The Cockcroft Institute is a partnership between the Universities of Manchester, Lancaster, Liverpool, Strathclyde, and Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), dedicated to developing and constructing particle accelerators for pure and applied research purposes. 

The Cockcroft Institute is the national centre for accelerator research and development in the UK. It was established almost two decades ago and comprises of over 200 academics and professional accelerator staff dedicated to innovating the future of accelerator science.

The Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI ERIC) is a research infrastructure with the world’s largest and most advanced collection of high-power, high-repetition-rate lasers. As an international user facility dedicated to multi-disciplinary science and research applications, ELI provides access to state-of-the-art technology and cutting-edge research. 

The ELI ERIC operates as a single multi-site organisation with complementary facilities specialised in different fields of research with extreme light. The Attosecond Light Pulse Source Facility (ELI ALPS), based in Hungary, is primarily aimed at realising bright, ultrafast, laser-driven secondary photon sources, driven by high-intensity, high-average power, few-cycle-pulse lasers. ELI ALPS is also developing state-of-the-art high repetition rate, laser-driven particle (electron, ion, neutron) acceleration beamlines.

The collaboration agreement targets research in laser-driven plasma acceleration, with 91ֱ�� and Lancaster providing expertise in laser-particle beam manipulation on ultra-fast (femtosecond, 10-15 second) time scales. STFC will provide insight and expertise in the control and capture of micron-size beams which are generated when laser beams with 100’s or terawatts of power interact with a plasma.

The collaboration has arisen from research undertaken by 91ֱ�� and Lancaster in laser-driven control of electron beams, including in user experiments at the ELI ALPS Facility. The agreement supports the establishment of joint PhD studentships, and a reciprocal arrangement for the exchange or hosting of PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and ELI staff.

Professor Steven Jamison of Lancaster’s Physics Department and the Lancaster lead in the MoU, said: “This MoU is a recognition of the significant research potential that arises through the bringing together of our expertise and facility resources. It is my wish, and expectation, that through collaboration we will achieve important advances in the science and technology of generating and controlling high-energy electron beams with lasers. The technologies being targeted are revolutionary in applications such as x-ray sources and particle beams for high energy physics."

Allen Weeks, ELI ERIC Director General, added: “We are thrilled to be partnering with The Cockcroft Institute on laser-driven plasma acceleration which has broad scientific and technological applications, from high-energy physics to next-generation radiation sources. Collaborations like this are at the heart of ELI ERIC’s mission to push the boundaries of high-energy laser science while also supporting the education and training of PhD students, early career researchers and staff. These exchanges will facilitate connections and engagements between our institutes for both of our benefits.”

High performing but costly 
LEAs - unlike traditional electronics, which are typically manufactured on small and rigid substrates like silicon wafers – are made on much larger, often flexible, substrates. This means electronic components can be integrated into different surfaces and materials. Examples of LEAs include: TV sets; mobile phone and tablet screens that can bend or roll (Samsung's Galaxy Fold and LG's flexible OLED displays are good examples); wearable electronics like smart clothing, fitness trackers, and health monitoring devices; printed solar cells; and interactive displays used in e-readers like the Amazon Kindle, which mimic the appearance of ink on paper. 

LAEs are an emerging field. However, their rapid growth brings challenges like the availability of essential materials, energy-efficient manufacturing, device performance, and product end-of-life solutions. One major challenge in producing LAEs is balancing the users’ desire for functionality with the need to reduce costs. To address this, LAEs are currently combined with silicon chips. However, while this supports functionality, it increases carbon emissions significantly. 

Rethinking manufacturing 
To tackle this issue, Thomas Anthopoulos with his team at The University of Manchester is undertaking fundamental research designed to rethink manufacturing methods. His goal is to look at the fundamental science and develop scalable and energy efficient techniques that can produce LAEs capable of seamlessly integrating with the existing electronics infrastructure, while enabling additional functionalities. 

Addressing manufacturing bottlenecks 
Building on previous research focused on LEAs, Professor Anthopoulos will look to advance LAEs by addressing crucial manufacturing bottlenecks such as the trade-off between high throughput production and high precision patterning. His approach comprises four research thrusts that aim to address these key aspects and include: 

1. Developing new patterning paradigms for scalable and sustainable production of LAEs. 
2. Demonstrating energy-efficient material growth methods. 
3. Exploring eco-friendly materials that are abundant. 
4. Demonstrate advanced LAEs that can interact with the existing electronic infrastructure. 

Maximising impact 
Delivering a paradigm shift in how LAEs with nanometre-size critical features are manufactured, is the core aim of this programme. By addressing the fundamental science, Professor Anthopoulos aims to deliver research that benefit the economy, academia, and society. 

For industry, the outcome of this research has the potential to empower UK companies. For example, the global LAEs market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. This prediction, however, relies on the technology being adopted successfully in various emerging areas. Thus, access to innovative technologies can help UK companies remain frontrunners and capture this market, benefiting everyone involved. 

In the academic world, Professor Anthopoulos’s approach will create new knowledge about sustainable electronics, encourage collaboration between different fields, advance sustainable electronics, train junior researchers, and attract top talent to the UK. 

The program will also benefit the public. Sustainable production of LAEs will enable new electronic functions with minimal environmental impact, while easing society’s reliance on polluting silicon chips. These innovative technologies will create new possibilities in personal health, education, entertainment, among other, positively impacting society. 

Professor Anthopoulos explains more about his approach. “I am interested in fundamental research that has potential for practical applications. I very much enjoying approaching a problem from a different viewpoint and pursuing cross-disciplinary research is a key element of it. 91ֱ�� has a rich history, with the isolation of graphene serving as a prime example of how a new perspective can lead to groundbreaking discoveries.” 

“I am also a firm believer in multidisciplinary collaboration; trying to increase the impact of my work by working with people with different expertise while learning new things. 91ֱ�� has a strong reputation in large-area electronics, including flexible and printed electronics, advanced functional materials, and manufacturing. Crucially, we are home to unique facilities like the National Graphene Institute (NGI), the Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, and the Photon Science Institute, all located on campus, and all unique in the UK. Moreover, the university’s extensive partnerships with industry leaders offer additional opportunities for further collaborations, networking, and potential commercialization of promising research findings.

“Last but not least, the university has a global reputation in climate change, sustainability, and energy policy. This makes 91ֱ�� the ideal place for my research, which at its very heart is aimed at making electronics of the future more sustainable and valuable to our society.” 

About Thomas Anthopoulos 
Thomas Anthopoulos is Professor of Emerging Optoelectronics at The University of Manchester. He is recognised as a world-leading expert in the science and technology of large-area optoelectronics with ground-breaking contributions to the advancement of soluble organic and inorganic semiconductors. Recent examples include the development of printable Schottky diodes with record operating frequency (Nature Electronics 2020), rapid and scalable manufacturing methods for radio frequency diodes using light (Nature Communications 2022), and the development of record-efficient printed organic photovoltaics featuring self-assembled molecular interlayers (ACS Energy Letters 2020; Advanced Energy Materials 2022). 

Related papers  

The Photon Science Institute (PSI)
The PSI enables and catalyses world-leading science and innovation using the tools of cutting-edge photonics, spectroscopy, and imaging. Its lead pioneering research in photonic, electronic and quantum materials and devices, advanced instrumentation development, and BioPhotonics and bioanalytical spectroscopy.

To discuss this research further, contact Professor Anthopoulos at thomas.anthopoulos@manchester.ac.uk

Described by the ERC as among the EU’s most prestigious and competitive grants, today’s funding has been awarded to the following senior research leaders:

• , Professor of Emerging Optoelectronics, based in the and , to investigate scalable nanomanufacturing paradigms for emerging electronics (SNAP). The program aims to develop sustainable large-area electronics, a potential game-changer in emerging semiconductor markets, that will help reduce society's reliance on current polluting technologies while enabling radically new applications.
• , Chair in Evolutionary Biology, in the School of Biological Sciences, to investigate how genomic complexity shapes long-term bacterial evolution and adaptation.
• , in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Director of the Photon Science Institute to develop a table-top nuclear facility to produce cold actinide molecules that will enable novel searches for new physics beyond the standard model of particle physics.
• Professor Sir Andre Geim, who isolated graphene in 2004 with Professor Sir Konstantin Novoselov, to explore 2D materials and their van der Waals assemblies.
• , to lead work into chemically fuelled molecular ratchets. Ratcheting underpins the mechanisms of molecular machinery, gives chemical processes direction, and helps explain how chemistry becomes biology.
• , in the Department of Chemistry and  91ֱ�� Institute of Biotechnology, to develop enzymatic methods for peptide synthesis (EZYPEP). Peptides are fundamental in life and are widely used as therapeutic agents, vaccines, biomaterials and in many other applications. Currently peptides are produced by chemical synthesis, which is inefficient, expensive, difficult to scale-up and creates a huge amount of harmful waste that is damaging to the environment. EZYPEP will address this problem by developing enzymatic methods for the more sustainable, cleaner and scalable synthesis of peptides, including essential medicines to combat infectious diseases, cancer and diabetes.
•  , based in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, to explore Top and Higgs Couplings and extended Higgs Sectors with rare multi-Top multi-Higgs Events with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This project aims at deeper insight into the most fundamental properties of nature beyond our current understanding.

The University of Manchester received seven of the 42 grants awarded to UK institutions.

The grant recipients will join a community of just 255 awarded ERC advanced grants, from a total of 1,829 submissions.

As a result of today’s announcement, the ERC will be investing nearly €652 million across the 255 projects.

Head of Department for Physics and Astronomy, which received three of the seven grants, said: “Today’s triple award reflects our department’s continued leadership in pioneering research. We’re home to Jodrell Bank, host of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory – set to be the largest radio telescope in the world; the National Graphene Institute – a world-leading centre for 2D material research with the largest clean rooms in European academia; we lead experiments at CERN and Fermilab; and – crucially – we host a world-leading community of vibrant and collaborative researchers like Professors Flanagan, Geim and Peters who lead the way. Today’s announcement recognises their role as outstanding research leaders who will drive the next generation to deliver transformative breakthroughs.”

, Vice-Dean for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at The University of Manchester, added: “Our University’s history of scientific and engineering research is internationally recognised but it does not constrain us. Instead, it’s the work of our researchers – like the seven leaders celebrated today – and what they decide to do next, that will define us.  We are proud to have a culture where responsible risk-taking is nurtured and transformative outcomes delivered, and we look forward to these colleagues using this environment to deliver world-leading and world-changing research.”

, Vice-Dean for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, said: "These awards are welcome recognition of the world-leading and transformative frontier science that The University of Manchester researchers are delivering. The compelling and innovative research supported by these ERC awards builds on the excellent local environment at 91ֱ�� and are cornerstones of the University’s strategy for excellence and leadership in research and innovation. The positive and real-world global impact from these research awards could deliver are genuinely tangible.

"As we enter our third century, the awards made in a highly competitive environment, are evidence that we do so with a continued pioneering approach to discovery and the pursuit of knowledge that our research community was built on."

Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth at the ERC, said: “This investment nurtures the next generation of brilliant minds. I look forward to seeing the resulting breakthroughs and fresh advancements in the years ahead.”

The ERC grants are part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.

The bid was delivered by a coordination team, which includes and from the University and has secured £49.35m from the UKRI Infrastructure Fund to establish C-MASS - a national hub-and-spoke infrastructure designed to integrate and advance the country’s capability in mass spectrometry.

Mass spectrometry is a central analytical technique that quantifies and identifies molecules by measuring their mass and charge. It is used across science and medicine, for drug discovery, to screen all newborn babies for the presence of metabolic disorders, to monitor pollution and to tell us what compounds are in the tails of comets.

Researchers at The University of Manchester develop and apply mass spectrometry in many of its research centres and institutes, including the , the , , , the , and the

C-MASS will enable rapid methodological advances, by developing consensus protocols to allow population level screening of health markers and accelerated data access and sharing. It will bring together cutting-edge instrumentation at a range of laboratories connected by a coordinating central hub that will manage a central metadata catalogue. Together, this will provide unparalleled signposting of data and will be a critical measurement science resource for the UK.

The bid for the funding has been developed over the last 10 years and has included input and support from more than 40 higher education institutes, 35 industrial partners and numerous research institutes.

91ֱ�� is renowned for its expertise in mass spectrometry. J.J. Thomson, who was an alumnus of The University of Manchester, built the first mass spectrometer - originally called a parabola spectrograph - in 1912. Later, another alumnus, James Chadwick, commissioned the first commercial mass spectrometer, built by the 91ֱ�� firm Metropolitan Vickers, for use in the second world war to separate radioactive isotopes.

Now, many decades later, the University receives more funding in mass spectrometry than any other higher education institution in the UK and more mass spectrometers are made in the 91ֱ�� region than any other in Europe.

At the University, researchers across a range of disciplines including , , use mass spectrometry for wide range of world-leading research. Just some of those projects include: , improving the testing and diagnosis of womb cancer, improving our understanding of Huntington’s disease and rheumatic heart disease, diagnosing Parkinson’s disease and finding treatments for blindness.

The mass spectrometry laboratories at the University boast a range of industry-leading instrumentations, not just for staff and students, but also collaborating with many external companies. 

The laws of quantum physics govern the behaviour of particles at miniscule scales, leading to phenomena such as , where the properties of entangled particles become inextricably linked in ways that cannot be explained by classical physics.

Research in quantum physics helps us to fill gaps in our knowledge of physics and can give us a more complete picture of reality, but the tiny scales at which quantum systems operate can make them difficult to observe and study.

Over the past century, physicists have successfully observed quantum phenomena in increasingly larger objects, all the way from subatomic particles like electrons to molecules which contain thousands of atoms.

More recently, the field of levitated optomechanics, which deals with the control of high-mass micron-scale objects in vacuum, aims to push the envelope further by testing the validity of quantum phenomena in objects that are several orders of magnitude heavier than atoms and molecules. However, as the mass and size of an object increase, the interactions which result in delicate quantum features, such as entanglement, get lost to the environment, resulting in the classical behaviour we observe.

But now, the team co-led by , Head of the Quantum Engineering Lab at The University of Manchester, with scientists from ETH Zurich, and theorists from the University of Innsbruck, have established a new approach to overcome this problem in an experiment carried out at ETH Zurich, published in the journal .

The scientists placed the particles between two highly reflective mirrors which form an optical cavity. This way, the photons scattered by each particle bounce between the mirrors several thousand times before leaving the cavity, leading to a significantly higher chance of interacting with the other particle.

Johannes Piotrowski, co-lead of the paper from ETH Zurich added: “Remarkably, because the optical interactions are mediated by the cavity, its strength does not decay with distance meaning we could couple micron-scale particles over several millimetres.”

The researchers also demonstrate the remarkable ability to finely adjust or control the interaction strength by varying the laser frequencies and position of the particles within the cavity.

The findings represent a significant leap towards understanding fundamental physics, but also hold promise for practical applications, particularly in sensor technology that could be used towards environmental monitoring and offline navigation. 

Dr Carlos Gonzalez-Ballestero, a collaborator from the Technical University of Vienna said: “The key strength of levitated mechanical sensors is their high mass relative to other quantum systems using sensing. The high mass makes them well-suited for detecting gravitational forces and accelerations, resulting in better sensitivity. As such, quantum sensors can be used in many different applications in various fields, such as monitoring polar ice for climate research and measuring accelerations for navigation purposes.”

Piotrowski added: “It is exciting to work on this relatively new platform and test how far we can push it into the quantum regime.”

Now, the team of researchers will combine the new capabilities with well-established quantum cooling techniques in a stride towards validating quantum entanglement. If successful, achieving entanglement of levitated nano- and micro-particles could narrow the gap between the quantum world and everyday classical mechanics.

At the and the at The University of Manchester, Dr Jayadev Vijayan’s team will continue working in levitated optomechanics, harnessing interactions between multiple nanoparticles for applications in quantum sensing.

The $500k gift from the will be matched 100% by the University and will be used to support both early-career and returning researchers from the University’s Photon Science Institute in partnership with the Royce Institute, the UK’s national institute for advanced materials research and innovation.

The partnership was announced today (29 January) during the SPIE Photonics West conference in San Francisco.

Photonics is the study of light and its interactions to develop technologies that impact our daily lives, from fibre optics for communications, microscopy for medical applications, light sources for displays such as smartphones, to next generation quantum applications.

With a goal of increasing diversity in the subject, the SPIE-91ֱ�� Postgraduate Scholarship will have a particular focus on funding individuals returning to research following a career break or time in industry, and those pursuing unconventional career pathways or part-time study (situations often necessitated by caring responsibilities, for example).

Aligning current research and industrial needs for a robust training pipeline, an additional unique feature of the scholarship is an optional final-year placement of up to 12 months, during which students can develop industry-relevant skills in collaboration with local optics and photonics companies.

SPIE CEO Kent Rochford, added: “For many researchers and engineers, the traditional educational paths are barriers to their success.

“The SPIE-91ֱ�� Postgraduate Scholarship in Photonics aims to remove those barriers and provide exciting opportunities for early-career researchers and those who may be pursuing unconventional career paths. Working internally at the University’s Photon Science Institute with the option of an industry-focused placement, promises to benefit young researchers as well as our future diverse workforce. I very much look forward to meeting the leaders in optics and photonics technologies who will emerge from this dynamic partnership between SPIE and The University of Manchester.”

The scholarship is the 11^th major SPIE gift to universities and institutes as part of the Society's ongoing program to support the expansion of optical engineering teaching and research.

The  was established in 2019 to increase international capacity in the teaching and research of optics and photonics. With this latest gift, SPIE has provided more than $4 million in matching gifts, resulting in more than $11 million in dedicated funds. The SPIE Endowment Matching Program supports optics and photonics education and the future of the industry by contributing a match of up to $500,000 per award to college, institute, and university programs with optics and photonics degrees, or with other disciplines allied to the SPIE mission.

The visible light stand hosted a light microscopy workshop, where attendees could take a look at the qualities of different materials. The workshops demonstrated the science behind technologies used to produce images with RGB colour, and demonstrated the impact materials research continues to have in producing new technologies in this field.

The stand for ultraviolet light featured an informative workshop on how different materials can protect against UV rays, using UV torches and a wide range of substrates to demonstrate changes in light waves.

Additional activities and experiments included slime making, a laser maze, an atomic ball-pool and badge making to engage younger attendees and showcase the range of disciplines that materials science covers. 

Ambassadors were on-hand to deliver advice around careers and education pathways in materials science to students, and to showcase the impact of advanced materials research and innovation delivered through Royce and its partners to industry and academic visitors. 

PSI postgraduate research student Xinyun Liu, who was volunteering at the event, said: "It was great to see people of all ages really engaging with the demonstrations we had and getting excited about science." 

The event also hosted 60-plus talks with the spotlight on materials in the presentations 'Engineering at the Nano Scale' and 'One Atom Thin Materials and Minute Voids' by , Chair in Nanoscience at The University of Manchester, and 'Science and Storytelling' by , Research Fellow at Imperial College and , Structural Engineer and Author.

Cath is a winner in the Contribution to Infrastructure category, which recognises a member of technical staff who has made a significant contribution to day-to-day infrastructure to support research and/or teaching.

She is responsible for two highly complex buildings that house a breadth of state-of-the-art technical facilities, from vibration-controlled spaces, to humidity-controlled rooms, as well as laboratories equipped to support wide-ranging research related to biomaterials through to next-generation fuels. She also manages a large and varied team of expert technical staff who operate a >£100m suite of equipment open to both academia and industry users.

Cath, alongside colleague Dan Tate, Technical Project Manager, and members of the wider facilities team, worked tirelessly to oversee the Royce Hub building fit-out, as well as the transfer of existing equipment and the delivery and commissioning of £45m of new state-of-the-art equipment.

Under Cath's leadership, the expert technical team continued to progress all of this during the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the Royce Hub facilities can operate efficiently and effectively, providing users with a high quality and safe experience.

Hundreds of individuals and teams were nominated for the year's prestigious awards, with 61 technicians shortlisted for an acclaimed Papin Prize across ten categories. The Papin Prizes are named after Denis Papin, a 17th century technician who invented the steam digester and was one of the first technicians to publish in his own name.

Cath received her award earlier this month at the UK Higher Education Technicians Summit 2021.

The ability to observe solution-based chemical reactions with sub-nanometre resolution in real time has been highly sought after since the invention of the electron microscope 90 years ago.

Imaging the dynamics of a reaction can provide mechanistic insights and signpost strategies for tailoring the properties the resulting materials. A transmission electron microscope (TEM) is one of a few instruments capable of resolving individual atoms, though conventionally it requires completely dry samples imaged in a vacuum environment, precluding any wet chemical synthesis.

Based on developing graphene liquid cells that allow TEM imaging of liquid-phase nanostructures, a team of researchers based at The University of Manchester’s , collaborating with researchers at the Leibniz University Hannover, have shown that two solutions can be mixed inside the microscope and imaged in real time.

The new research, published today in details a new imaging platform that has been used to investigate the growth of calcium carbonate. This material is key to many natural and synthetic chemical processes. For example, calcium carbonate is the principal component in the shells of many marine organisms and its formation process is affected by increasing ocean acidification. Calcium carbonate precipitation is also essential for understanding concrete degradation and the material is a ubiquitous additive for many products from paper, plastics, rubbers, paints, and inks to pharmaceutics, cosmetics, construction materials, and animal foods. Nonetheless, despite this widespread use, the crystallisation mechanism for calcium carbonate is widely debated.

In this work the authors provide the key new experimental evidence to support a theoretically predicted complex crystallisation pathway. The team, led by Professor Sarah Haigh and Dr Roman Gorbachev, designed a stack of different two-dimensional materials that contained nanoscale liquid solution compartments formed in microwells etched in hexagonal boron nitride spacer. These microwells were separated by an atomically thin membrane and sealed with graphene which acted as a ‘window’ to allow imaging with the electron beam.

The two pockets of solution were then mixed in the microscope by focussing the electron beam to locally fracture the separation membrane. This caused the two pre-loaded chemical reagents to mix in situ and the crystallisation process could be monitored from start to finish.

Lead author Dr Daniel Kelly explained: “One of the key features of our mixing cell design was the use of the electron beam to both image and puncture the cells. Unlike previous attempts, this made it possible for us to image the reaction from the first moment the solutions came into contact.”

The reaction timeline was captured using videos and advanced image processing technique to measure the evolution of the calcium carbonate species. The unique combination of high spatial resolution and control over the mixing time, as well as in situ elemental analysis, allowed the team to observe the transformation of liquid nanodroplets into amorphous precursors, and finally to crystalline particles. The results show the first visual confirmation of liquid-liquid phase separation, a theory that has been hotly debated amongst inorganic chemists over the past decade.

On the future direction for this new imaging platform, author Dr Nick Clark said: “So far we have focused primarily on characterising the formation of calcium carbonate, however we are optimistic that this type of experiment could be extended to study many other complex mixing reactions.”

is one of The University of Manchester’s - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest challenges facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

Many people will have the experience of dipping their hands into a bag of mixed nuts only to find the Brazil nuts at the top. This effect can also be readily observed with cereal boxes, with the larger items rising to the top. Colloquially, this phenomenon of particles segregating by their size is known as the ‘Brazil-nut effect’ and also has huge implications for industries where uneven mixing can critically degrade product quality.

Now, for the first time, scientists at The University of Manchester have used time-resolved 3D imaging to show how the Brazil nuts rise upwards through a pile of nuts. The work shows the importance of particle shape in the de-mixing process.

A common difficulty with examining granular materials is following what happens to particles on the inside of the pile, which cannot easily be seen. This new research published in the journal makes a key breakthrough in our understanding by utilising advanced imaging techniques at the new National Research Facility for Lab-based X-ray Computed Tomography (NXCT), based in .

Regius Professor Philip Withers said: “In this work, we followed the motion of the Brazil nuts and peanuts through time-lapse X-ray Computed Tomography as the pack was repeatedly agitated. This allowed us to see for the first time the process by which the Brazil nuts move past the peanuts to rise to the top.”

The team captured the unique imaging experiment on video showing the temporal evolution of the nut mixture in 3D. Peanuts are seen to percolate downwards whilst three larger Brazil nuts are seen to rise upwards. The first Brazil nut reaches the top 10% of the bed height after 70 shear cycles, with the other two Brazil nuts reaching this height after 150 shear cycles. The remaining Brazil nuts appear trapped towards the bottom and do not rise upwards.

Dr Parmesh Gajjar, lead author of the study, adds: “Critically, the orientation of the Brazil nut is key to its upward movement. We have found that the Brazil nuts initially start horizontal but do not start to rise until they have first rotated sufficiently towards the vertical axis. Upon reaching the surface, they then return to a flat orientation.

“Our study highlights the important role of particle shape and orientation in segregation. Further, this ability to track the motion in 3D will pave the way for new experimental studies of segregating mixtures and will open the door to even more realistic simulations and powerful predictive models. This will allow us to better design industrial equipment to minimise size segregation thus leading to more uniform mixtures. This is critical to many industries, for instance ensuring an even distribution of active ingredients in medicinal tablets, but also in food processing, mining and construction.”

is one of The University of Manchester’s - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest challenges facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

Their paper, published in Nature Physics, presents observations of a distinctive and interesting odd-even staggering pattern in the sizes of these isotopes' nuclei. To read the paper, visit the .

Further information can be found at the following places:

Scientists have successfully developed a pocket-sized particle accelerator capable of projecting ultra-short electron beams with laser light at more than 99.99% of the speed of light.

To achieve this result, the researchers have had to slow down light to match the speed of the electrons using a specially designed metallic structure lined with quartz layers thinner than a human hair.

This huge leap forward simultaneously offers the ability to both measure and manipulate particle bunches on time scales of less than 10 femtoseconds (0.000 000 000 000 01 seconds, or the time is takes light to travel 1/100th of a millimetre). This will enable them to create strobe photographs of atomic motion.

This successful demonstration paves the way to the development of high-energy, high-charge, high-quality Terahertz (THz) driven accelerators, which promise to be cheaper and more compact. Reducing the size and cost of accelerator technology, will open up these incredible machines to a much wider range of applications.

Particle accelerators are widespread with applications in basic research in particle physics, materials characterisation, radiotherapy in hospitals, where they are used to treat cancer patients, radioisotope production for medical imaging, and security screening of cargo. The basic technology (radio-frequency oscillators) underpinning these machines however, was developed for radar during the Second World War.

In new research published today in, , a collaborative team of academics show that their unique solution is to use lasers to generate terahertz frequency pulses of light. Terahertz is a region of the electromagnetic spectrum between infrared (used in TV remotes) and microwave (used in microwave ovens). Laser-generated THz radiation exists in the ideal millimetre-scale wavelength regime, making structure fabrication simpler but most importantly providing the half-cycle lengths that are well suited for acceleration of whole electron bunches with high levels of charge.

Lead author on the paper Dr Morgan Hibberd from The University of Manchester said: “The main challenge was matching the velocity of the accelerating THz field to the almost speed-of-light electron beam velocity, while also preventing the inherently lower velocity of the THz pulse envelope propagating through our accelerating structure from significantly degrading the length over which the driving field and electrons interact.”

“We overcame this problem by developing a unique THz source which produced longer pulses containing only a narrow range of frequencies, significantly enhancing the interaction. Our next milestone is to demonstrate even higher energy gains while maintaining beam quality. We anticipate this will be realised through refinements to increase our THz source energy, which are already underway.”

Professor Steven Jamison of who jointly leads the programme, explained: “The controlled acceleration of relativistic beams with terahertz frequency laser-like pulses is a milestone in development of a new approach to particle accelerators. In using electromagnetic frequencies over one hundred times higher than in conventional particle accelerators, a revolutionary advance in the control of the particle beams at femtosecond time scales becomes possible.”

“With our demonstration of terahertz acceleration of particles travelling at 99.99% of the speed of light, we have confirmed a route to scaling terahertz acceleration to highly relativistic energies.”

While the researchers have an eye to a long term role of their concepts in replacing multi-kilometre scale research accelerators (such as Europe’s 3 km long x-ray-source in Hamburg) with devices mere metres in length, they expect the immediate impacts will be in the fields of radio-therapy and in materials characterisation.

Dr Darren Graham, Senior Lecturer in Physics at The University of Manchester said: “Achieving this milestone would not have been possible without the unique collaborative environment provided by the Cockcroft Institute, which has helped bring together scientists and engineers from University of Lancaster, The University of Manchester and the staff from STFC at ”.

Dr Patrick Parkinson

Big-data for nano-electronics

The modern world runs on nanotechnology; we are connected by a fibre-network using nanostructured lasers, and use computers and phones made of nanometre scale transistors. The next generation of nanotechnology promises to incorporate multiple functionalities into single nanomaterial elements; this is “functional nanotechnology”. Here, the size of the material itself provides functionality – for instance for sensing, computing, or interacting with light. The most powerful and scalable approaches to making these structures use bottom-up or “self-assembled” methods; however, as this production technique emerges from the laboratory and into industry, issues such as yield, heterogeneity, and functional parameter spread have arisen.

Functional performance in these nanomaterials is determined by geometry. As such, variations in size or composition affect performance in complex ways. In this project, I will combine high-speed and high-throughput techniques to measure the shape, composition and performance of hundreds of thousands of functional nanoparticles from each production run. By combining this big data with statistical analytics, I will create a new methodology to understand and then optimize cutting-edge functional nanomaterials, working with academic partners in Cambridge, University College London, Strathclyde, Lund (Sweden) and the Australian National University, and industrial partners including AIXTRON and Nanoco.

The ultimate goal of this project is to enable demonstration and scale-up of transformative devices based on novel nanotechnology, for sensing, computing, telecommunication and quantum technology.

Dr Jessica Boland

Terahertz, Topology, Technology: Realising the potential of nanoscale Dirac materials using near-field terahertz spectroscopy

Technology is constantly evolving. Even within our lifetime, devices have become noticeably faster and smaller with increased functionality; yet these 'smart' devices still suffer from high power consumption and poor energy storage. Integrative photonic, electronic and quantum technologies are key to creating the next-generation of devices that are more energy-efficient with unprecedented performance. Advanced functional materials will form the basis of these new technologies. Dirac materials, in particular, have attracted significant attention as candidates for novel devices, owing to their extraordinary optoelectronic properties. For these materials, the surface hosts Dirac electrons that are immune to backscattering from non-magnetic impurities and defects. Their direction of travel is fixed by their inherent angular momentum or 'spin', so they behave as if on a railway line - travelling with less resistance and heat production. In particular, these materials have emerged as promising candidates for novel terahertz (THz) device, which are poised to impact several sectors, including security, food processing, healthcare and wireless communication. However, to realise their full potential, an in-depth understanding of key device parameters (e.g. conductivity) in these materials is vital.

This research project aims to provide non-destructive material characterisation at 3 extremes: nanometre (<30nm) length scales, ultrafast (<1ps) timescales and low temperatures ( <10K). By employing scattering-type near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) with ultrafast optical-pump terahertz-probe (OPTP) spectroscopy (OPTP-SNOM), their surface photoconductivity response will be mapped for the first time with <30nm spatial and <1ps temporal resolution. Working with University of Leeds, Oxford and NPL, nano-tomography will be performed to form a 3D map of local carrier concentration, carrier lifetime and electron mobility, providing deeper insight into their optoelectronic properties. Utilising this newfound knowledge, the exclusive P-NAME facility at 91ֱ�� will be used to spatially dope optimised materials with <40nm spatial accuracy to control electronic properties on nanometre length scales. This will allow design of bespoke nanosystems for device applications, such as THz emitters and detectors. In collaboration with Teraview, these systems will allow development of prototype THz devices for healthcare imaging systems and ultrafast wireless communication.