Physics Colloquia

We will demonstrate that nanoscale Si has entirely new properties due to morphological and quantum size effects. Novel applications of this new material will be discussed, including silicon-based passive optical elements and nanosilicon-based explosives.

We have recently shown that a naturally occurring hexagonal microstructure controls the wavelength and polarisation of light reflected from certain iridescent beetles. A detailed study of the physics behind this phenomenon and the strong analogies that can be drawn with liquid crystals will be presented. Potential applications for novel optical devices will also be discussed.

Quantum chemists describe chemical processes by approximately solving the Schroedinger equation for the motion of the electrons in molecules and atoms. A lot of effort in this field has been invested in the development of robust hierarchies of approximations, and in this talk I'll describe my efforts to extend these hierarchies into the domain of condensed phase problems.

A metamaterial gains its properties from its structure rather than directly from its atomic composition. This term is particularly used when the material has properties not found in naturally-formed substances. Metamaterials are of particular importance in electromagnetism (especially optics and photonics), where metamaterials are promising for a variety of optical and microwave applications, such as new types of band-pass filters, phased array antennas, and enhancement of antenna performance. An overview of the metamaterials work at Loughborough University will be discussed in this talk.

Understanding when and how the most massive galaxies in the universe formed is one of the major problems in astronomy today. I will present observational results utilizing telescopes in space and on the ground that are revealing how and when these massive galaxies formed. This formation history is now allowing us to test basic models and ideas for the astrophysics of galaxy formation, as well as constrain the standard cosmological paradigm.

A review of the world-wide hunt to understand the nature of Dark Matter that makes up 90% of the matter in the Universe.

The transition of the art of ship building into the science of naval architecture arguably occurred in the late 1800's and was quickly adopted as a significant theme at the National Physics Laboratories in the early 1900's. This talk will present some of the pioneering work at NPL and lead to the current state-of-the-art physics research in marine technology.

A report on a new experimental technique for investigating how individual photoreceptor cells absorb light. The integration of a multi-trap laser tweezer system into a microphotometry apparatus has allowed photoreceptors to be re-orientated in 3-dimensions into their physiological orientation, allowing us to investigate for the first time how single photoreceptors absorb light as if they were in the eye.