Nanoscience Division
(Division coordinator: Klaas Wynne)
The Nanoscience division in the Physics Department at the University of Strathclyde has 13 academic members of staff, an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow, a NERC Research Fellow, 10 research fellows, and 22 PhD students. It consists of two groups: The Biomolecular & Chemical Physics (BCP) group and the Semiconductor Spectroscopy & Devices (SSD) group covering the research areas of condensed matter physics, ultrafast chemical physics, nanoscale physics, materials science, and soft condensed matter.
The division has ~£11.8M in currently running research grants from EPSRC, SFC, ERC, EU, NERC, STFC, Royal Society, and Leverhulme Trust. A number of recent grants have been in the area of nanotechnology: a £4.3M Science and Innovation Award (http://nano.strath.ac.uk/), £800k SRIF3 funding, £500k Wolfson Foundation funding for lab refurbishment, and a £500k EPSRC Adventure Fund grant.
Facilities include a Class 1000 cleanroom, the Femtosecond Research Centre established in 1995, the Centre for Molecular Nanometrology established in 2005, and the Electron Probe Micro-analyser (EPMA). The most recent addition is the Ultrafast Chemical Physics lab (2009, funded by the Faculty of Science, the University, and an S&I Award) housing state-of-the-art femtosecond laser systems for 2D-IR experiments and terahertz spectroscopy.
The Biomolecular & Chemical Physics (BCP) group has four subgroups. Chemical and biological reactions, which present the key difficulty of being at once ultraslow and ultrafast, are studied by the Ultrafast Chemical Physics group. The challenge we face is to be able to perform experiments on a range of timescales (femtosecond to nanosecond and slower) and to be sensitive to structure from the microscopic (molecular bonds) to the mesoscopic (molecular clusters to droplets). We do this by combining the techniques of two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy (2D-IR) with a range of terahertz spectroscopies. Our current research involves the structure and dynamics of proteins, peptides and protein models, liquids (especially water and aqueous solutions), and phase transitions.
Research in the Photophysics subgroup is concerned with the fundamental interactions and application of molecular fluorescence in condensed media. The main areas of interest are structural studies on amorphous solids, macromolecules, and colloids, fluorescence lifetime sensors, and the development of new time-resolved techniques, and instrumentation. Current projects include studying the physics of the sol to gel transition in silica hydrogels, the origin of protein uptake on silica gel, metal-ion and medical sensing, and multiphoton techniques using femtosecnd laser excitation.
The Environmental Optics subgroup concentrates on the application of optical techniques for remote sensing and for the unattended monitoring of environmental variables. These techniques have an increasing role to play in areas such as environmental protection, pollution assessment, and the study of transient events in global ecosystems. Much of the current work concerns optical measurements in oceanography, which frequently involve instrument deployment under technically challenging conditions. Topics of interest include hyperspectral sea surface reflectance measurements, image transmission in seawater, and studies of the optical properties of phytoplankton cells.
The Astrochemistry subgroup studies surface chemistry in order to understand interstellar environments.
The Semiconductor Spectroscopy and Devices group combines fundamental studies of optical processes in advanced semiconductor materials and the realisation of practical optoelectronic devices. The group has an international reputation for optical and electron-beam microspectroscopy of semiconductors, in particular III-nitride compounds, used for blue-green LED and laser displays. Research is also carried out on ion-beam modified chalcogenides for solar-cell applications. The analysis of the structure, composition, and optical function of heterogeneous materials is achieved on a scale of nanometres by in-house electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). More information is available on the group website: http://ssd.phys.strath.ac.uk/.
Members of the Nanoscience Division
- Academic: | Prof David Birch | Prof Alex Cunningham | Prof Klaas Wynne | Prof Robert Martin | Prof Kevin O'Donnell | Dr Carol Trager-Cowan | Dr Ivan Ruddock | Dr Olaf Rolinski | Dr Thomas Han | Dr Jan Karolin | Dr Benjamin Hourahine | Dr Helen Fraser | Dr Yu Chen | Dr David McKee | Dr Neil Hunt |
- Research: | Dr Michael Yakushev | Dr Paul Edwards | Dr Jens Sutter | Dr David Turton | Dr Alexandre Viktorovich Mudryi | Dr Stefano Santabarbara | Dr Spyros Kaziannis | Dr Linus Ryderfors | Dr Marco Candelaresi | Dr Meenakshi Arora |
- Visiting Professors: | Prof John Pickup | Prof Robin Hochstrasser | Prof James Kazimierz Gimzewski | Prof Nicolas Grandjean | Prof Ton Visser |
- Technical: | Mr Bob Dawson | Mr David Clark | Mr John Revie |
- PGRS: | Ms Franziska Luckert | Ms Lethy KJ | Ms Claire Neil | Ms Alison Craigon | Ms Mariana Amaro | Ms Amy Welsh | Mr Craig Dalzell | Ms Jennifer Noble | Mr Ross McQueenie | Mr Ian Stewart | Mr Scott Campbell | Dr Rafal Kania | Miss Danielle Creanor | Mr Yinan Zhang | Mr Simon Kraeusel | Mr Naresh Gunasekar | Ms Jennifer Moore | Mr Jonathan Coulter | Mr James Miller | Mr Jochen Bruckbauer | Mr Naresh Kumar Gunasekar | Mr Pim Frederix |
Current Grants
Michael Yakushev, Royal Society (2010-2014), £5000
Title: Travel and Subsistence - Joint Project Dr A V Mudriy
Robert Martin, EPSRC (2009-2013), £574658
Title: Ultra Energy Efficient lll-nitride/polymer hybrid white light emitting diodes using nanotechnology
Klaas Wynne, EPSRC (2009-2012), £623017
Title: Two-dimensional terahertz/IR spectroscopy: a unique probe of ultrafast hydrogen-bond dynamics of liquid water and model systems
David McKee, NERC (2007-2012), £573892
Title: Observing optically complex oceans in situ and from space : a radiative transfer approach to determining improved algorithms and uncertainties
David Birch, EPSRC (2008-2012), £517926
Title: Doctoral Training Grant 2008 Onwards
Nicholas Lockerbie, STFC (2007-2012), £578066
Title: Investigation in Gravitational Radiation
Carol Trager-Cowan, EU (2008-2012), £312014
Title: RAINBOW ITN (Marie Curie)
Neil Hunt, ERC (European Research Council) (2008-2012), £749808.75
Title: Introducing SPRITES
Neil Hunt, EPSRC (2006-2011), £850606
Title: Two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy - a new approach to understanding enzyme chemicals - Advanced Research Fellowship
David Birch, EPSRC (2006-2011), £809105
Title: Nanometrology for molecular science, medicine and manufacture
David Birch, EPSRC (2006-2011), £120733
Title: Optical Spectroscopies for Immuno-Biomedical Applications
David Birch, SFC (2006-2011), £1150000
Title: Nanometrology for molecular science, medicine and manufacture (EPSRC-led Science and Innovation Award)
Helen Fraser, STFC (2009-2011), £20546.18
Title: PATT Linked Grant: Observational Astrochemistry @ Strathclyde
Jan Karolin, Strathclyde - Faculty of Science Starter Grant (2009-2011), £15000
Title: Faculty Starter Grant
Klaas Wynne, EPSRC (2007-2011), £496149
Title: Terahertz spectroscopy of aqueous ionic solutions to understand the role of hydrogen-bond network breaking and strengthening in the Hofmeister series
Carol Trager-Cowan, SFC (2009-2010), £50000
Title: Outreach and Public Engagement Network in the West of Scotland (OPEN West)
Robert Martin, EPSRC (2007-2010), £475911
Title: Magnetic field- and pressure-optical effects in CulnSe2, CuGaSe2 and CulnS2
Robert Martin, Royal Society (2008-2010), £12000
Title: Effects of high energy electron irradiation on excitonic states in CulnSe2
Robert Martin, Leverhulme Trust (2007-2010), £63386
Title: Mineral Eyes - Lessons from the Natural World
Neil Hunt, EPSRC (2009-2010), £775
Title: Systems Biology Workshop
Nonlinear Spectroscopy and Sensing has combined since 2006 the common interests of Ivan Ruddock and Thomas Han in optical fibres, solid-state spectroscopy, crystal growth and nonlinear optics. Currently, their main research area is the development of a completely new class of distributed optical fibre sensor based on time correlated nonlinearly generated fluorescence (British Patent 0420238,8 (2004) & International Patent WO 2006/027613 (2006)). Group website: http://lnopm.phys.strath.ac.uk
Ivan Ruddock demonstrating the world’s first femtosecond laser. Imperial College, London, 1970s. Read more about this in: I. S. Ruddock and D. J. Bradley, "Bandwidth-limited subpicosecond pulse generation in mode-locked cw dye lasers", Appl. Phys. Lett. 29, 296-297 (1976), doi:10.1063/1.89052
