News
a question of phase
We have just posted a paper on arXiv describing a potential new criterion for strong light-matter coupling using spectroscopic ellipsometry. Strongly coupled systems are usually characterised using intensity data (transmittance, reflectivity, etc). Spectroscopic...
under wraps
This is the lab where we do our Fourier imaging/spectroscopy, where the data we need to compile our cherished dispersion diagrams are acquired. Well it was, but this picture, taken by Philip Thomas, the post-doc who set up and runs this lab, was taken on March 18th of...
APS March meeting 2020
Kishan Menghrajani set off for his first trip to the United States to attend the March APS meeting in Denver (set for March 2-6). Kishan was all set to present his work on vibrational strong coupling beyond the light line for photmat, to meet other researchers working...
soft yet strong
Many strong-coupling experiments involve metal-based various cavity architectures to generate new eigenstates of the hybrid system. One advantage of using the plasmonic modes of individual metal nanoparticles is that such modes are dispersionless. We set out to see if...
Award of PhD to Kishan Menghrajani
Kishan Menghrajani successfully defended his PhD yesterday (October 9). Kishan's work has been vital in developing our capability to look at strong coupling of vibrational modes. Kishan's PhD, will soon be available on Exeter University's repository 'ORE'. Kishan is...
molecular metamaterials
We used a stack of meta-molecules based on split ring resonators (right) to mimic linear (J- and H-) aggregates. Using RF techniques we measured the dispersion of the modes (left) Project photmat is all about linking molecules with light. We have recently added...
graduation for masters students
Today was a happy day for the masters students who have been working with us for the past two years. Congratulations to (left to right): Rachel, Ben, Leanne and Aleks.
summer project – welcome to Adam
Adam Chaou joined us as a summer student this month. He will be working with us to develop the concept of a polariton density of states. Adam is currently an undergraduate student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the...
welcome to Adarsh
Adarsh Vasista joined us as a new post-doc this month. He already has a wealth of experience in optics, plasmonics and the emission of light by molecules. He obtained his PhD from from IISER Pune (India). Adarsh will be working with us to look at both strong and weak...
perseverence and perfection
An amazing day seemingly doing nothing related to photmat, spending the day with the vocal ensemble The Orlando Consort as they recorded their latest CD of incredible medieval music by Guillaume de Machaut, who was, in a way, France's equivalent of Chaucer. How was...
first PhD
Sathya Sai Seetharaman succesfully defended his PhD today - the first PhD to come (at least in part) from the photmat project. Sathya's work has been vital in getting the use of microwave metamaterial annalogues of molecular systems underway. Sathya's PhD,...
post-deadline
Kishan presented his work at a post-deadline session at the Advanced Photonics Congress (OSA) held at ETH Zurich between July 4th and 6th. He discussed his work on strong coupling of molecular vibrational resonances to modes 'beyond the light-line'.