Institute of Physics (IOP) Public Lecture Series 2024/25

Topic

The “silicon age” of humanity and the computer revolution in the last century were unlocked by our understanding of the noninteracting electronic behaviour in simple metals and semiconductors. Today, we build on that foundation and expand our investigations into the materials in which electrons interact and entangle in significant ways with each other as well as other aspects of the material.

These interactions lead to a zoo of exotic electronic behaviour and phases, often in close competition with each other. In this lecture, I will introduce you to this world of quantum materials and describe the methods we use to gain direct insight into the rich behaviour of electrons in them.

Speaker

Dr Igor Marković is an Assistant Professor in Condensed Matter Physics at the University of Birmingham. His research centres on using different light sources, from ultrafast lasers to synchrotrons, to shine light (pun intended) on the behaviour of electrons in exotic phases of quantum materials. He performs his experiments on large experimental facilities worldwide, including Diamond Light Source, the UK national synchrotron, where he is an affiliated member.

Topic

Over 5600 exoplanets have been discovered beyond our solar system, including lava worlds, ocean planets and ultra-heated gas giants. Although these exotic exoplanets can be hundreds of lightyears away, we are able to measure the properties of their atmospheres using telescopes such as the recently-launched James Webb Space Telescope. In this lecture, I will talk about some of the latest discoveries we have made, revealing how extreme weather can be on alien worlds

Speaker

Dr Anjali Piette is an Assistant Professor at the University of Birmingham. She grew up in Durham in a multicultural Belgian-French-Indian family, and went on to do an undergraduate degree and PhD at the University of Cambridge, specialising in Astrophysics. Following this, Anjali spent two and a half years working in Washington, D.C., at the Carnegie Institution for Science. Her work focuses on exoplanets and their atmospheres, which she studies with a vibrant and friendly team of collaborators from around the world.

Topic

Minuscule distortions in the fabric of spacetime were first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916. They are created in cataclysmic events throughout the Universe. Using some of the most precise rulers ever built, gravitational waves were detected for the first time in 2015.

This ground-breaking discovery has opened a new window onto the cosmos: Gravitational waves provide unique information about the most energetic astrophysical events, revealing insights into the nature of gravity, matter, space, and time. To date, many tens of gravitational waves originating from the collisions of black holes and neutron stars have been identified, giving us extraordinary new insights into the inner workings of our Universe.

In this lecture, Dr Schmidt looks at the universe through Einstein's eyes: she will discuss the detection of gravitational waves as well as some of the most remarkable observations in recent years and their dramatic consequences for our understanding of the Universe.

Speaker

Dr Patricia Schmidt is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and the School of Physics and Astronomy.

Her research focuses on the theoretical and numerical modelling of gravitational waves from colliding black holes and neutron stars, as well as the interpretation of gravitational-wave observations.

Topic

Dark Matter Detection. Mining the Invisible: Searching for Dark Matter in North Yorkshire and beyond.

Speaker

Dr Patrick Knights is Assistant Professor in the Particle Physics group at the University of Birmingham. He is an expert in direct dark matter detection techniques, ultra-radiopure methods, detector instrumentation, and experiment simulation. Patrick completed his PhD jointly at the Universite Paris-Saclay and University of Birmingham. More recently, he was awarded the Institute of Physics, Astroparticle Physics Early Career 2023 Prize.

Speaker

Jay Tate, Director of the British National Spaceguard Centre. After serving as an officer in the British Army, Jay is now a consultant to the International Astronomical Union Working Group on Near Earth Objects, an associate of COSPAR, the vice-president of the Space Development Council and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society