CMMPE group members

Prof. Harry Coles - (Director of CMMPE)

Ext. 48344, Room 111, Email: hjc37

Professor Harry Coles is Head of the Molecular Materials for the Photonics Group and Director of the Centre of Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics. Research includes work on the optical, nonlinear optical, electrical and magnetic properties of a wide range of liquid crystals. Specific research interests are: Liquid Crystal Physics, Linear and Nonlinear Optics, Photonic Devices and Displays, Ferroelectrics, Flexoelectricity, Photochromics, Diffractive and Holographic Elements, Waveguide couplers, Quasi and Adaptive Optics, Raman and Correlation Spectroscopy, X-Ray Scattering, Electro-optics and Dielectric Studies, new materials. Prof. Coles is also a fellow of St. Catharine's College and is Director of Studies for Physics, Part II and III.

PhD opportunities with Prof. Coles

Dr. Timothy Wilkinson - (Reader)

Ext. 48353, Room 107, Email: tdw13, personal website

Tim Wilkinson (CEng) received his BE (Elec.) from Canterbury University, New Zealand (1989) and his PhD from Magdalene College, Cambridge (1994). He is currently a Reader in Photonic Engineering in the Engineering Department and a fellow of Jesus College. He has been working in the field of free-space optics, devices and systems for over 15 years. He developed the binary phase-only matched filter (BPOMF) and 1/f joint transform correlators during this PhD, and has since filed several patents and authored and co-authored over seventy refereed journal papers on optical applications, processing and devices. Recent research has involved applications of holographic technology including adaptive optical interconnects, optical pattern recognition and display applications for novel liquid crystal electro-optic devices, and he has given several invited talks at major conferences, including FLC 2001 and MRS Fall Meeting 2004. In 2001 he was awarded the Ben Sturgeon prize by the SID for his work in display technology. He is currently responsible for spatial light modulator (SLM) and liquid crystal device fabrication in the Engineering Department, running a class 100/1000 liquid crystal device fabrication unit. He was a member of the ROSES project fabricating LCOS SLMs and is an investigator on the ADOPSI, THORNS, MOPs, INSTANT, COSMOS, ASH3D and PLOHP projects.

PhD opportunities with Dr. Wilkinson

Dr. Haider Butt - (Henslow Research Fellow)

Ext. 48365, Room 127, Email: hb319

Haider did his BEng (hons) in Telecommunication Engineering from National University FAST, Pakistan (2007). He has a background in electromagnetic modelling of electronic devices using commercial software. During his MPhil research at the University of Cambridge (CMMPE) (2007) he worked on the modelling of electro-optical devices. Haider recently completed his PhD also at CMMPE, characterizing carbon nanotubes as optical antennas. His research objective is to use periodic arrays of carbon nanotubes for optical beam steering. This project is funded by Professor Gehan Amaratunga's research grant. Haider also holds a Henslow Research Fellowship at Wolfson College.

Dr. Damian Gardiner - (Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellow)

Ext. 48309, Room 127, Email: djg47

Damian is a Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellow. The funding, training, and mentoring provided by the Fellowship will allow Damian to establish a spin-out company to commercialise the printable liquid crystal laser technology recently pioneered in CMMPE. Damian received his MPhys degree in Physics from the University of Southampton (2001), followed by a PhD at Wolfson College, Cambridge University.

Dr. Stephen Morris - (Royal Society University Research Fellow)

Ext. 48308, Room 13, Email: smm56, personal website

Stephen is a Royal Society University Research Fellow carrying out research on random amplifying media and is also a Fellow of St. Catharine’s College where he is the Director of Studies in Physics for Part I. Stephen read Physics and Space Science at Southampton University, where he obtained a Masters degree in Physics, before coming to Cambridge to study for a PhD in Liquid Crystal Photonics at the Department of Engineering. After completing his PhD in 2005, Stephen continued as a Research Associate at CMMPE working in collaboration with Pelikon Ltd. to produce a new hybrid display, which can be viewed in both low light and high light level environments. He then joined the COSMOS Basic Technology Programme in 2007, funded by the EPSRC, and became Programme Manager in 2008. Stephen is also currently the Programme Manager for the COSMOS Technology Translation Research Project. and is the Student Facilitator for the Photonic Systems Centre for Doctoral Training. In 2010, he was awarded the Young Scientist award by the British Liquid Crystal Society for significant contributions to liquid crystal research.

PhD opportunities with Dr. Morris

Dr. Flynn Castles

Ext. 48309, Room 13, Email: fc252, personal website

Flynn studied theoretical physics as an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge (BA & MSci, Natural Sciences, 2006; MA, 2009). He received a PhD, also from the University of Cambridge, for research at CMMPE. As a Research Associate he is currently working self-assembled materials for use in devices. Flynn is a College Research Associate at Jesus College.

Dr. Malik Qasim

Ext. 48366 (office), 48274 (lab), Room 127, Email: qmm20

Malik obtained an MSc in Chemistry (2000) from Quaid-I-Azam University Islamabad (Pakistan) researching natural product synthesis (Isocumarine and its dihydro-derivatives). This was followed by his MPhil in Organic Chemistry (2002) from the same institute. The research project was based on synthesis of mesogens comprising of Schiff's base analogues derived from benzyl amine derivatives. He was then appointed a lecturer in Chemistry at APSC Rawalpindi. In 2008 he received his PhD in Chemistry from Macquarie University Sydney (Australia). His PhD involved the synthesis and characterisation of liquid crystal molecules possessing chiral scaffold analogues e.g. Tröger's base. The investigations of these chiral bent cores were carried out on the bases of their substitution patterns, simultaneous resolution and the methodologies to evolve as mesogens through covalent and hydrogen bonding interactions. The characterisations of the resultant molecules were carried out by means of NMR, DSC and hot-stage polarised microscopy studies. Malik joined CMMPE in June 2008 and is working on the COSMOS project in synthesis and characterisation of materials leading to devices and lasing liquid crystals in general.

Katie Atkinson

Ext. 48365, Room 127, Email: ka298

Katie graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2009 wih a BA and MSci in Physics. She participated in the Cambridge-MIT exchange from 2007-2008. In 2010 she joined CMMPE as a PhD student. Katie is a member of St. Catharine's College.

Jiahui Lu

Ext. 48365, Room 127, Email: jl424

Jiahui graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2008 with a BA in Information and Computer Engineering and an MEng in Information and Electrical Sciences. She joined the CMMPE group in the same year and is now studying for a PhD. Her current research is on ophthalmic imaging systems focusing on adaptive wavefront sensor technology and the use of adaptive liquid crystal lenses. She is a Christ's College alumni and a current member of Churchill College.

Themis Mavrogordatos

Ext. 48365, Room 127, Email: ttm22

Themis graduated from the National Technical University of Athens in 2009 with a degree in Electrical Engineering (Telecommunications direction). He joined the CMMPE group a year later whilst completing his MRes in Photonics Systems Development. His interests revolve around Fourier Optics and Liquid Crystal Lasers. Both these fields are directly linked to his PhD project he has recently undertaken, under the supervision of Tim Wilkinson. His other interests include physics, music and chess. Themis is a member of Jesus College.

Yunuen Montelongo

Ext. 48365, Room 127, Email: ym283 personal website

Yunuen obtained a BSc in Physics in 2006 from the University of Guanajauto (Mexico). He also specialized in optoelectronics at CIO (Mexico) with exchange programs in the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) and HASYLAB (Germany). In 2010 he graduated from the University of Dundee (UK) with a MSc in Display Technologies. He has had industrial experience working in the design of organic semiconductor transistors at Plastic Logic Ltd (Cambridge). Currently, as a PhD student, Yunuen is studying holographic techniques for projection proposes. Yunuen is also a member of Fitzwilliam Collage.

Ananta Palani

Ext. 48365, Room 127, Email: ap648

Ananta received his BS (Hons) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno, USA (2008) and his MS (Hons) in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Georgia, USA (2010). In 2010 Ananta joined the CMMPE group at the University of Cambridge to research for a PhD in Electrical Engineering focused on photonics and optical computing. Ananta is also a member of Trinity Hall.

SJ Senanayake

Ext. 48365, Room 127, Email: sjs216

Jaliya (or SJ, as he is more commonly known) hails all the way from Sri Lanka, where he completed his secondary studies. He graduated in 2012 from the University of Cambridge with a MEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and joined the CMMPE the same year. Reading for a PhD, his research areas include Holography and Optical sensing.

Shunyi Tan

Ext. 48365, Room 127, Email: st426

Tan received his Masters Degree in Micro and Solid Electronics from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China (2007). He joined CMMPE in 2007, and his PhD research topic is on 3D displays, developing new display systems that can achieve high quailty 3D images.

Kanghee (James) Won

Ext. 48365, Room 127, Email: kw320

Kanghee (James) Won did an MPhil in Industrial Systems, Manufacturing and Management at the University of Cambridge. During his master's course in the Centre for Industrial Photonics, his research included work on a new brightness Yb fibre laser on a silicon wafer. After completing his master's degree, he joined the CMMPE group in October 2008 for a PhD, and he is currently working on hybrid liquid crystal CNT devices, focusing on understanding how these electro-optical devices work with LCs, and finding the optimal device configuration for suitable applications. Kanghee is also member of Sidney Sussex College.

Eric Young

Ext. 48365, Room 127, Email: fy236

Eric received his BEng degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Liverpool in June 2011. He joined the CMMPE group a year later whilst completing his MRes in Photonics Systems Development. His PhD research topic is 3D holographic projection. His other interests include music and swimming. He is also a member of St. Edmund's College.