Physics Newsletter 2017/18

newsletter

2017/18 SCHOOL OF

Physics

WELCOME Professor Igor Shvets Head of School

As Head of School, I would like to wish you a very warm welcome to our fifth annual School of Physics newsletter.

I hope that this edition will give you an insight into the breadth of the School’s activities across education, research and outreach during the past academic year.

The School has had a busy year in education. We are excited to launch our new master’s in Energy Science degree in September 2018. We have also worked hard to transform our undergraduate degree offering, TR063 Physical Sciences through with the Trinity Education Project. Students will enter through the new stream in September 2018. This year also marked the development of our first international 2+2 articulation with the University of Science and Technology Beijing. We are expecting to welcome the first students from the partnership to campus in 2019. Find out more details for all three initiatives inside this edition.

September 2017 when he officially retired from the School.

Inside you will find Prof John McGilp’s thoughts on how life in the School has changed and the highlights of his memorable experiences in the School of Physics.

Finally, the School would like to thank Trinity Development and Alumni and all of our friends who have supported our new sculpture The Radiant Stranger. Read more about the inspiration behind the sculpture inside this edition.

The School of Physics always welcomes support from our alumni and friends. If you would like to connect with us in anyway, please contact our Global Officer, Dr Niamh McGoldrick at nmcgoldr@tcd.ie.

This year also marked the completion of four years’ hard work and commitment from the inaugural secondary school club members of the Trinity Walton Club. Their achievement was recognized with ‘Powering STEM’, a celebration to showcase their progression in STEM, held in March of this year. Not to be outdone, our Junior Sophister Nanoscience students, Anastasiia Shandra and Sean Mok, were also awarded the 2018 Trinity Employability Award in partnership with Intel.

Six of our students were also named amongst Trinity’s first Laidlaw Scholars. As part of this prestigious award, our Laidlaw Scholars have received funding to complete a leadership programme and conduct a summer research project in the School of Physics. These are just some examples of amazing achievements by our active student body in the last year.

The School bid Prof John McGilp a fond farewell in

The Radiant Stranger

Newsletter 2017 – 2018

Reception for graduates and Fitzgerald medal winner

Theoretical Physics graduate Maeve Madigan receiving the 2017 Fitzgerald Gold Medal from Prof Igor Shvets, Head of School

The School of Physics was delighted to celebrate our new Physics, Physics and Astrophysics, Theoretical Physics and Nanoscience graduates at a reception in the Fitzgerald library in November 2017.

Special congratulations to Maeve Madigan, the 2017 recipient of the Fitzgerald medal, named after Trinity’s alumnus and the School of Physics Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy George Francis Fitzgerald FRS FRSE from 1881 to 1901, which is awarded annually to the final year student with the highest overall physics moderatorship mark. We thoroughly enjoyed catching up with our new alumni and hearing about their next steps. We wish them the best of luck in their future careers.

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School graduate appointed CEO of American Institute of Physics The American Institute of Physics (AIP) announced the appointment of a new CEO, experimental physicist Michael H. Moloney.

The AIP is a federation of ten US physical science societies and was established in 1931 to advance and promote the physical sciences.

Through its member societies it covers a broad range of fields in the physical sciences and collectively represent more than 120,000 scientists, engineers, educators and students in the global physical sciences community.

optical properties of strained semiconductor materials and devices. Dr. Moloney served for seven years in the Irish embassy in Washington, DC and in the Irish delegation at the UN in New York. Prior to appointment at the AIP, Dr. Moloney filled various roles at the US National Academies of Sciences. In 2011, the American Astronomical Society awarded Dr. Moloney a special citation for his leadership on the decadal survey New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Dr. Moloney is a graduate of Trinity’s School of Physics, having completed a Ph.D. in 1993 under the supervision of Prof. John Hegarty.

The topic of his then research was nonlinear

On behalf of the School of Physics, we would like to congratulate Dr Moloney on this significant achievement and wish him the best in his new role at the AIP.

Scientists discover a new “biohybrid” material Researchers have contributed to the development of a new biomaterial which is capable of both regenerating tissues which respond to electrical stimuli as well as eliminating infection. The study was published in Advanced Materials and was led by AMBER researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in partnership with Trinity and Eberhard Karls University in Germany.

For people with extensive nerve damage, there are currently very limited options to repair nerve injuries extending beyond two centimetres. However, by combining a biomaterial with proven regenerative capacity with one that can carry an electrical stimulus, this study shows that it may be possible to transmit electrical signals across damaged tissue, resulting in functional restoration of the affected area. This new material is composed of collagen and graphene resulting in an

electroconductive ‘biohybrid’ material which is both mechanically strong and has increased electrical conductivity. It could help to improve the quality of life for heart attack survivors, as scar tissue build-up can decrease heart function.

Prof. Jonathan Coleman, School of Physics, said: “It is remarkable to work with my AMBER colleagues, combining bioengineering and physics to find a new application for graphene.

Recently our team have pioneered the development of a technique to produce large quantities of pristine graphene at low cost and so it is significant that we are able to now create this new biomaterial using graphene.”

The work was conducted by AMBER and RSCI post-doctoral researcher Dr Alan Ryan, AMBER RCSI research fellow Dr Cathal Kearney, research teams in the RCSI, Trinity and Prof. Katja Schenke-Layland’s group in Eberhand Karls University Tübingen.

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School of Physics launches new degrees for 2018 entry

The School’s new Master’s degree in Energy Science and undergraduates students showcasing their work from our physical science degrees.

The School of Physics is proud to announce the launch of a new Master’s degree programme in Energy Science, launching in September 2018. Our Energy Science degree is a joint collaboration between the Schools of Physics, Chemistry, Natural Sciences and Engineering.

This course is designed for students from science and engineering disciplines who are

interested in the science and socio-economics of global energy utilisation. In particular, the programme will focus on how our energy demand is being met and how conventional energy resources and technologies can or cannot be replaced by more sustainable resources and technologies. For more information please see www.tcd.ie/courses/energyscience

The School is delighted to announce our new undergraduate degree stream, TR063 Physical Sciences leading to a degree in Physics, Physics and Astrophysics or Nanoscience. The new course design features a module on the history and philosophy of science as well as a final year Capstone project. These changes further embed 21st century learning skills in our curriculum, a mission of the Trinity Education Project.

Outgoing Dean of Undergraduate Science Education, Prof. Kevin Mitchell commented: “The goal of science education in Trinity is not just to train the next generation of scientists, but also those who will work in other careers enabled by advances in scientific knowledge.

In doing so we hope to instil an understanding of how science works in all our graduates and provide the ultimate in transferable skills – an ability to evaluate and synthesise evidence, think critically and learn rapidly and continually.”

For more information please see www.tcd.ie/Science/streams

Students celebrate 2018 Trinity Employability Award success

Provost Dr Patrick Prendergast, with winning students, Sean Mok and Anastasiia Shandra, and Intel Ireland General Manager, Eamonn Sinnott

Junior Sophister Nanoscience-Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials students, Anastasiia Shandra and Sean Mok, are the winners of the 2017/18 Trinity Employability Award - an initiative in partnership with Intel, which aims to prepare students for future employment by enhancing their career readiness.

Trinity joined forces with Intel in late 2016 to pioneer the Trinity Employability Award. The

54 undergraduate students that took part in the 2017/18 programme came from Trinity’s Schools of Engineering, Physics, Chemistry and Computer Science & Statistics. In addition, a further 52 third-year undergraduate and postgraduate students from Trinity celebrated their successful completion of the Trinity Employability Award in Partnership with Intel at a special showcase and ceremony.

Provost, Dr Patrick Prendergast, said: “We are dedicated to preparing students for the ever-changing challenges of the 21st century workforce and the Trinity Employability Award has set out to do this. Through a combination of training and experience this Award helps students to build on their skills and knowledge to make them ready for the workplace after graduation. We are especially delighted to be doing this in conjunction with Intel Ireland.”

Anastasiia Shandra, said: “I am very thankful to Trinity and Intel for giving such an opportunity to students as it really shows

the perspective that not only grades matter, but the other attributes as well. I am really happy that I found out about this program; overall it made me much more confident and aware about my potential and skills!”

Sean Mok, said: “It’s refreshing to give us a chance to be acknowledged for extracurricular activities in a formal manner, and for our work outside lectures. College is about working to grow as young people and there’s more to development than passing exams. It’s so important to see a big industry player showing us how we can prepare ourselves to be future employees and apply our skills in the real world.”

These students received a monetary grant, as well as ongoing support and mentoring from Intel to support their academic studies and allow them to experience practical learning aligned to the needs of industry.

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Newsletter 2017 – 2018

‘Powering STEM’ celebrates graduating Trinity Walton Club students Trinity Walton Club is a science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education enrichment programme which facilitates an educational experience for students (Alphas) to help them to develop skills across problem solving, critical thinking, teamwork and communications. ‘Powering STEM’ was a celebration of the first group of students to sign up to the Trinity Walton Club and to recognise the commitment they have shown by participating in the 100 week Saturday programme over the last four years. At this celebratory event, each team of Alphas presented their detailed research projects around the theme ‘Sustainable World’, showcasing their combined STEM knowledge.

Director of Trinity Walton Club, Prof. Arlene Gallagher, said: “Trinity Walton Club provides an opportunity for our university to play an active role in nurturing tomorrow’s trailblazers. We are empowering an ecosystem of critical thinkers and creative problem solvers who can confidently and competently affect positive change in the world.” To date, Trinity Walton Club has worked with over 1,000 second-level students from 247

Trinity Walton Club Alpha’s accepting certificates of achievement at the recent “Powering STEM“ celebration

different schools across 19 counties in Ireland.

Internationally, students have travelled from 15 different countries to attend camps with a

further 200 international students joining the programme throughout 2018. For more details on the programme see www.tcd.ie/waltonclub

Recent Funding Announcements The School continues to attract major national and European funding to support the cuttingedge research our outstanding team produces.

Below are some of this year’s highlights: Congratulations to Prof. Plamen Stamenov, who received funding from the most competitive science funding programme in Europe, Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) earlier this year. His project is entitled Terahertz Radiation Communication using High Anistropy Spin torque Resonators, known as TRANSPIRE. The team led

by Prof. Stamenov includes Dr. Karsten Rode, Dr. Thomas Archer, Prof. Michael Coey and Prof.

Stefano Sanvito from the School of Physics.

TRANSPIRE will involve a team of European collaborators and aims to develop a new class of magnetic materials that could enable on-chip and chip-to-chip data links up to 1000 times

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faster than current technology. They are the first group in Ireland ever to coordinate such a project, which is worth over €4.4 million.

Prof. Aline Vidotto and Dr. Stephen Power are recipients of the 2018 Irish Research Council Laureate Award, which supports excellent early-career researchers to establish their own independent research. Prof. Vidotto will lead ASTROFLOW, a €0.6 million project that will investigate how the atmospheres of exoplanets are affected by their host stars. The project will use a suite of 3D magnetohydrodynamic models to study the interactions between stellar and exoplanetary outflows. Dr. Power will join the School in September 2018 to begin a project entitled ‘Designing atomically thin heterostructures for charge, spin and valley flavoured electronics’.

Congratulations to Dr. Ramesh Babu for the AMBER project AgriChemWhey, the new Glanbia lead bio-economy research project.

The project received €22 million from the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

Prof. Matthias Mobius has been awarded a €0.5M SFI Career Development Award to develop 2D nanosuspensions for printed electronics. In recent years printed electronics has emerged as a game changing technology that enables low-cost, scalable manufacturing of electronic circuits by conventional industrial printing methods. Possible applications for this research range from flexible displays to sensors for the Internet of Things.

SCHOOL OF

Physics

The School of Physics welcomes new staff in 2018 Prof. John Goold completed both his BS.c. and Ph.D. in Physics at University College Cork (UCC) and postdoctoral positions at the National University of Singapore, the University of Oxford and the Abdus Slaam Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste. He currently leads the thermodynamics and energetics of quantum systems group in the School. He has recently been awarded a Starting Grant from the European Research Council worth over €1.3 million and was awarded an SFI Royal Society University Research Fellowship for a project on Thermodynamics for Quantum Technologies earlier this year. His current research focuses on the interface of thermodynamics and quantum mechanics and how thermodynamics behaviour emerges in complex many body systems.

Prof. Lewys Jones is the School’s new Ussher Assistant Professor of Ultramicroscopy. He completed both an M.Eng. in Material Science and a Ph.D. in Electron Microscopy at the University of Oxford. He held a visiting research position at Tokyo Institute of Technology and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford. His research interests explore the design and function of the aberrationcorrected scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), to improve the analysis of atomic-resolution annular dark-field (ADF) data and EELS and EDX chemical mapping.

Prof. Deirdre O’Carroll completed her undergraduate degree in Electronic Engineering at UCC, and her Ph.D. at the Tyndall National

Institute in Microelectronic Engineering.

After completing postdoctoral work at Caltech and the University of Strasberg & CNRS, she became Assistant and then Associate Professor at Rutgers University in the United States. She joined the School in May 2018 with current research focusing on nanotechnology and plasmonics to enable the design and fabrication of nextgeneration organic polymer-based LED, laser, photovoltaic and sensor devices.

The School also welcomed Katherine Bauer Weiser and Dara O’Donnell to the Trinity Walton Club team and Lorraine Hughes and Susanna Buttice to the School’s finance office this year.

Trinity Physics welcomes new 2+2 undergraduate articulation with University of Science and Technology Beijing the second articulation agreement in the Faculty of Engineering, Maths and Science at Trinity. As a result, this partnership will significantly contribute to Trinity’s presence in Asia. Eligible students will complete two years of their undergraduate degree at USTB, before finishing their final two years at Trinity’s School of Physics. It is hoped that this 2+2 articulation can be further developed to encompass other Schools within the Faculty of Engineering, Maths and Science.

The winners of the 2018 Trinity Global Engagement Awards: Prof Zuleika Rodgers (School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies), Dr. Niamh McGoldrick (accepting on behalf of Prof Hongzhou Zhang) and Prof Charles Patterson (School of Physics)

The School of Physics and the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), China are pleased to announce their new

undergraduate 2+2 articulation programme.

The 2+2 articulation programme is the first of its kind within the School, and it is only

In recognition of their contribution to this partnership with USTB and for their continuing work to bring a global education to the School of Physics, Prof. Charles Patterson and Prof.

Hongzhou Zhang have been jointly awarded the 2018 Trinity Global Engagement award.

The School would like to congratulate them on their achievements and are delighted that their important work has been recognised by Trinity.

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Newsletter 2017 – 2018

“There’s something about ALAN: the effect of light at night” Our modern society depends on light in many forms; from high intensity natural daylight and artificial lighting, to the glow of TV screens, computers, tablets, smartphones and games.

Light is so ubiquitous - and generally travels unseen, except, for instance, in fog. Over the past few decades, our use of energy for lighting has been increasing and, hand-in-hand with this, science has also realised that light has a significant influence on our health, for example in seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Prior to the introduction of electric lighting in the second half of the 19th century, the

natural night-time environment was relatively undisturbed by artificial light. Since then, the spread of lighting has been continuous in both amount and intensity. In Ireland, light emission has nearly doubled since 1990, as can be seen in the pinkish glow observed over our towns and cities, particularly when overcast. The push to reduce our energy and carbon emissions has led to a continuing roll-out of more energy-efficient LED lighting across the private, commercial and public areas. This could reduce both energy and carbon use but, with every development, there is a possibility that cheaper

energy will lead to increased consumption.

To monitor current light levels and their impact, scientists from a number of Irish institutions, including Trinity’s School of Physics, are looking for your help to determine the amount and type of lighting in our environment, how it affects both sleep patterns and the natural environment and our attitudes to night-time activities. The survey, as well as an interview with Prof. Brian Espey, is available at www.tcd.ie/Physics/news-events/news/

Staff Reflection – Prof. John McGilp Physics and Theoretical Physics, along with service teaching for Health and Engineering Sciences kept us going and research funding in Ireland was truly nanoscale. From the mid 1980’s, the EU DGXII SCIENCE and the DGXIII ESPRIT programmes became accessible.

Computer Science was the first department to obtain significant E.U. funding, with Physics following on and rapidly becoming the top research income earner in College. This allowed cutting edge experimental physics research to develop, mainly concentrated in the solid state, surface and materials physics areas, with a corresponding increase in postdoctoral researchers and graduate student numbers.

Prof John McGilp, Fellow Emeritus, School of Physics

Forty years ago, when I became a lecturer here, there were 8 academic staff and we were graduating about 10 undergraduate students each year. The split between Experimental

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As the College expanded over the years, so did Physics. It became possible to offer new undergraduate options. The Science of Materials undergraduate degree course, now known as the NPCAM moderatorship, was established by the former Heads of Physics and Chemistry Profs Brian Henderson and Bob Lloyd in 1986. When I became Head of School in 1995, we introduced the Astrophysics moderatorship option with the

help of our colleagues in the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies. These very successful courses which, together with a large expansion of Theoretical Physics, have produced the remarkable ten-fold increase in the number of students that we now graduate each year.

In the late 90’s the establishment of Science Foundation Ireland was another game changer, leading to the development of the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) and producing another step-change in research activity and academic staff numbers.

Despite the large expansion in activity in recent years, (we currently have 28 academic staff in the School) we have not lost the friendliness and collegiality I experienced 40 years ago – we will need to be proactive in maintaining this in the future, as staff juggle with increasing demands in the areas of research, teaching and administration.

The School would like to thank John for all of his years of service to the staff and students and we wish him the best of luck and health for his retirement in the coming years.

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New art installation The Radiant Stranger is launched

Pictured (L-R) Sir Michael Berry, Grace Weir, Prof James Lunney, Dr Iggy McGovern, Prof Peter Gallagher and David Grouse

On Thursday, 24 May 2018, the School of Physics officially welcomed a new sculpture to the Fitzgerald building. The sculpture, entitled The Radiant Stranger, is a model of conical refraction and was designed by Prof. James Lunney and fabricated by David Grouse in the Mechanical Workshop in the School of Physics. The sculpture was launched by the renowned theoretical physicist Sir Michael Berry FRS who spoke about the discovery and significance of conical refraction to science.

The Radiant Stranger was the name given by the Irish poet Aubrey de Vere (18141902) to conical refraction, an optical effect predicted in 1832 by William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865) and observed by Humphrey Lloyd (1800 - 1881) in the same year. Both Hamilton and Lloyd made notable

contributions to the international scientific and mathematical community during their careers, as well as to the history of the School of Physics and Trinity’s community.

In conical refraction a beam of light directed along either of the optical axes of a biaxial crystal spreads out as a hollow cone inside the crystal and emerges as a hollow cylinder of light. Sample rays of the cones are highlighted in orange in the sculpture, which is a scaled-up version of a small wire model recently discovered in College, possibly made in Paris in the 19th century.

At the launch, Prof. Lunney said: “The Radiant Stranger is a celebration of the discovery of conical refraction made in Trinity in 1832.

The combination of theoretical prediction by William Rowan Hamilton, followed shortly by

the experimental observations of Humphrey Lloyd, was a sensational moment in the development of optics in the 19th century.”

The launch event also included a screening of A Reflection on Light, a short film by artist Grace Weir who was artist-in-residence in the School of Physics and Dr. Iggy McGovern reading some of his poems on themes of Hamilton and conical refraction.

The artwork was jointly funded by the School of Physics and the TCD Association and Trust.

The School would like to extend it’s thanks to the TCD Association and Trust for funding, especially to our alumni who contributed to our sculpture.

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Graduate Interview- Warren Shelley B.A. Mod in Physics and Astrophysics School of Physics resulted in me choosing to study Physics and Astrophysics.

Warren Shelley, recent graduate of the School of Physics

Why did you decide to study physics at Trinity?

Since a young age I was always curious about the world around me which naturally fostered an interest in science. When it came to filling out my CAO application I knew I wanted to study either Physics or Chemistry but had not decided on which university. One major appeal of Trinity for me was the fact that programs like the Trinity Access Program indicates that Trinity is striving to develop an inclusive environment which better represents students of all backgrounds. This coupled with the incredible reputation of the

I experienced a number of ups and downs while at Trinity. Initially I found it challenging to adapt to college life. Having studied Physics and Chemistry as one subject at Leaving Cert level, I felt overwhelmed by the coursework at first. By the end of second year, however, I began to find my stride. I also had some health troubles as I was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic the day after my third-year exams finished. I had to quickly learn to balance a lifestyle readjustment with the workload of final year and a part-time job. In spite of these challenges I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Trinity and have many great memories from my time there. I am proud of my academic achievements especially being awarded a gold medal for my performance in my final exams. Most of all, I appreciate the fantastic people I have met, and the lifelong friends that I have made.

What are you doing now?

In recent months, I have been revisiting my former primary school to give talks to the 6th class students about the exciting nature of physics and to encourage them to become more engaged in science.

I have also served as a mentor to students in my former secondary school, offering advice and support to 6th year students as they decide on their next steps. Both my primary and secondary are DEIS schools, thus I am incredibly motivated in assisting these students in achieving their ambitions of gaining a third level education.

Since graduating from Trinity last year I have taken some time out to decide what career path I want to follow. Having engaged in research during my final year and during the summer of 2017, I think that I want to pursue research in the area of space and solar physics. At present I am deciding between Ph.D. offers in the UK and the US. What life lessons have you learned in Trinity?

Over my years in Trinity I have developed a strong sense of self-belief. Through the support of my family, mentors and peers I have learned the importance of hard work and being tenacious in overcoming any challenge presented to you. While only at the start of my career, I am incredibly excited about the years to come and I hope to maintain strong ties with the School of Physics and Trinity in the years ahead.

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Class Notes

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Alumni Weekend 24-26 August 2018

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