My research interests can be broadly summed up as in non-perturbative quantum dynamics - I am interested in the complex dynamics that occur in quantum systems on short time scales that cannot be treated as small perturbations to the static system. This concept unifies seemingly disparate topics like quantum biology (due to environmental effects), high harmonic generation, and dynamics in quantum materials (for instance phase-change materials).
Research Projects
To date I've worked at seven different laboratories on a variety of topics:
Dynamics in Quantum Materials - see page
Coherent X-ray Imaging - see page
Soft X-ray Attosecond Pulse Generation - using few-cycle, high intensity 1.8 micron wavelength laser pulses to generated attosecond pulses in the 'water window' spectral region (284-540 eV) at Imperial College London.
High Harmonic Spectroscopy - improving the reliability and precision of high harmonic spectroscopy through increased experimental control and improved data analysis techniques, enabling the application to molecules of real chemical interest. This work was carried out at Imperial College London.
Few-cycle Laser Development and Characterization - generating and measuring few-cycle laser pulses in the short-wavelength infrared (1.8 microns) at Imperial College London and the Central Laser Facility of the UK.
COLTRIMS Measurements - high precision measurements of single atoms or molecules with ionizing radiation. These include measuring the chirality of individual molecules at the University of Frankfurt and the dynamics of ionized electrons in strong laser fields at the National Research Council of Canada.
Quantum Biology - distinguishing the presence of vibrational and electronic coherences in light-harvesting molecules, at the University of Ottawa in collaboration with Harvard University.
Quantum Weak Measurement - measuring the complete quantum state of individual photons for quantum information applications via 'weak measurements' at the University of Ottawa.
Eigenmode Super-Resolution Imaging - beating the diffraction limit by complete characterization of the transmission function of an optical system at the University of Ottawa.