Success at international conferences for PhD student

Claire is a first year PhD student, working in the Quantum Systems and Nanomaterials research group under the supervision of Dr Eros Mariani.

She attended the 'EPSRC/IOP Graduate Summer School in Condensed Matter Theory - Physics by the Sea', and CMD-24 (ECOSS-29, ECSCD-11, CMMP-12) International Conference in Edinburgh. Her poster, entitled ‘Dirac-like plasmons in honeycomb lattices of metallic nanoparticles’ won the top prize at both events.

The project that Claire is working on combines two areas of physics which have been so far quite disconnected – graphene and plasmonics. Graphene is the remarkable carbon-based two-dimensional material that is expected to revolutionise the panorama of future electronic devices. Its pioneering discovery was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010. In parallel, research in plasmonics aims at manipulating the propagation of light in novel materials designed out of metallic nanoparticles.

The project shows how specific plasmonic nanostructures can mimic the unique properties of electrons in graphene, with potentially huge impact on the efficient transfer of energy in man-made materials of the next generation. This work has been greatly inspired by the world-leading research carried out at the Centre for Graphene Science at Exeter and by the collaboration with the Plasmonic groups led by Professor Bill Barnes (Exeter) and Professor Ortwin Hess (Imperial College London).

Claire said: “I am very pleased to be working on so interesting a project, with such a great supervisor. I am also especially proud to have won these awards when there was such strong competition.”

“The conferences I attended provided a fascinating opportunity for me to learn more about the research being conducted in my field, to meet fellow researchers and to communicate my work to the international science community. They have also opened up the possibility for more collaborations in the future.”

Her supervisor, Dr Eros Mariani, added: “This is a remarkable achievement for a first year PhD student, and I congratulate Claire for this success. The prizes stress the novelty of the research carried out at Exeter and the interest it stirs in the scientific community. They will motivate us to perform even better in the future along this promising research direction.”

For more information, see their recent paper.