People

Group Members:

Marcus C. Newton

Marcus C. Newton BSc (London), PhD (UCL), MInstP, FHEA

UKRI Future Leader Fellow

Academic Background

Dr Marcus Newton is a lecturer in the department of Physics & Astronomy and a UKRI Future Leader Fellow. He received his PhD in materials and devices from UCL. He was then invited to join Hokkaido University as professor of physics at the assistant level and was awarded the prestigious JSPS Kakenhi award to carry out research into ultra-fast structural dynamics in strongly correlated materials using the SACLA X-ray free electron laser (XFEL). He subsequently returned to the UK and joined the Physics & Astronomy department at the University of Southampton.

Marcus also heads the African Synchrotron Network for Advanced Energy Materials (ASNAEM).

Undergraduate Teaching

Crystalline Solids, Computer Techniques in Physics

Research Interests

Marcus' research interests include:

• The development and use of lens-less imaging techniques such as Bragg coherent X-ray diffraction imaging (BCXDI) to study nanoscale quantum materials at X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) facilities such as Euro-XFEL and x-ray synchrotron facilities such as the Diamond Light Source.
• Ab-initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of emergent phenomena in multi-functional quantum materials using high-performance computing facilities.
• Materials development for the capture of light and ambient vibrational energy such as photovoltaic devices and piezoelectric mechanical recouperation devices that can potentially enable low-cost and innovative renewable sources of energy.

Ahmed Mohamed

PhD Candidate

David Serban

PhD Candidate

Jesse Tighe

PhD Candidate

Toby Mitchell

Masters Student

Visiting Scientists:

Dr Ulrich Wagner

Ulrich is a member of the X-ray optics group at the Swiss Light Source (SLS), Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland.

Dusan Plasienka

Dusan is a visiting scientist with interests that include ab initio modelling of structural and electronic transitions in crystalline and disordered materials, high-pressure and temperature behaviour of liquids and solids, phase diagrams, crystal structure prediction and simulations of transformation mechanisms from molecular dynamics and metadynamics.

Alumni:

• Evan Ng (Masters Student)
• Rowland Rich (Masters Student)
• Dr Charles Opoku (PDRA) -> Open University Research Fellow
• George Lancaster (Masters Student)
• Adam Pietraszewski (Masters Student)
• Anthony Kenny (Masters Student)
• Simon Payne (Masters Student)
• Charlie Turner (Masters Student)
• Elena Ureña Horno (PhD Candidate)