Storage in partnership with University of Glasgow and over twelve industry partners (www.cdt-piads.ac.uk) His research has attracted major funding over a decade now from Seagate Technology and is also supported by EPSRC and EU.
All aspects of laser-atom interaction, especially those with a focus on electron correlation effects
My research uses high performance computational methods for intense laser-matter interactions. I develop the R-matrix with time-dependence computer code, which is the world’s leading approach for describing multielectron dynamics stimulated by intense, ultrashort, arbitrarily polarised laser pulses.
ultrafast, Attosecond, physics, computational, atomic, molecular, optical, laser, high-performance computing, HPC, software
Quantum Thermodynamics Quantum information & quantum computing Entanglement and QIT in solid state systems Quantum phase transitions in low dimensional systems Density matrix renormalization group and tensor networks Quantum optimal control Berry's phase and geometrical dephasing
quantum information, quantum thermodynamics, entanglement
Theoretical laser-molecule interactions and the simulation of dynamical transport in nanostructures
Dr Dundas' research focuses on simulating the response of materials to external forces. The materials range from atoms and molecules in the gas phase to complex nanoscale materials while the external forces include high intensity, short duration laser pulses and dc bias voltages.This work has been carried out through the development of computer codes that harness high performance computingprovision. His research has attracted funding from sources including the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the European Union.
Development of a new electron attachment spectrometer for environmental monitoring
Plasmas in conducting and insulating liquids
Development of new atmospheric pressure plasma source for medical applications
Dr Field investigates electron molecule collisions on the sub-nanometer molecular scale with experiments and quantum mechanical theoretical calculations. He also works at the macroscopic scale on plasmas in liquids and gases as atmospheric pressure. This work has led to pure and applied research projects such as; investigation of possible mechanisms for the formation of negative ions in space and collaborations with companies related to development of monitoring tools for plasmas and other applications.
Professor Fitzsimmons is an expert in the field of asteroid and cometary science. He usesworld-leading observatories to measure the physical properties of Solar System bodies and their composition. Highlights have ranged from studying the first asteroid predicted to impact the Earth, to investigating the nature of the first object discovered visiting us from another star. He is an author on over 130 peer-reviewed publications, and his research has been funded by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Royal Society, the European Space Agency, the Leverhulme Trust, and the European Union (FP7 & H2020).
Ferroelectric and multiferroic domains and domain walls
Marty Gregg leads the nanoscale ferroelectric activity in QUB. His main themes of research to date have been:
The study of ferroelectric thin films and superlattices grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD);
The characterisation and understanding of well-controlled nanoscale ferroelectric entities cut from high purity bulk crystals using Focused Ion Beam milling;
Control of domain wall dynamics and functional properties.
Microscopy is critical and consequently Marty has been heavily involved in electron, ion and scanning probe techniques for most of his career.
Quantum chaos in many-electron atoms and multicharged ions
Dr Gribakin’s research interests are in theoretical atomic physics and matter-antimatter interactions. His main research interests are in various elementary atomic processes that arise in collisions between positrons and atoms or molecules (scattering, annihilation), electrons and positive ions (recombination), photons and atoms or negative ions (photoionisation and photodetachment), in particular for strong laser fields, as well as cold-atom collisions and many-body quantum chaos. He also have an interest in the problem of positron-atom and positron-molecule binding and resonances, and in low-energy positronium scattering from atoms.
Theoretical atomic physics, many-body theory, electrons, positrons, positronium, annihilation, antimatter, photodetachment, recombination, scattering, bound states
The development and applications of first-principles approaches to electronic and optical properties of materials
Dr Gruning's main research interests are in the development and application of first-principles approaches to the electronic and optical properties of materials.
She is one of the core developers of the Yambo and is collaborating in the development of Questaal, which both are codes for many-body calculations in solid state.
Regarding the applications of the theory and codes, she is currently working on the nonlinear optical properties of nanostructures and on the engineering of the band offset in heterojunctions.
Dr Huettemann’s research interests are in homological and graded algebra, algebraic K-theory and abstract homotopy theory.
Recent research centres on algebraic finiteness conditions, using homological, combinatorial and K-theoretical methods in the framework of graded algebra. Of particular interest are homolgical criteria for finite domination using Novikov homology, and splitting results in algebraic K-theory.
Spectro-polarimetry and inversions of powerfully magnetic sunspot atmospheres; and
Tracking the generation, propagation and dissipation of MHD wave modes as they traverse the dynamic atmospheric layers of the Sun
Dr. Jess’ research interests are in the areas of solar physics.
He works with multi-wavelength observations of the solar atmosphere acquired using high-resolution ground- and space-based observatories. His work focuses on the propagation and dissipation characteristics of MHD waves and oscillations as they propagate through the solar atmosphere, and he investigates their energy dissipation in order to constrain atmospheric heating mechanisms.
He has authored/co-authored more than 60 publications in refereed literature, and my research has attracted funding from a number of sources, including the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Royal Society, NASA, the European Union (FP7 & H2020), Randox Laboratories Ltd. and Invest NI.
High intensity laser driven ion and neutron sources
Dr. Kar’s research interests are in the areas of high intensity laser plasma interaction, specifically in the development and optimisation of laser driven ion and neutron sources for their wide-ranging applications in Science, security and healthcare. His recent patented invention of miniature proton accelerators has attracted significant interest in the community and has been included in the technical design report of the ELI-Nuclear Physics facility.
He held an EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship through 2012-16 and is a Lecturer at QUB since July 2013. He has been PI on two EPSRC and one Invest NI grants of value ~£1M in total. He is also an active member in several large grants from EPSRC and STFC. His main expertise is in experimental activities using high power lasers at large scale facilities, such as CLF, STFC, UK; Titan, LLNL; US, PALS, Cz; availed though highly comparative facility access panels.
To date he has been PI in ~10 experimental campaigns, corresponding to beamtime valued at several £M. Dr. Kar has delivered ~20 invited talks, including twice at European Physical Science and once in American physical science conferences, two of the most recognised conferences in his field. His publication track record (140 papers, 3,000 citations, h=26) includes 1 Nature Physics, 2 Nature Communications and 21 Phys. Rev. Letts.
Spectro-polarimetry and inversions of small-scale magnetic fields
Automated feature tracking algorithms in relation to small-scale magnetic elements and plasma flows on the Sun
Dr. Keys’ research interests are in solar physics. Specifically, he is interested in the formation and evolution of small-scale magnetic fields on the Sun using high resolution images. As well as the formation mechanisms of these features, he is interested in how they link between layers of the solar atmosphere to channel energy between regions.
Dr Lamrock’s main research interests involve combining the research areas of statistics, decision modelling, pharmacoeconomics and data analytics.
Her current research includes using deep learning for personalised medicine, novel decision modelling approaches in healthcare, and using prediction algorithms to incorporate into cost-effectiveness analyses for health technology assessments.
Dr Lin’s research interests are in the areas of Operator Algebras, Abstract Harmonic Analysis, Linear Preservers and their interactions. More specifically, she is interested in operator algebras arising from locally compact groups, and in their concrete descriptions in terms of operator fields, as well as their rigidity properties.
She studies linear preservers in a variety of settings, including disjointness preserving maps, compactness properties and completely positive maps. She is also interested in applications of linear preservers to Abstract Harmonic Analysis, in particular to objects such as the Fourier algebra, the C*-algebra and the von Neumann algebra of a locally compact group.
Targetry for high intensity Laser-Matter Interaction
Particle Sources from Nuclear Fusion Reactions
Dr. Margarone's main research interests are in the areas of laser driven ion acceleration, innovative target geometries for ion acceleration, real-time diagnostics of particles and radiation generated in laser-plasmas, generation of brilliant particle streams from nuclear fusion reactions, production of laser-based secondary sources for multidisciplinary applications, including new compact approaches to hadrontherapy for cancer treatment and enhancement of cancer cell killing efficacy through the proton boron nuclear fusion reaction.
Keywords associated with the area of research.
laser-plasma ion acceleration; laser driven nuclear fusion reactions; multidisciplinary applications of laser based radiation sources
The area of research within Pure Mathematics Dr Mathieu has been involved in over the last number of years can be most adequately described as Noncommutative Functional Analysis.
Traditional Functional Analysis, as it was formed by Stefan Banach early in the 20th century on the basis of the work of many others, seeks to understand Banach spaces and operators between them. Noncommutative Functional Analysis grew out of the theory of C* -algebras, which are algebras of bounded linear operators on Hilbert space.
The new structure arises by enriching a Banach space with a 'noncommutative' structure allowing an embedding into a space of operators on Hilbert space. Being a subspace of an algebra whose multiplication is in general noncommutative, many new features appear for an operator space which are invisible or non-existent at the Banach space level.
Professor Paternostro’s research interests are in the areas quantum information and quantum technology. He has worked on the foundations of quantum mechanics and the design of quantum technologies for all his academic career. His work has pioneered the fields of cavity optomechanics, quantum communication, quantum thermodynamics, and the foundations of quantum mechanics.
He has authored 180+ research papers published in top-tier international journals (including Nature and Phys. Rev. Lett.) and has attracted 7000 citations (h-index = 42) and €9+ Million of research funding from various sources.
He is Vice Chair and Grant Holder of COST Action CA15220, of which he was one of the primary proposers. He is Chief Editor of the De Gruyter journal “Quantum Measurement and Quantum Metrology” and served as Editorial Board Member of Phys. Rev. A (2011-2014).
He held Visiting Professor positions at Ecole Normale Superieure de Paris (France), Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), Universität Ulm (Germany), and the Federal University of ABC (Sao Paulo, Brazil).
Spectropolarimetry of small-scale structures in the solar atmosphere
Radiative hydrodynamic simulations of solar and stellar flares
Professor Mathioudakis research interests are in the areas of solar and stellar astrophysics. More specifically he is interested in the observational signatures of chromospheric and coronal heating both in terms of MHD waves and flare phenomena.
He has authored/co-authored more than 160 publications in the refereed literature. His research has attracted funding from a number of sources including the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Royal Society, NASA, the Leverhulme Trust, the Daphne Jackson Trust, the British Council, the European Office of the US Airforce Research Division and the European Union (FP7 & H2020)
Generation and control of functionally active domain walls in electronic device formats
Fundamental studies of heat flow manipulation using domain walls
Dr McQuaid’s research interest is in the functional properties of nanoscale oxide materials, specifically, in the fundamental dynamical behaviour of ferroic domain walls as well as their influence on electrical and thermal transport phenomena. These studies typically involve use of novel scanning probe microscopy techniques, electrical characterisation and low-temperature setups.
I am interested in problems from computational topology, discrete and stochastic geometry as well as digital image analysis. Furthermore, I work on problems from uniform distribution theory and its use in quasi-Monte Carlo integration.
Atomic data generati0on for use in astrophysics, plasma physics and fusion
Atomic data for the lowly ionised Fe-peak elements
Heavy species relevant for fusion research applications
Dr Ramsbottom has worked on the calculation of atomic data of relevance to astrophysics for over 20 years, and previously held a PPARC Advanced Fellowship. She has a recognised international reputation in the field and is now leading the research programme on the calculation of complex (open d-shell) atomic data for astrophysics with the new state-of-the-art R-Matrix codes on massively parallel supercomputers around the world.
Her research has attracted funding from a number of sources including the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the European Union and the Leverhulme Trust.
Professor Riley's main interests are in warm dense matter, laser plasmas and low temperature atmospheric plasmas. He has, in the past, developed experiments on X-ray scattering from warm dense matter and is currently working on experiments to explore continuum lowering and XUV absorption in warm dense matter.
Recently, he has started to work on photo-ionized plasmas as laboratory analogues to astrophysical systems. He has published over 120 papers and has had success in attracting funding from UK Research Councils.
High-field quantum electrodynamics both from an experimental and theoretical point of view
Dr Sarri works on developing and using ultra-intense lasers to generate exotic states of matter and study their unique properties. In particular, he works on the next generation of ultra-compact particle accelerators, laboratory astrophysics(reproducing, in the labroatory, conditions found close to black-holes and massive stars), generation of high-quality x-ray, gamma-ray, and positron sources, and high-field quantum electrodynamics.
He is a member of European programmes ELI, EuPRAXIA, ALEGRO, PWASC, EuroNNAC, ARIES.
Exploring seasonal processes on Mars’ polar regions
Mining large observational datasets for Solar System Science
Exploring cometary activity in the Solar System’s small body populations
Crowdsourced exoplanet detection using data from transit surveys
Probing the Solar System’s Small Body Populations in particular focusing on the Kuiper belt and Inner Oort Cloud
Utilizing crowdsourcing/citizen science to tackle big data challenges in planetary astronomy
Studying the seasonal winds and atmosphere/surface interactions of Mars’ South Pole
Extrasolar planet detection and population statistics
Solar System, astronomy, astrophysics, physics, exoplanets, planetary science, Mars, Kuiper belt, planetesimals, physics
Subjects related to algebras given by generators and relations
Dr Stanislav's main research interests are in the fields of functional analysis and operator theory with an emphasis in linear dynamics. Other interests include infinite dimensional topology and certain branches of algebra. I have authored/co-authored more than 90 publications in the refereed literature. I've been an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow, a researcher in the frame of an EPSRC project on multidimensional numerical ranges of linear operators and I have organised a number of conferences supported by LMS grants.
Numerical radiative transfer / spectral modelling for astrophysical explosions and outflows
Current particular interests include:
Multi-D radiative transfer for supernova explosion models
Radiative transfer for outflows from accreting systems
Dr Sim’s research interests lie in the numerical modelling of radiation transport and spectral synthesis. His studies have included applications to stellar chromospheres/coronae, hot star winds, outflows from accreting systems, and supernovae.
Currently, the focus of his work is in the development and testing of theoretical models for thermonuclear supernova explosions. In particular, he develops Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations that allow synthetic light curves, spectra and spectropolarimetry to be computed and used to interpret observational data and constrain explosion theories.
Applications from self-funded students interested in numerical modelling of metallic and magnetic nanoparticles for medical application (hyperthermia) are welcome
Additional funding may be also available
Dr Stella's research activities involve the use and development of numerical models often in partnership with experimentalists in the School of Maths and Physics of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Those models include classical and quantum Monte Carlo techniques, nonadiabatic molecular dynamics, time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) for nanoplasmonics, out-of-equilibrium molecular dynamics by the generalised Langevin equation (GLE), and finite-element methods for radiation damage. Those activities are partially funded by the EPSRC, the Royal Society, and the European Union.
Professor Todorov’s research interests are in the areas of Operator Algebras, Abstract Harmonic Analysis, Quantum Information Theory and their interactions. More specifically, he is interested in the theory of operator systems and their applications to zero-error quantum information theory and the theory of non-local games.
He also studies locally compact groups and their applications to operator algebras, as manifested in the study of special sets in harmonic analysis, Schur and Herz-Schur multipliers, theory of non-commutative dynamical systems and others.
The theory and simulation of transport in nanostructures and non-adiabatic electron-nuclear dynamics in non-equilibrium systems
Dr Todorov’s research interests are in the area of nanoscale systems. His main research areas are transport in nanostructures and electron-nuclear dynamics. Nanostructures under bias can carry current densities 5-7 orders of magnitude higher than those in a lightbulb. How do electrons and atomic motion behave under these extreme conditions? This is a rich field, both theoretically and experimentally.
Himeslf and his colleagues work on the theory and simulation of these systems. Funding has come from EPSRC, the Leverhulme Trust and the Royal Society.
Using dimensionality reduction to understand trajectory data
Development of CVs for studying order disorder transitions
Dr Tribello’s research is in the field of classical molecular simulation. More specifically he works with methods that ensure rare events such as chemical reactions, protein folding and nucleation happen in short simulations. He is one of the core developers of the PLUMED plugin for enhanced sampling and was also a developer of the sketch-map algorithm for dimensionality reduction. His research has attracted funding from a number of sources including the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the European Union.
Mitigating astrophysical noise: Towards the confirmation of Earth-2.0
Dr Watson's main research interests are in the field of stellar astrophysics and extrasolar planets. In particular he is interested in how to improve the detection of exoplanets against the backdrop of noise due to stellar activity, as well as probing the atmospheres of exoplanets.
He has authored/co-authored more than 100 publications in the refereed literature, including Science and Nature. In addition, he is co-PI on a number of exoplanet discovery instruments, including the Next Generation Transit Survey and HARPS-N.
His research has attracted funding from a number of sources including the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Leverhulme Trust, and the European Union (FP7).
Coherent XUV/soft X-ray generation from laser interactions and their applications
Experimental and/or simulation based projects are possible
Dr Yeung's research interests are in the field of intense laser interactions with plasmas through both experimental studies and numerical simulations. He studies the unique secondary radiation sources that result from these interactions including attosecond scale, extreme-ultraviolet pulses and ultrafast bursts of fast ions.
He has authored/co-authored more than 30 peer reviewed publications including Nature Photonics and Physical Review Letters. His research has funding support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Supernovae physics, kilonovae and developing models for lightcurves and spectra
Massive data processing and machine learning
Supernovae: observations and models of exotic transients
Machine learning and image recognition algorithms
Surveying the sky in the time domain – the new era
Prof Stephen Smartt is one of the global leaders in astronomy in the field of sky surveys and astrophysical transients. He has led innovative international projects that survey the sky to find supernovae and exploding stars. Using the Hubble Space Telescope he has directly identified which stars explode as supernovae making a series of discoveries that advanced our understanding of what causes these brilliant flashes of light across the Universe.
He has discovered the most powerful of these explosions, called “super-luminous” supernovae and with his team proposed that the theory of magnetic neutron stars causes their extreme brightness. In 2017, he led one of the international teams to pinpoint the source of gravitational waves, showing that merging neutron stars can produce a brief but luminous explosion powered by radioactivity of the heavy elements.
Dr Moutari research interests are in the following areas: traffic and transportation system modelling, road safety, network analysis; optimisation and machine learning.
My current research interests include traffic modelling, modelling and management of transportation systems, development of mathematical models for road safety assessment, network analysis; optimisation and machine learning applied in various areas ranging from engineering to medicine.
Professor Millar’s research interests are in the areas of astrochemistry and star formation, combining theoretical modelling with observations of molecular emission lines using the ALMA interferometer in Chile. I also collaborate with theoretical and experimental chemists to study reactions that are critical in astrochemistry.
His research has attracted funding from a number of sources including the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Royal Society, NATO, the Leverhulme Trust, the British Council and the European Union (FP6, FP7 & H2020).
Understanding energy release and transport mechanisms during solar flares, and the impact the resulting increase in radiation can have on planetary atmospheres. In particular, I use Extreme Ultra-violet and X-ray diagnostics from space-based solar telescope (SDO, RHESSI, GOES, Hinode, STEREO, etc.) to evaluate the plasma conditions in the solar chromosphere.
Prof Keenan’s research interests span a range of areas, including solar and stellar astrophysics; plasma physics (including the study of astrophysical-type plasmas in the laboratory, and research on magnetically-confined tokamak plasmas for fusion work); spectral modelling of astrophysical plasmas using atomic physics data generated at Queen’s University.His research has attracted funding from numerous sources, including the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, AWE Aldermaston, UK Atomic Energy Authority, the Royal Society, Leverhulme Trust and EU.
I study ultrafast processes in molecular systems using femtosecond and attosecond lasers. In particular, I use novel schemes to identify static and dynamic chiral states of molecules. I also have close links with the Radiotherapy Physics in a local Cancer Centre hospital and currently have a PhD student doing research there.
Laser Femtosecond Attosecond Chiral Ultrafast Radiotherapy Molecular
Development and analysis of cancer invasion models
I work in the area of analysis of partial differential equations (PDEs) and their applications to modelling of migration processes in biology. PDEs are equations stated for functions of several variables which involve the functions and their derivatives. Often too complicated to be solved by hand, they can be studied using a wide range of analytical tools. Models involving PDEs arise in various sciences, including physics and biology.
Universal resources for quantum information processing
Continuous-variable quantum computation
Quantum-data analysis for quantum technologies
Quantum machine learning
My research focuses mainly on the theory of quantum information technologies with continuous variables and quantum optics. My research also spans more fundamental aspects of quantum correlations and non-locality, and I have also contributed with various publications to the research at the interface between quantum information, quantum thermodynamics and many-body quantum systems.
Theoretical and computational physics and chemistry
My group develops state-of-the-art methods in theoretical and computational atomic, molecular and condensed matter physics. In particular, we develop many-body theory and new computational approaches to describe the fundamental quantum mechanical interactions of antimatter (positrons and positronium) with matter. We also have interests in atomic and molecular scattering, ultracold molecules, quantum chaos, and intense laser-matter interactions. Projects can be available in all areas, and could involve developing computational methods like stochastic Monte Carlo and machine learning approaches for quantum systems.
I perform experiments using high-intensity and high-power lasers to explore fundamental plasma physics relevant to compact particle accelerators, laboratory astrophysics and inertial confinement fusion. I am particularly focused on how the new generation of high-repetition rate lasers can help us to transform our research and provide deeper insight into the behaviour of plasmas in extreme environments.
High-resolution spectroscopy of exoplanet atmospheres, including the development of new analysis techniques
(Spectro-)photometric characterisation of exoplanets
Search for, and characterisation of, exo-ring systems
My research is focused on the characterisation of exoplanet atmospheres, circum-planetary gas and exo-rings mainly using ground-based telescopes. Using high-resolution spectrographs on ground-based telescopes it is possible to directly and uniquely detect atomic and molecular species in exoplanet atmospheres. In addition, I am also working to improve current, and develop new, observation and analysis techniques for this purpose.
Exoplanet atmospheres, exo-rings, high-resolution spectroscopy, (spectro)photometry
Micromagnetic experiments and simulations, focusing on artificial spin ice and magnetic transport
Single molecule/single ion magnetism
Magnetic heating/cooling using magnetic nanoparticles
Solveig Felton joined the Centre for Nanostructured Media as a lecturer in 2013. She has a broad background in magnetic materials, having used a wide range of different materials characterisation techniques. Currently her interests are focused on nanomagnetism, studying magnetic domain structures and artificial frustrated magnets using techniques such as Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) and Lorentz Transmission Electron Microscopy (LTEM) and studying the magnetic interactions in molecular materials using Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometry.
Magnetism, Magnetic Materials, Artificial spin ice, Nanomagnetism, Magnetic nanoparticles
Theoretical and computational atomic physics with an emphasis on laser-atom interactions
Our research focuses on the interaction between state-of-the-art laser fields with atoms and small molecules. We develop world-leading HPC computer codes, based on R-matrix theory, to solve the time-dependent Schrodinger equation from first principles. We describe real systems, with full inclusion of the interplay between electrons. The codes have been applied to a wide range of physical processes, including, amongst others, harmonic generation, and transient absorption spectroscopy.
Laser-matter interactions, R-matrix theory, atomic physics, computational physics
Spatial data analysis Healthcare modelling Stochastic processes for improvement of manufacturing
My research interest is in the development and application of spatial analysis techniques, stochastic processes and survival analysis.
Spatial data analysis, Stochastic processes, Survival analysis
