Scientists at Oxford University’s Physics Department have developed a new way to simulate quantum systems of many particles to allow for the investigation of the dynamic properties of quantum systems. It is based on a long-known alternative formulation of quantum mechanics which now has been empowered to allow the study of large quantum systems.

Oxford Physics alumna Dr. Cecilia Muldoon and her team from VeriVin Ltd have been awarded a prestigious Institute of Physics Business Start-Up Award for VeriVin’s through-barrier analyser, that allows the authentication, characterisation and monitoring of complex liquids without opening their container.

The IOP Business Start-Up Award specifically recognises and celebrates young companies with a great business idea founded on a physics invention, with the potential for business growth and significant societal impact.

Ramy Aboushelbaya has been invited to address the American Physical Society's Division of Plasma Physics in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in October 2019. Ramy will summarise the pioneering research that he has conducted over the past three years during his DPhil in Atomic and Laser Physics. Photon-photon scattering in vacuum is one of the oldest and most intriguing predictions of quantum electrodynamics, as it would confirm what is called "vacuum polarization" and change our perception of what constitutes the vacuum itself.

The handling of non-spherical micron-sized objects is a challenge for the manufacturing industry and for the wider exploitation of nanomaterials. Current manipulation techniques consist of pick-and-place machines used to place microelectronic components onto circuit boards, and optical methods that use laser radiation to manipulate objects. Pick-and-place methods are unsuitable for objects smaller than 100 microns because electrostatic and Van der Waals attraction prevents their release.

Alex Savin, a third year DPhil student in Prof Peter Norreys group in Atomic and Laser Physics, received the runner-up student presentation prize for his talk at the International Conference on High Energy Density science (ICHED 2019) conference in University College Oxford in April 2019. Alex's paper was entitled "Energy Absorption in the Laser-QED Regime" and described the interaction of multi-petawatt laser pulses with solid targets.

Marko Mayr, a second-year DPhil student under the supervision of Prof Peter Norreys, was awarded a best poster competition prize by an expert panel at the Laser Plasma Accelerator Workshop, Split, Croatia, 6th -10th May 2019. Marko's poster was entitled "Wakefields in a Cluster Plasma" and described the research work he had conducted at the Clarendon Laboratory over the past eighteen months since he started his doctoral degree.