People

Prof. Richard Thompson

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7594 3606 
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1973-76 BA (Physics), University of Oxford
1976-80 DPhil (Atomic Spectroscopy), University of Oxford
1981-82 Post-Doctoral R A, Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe
1982-83 Post-Doctoral R A, University of Oxford
1983-86 Researcher, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington
1986-92 Lecturer, Imperial College London
1992-2003 Reader, Imperial College London
2003-    Professor, Imperial College London

Richard did his DPhil at the University of Oxford in the area of atomic spectroscopy (pressure broadening of spectral lines). He then spent a year working at the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe on laser spectroscopy of unstable isotopes. After a further year in Oxford working mainly on the Oxford atomic parity violation experiment he moved to the National Physical Laboratory where he was involved in the first UK experiment on laser cooling of trapped ions. He moved to Imperial College as a lecturer in 1986 where he set up experiments on quantum optics with laser-cooled trapped ions. These experiments now include work on Coulomb crystals and ultrahigh resolution spectroscopy.  He is also currently involved in the SPECTRAP project at GSI Darmstadt. He is now a Professor of Experimental Physics at Imperial College.

Prof. Florian Mintert

Email: [email protected] 
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2000      Diploma, University of Hamburg
2004      PhD, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich
2004-05 PostDoc with Luiz Davidovich, UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro
2005-07 PostDoc with Eric J. Heller, Harvard, Cambridge MA
2007-10 PostDoc with Andreas Buchleitner, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg
2010-13 Group leader, Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies
2013-    Senior Lecturer, Imperial College London

Dr Jack Devlin   

Email: [email protected]
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2007-11 MPhysPhil, University of Oxford
2011-15 PhD (CP tests through molecular spectroscopy), Imperial College London
2015-18 Post-Doctoral R A, Imperial College London
2018-2019 Post-Doctoral R A, RIKEN, conducted at the BASE experiment, CERN
2019-2021 CERN Senior Research Fellow, BASE experiment
2021-2022 CERN LD Staff, BASE experiment, CERN
2022- Royal Society University Research Fellow, Imperial College London
2023- Proleptic Lecturer, Imperial College London

Jack is a researcher interested in searching for new fundamental physics using small-scale experiments. He did his PhD in the Centre for Cold Matter at Imperial College, working on an experiment to measure the electron electric dipole moment using ytterbium fluoride molecules. Jack continued this work as an RA while also developing new theoretical and numerical approaches to understating laser cooling in molecules and certain atoms with dark states. Jack spent several years at the BASE experiment in CERN, conducting precision measurements which tested CPT symmetry by comparing the properties of protons and antiprotons using a cryogenic Penning trap. During this time, he also demonstrated new methods to search for axionlike dark matter. From September 2022, Jack has been working at Imperial College as a Royal Society University Research Fellow, developing a new experiment to search for axions and other dark matter particles.   

Brian Willey

Email: [email protected]

Roles:
1986-     Research technician, Department of Physics, Imperial College London. 
1997-      QOLS Group Safety Coordinator, Imperial College London
1998-      Departmental Laser Safety Officer, Imperial College London

Brian joined Imperial in 1979, initially maintaining and building equipment for the 1.5 metre infrared telescope in Tenerife. In 1984 he moved to the Physics Instrumentation Workshop manufacturing equipment for the various Groups within the Department. He transferred to what was then the Spectroscopy Group in 1986, working with Dr Dick Learner and Prof Jean-Patrick Connerade on Fourier transform spectroscopy and atomic fields. On their retirements he worked with Prof Roland Smith on the Cerberus laser beam line, and the ion trapping group run jointly by Prof Danny Segal and Prof Richard Thompson. He is currently involved in the development and construction of a novel linear RF ion trap.

Brian was recognised in 2022 in the Provost's Awards for Excellence in Health & Safety, receiving the award in the Indifidual category which regonises an outstanding commitment to improving the safety of students, staff and visitors to the College. 

Prof. Danny Segal (27/8/1960 - 23/9/2015)

Please click here to read a tribute to Danny

1980-83 BSc (Physics), University of Manchester
1984-88 PhD, Imperial College
1988-91 Post-Doctoral R A, University of Oxford
1991-93 Post-Doctoral R A, Imperial College London
1993-98 EPSRC Advanced Fellow, Imperial College London
1998-2001 Lecturer, Imperial College London
2001-04 Senior Lecturer, Imperial College London
2004-11 Reader, Imperial College London
2011-15 Professor and Senior Tutor of Physics, Imperial College London

Danny did his PhD and early post-doctoral work in collision physics before joining the ion trapping group at Imperial College, initially as a post doc. He is now a Professor of Quantum Optics and his interests lie in using trapped ions for experiments in quantum optics and for tests of fundamental physics. He has been involved in the co-ordination of a number of EU networks including QUBITS, QGATES and SCALA. He was also involved in a collaboration with the Open University (UK) and the University of Hertfordshire (UK) on giant Kerr nonlinearities in EIT systems and has been a visiting Professor at the University of Paris XIII.

Danny Segal was diagnosed with a brain tumour in September 2014.  Although he was not well enough to return to work after this, he continued to participate in group activities remotely for as long as he could.  Sadly the treatment he received was not able to prevent the growth of the tumour and he passed away in October 2015.

On Wednesday 16th March 2016, a celebration of the life of our friend and colleague Danny Segal took place at the Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London. There was a session of talks, followed by an evening of music. Videos from the event can be found here.

Read more about Professor Danny Segal:

Thompson RC, 2018, Professor Danny Segal - scientist and scholar, Journal of Modern Optics, Vol: 65, Pages: 485-489
Burnett, K, 2018, Professor Daniel M Segal and studies of collision and ‘half-collision’ complexes at imperial College London and Oxford University, Journal of Modern Optics, Vol 65, Pages 482-484

Sharana Kariappa Mathanda (Optics and Photonics, 2021-2022)