A set of MATLAB-based hardware drivers developed in the lab have been made available online. More details are available on the Hardware Drivers page, or via github. These span Thor Labs imaging equipment, oceanoptics spectrometers, and a range of motion controllers.
Lab
Group lunch
After over 18 months, we had a first “all-group” meeting and lunch in person. It’s been a long time, but great to all finally be back in the same place!

New Lasers in the Photon Science Institute
The group have received and comissioned a new ultrafast laser system courtesy of an EPSRC World-Class Labs grant! The new system, a 20W PHAROS/ORPHEUS-HP can provide tunable 250fs laser pulses from 315nm to 16,000nm at pulse energies up to 10microjoules and repetition rates of 200kHz.
“In-person” group social

Most of the group finally met in-person after 13 months of remote working, taking advantage of the sun and the newly reopened Krobar! A perfect time for a belated in-person welcome to Stephen Church (front right) and Nikesh Patel (front left).
Back to work – PSI labs reopen

The Photon Science Institute laser labs are now reopened after nearly 19 weeks of closure due to the novel coronavirus shutdown. All lasers are back on, and reseach will resume over the upcoming week or two.
Hard work in the lab
After a hard day of installing new laser shields, the group were looking forward to… another day of lab shield installation

In the lab


Thanks to UMIP and Bellyflop media for photos of science in action!
Laser path illuminated
Thanks to Arturo for some illustrative laser path photos in the newly set-up lab space
Helios Transient Absorption system arrives
One year in the lab…
We are now one year into our new lab space, and it’s starting to look more used! The three experimental stations can be seen at the bottom right of the photo – transient microscopy, 3D material processing and automated microscopy (left to right).