John Ash
My undergraduate study was at Aberystwyth University where I received a First class BSc in Physics. My PhD title will be ‘surface effects on the light emission of diamond’. I applied for the PhD project because of my interest and experiences in materials science. My material sciences experiences began when doing a summer project between 2nd and final year which involved analysing Small-Angle X-ray Scattering data for a PhD student my personal tutor supervised. The same supervisor then offered me a final year project on the ‘Imaging ellipsometric study of thin film zirconia during sintering’. This involved fitting a multi-thin film system using Python to some data gathered years before.
When completing the masters provided by the CDT I felt the skills and knowledge learned were incredibly useful and put me in a much better position to begin my PhD than if I went from my Physics degree straight into a PhD.
Now back in Aberystwyth I have begun to learn about the two high vacuum systems I will be using, the REES, which specialises in Realtime Electron Energy Spectroscopy and the Ap-REES ('Little-REES' in Welsh). With plans to callibrate a new detector and electron gun and after designing a new sample holder we hope to have a more efficient system for a higher sample throughput, which currently can limit the amount of samples which can be measured using the techniques which require the ultra-high vacuum.
PhD Title: Surface Effects in Light Emission from Diamond
PhD Supervisor: Prof. Andy Evans
Institution: Aberystwyth University
Teaching at Aberystwyth: Classical Dynamics, Mathematical Physics, Laboratory demonstrating and Python Workshops.
