School of Physics and Astronomy

The Condensed Matter Physics (CMP) Group have wide and varied research interests, both experimentally and theoretically, regularly publishing in internationally leading journals. The main research interest in the CMP Group is focused on the interfaces between disciplines. The group has very strong research interests in carbon based electronics and photonics as well as nanotechnology and biological systems. The CMP group is part of the Centre for Materials Research (CMR), which is the focal point for materials research at QMUL, involving researchers from four departments.

 

Over the last two years, characterisation equipment within the CMR has been completely modernised using SRIF funds exceeding £5 million as well as income gained from research. Part of these awards were spent refurbishing the CMP laboratories, which include a clean room containing state-of-the-art organic deposition systems (including two Kurt J. Lesker OLED deposition system), optical and electrical characterisation facilities, photolithography, etc. SRIF funding within CMR has also been used to establish two new major central research facilities including the Centre for Imaging and Analysis - NanoVision - which houses a new FEGSEM and ESEM and the Central X-ray Diffraction Facility (XDF), offering diffraction facilities for powder and single crystal crystallography. The CMP group are also extremely effective at obtaining central facility (muon, neutron and xray) beamtime, with over 70 beam days awarded in 2009 at leading international institutes such as the Paul Scherrer Institute and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

 

Our research can be sumarised as:

 

Nanotechnology - experimentally engineering the physical properties of matter with molecular precision - underpinned by the understanding, characterisation, and manipulation of matter at the nanoscale.

The physics of materials under stress, covering three main experimental areas: high pressure, built-in-stress and microstrain.

Charge and spin carrier dynamics in organic semiconductors, including research into organic LEDs, organic magnetoresistance, organic spin transport, luminescence and energy transfer.

Strongly correlated electrons, the coexistance and interaction of superconductivity and magnetism in rare-earth oxides.

Theoretical modelling - including the physics of disordered solids (glasses) and liquids, materials under stress, radiation damage and organic charge carrier transport.

Research Highlights:

 

This section is currently under development.