University College Cork (UCC) physicist Dr. Christopher Broderick has been awarded a prestigious fellowship to theoretically investigate new capabilities in photonic and electronic devices based on nanowires; filaments of semiconductor material one-thousandth the breadth of a human hair.

Dr. Mark Kennedy, School of Physics, UCC as a member of the ULTRACAM collaboration led by Professor Vik Dhillon (University of Sheffield) has recently been trained to use HiPERCAM on the Gran Telescopio Canarias. 

Dr. Pádraig Mac Cárthaigh had a very successful visit to Seville University this week where the plasma experimental device that was donated from Pádraig's group to the plasma physics group in Sevlle was put into operation with his assistance along with some of the enthusiastic PhD students in the research group of Dr. Manuel Garcia Muñoz and Dr. Eleonora Viezzer.

Dr. Bryan Kelleher, School of Physics, UCC attended IS-PALD 2023 this week, where he was invited to give a talk on Dynamics of integrated, bidirectionally coupled, optical comb sources. Find out more about this event here:
International Symposium on Physics and Applications of Laser Dynamics 2023 (IS-PALD 2023) - Sciencesconf.org

Dr. Mark Kennedy, School of Physics, UCC visited the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hannover, Germany from November 28th to December 1st.

Congratulations to Professor Frank Peters, School of Physics, UCC, Tyndall National Institute and the head of the Integrated Photonics Group at IPIC who will be awarded the SFI Industry Partnership Award 2023 today for IPIC's partnership with Rockley Photonics. 

Huge congratulations to our Physics Undergraduate Students and our PhD students who conferred this week on 14/11/2023 & 15/11/2023.

The PhD student, Shogo Saito, visited the esteemed National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Boulder, Colorado, as part of a collaboration with Prof Steve Brown, who is program leader in tropospheric chemistry and atmospheric remote sensing at NOAA.

The Irish Independent reports: Dr Mark Kennedy of University College Cork’s School of Physics has co-authored a paper published in Nature today outlining the findings from one of the most powerful explosions ever witnessed.

The Industrial Physics Class of 2023 had their conferring tonight in MTU School of Music as part of the Joint UCC-MTU Conferrings.

WP5 - A: Long-term Continuous Biosensor for Real-Time In-vivo Monitoring of Biomolecules for Chronic-Pain Management. 

Professor Bitsch officially started as Professor of Astrophysics on 1st September 2023. Prior to this Bertram was an Independent Research Group Leader at the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg (Germany) funded by ERC. As well as teaching, Bertram will be leading research in the following areas: Astrophysics, Planet formation, hydrodynamical and N-body simulations.

Dr. Jing Li from 'Quantum Control via Shortcuts to Adiabaticity' research group, Physics, UCC was invited to the meeting of Shanghai University Alumni in Ireland Association which took place in the Council Room, UCC on 23rd September.

The School of Physics staff and students would like to mark Professor Stephen Fahy's retirement from the School in September 2023. 

• Applications open for 11 new academic positions at UCC and Tyndall National Institute.
• Closing date for applications is 12pm (Irish Standard Time) on Tuesday 5^th December 2023.

The School of Physics now have an EDI committee lead by students and staff. 

*Image of a galaxy merger, the precursor to massive black hole binaries/mergers.

Cork Astrophysics is now an official member group of the LISA Consortium.

The School of Physics had a total of 14 summer students who got involved with our research groups. Lets see what they worked on....

Huge congratulations to Professor Saibal Roy of Tyndall National Institute and School of Physics, along with the others as mentioned below, on this funded tripartite US-Ireland project awarded by NSF and due to begin in January 2024.

Full project details as follows: 

Macroscopic Quantum Matter Research Group, School of Physics, UCC have new material on a Superconductor breakthrough that could be significant for the future of quantum computing.  

The School of Physics, UCC would like to extend their congratulations to all our PhD Science Graduates who conferred on June 23rd in the Devere Hall, UCC.

The School of Physics would like to welcome Professor Alix McCollam to UCC as the SALI Professor of Quantum Technology in 2023.

A big congratulations to our 4th Years of 2022/2023.

(Image taken during a visit to ESO facilities in Paranal in Chile in April 2023)

We would like to congratulate and welcome Professor Paul Callanan as Head of School of Physics from 1st June 2023.

Huge congratulations to all the Physics students who won awards at the UCC 2022 STEM Awards ceremony held yesterday. 

Chemical Physics student set for a summer of research in China 

300 Physics Graduates were sent a Graduate Survey this week. 

ASTRONET, publishes today its Science Vision and Infrastructure Roadmap 2022-2035, a strategic plan for European Astronomy.

Dr Bryan Kelleher (School of Physics UCC / Tyndall) was invited to give a talk at Swiss Photonics 2023.

Professor Paul Callanan, School of Physics, UCC visited the European Southern Observatories telescopes in Chile last week.

"Refractory times for excitable dual-state quantum dot laser neurons"

M. Dillane, E. A. Viktorov, and B. Kelleher
Phys. Rev. E 107, 034216 – Published 31 March 2023
https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.107.034216

Physics students Chaia Carroll and Matylda Supernak both attended the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics 2023 event hosted by the University of Liverpool from the 23rd to 26th March. 

The School of Physics, UCC take Erasmus students and today we are welcoming Emma Cassou from Paul Sabatier University (Toulouse, France) who has started her three-month Erasmus internship in the Quantum Control via Shortcuts to Adiabaticity research group lead by Dr. Andreas Ruschhaupt. 

Dr Mark Kennedy from the School of Physics, UCC is part of an international team of researchers that has used a NASA telescope to further our understanding of one of the most exotic types of objects in the Universe: neutron stars.

The Entrance Scholarship Awards Ceremony was held on Thursday, 19 January in Devere Hall, UCC.

Congratulations to Jenny Davern, Physics and all the other UCC Undergraduate students who obtained a J&J WISTEM2D Scholarship. 

Check out the latest publication from Bryan Kelleher’s group: Inhibitory and excitatory integration with a quantum dot laser neuron, chosen as the Editor’s Pick in 1st January’s Optics Letters:

https://opg.optica.org/ol/fulltext.cfm?uri=ol-48-1-21&id=524353 

The following is an appreciation post for Dr. Lennon from retired friends and colleagues (Physics Department, UCC).

Dr Pádraig MacCárthaigh of School of Physics, UCC wrote an article for the Irish Examiner on the recent break-through in fusion energy research in California.

Congratulations to Chris Whitty from the Quantum Control via Shortcuts to Adiabaticity group, Physics Department UCC who sucessfully defended his PhD on 15th December 2022.

Title of PhD thesis: "Enhanced Shortcuts to Adiabaticity". 

A very big well done to all involved at St. Luke's School Montenotte for #ScienceWeek2022.

Three SFI funded PhD Postgraduate Researcher Positions available

University College Cork, Ireland
Department of Physics, School of Chemistry & Environmental Research Institute
College of Science, Engineering and Food Science

Jing, Chris and Manuel from the "Quantum Control via Shortcuts to Adiabaticity" research group have attended the Quantum Festival on 29th and 30th September in UCD (https://www.catsucd.com/events.html).

Emanated from research supported in part by a Grant from Science Foundation Ireland under Grant number 19/FFP/6951 (“Shortcut- Enhanced Quantum Thermodynamics”), our paper on “Quantum heat engine based on a spin-orbit- and Zeeman-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate” has just be published in Physical Review A (Jing Li, E. Ya Sherman, and A. Ruschhaupt, “Quantum heat engine based on a spin-orbit- and Zeeman-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate”, Phys. Rev. A 106 (2022) L030201).

Emanated from research supported in part by a Grant from Science Foundation Ireland under Grant number 19/FFP/6951 (“Shortcut- Enhanced Quantum Thermodynamics”), our paper on "Improved anharmonic trap expansion through enhanced shortcuts to adiabaticity“ has been published in the memorial issue of Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics on "Coherent Control: Photons, Atoms and Molecules", honouring the life and work of Bruce W. Shore (C. Whitty, A. Kiely and A. Ruschhaupt, "Improved anharmonic trap expansion through enhanced shortcuts to adiabaticity“, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 55 (2022) 194003).

Dr. Andreas Ruschhaupt has attended the CAMEL 17 workshop in Nessebar (Bulgaria) as an invited speaker (http://camel17.quantum-bg.org/). He was giving a talk on "Enhanced Shortcuts to Adiabatcity". This conference was the first event of this normally annual workshop after a 2 year Covid break (and therefore a lot of fun!!) 

Multi-colour optical light curves of the companion star to the millisecond pulsar PSR J2051-0827

Some of the Quantum Matter Research Group (Physics Dept. UCC) and collaborators have sucessfully published 2 high impact publications in 2022 as follows:  

Well done to Jonathan Ward of Physics Department, UCC along with International Collaborators (Ke Tian, Jibo Yu, Fuchuan Lei, Angzhen Li, Pengfei Wang, and Síle Nic Chormaic) on this published paper

"Blue band nonlinear optics and photodarkening in silica microdevices"

Congratulations to Physics graduate Thomas P Sheerin who won the ‘Best Publication of the Year - Undergraduate Author’ at the 2021 UCC Research Awards.

Huge congratulations to the class of 2021/2022, fourth year Physics students on the completion of their exams! 

An experienced candidate required for the role of Senior Technical Officer in the Department of Physics, University College Cork. 

The Physics Department would like to extend a huge congratulations to all nominees and all who won awards at the UCC STEM Awards 2022 held on Tuesday, 17th May 2022 @ 5.30pm in the Devere Hall, UCC.

Next Generation Visible and UV Light Emitting Devices

Ultra-sensitive cavity-enhanced trace gas detection for new atmospheric science and socio-economic impacts

We are pleased to announce an exciting new opportunity for a Full Professorship (Chair) of Quantum Technology in UCC’s Department of Physics, in association with our partner Tyndall National Institute (TNI).

Following a cancellation of the week last year due to covid restrictions, we are happy to say that the Physics Department transition year programme went ahead this year and it was as fun as ever! 

A new computing server, preliminary codename "Monster", is running now in the research group "Quantum Control via Shortcuts to Adiabaticity" led by Dr. Andreas Ruschhaupt in the Department of Physics.

Professor JC Séamus Davis, has been elected to the rank of Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), considered among the most distinct honours within the global scientific community.

Quantum Physics group getting into the Halloween spirit.....

Looking to join our team? 

Huge congratulations to Dr. Mark Kennedy who is a recipient of the Government of Ireland, Irish Research Council Award.

Huge congratulations to one our Physics graduates Louise Shanahan who won a national title and trip to the Olympics after winning the 800m in the Echo Women in Sports.

Professor Séamus Davis, who leads a quantum research group in the Physics Department at University College Cork (UCC) and the University of Oxford, has made another major advance in the study of quantum materials.

Congratulations to Industrial Physics gradute Jarni Braal on the acheivement of this Irish Research Council award. 

The College of SEFS annual awards celebrate the achievements and success of our students and student-nominated outstanding SEFS staff members. The ceremony took place online this year, on Friday 14^th May via Teams.

The Department of Physics would like to say a huge congratulations to Physics students Chris Whitty and Niall Kennedy on their awards as follows: 

Monday, 19 April: Chris Whitty (PhD student in the research group of A. Ruschhaupt) has received the award for the publication of the year 2020 by the Department of Physics.

The Quercus Talented Students’ Programme is aimed at supporting and promoting excellence in academia, sport, creative and performing arts, active citizenship and innovation/entrepreneurship for both prospective undergraduate/level 8 students and students already registered in UCC. In addition to the scholarships in these areas also offered are three types of Quercus Academic Scholarship.

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, TD, has today announced 71 grants valued at €53 million to support frontiers research across 12 Higher Education Institutions through Science Foundation Ireland.

This mighty Oak tree depicts the support services currently available to students at University College Cork and provides links to further information about each service.

Heartfelt congratulations to Professor Séamus Davis on yet another fantastic achievement.

Huge congratulations to our Physics students who won awards this year, especially Louise Shanahan who obtained STEM Award: SEFS Graduate of the year 2019. 

Professor Séamus Davis, who holds a joint position as Professor of Quantum Physics at University College Cork (UCC) and Professor of Physics at Oxford University has been awarded a Royal Society Research Professorship.

Retirement reception for Dr Pádraig Mac Cártaigh was held last night in UCC and went off with a hit with some traditional irish music to celebrate! 

Professor Richard Milner, 2020 Bonner Prize Winner, Former UCC Physics Graduate. 

Last week an international project which has been ongoing for 2 years has seen the UCC Campus recognised as part of a global network - The International Gravity Station Network (IGSN).

Huge congratulations to physics postgrad student Stephen Murphy who received the '2019 College of SEFS Student Nominated Teaching Demonstrator Award'!

UCC Astronomy Graduate, Mark Kennedy, current Newton International Fellow at The University of Manchester, was in Chile recently, by chance during the eclipse!!

A big congratulation to PhD graduates Dr. Daniel Carey, Dr. Ludovic Caro and Dr. Shane Duggan!

Superconductors are quantum materials that are perfect transmitters of electricity and electronic information.

One of the world’s leading scientists will give an inaugural public lecture on the emerging second quantum revolution next week (Thursday, 6 June) at University College Cork (UCC).

Congrats to Dr. Pádraig Mac Cárthaigh who gave his final lecture today. Nuclear and Particle Physics won't be the same without you!

Big congrats to our own Killian Long for winning the best publication of the year award!

Congratulations to our own Professor Frank Peters for his new appointment as leader of the Rockley Photonics R&D centre in Tyndall National Institute!

FameLab is the world's leading science communication competition. It is designed to inspire, motivate and develop scientists and engineers to actively engage with the public and last night it achieved exactly that. 

Monitoring stations have successfully been installed on UCC North Mall campus after calls from researchers for extra stringent monitoring the severity levels for air pollution within Cork City. The new facility is one of the most advanced and best equipped centres of its kind in the country.