Keep up to date with the latest from the NAME team
Imperial Lates
NAME researchers attended Imperial College London’s “Tiny Science” event on 17th November 2022. The volunteers demonstrated the principles of ion implantation with the “ion smash” game and discussed its applications to next generation quantum technologies, including masers.
Dr Daan Arroo, Dr Shelly Conroy, Dr Wern Ng, Geri Topori and Yongqiang Wen from the Imperial NAME team were joined by researchers from the maser lab at Imperial to demonstrate this exciting research and highlight the ongoing collaboration between Imperial, Manchester and Leeds.
Photo from Brendan Foster Photography
Superheroes Unlimited
NAME senior technical specialist, Maddison Coke (University of Manchester) was recently involved in IOP family Summer Exhibition, Superheroes unlimited. The 2 month long exhibition in Islington London and associated events, engaged with both schools and the local community to highlight how physics will make a difference in our lives but also emphasising the diversity amongst the scientists, creating an exhibition with a diverse set of role models. Physicists were made into superheroes and showed how they use their “science super powers” to help solve problems in our world. Exhibits included demonstrations of ion implantation and microscopes, aiding in discussions from quantum computing to catalysis.
Many thanks to the NAME members at the University of Leeds for helping with curating the activities that were put on show and the University of Manchester Better World Funding for funds to be able to travel to the events.
More information on the event can be found here – https://www.iop.org/explore-physics/families
Image credit goes to Dom Martin/Institute of Physics
SPIE Conference – Advanced Electronic and Photonic Materials
From the 7th – 8th September 2022, the University of Manchester will be hosting the SPIE Conference on Advanced Electronic and Photonic Materials. The call for posters is NOW OPEN https://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/advanced-electronic-and-photonic-materials
Submit a poster and help address topics ranging from plasmonic materials and devices through to materials and systems for low-loss electronics, including advanced characterisation and the modelling and simulation of these systems. This two-day meeting seeks to connect experts, industry members, and students focused on the enabling role of advanced functional materials in future technologies. Proudly brought to you by partnering organisations the Henry Royce Institute, the University of Manchester, and SPIE.
THz Microscopy and Quantum Materials Workshop a great success
5th April 2022
The annual network meeting on Terahertz Microscopy and Quantum Materials came back with a bang. This year’s event was held in the Henry Royce Institute at the University of Manchester. The morning session consisted of talks from invited speakers on challenges and opportunities of terahertz microscopy in the quantum materials area. The discussion-led afternoon session was aimed at creating a database of capabilities and mapping opportunities. Neaspec–a partner/sponsor of the network–also provided alive demonstration of their cryoSNOM and room-temperature SNOM systems, which are a major part of the CUSTOM facility hosted within the Photon Science Institute at the University of Manchester. The techniques are significant to the research carried out in NAME programme grant.
NAME Network gathers for Q3
30th March 2022
The second in-person meeting of the NAME group was held at the University of Leeds. The event was kicked off with tours of their state-of-the-art 800m2 cleanroom, Terahertz suite and inter-connected multichambered Royce Deposition system, followed by a workshop on modelling ion implantation. The most important part of any in-person event is of course the networking, which was done in style at Sous le Nez, with wide ranging topics covered over a glass of wine.
The next day was filled with catch ups from the project leads, showing the promising work that has been done on the P-NAME tool, lab developments at Imperial, and sample preparation at Leeds. This was followed by a deep dive into the various characterisation capabilities within the group from Terahertz spectroscopy (Joshua Freeman, UoL), Laser & confocal microscopy (Daan Arroo & Daniel Jones, IC) and CUSTOM (Jessica Boland, UoM).The afternoon included sessions on creating tangible sample goals for the next quarter and the impact activities happening across the network.
Lastly, the network welcomed Elizabeth McKenzie–the new Programme Grant Manager–who outlined the next steps for NAME and provided extra thrust in the right direction.
NAME Network brings the power of Advanced Materials to New Scientist Live
NAME researchers from across the network attended the New Scientist Live festival in Manchester, bringing core concepts in Advanced Materials and interaction with light to the public. The major scientific outreach festival was attended by over 40,000 visitors who were able to engage with scientists, games and demonstrators that showed the wonders of science and its importance in society.
NAME researchers went along with a laser maze game, atomic ball pool, and several other activities. NAME PhD student Xinyun Liu who was volunteering at the event said: “It was great to see people of all ages really engaging with the demonstrations we had and getting excited about science”. For more information about the event can be found here.
Scientific outreach brings a breath of fresh air
18th March 2022
NAME PhD student Dan Blight (University of Manchester) was recently involved in The Great Science Share Clean Air Challenge. This is a brilliant opportunity for engagement between scientists and over3,000 primary school children across Greater Manchester. The project aims to highlight the importance of planning for a cleaner future, and to inspire the pupils to engage in scientific enquiry. Supported by the link scientists, the pupils have carried out an investigation into air pollution levels within their schools. They’re now analysing their findings and will present them at the Great Science Share for Schools in June. The project was organised by the Science and Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub (SEERIH) and the Royal Society.
