Trinity College Dublin

Professor Eithne McCabe M.A.(Oxon), D.Phil.(Oxon), B.E.(NUI), FTCD, F.Inst.P., C.Phys.- Principal Investigator

Academic Background

D.Phil., University of Oxford
M.A., University of Oxford
B.E. (First Class Honours), University College Dublin

Professional Career

• Professor and Fellow, Trinity College Dublin.
• Fellow and Lecturer, Magdalen College, Oxford. This prestigious Prize Fellowship was awarded in open competition with candidates throughout the arts and sciences.
• Postdoctoral Member of Technical Staff and later Consultant, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Crawford Hill Laboratory, New Jersey, USA.
• Fellow of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851.
• Visiting Researcher, University of Adelaide.

Awards and Honours

• Fellow, Trinity College Dublin
• Fellow of the Institute of Physics
• Chartered Physicist
• Zonta Amelia Earhart Award
• Senior Scholar, Lincoln College Oxford
• Baird Travelling Scholarship
• The Hewlett-Packard award for Innovation in Electronic Engineering
• Institute of Chemistry of Ireland Gold Medal for First Place in Ireland in Leaving Certificate Chemistry

Research Interests:

High-resolution optical imaging, confocal microscopy, surface plasmon enhancement techniques using metal nanoparticles/nanostructures, detection of biomolecules, photonic approaches for materials characterization, novel imaging systems, annealing, confocal photoluminescence imaging, defect imaging, degradation imaging, direct-view microscopy, laser diode metrology, physical instrumentation, microsphere imaging, multi-aperture imaging, optical materials, optical sectioning, programmable array microscopy, semiconductor optoelectronics, source coherence, spatial light modulators, variable-focus microlenses.

Administration/Outreach

• Member of the Editorial Board for the American Institute of Physics journal, Review of Scientific Instruments
• Member of Organising Committee for SPIE Photonics West, USA
• Member of Program Committee SPIE European Conference on Biomedical Optics, Munich
• Member of Program Committee SPIE Opto Ireland Conference, 2005
• Director of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning, TCD School of Physics, 2005-2007
• Member of TCD School of Physics Executive, 2005-2007
• Advisor to the Department of Education in Ireland
• Team leader for International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, IUPAP and Royal Irish Academy for the Women in Physics Initiative, Paris
• Secretary to the Institute of Physics in Ireland Education sub-group
• Organiser of Institute of Physics annual Tyndall Lecture Series
• Member of the TCD Finance Committee
• Member of the TCD Personnel and Appointments Committee
• Member of the TCD Teaching and Learning Committee
• Member of the TCD Graduate Studies Committee
• Tutor in TCD
• Chair of School of Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Committee, School of Physics
• Chair of Undergraduate Staff/Student Committee, School of Physics
• Coordinator and founder of Foundation Physics, TCD
• Member of TCD Theoretical Physics Degree Committee
• Member of Physics and Astrophysics Degree Committee
• Member of Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials Degree Committee
• Member of TCD Scientific Committee for the British Association Festival of Science, 2005
• Member of the Catering Management Committee, TCD
• Member of numerous Selection Committees for Chairs and Lectureships
• Member of Steering Committee for pilot quality review undertaken by the TCD Physics Department
• Member of Selection Committee for Director of International Student Affairs, TCD
• Member of the Steering Committee for the Advanced Materials Course, TCD
• Physics Examinations coordinator, TCD
• Foundation Physics coordinator, TCD
• Junior Freshman Laboratory coordinator, TCD
• Physics seminar series coordinator, TCD
• Co-ordinator of Sophister Engineering teaching, TCD
• Member of Governing Body, Magdalen College Oxford
• Referee for numerous journals
• AT&T Bell Laboratories' Public School Outreach Program team, New Jersey, USA

Main publications:

• Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) using Ag nanoparticle films produced by Pulsed Laser deposition (PLD), CA Smyth, I Mirza, JG Lunney and EM McCabe, In press, Journal of Surface Science, 2012
• Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy of Pterins, C.A. Smyth,I. Mirza, J.G. Lunney and E.M. McCabe, Proc.SPIE 8234, 82341G1-G7, doi:10.1117/12/, 2012
• Pterin detection using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy incorporating a straightforward silver colloid-based synthesis technique, C.A. Smyth, S. Mehigan, Y. P. Rakovich, S.E. J Bell and E.M. McCabe, J. Biomed. Opt. 16, 077007 (Jul 08, 2011); doi:10.1117/1.3600658, 2011, selected for the issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, July 15, 2011
• Biological sensing with Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) using a facile and rapid silver colloid-based synthesis technique, C. Smyth, S. Mehigan, Y. P. Rakovich, S. E. J. Bell and E. M. McCabe, Proc. SPIE 7911, 79111H (2011); doi:10.1117/12.876123, 2011
• Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy using metal nanostructure substrates towards the study of pterins, C. Smyth, J.J. Wang, S.E.J.Bell, Y.P. Rakovich and E.M. McCabe, Biosensors 2010, 20th Anniversary World Congress on Biosensors, Glasgow, UK, 26-28 May, 2010
• Synthesis and formation of one-dimensional Au nanoparticle chains, C. Smyth, R. Reilly, Y. Rakovich and E. McCabe, J.Surf.Sci.Nanotech. 7, 327-329, 2009
• Photoluminescent lifetime of polyelectrolytes in thin films formed via layer by layer self assembly, R. Reilly, C. Smyth, Y. Rakovich and E. McCabe, Nanotechnology 20, 095707, 2009
• Alignment and FLIM imaging of Ag nanowires with CdTe quantum dots, C.Smyth, Y. Rakovich, E. McCabe, 11th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks Ponta Delgada University, Azores, Portugal, 2009
• Investigation and characterisation of 1-dimensional plasmonic structures, C.Smyth, Y. Rakovich, E. McCabe, Photonics Ireland, Kinsale, Co. Cork , 2009
• Synthesis and formation of one-dimensional Au nanoparticle chains, C. Smyth, R. Reilly, Y. Rakovich and E. McCabe, 14th International Conference on Solid Films and Surfaces, http://www.icsfs.ie/, 25, 228, 2008
• Synthesis and formation of one-dimensional Au nanoparticle chains, C. Smyth, R. Reilly, Y. Rakovich and E. McCabe, 2nd International Conference on Advanced Nano Materials, Aveiro, Portugal, 29, 159, 2008
• Fluorescent lifetime imaging as a new tool to investigate surface plasmon enhanced spontaneous emission, R Reilly, Y. Rakovich and E. McCabe, Photonics Ireland Conference, Galway, 33, 2007
• Imaging of Enhanced Fluorescence by Nanostructured Gold Particles, A. MacRaighine, Y. Rakovich, Y. Gunko, E. McCabe, Conference Quantum Electronics and Photonics (QEP-17), 2006
• Emerging Light Fields from Liquid Crystal Microlenses, A. MacRaighne, E. McCabe and T. Scharf, Rev.Sci.Instrum. 77, 055103, 1-6, 2006
• Confocal microscopy using variable-focal-length microlenses and an optical fibre bundle, L. Yang, A. MacRaighne, E. McCabe, L. Dunbar and T. Scharf, Appl. Opt. 44, 5928-5936, 2005
• Variable focal-length microlens arrays in confocal microscopy, A. MacRaighne, J. Wang, E. McCabe and T. Scharf, Proc.SPIE 5701, 93-100, 2005, Three-dimensional and Multi-dimensional Microscopy: Image Acquisition and Processing
• Variable focal length lenses for confocal microscopy, A. MacRaighne, J. Wang, T. Scharf and E. McCabe, European Conference on Biomedical Optics, Proc.SPIE 5860, 58600L, 2005
• Three dimensional confocal microscopy of fluorescent microspheres: imaging and size determination, Y.P. Rakovich, L. Yang, C.M. Taylor, L.A. Dunbar, A. Mac Raighne, J.F. Donegan, E.M. McCabe, In: Photonic Engineering, Ed: B.W. Bowe, G. Byrne, A.J. Flanagan, T.J. Glynn, J. Magee, G.M. O'Connor, R.F. O'Dowd, G.D. O'Sullivan, J.T. Sheridan; Proc. SPIE 5827, 299-304, 2005