2021 Latest News

Dr Hongzhou Zhang research project Controllable Resistive Switching in Two-dimensional Molybdenum Disulphide via Site-specific Helium Ion Irradiation wins SFI funding.............

Physicists from Trinity College Dublin and the Universidad Complutense of Madrid have made a peculiar discovery in which energy moves from a colder to a hotter region..............

The EMERALD project on soil degradation monitoring led by Dr. Francesca Pietracaprina is an early warning and large-scale survey of soil degradation which offers a climate change adaptation tool for farmers, agricultural organisations and land use planners......

School of Physics researchers have unlocked the secret that explains how large groups of individual “oscillators” – from flashing fireflies to cheering crowds, and from ticking clocks to clicking metronomes – tend to synchronise when in each other’s company...........

Jonathan Coleman, Professor of Chemical Physics in Trinity’s School of Physics and PI at CRANN and AMBER and Stefano Sanvito, Professor of Condensed Matter Theory in the School of Physics, Director of CRANN and PI at AMBER feature on the annual Highly Cited Researchers™ 2021 list from Clarivate.............

The certification was obtained by My Green Labs to help reduce waste, energy, and water to mitigate climate change and reduce environmental impacts caused by the School of Physics Undergraduate teaching lab.....

Led by Professor Martin Hegner, Principal Investigator in CRANN and Trinity College Dublin’s School of Physics, the team’s specific quantitative assay enables direct classification of variant binding properties for screening emerging variants. ..........

We are delighted to share the news that Dr. Mark Mitchison will join the faculty at the School of Physics this September as an Assistant Professor. Mark is our second hire as part of the HEA-HCI pillar 3 of the human capital initiative which sees the establishment of a new MSc in Quantum Science and Technology at Trinity. ............

We are delighted to share the news that Dr. Felix Binder will join the faculty at the School of Physics this September as an Assistant Professor. Felix is our first hire as part of the HEA-HCI pillar 3 of the human capital initiative which sees the establishment of a new MSc in Quantum Science and Technology at Trinity............

Congratulations to Prof. Cormac McGuinness on his Trinity Excellence in Teaching Award for 2019/2020....

Microsoft funds quantum research PhD students and female scholarships in MSc in Quantum Science and Technology - Collaboration aims to strengthen Ireland’s position as a digital leader in quantum technologies..........

Researchers the School of Physics and CRANN, announced that a magnetic material developed in CRANN demonstrates the fastest magnetic switching ever recorded............

Congratulations to Prof. Luke Drury, Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics in the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies on being awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the College. Luke was Honorary Andrews’ Professor of Astronomy in TCD from 1998 to 2018 and both strongly supported the Astronomy programme as well as contributing to teaching in the School. ..........

This €1.5m donation by Ryanair to help open Ireland’s first Sustainable Aviation Research Centre is a hugely exciting project and an important pillar of our environmental targets, supporting our goal to power 12.5% of flights with sustainable aviation fuels by 2030. ...........

A global team of researchers led by Professor Martin Hegner has developed a new strategy for fast and reliable antibody tests, which can quantify the immune response induced by vaccination and reveal the timeline and stage of pathogen infection............

Professor Jonathan Coleman, the School of Physics and lead PI at AMBER, the SFI Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research, has secured an European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept grant worth €150,000..........

Researchers led by Professor Stephen Dooley in Trinity’s School of Physics, the Trinity researchers undertook the project as a result of an open competition by TOTAL, where their proposal welcomed several applications from research teams across the globe. The research was funded by TOTAL Marketing Services and supported by MaREI, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine...........

Light reflecting from thin films creates strong interference patterns like those seen in soap bubbles or oil slicks. This effect known as thin film interference usually requires films with thickness greater than one quarter of a wavelength which corresponds to 125nm for visible light. .........

Professor Lewys Jones was awarded €423,845 for his research on improving the performance of electron-microscopes which are used in research. Better image resolution and chemical mapping (each down to the atomic-scale) can then be of great use across many areas of Materials Science and Nanotechnology...........

Prof Patterson was awarded €234,871 for his Simulation of Organic Optoelectronic Materials using Many-Body Theory (SOOMAT) research project. .........

Researchers from QuSys group in the School of Physics have discovered a uniquely quantum effect in erasing information that may have significant implications for the design of quantum computing chips. Their surprising discovery brings back to life the paradoxical “Maxwell’s demon”, which has tormented physicists for over 150 years..........

Professor Brian Espey of the School of Physics has been honoured with the Hoag-Robinson award of the International Dark Sky Association. The IDA, based in Tucson, Arizona, makes this one award each year to recognise outstanding work in educating governmental organizations, businesses and the public about the merits of outdoor lighting control ordinances. .........

School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland recognises advancement of gender equality and maintained the British Athena Swan Bronze award from AdvanceHE (2020 – 2023)..........

Researchers from the Magnetism group, based in the School of Physics and CRANN have discovered that a new material can act as a super-fast magnetic switch. When struck by successive ultra-short laser pulses it exhibits “toggle switching” that could increase the capacity of the global fibre optic cable network by an order of magnitude.........

The QuSys group lead by Professor John Goold have proposed a thermometer based on quantum entanglement that can accurately measure temperatures a billion times colder than those in outer space......

With COVID-19 sending universities and schools into a long summer hibernation, how are we to adapt to our confinement? Teaching and research will probably continue to be a solitary, online affair, as it has for most of the pandemic so far, with many of us cooped up in tiny bedrooms.........

The UK-Irish consortium QuamNESS, which comprises researchers from the University of Bristol, Queen’s University Belfast, and The School of Physics, Trinity received the grant from the UK’s Energy and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).........

For only the second time ever, astrophysicists have spotted a spectacular flash of optical and ultraviolet light accompanying a supernova – an incredibly luminous explosion of a white-dwarf star at the end of its life........

Researchers from the School of Physics have created an innovative new device that will emit single particles of light, or photons, from quantum dots that are the key to practical quantum computers, quantum communications, and other quantum devices. .....

A team of astronomers led by Professor Jose Groh’s group from the School of Physics looking for answers to a cosmic mystery having discovered the disappearance of an unstable massive star in a distant galaxy..........

A multi-disciplinary group of researchers from Trinity has secured funding to develop technology which will improve performance and reduce the cost of solar panels in Ireland and across the globe – greatly enhancing the viability of a low carbon energy source that could help mitigate the effects of global climate change........

Trinity recently welcomed Professor Ortwin Hess, a global leader in photonic quantum technology research and science, to lead a stellar project that will give rise to more secure quantum communications and quantum simulation, and through quantum sensing may even discover new properties of bio-molecules and novel materials.........

A photograph of a buckled linear chain of soap bubbles, together with the corresponding computer simulation, features on the cover of the American Journal of Physics, May 2020. The article by members of the TCD Foams and Complex Systems group describes a simple experimental set-up for the exploration of the nonlinear properties of a chain of spheres under compression...........

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Solar Orbiter spacecraft launched successfully earlier this week to perform close-up observations of the Sun from high-latitudes to better investigate the Sun-Earth connection.........

Theoretical physicists from the School of Physics have found a deep link between one of the most striking features of quantum mechanics – quantum entanglement – and thermalisation, which is the process in which something comes into thermal equilibrium with its surroundings........

For the second year in a row a light pollution-related project has gained a prize at the BTYST awards. Prof. Brian Espey of the School of Physics provided advice and encouragement for the project which involved a study of the effect of light pollution on the degradation of nitrate molecules, demonstrating a link between light and air pollution in the Irish context.......