Konnect: The smart lecture experience

UCL Physics students Adam & Nat have entered their idea Konnect - The smart lecture experience into the JISC Summer of Student Innovation competition. 

Learning works best with participation. However, lectures are typically highly passive experiences. For the students, lectures are more akin to watching a performance than expanding their knowledge and understanding of a particular topic. This is especially true for students in their first year of university who have become accustomed to relatively small classes at school and college.

We propose a platform that provides a real time connection between students and their lecturer. We aim to make the lecture environment one that promotes engagement; students will start to question their understanding for themselves. Essentially, our platform is comprised of a website, which acts as the hub of the service, and a smart phone app for students. Using these, a connection can be formed between a lecturer and his/her students.

Vote for Adam & Nat's idea with the JISC Elevator Vote button opposite.

MSci Projects 2013

This year we have had two MSci students working in the group for their final year projects.  Chris Richards used Mie scattering theory to calculate optical forces experiences by microscopic particles in optical trapping experiments.  In particular he was interested in finding the range of parameters for which an optical pulling force or 'tractor beam' was possible. By finding the fields scattered by a dielectric sphere and evaluating the Maxwell Stress Tensor to find the distribution of optical stress over a sphere he was able to determine the combination of beam and particle properties that would lead to the strongest 'backward' directed scattering force.  Above you can see some of Chris' calculated stress distributions on the sphere surface in the forward- and backward scattering directions.

Zhi Hao Wong also worked with us to investigate the optical properties of metallic nanoparticles. Opposite you can see the calculated extinction spectra for gold and silver spherical nanoparticles as a function of size and optical wavelength which clearly show the enhancement of optical scattering arising from their plasmonic properties.  Zhi Hao then went on to investigate how these properties could be used to control the dynamics of metallic nanoparticles in optical fields.

More MSci projects will be available for Physics and Natural Science students in the year 2013-14.  Contact Dr Phil Jones for details of available projects.

PHOTOPTICS 2014

The 2nd International Conference on Photonics, Optics and Laser Technology (PHOTOPTICS2014) will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, 07-09 Jan 14.  The conference will feature three different tracks on Optics, Photonics and Lasers, covering both theoretical and practical aspects, and the Keynote Speaker is Prof David Andrews of the University of East Anglia.

Big Bang Science Fair

POP! The Sound of Bubbles was at the Big Bang Science Fair in the ExCeL Centre in Docklands 14 - 17 March.  Members of the NPL/UCL/Oxford microbubble project together with colleagues from NPL, Glasgow University and King's College demonstrated bubble science to over 63,000 visitors in four days.
Among the visitors to our stand was the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable, here being shown our Kundt Tube demonstration of acoustic resonance by Ian Butterwoth of the NPL.

Susan Skelton PhD viva

Congratulations to Optical Tweezers PhD student Susan Skelton who has successfully defended her PhD thesis on Applications of cylindrical vector beams for optical micromanipulation.  Susan will be leaving the group to start a postdoc at the University of Osaka, Japan, in the Laboratory for Scientific Instrumentation and Engineering (LaSIE) under the supervision of Prof Satoshi Kawata.  Many thanks to Dr Stephen Hogan (UCL) and Dr David McGloin (Dundee University) for acting as examiners.

Well done Dr Skelton, and good luck in Japan!

AMOP Physics Open Day

On Wednesday 13 February the UCL AMOP Physics Group is holding an Open Day for students interested in studying for a PhD in the group.  The timetable for the day is:

13:00 - 13:30  Introductory talk by Dr Agapi Emmanouilidou and Prof Ferrucio Renzoni (A1)

13:30 - 13:45  Buffet Lunch (E7)

13:45 - 15:30 Poster presentations by research groups (E7)

14:00 - 16:00 Lab tours

A PhD studentship is available to work in the Optical Tweezers Group on the project Exploring stochastic thermodynamics with optical traps.

Simon Hanna visit and seminar

Simon Hanna (Bristol University) is visiting on Wed 30 Jan 2013 to give the AMOP Physics seminar.  Simon is a theoretician in the Nanophysics and Soft Matter Group at Bristol with wide-ranging interests including liquid crystals and polymer physics.  His talk, however, will be about modelling optical forces on specially shaped micoparticles in optical traps.

Title: Optimising forces and torques for optical micromanipulation, Simon Hanna (Bristol University)

Abstract: The motion of a colloidal particle in an optical field depends on a complex interplay between the structure of the field, and the geometry and composition of the particle. There are two complementary approaches to generating a particular force field. The first, involving sculpting of the optical field with e.g. a spatial light modulator, has been extensively developed.  A second method, highlighted recently, involves sculpting of the particles themselves, and has received much less attention. However, as modern two-photon polymerisation methods advance, this avenue becomes increasingly attractive for micromanipulation. In this talk I will show how computational methods may be used to optimise particle geometries in such a way as to produce desirable patterns of forces and torques.  These designs are then tested using particles fabricated using the two-photon method.  In particular, I will demonstrate the design of a constant force optical spring for use as a passive force clamp, a high efficiency optical wing, and a shape-optimised microtool.