Physics

Our research strengths are in the areas of condensed matter and materials, with a good balance between theory and experiment. Our research has a flexible network structure with four main areas, each with a wide range of national and international collaborations. The quality of our researchers is recognised internationally and we publish in highly ranked physics journals.

We publish in highly ranked physics journals and, in 2003, one of our former Visiting Professors, Alexei Abrikosov, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

The staff in the department have been recruited from major research centres worldwide. This creates a lively and stimulating community that attracts numerous visitors and collaborators. Our research is internationally renowned, with 62% of research outputs rated internationally leading or better in the REF 2014.

The Department’s research covers a breadth of interests, encompassing:

• Biophysics
• Materials and structures
• Novel materials
• Polarons, superconductivity and molecular electronics
• Quantum computing
• Spintronics
• Terahertz superconducting and semiconducting electronics

In addition, the University’s new £17 million STEMLab facility includes a brand new, state-of-the-art Physical Sciences laboratory, designed for physics students to explore the fundamentals of mechanics, electricity and magnetism, quantum phenomena, waves, solid state and thermal physics. It also includes a Physics and Optics laboratory, allowing for the practical examination of optics and the behaviour of light, electromagnetism, thermodynamics and mechanics.The departmental observatory has a 16-inch equatorially-mounted Meade telescope and other astronomical equipment.