Helen MacDougall MMath (Aberystwyth)

My PhD project at Aberystwyth University started in February 2024, and currently uses industry standard software package Ansys Lumerical for modelling three areas of nanophotonics - the interaction between light and matter on small scales - using the Finite Difference Time Domain method for solving Maxwell's equations.

The first strand simulates helical packings of uniform spheres and their interaction with polarised light, widely used in biology where the chirality of molecules is important; it aims to incorporate the effects of random variations in particle size and position.  The second seeks to use nonlinear materials to amplify sidebands in four-wave mixing of optical signals, a potential solution for the problem of purely-optical frequency switching in fibre optics communications.  Finally, Aberystwyth is part of an international consortium developing an in-the-field, real-time detector for bovine tuberculosis, involving a monolithic laser crystal which will also be modelled before moving to production.

My previous experience includes work as a lab assistant in the astrobiology and surface chemistry laboratories at the Australian National University, and modelling eclipsing binary stars with PHOEBE for an internship with the University of Moncton, New Brunswick, as part of the MOBSTER collaboration on magnetic OB stars .  For my masters' projects in mathematics at Aberystwyth University, I looked at non-linear systems, C*-algebras of groupoids and noncommutative topology.

Tutor for physics students on MP10610 Calculus.

Materials Physics Research Group