The Group focuses on solving key intellectual and practical problems in contemporary condensed matter science. Our research combines experimental, computational and theoretical approaches, and we play a leading role in technique and instrument development. Some of the topics under investigation are listed outlined below.
Energy MaterialsNuclear fission; radiation damage; hydrogen storage; organic solar cells and photovoltaics; battery materials; methane hydrates; water splitting and transport. Jochen Blumberger, David Bowler, Franco Cacialli, Dorothy Duffy, Angelos Michaelides, Alex Shluger, Neal Skipper, Pavlo Zubko. |
GeophysicsPhysics under extreme conditions; the Earth's core; ices and water phases; clay minerals; gas hydrates; sub-surface fluid transport; asphaltene phase behaviour. Dorothy Duffy, Angelos Michaelides, Neal Skipper. |
MagnetismMagnetricity and magnetic monopoles; spin ice and spin liquids; magnetic frustration; critical properties; spintronics; ferroelectricity; complex thin films and heterostructures. Steve Bramwell, Andrew Green, Cyrus Hirjibehedin, Frank Kruger, Des McMorrow, Robin Perry, Steven Schofield, Stan Zochowski, Pavlo Zubko. |
Materials ModellingOxide materials and interfaces; electron transfer; redox reactions; enzymatic catalysis; hydrogen diffusion; nanostructures; linear scaling electronic structure methods; correlated ion dynamics; crystal growth and defects. Jochen Blumberger, David Bowler, Steve Bramwell, Dorothy Duffy, Andrew Fisher, Ian Ford, Andrew Green, Frank Kruger, Alex Shluger, Neal Skipper. |
Organic ElectronicsCharge transport and trapping; photovoltaics; displays; light emission; device fabrication and imaging; lithography of conjugated polymers; thermochemical nanpatterning. Jochen Blumberger, Mark Buitelaar, Franco Cacialli, Andrew Fisher. |
Quantum InformationQuantum coherence and correlations; quantum states of nanoparticles; quantum entanglement; quantum systems out of equilibrium; gauge-gravity duality; adiabatic quantum computation; single atom and molecular devices. David Bowler, Steve Bramwell, Mark Buitelaar, Andrew Fisher, Andrew Green, Cyrus Hirjibehedin, Steven Schofield, Alex Shluger, Neal Skipper, Marzena Szymanska. |
Soft MatterAqueous and organic liquids; conducting polymers; biomineralisation; solid-liquid interfaces; non-equilibrium processes; aerosols and nucleation; solutions of carbon nanostructures; processing 2-dimensional materials. Jochen Blumberger, Ian Ford, Andrew Green, Bart Hoogenboom, Chris Howard, Angelos Michaelides, Robin Perry, Ian Robinson, Neal Skipper, Marzena Szymanska, Nguyen Thanh. |
Strongly Correlated Electron SystemsQuantum Hall and Kondo physics; spin dynamics; quantum critical systems; novel superconductivity; crystal growth. Steve Bramwell, Andrew Fisher, Andrew Green, Chris Howard, Frank Kruger, Des McMorrow, Robin Perry, Steven Schofield, Marzena Szymanska, Stan Zochowski. |
Surface Probe MicroscopyTheory of tunnelling and force microscopy; low-dimensional quantum systems; dopants and defects in semiconductors; imaging of surface states and nanostructures; magnetic imaging. David Bowler, Andrew Fisher, Cyrus Hirjibehedin, Bart Hoogenboom, Chris Howard, Steven Schofield, Alex Shluger. |
X-ray and Neutron ScatteringCoherent X-ray imaging; phase contrast imaging; inelastic and magnetic X-ray scattering; muon spin relaxation; X-ray crystallography; neutron spectroscopy and diffraction; instrument development at central facilities (Diamond, ISIS, ILL, ESRF). Steve Bramwell, Franco Cacialli, Chris Howard, Frank Kruger, Gerd Materlik, Des McMorrow, Robin Perry, Ian Robinson, Neal Skipper, Stan Zochowski, Pavlo Zubko. |