Nanoscience Division
(Division coordinator: Kevin O'Donnell)
The Nanoscience division in the Physics Department at the University of Strathclyde has 13 academic members of staff, including an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow and a NERC Research Fellow, 6 research fellows, and 20 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.
The Photophysics subgroup has positioned itself in interdisciplinary molecular research using time-resolved fluorescence. Through novel approaches we are playing our part in solving the complexities associated with biomolecules, skin, colloids and nanoparticles that are part of the research journey from molecules to man. We are among the pioneers of modern-day fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy as well as the initiator and driving force behind Scotland being the global manufacturing centre for single-photon fluorescence lifetime instrumentation. Our present emphasis addresses grand challenges at the biomedical and nanometrology interface. Current programmes include aggregation of biomolecules to form fibrils e.g. beta-amyloid and Alzheimer's disease; gold nanoparticle photophysics and application in sensing and imaging; silica nanoparticle formation and metrology in the 1-10 nm range; metabolic sensing e.g. glucose for diabetes; and biomolecular structure and dynamics down to the single molecule level.
The Marine Optics and Remote Sensing 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 Maxim Fedorov | Prof Kevin O'Donnell | Prof Robert Martin | Prof Alex Cunningham | Dr Carol Trager-Cowan | Dr Neil Hunt | Dr Thomas Han | Dr Olaf Rolinski | Dr David McKee | Dr Yu Chen | Dr Helen Fraser | Dr Benjamin Hourahine | Dr Jan Karolin |
- Research: | Dr Michael Yakushev | Dr Paul Edwards | Dr Jens Sutter | Dr Alexandre Viktorovich Mudryi | Dr Marco Candelaresi | Mr David Palmer | Ms Katrin Adamczyk | Dr Daniel Shaw | Dr Daniel Shaw |
- Visiting Professors: | Prof John Pickup | Prof Robin Hochstrasser | Prof Nicolas Grandjean | Prof Ton Visser | Professor Edward Castner |
- Technical: | Mr Bob Dawson | Mr David Clark | Mr John Revie |
- PGRS: | Ms Franziska Luckert | Ms Lethy KJ | Ms Mariana Amaro | Ms Amy Welsh | Mr Craig Dalzell | Ms Jennifer Noble | Mr Ian Stewart | Mr Scott Campbell | Dr Rafal Kania | Miss Danielle Creanor | Mr Yinan Zhang | Mr Naresh Gunasekar | Ms Jennifer Moore | Mr Jonathan Coulter | Mr Jochen Bruckbauer | Mr Michael Wallace | Mr Pim Frederix | Mr Fathi Elfituri | Miss Catherine Mitchell | Miss Elaine Taylor | Mr Martin Shaw | Mr Niall Simpson | Mr Peng Gu |
Current Grants
Alex Cunningham, SFC (2009-2016), £455757
Title: Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland (MASTS) - Platforms and Sensors
Robert Martin, EPSRC (2010-2015), £643016
Title: Lighting the Future
Nicholas Lockerbie, STFC (2012-2015), £147285.81
Title: Investigations in Gravitational Radiation
Nicholas Lockerbie, PPARC (2010-2015), £118000
Title: Gravitational Radiation Instrumentation
Michael Yakushev, Royal Society (2010-2014), £5000
Title: Travel and Subsistence - Joint Project Dr A V Mudriy
Neil Hunt, Leverhulme Trust (2011-2014), £170803
Title: New Tools for Biomolecular Characterisation: Ultrafast 2D-IR Spectroscopy
Robert Martin, EPSRC (2010-2014), £167515
Title: Amorphous and Crystalline GaNAs Alloys for Solar Energy Conversion Devices
Maxim Fedorov, EU (2012-2014), £163848
Title: IETSOL Calculation of Pharmacokinetic Properties of Druglike Molecules using Integral Equation Theory
Helen Fraser, EU (2010-2014), £230696
Title: LASSIE
David McKee, NERC (2010-2013), £122638.8
Title: Measurement of the Abundance and Optical Significance of Sub-Micron Sized Particles Suspended in the Ocean
Maxim Fedorov, Other industry (2012-2013), £71649.18
Title: Multiresolution numerical methods for the integral equation theory of solute-solvent interactions
Robert Martin, EPSRC (2009-2013), £571863
Title: Ultra Energy Efficient lll-nitride/polymer hybrid white light emitting diodes using nanotechnology
Klaas Wynne, EPSRC (2009-2012), £619707
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
Maxim Fedorov, SUPA (2011-2012), £22000
Title: SUPA PaLS Funded Equipment
David Birch, EPSRC (2008-2012), £517926
Title: Doctoral Training Grant 2008 Onwards
Neil Hunt, Strathclyde University - KTA (2011-2012), £44209
Title: REP - Diamond Light Source
Nicholas Lockerbie, STFC (2007-2012), £578066
Title: Investigation in Gravitational Radiation
Carol Trager-Cowan, EU (2008-2012), £312014
Title: RAINBOW ITN (Marie Curie)
David McKee, Other industry (2011-2012), £5000
Title: Argans KTA
Neil Hunt, ERC (European Research Council) (2008-2012), £749808.75
Title: Introducing SPRITES
Neil Hunt, Strathclyde - Research development fund (2011-2012), £36000
Title: Ultrafast Advanced Spectroscopy Shared Facility
Maxim Fedorov, EPSRC (2012-2012), £20000
Title: BTG/EPSRC - Reconfigurable Nanomaterials
Neil Hunt, EPSRC (2011-2012), £18000
Title: BTG Project - Pump Priming-DNA-based Functional Nanomaterials
Alex Cunningham, NERC (2011-2012), £71145
Title: NERC - Studentship
Nicholas Lockerbie, STFC (2010-2012), £124630.45
Title: Investigations in Gravitational Radiation
Carol Trager-Cowan, EPSRC (2011-2012), £10000
Title: Emergent - Aunt Daisy (KT Account) - Commercialisation of a novel rapid non-destructive technique ..
Nicholas Lockerbie, Non Applicable (2010-2012), £20562
Title: University of Glasgow
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
