People

Prof. Fabrice P. Laussy (Chair)

I am a French theoretical physicist, with an interest in most topics of physics and working more specifically in the fields of quantum optics, light-matter interactions, condensed matter and solid-state physics. I obtained my Ph.D in 2005 at the Université Blaise Pascal (in France) and gained extensive post-doctoral experience throughout Europe with stays in Sheffield (UK), Madrid (Spain), Southampton (UK) & Munich (Germany), the latter as a Marie Curie Fellow. In the period 2012—2016, I built a Research Group in Madrid, Spain, as a Ramón y Cajal fellow and with the support of the ERC starting grant POLAFLOW. In 2017, I took up a position at the University of Wolverhampton where I officiate as the Director of Study for Physics, setting on foot an ambitious Physics course for this vibrant University. I am currently the chair of Light and Matter interactions there.

My proudest achievements in Science include a theory of Bose-Einstein condensation based on quantum Boltzmann master equations, the theory of frequency-resolved photon correlations and the study of its applications, including the proposal for a new type of light where photons are replaced by groups (or bundles) of $N$ photons for a tunable integer $N$, and the design of a device to generate it: the bundler. Recently, I also contributed to the first demonstration of a genuine quantum character of polaritons (light-matter molecules). I am co-author of the popular textbook Microcavities. My immediate goals are to i) move forward quantum technologies based on our theoretical breakthroughs and ii) build a thriving Physics branch at the UoW to implement the noble mission of the University of bringing hand in hand research and teaching, as two facets of the same coin, that of knowledge. Non scholæ sed vitæ.

Dr. Elena del Valle

I am Senior Lecturer in Quantum Optics, a theorist with expertise in open quantum systems, photon correlations and frequency filtering, for which I developed the "sensor technique" which allows their exact calculation. My skills lie in analytical methods and mathematical methods and I have a passion for teaching and develop projects with students. I completed my PhD in the Departamento Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in March 2009. My thesis was about light-matter interaction in 2D semiconductor microcavities and quantum dots embedded in microcavities. After that, I had the great pleasure of living in the UK for a couple of years (March 2011-2013) after being awarded a Newton International Fellowship at the University of Southampton in the group of Prof. Alexey Kavokin. Between the summers 2011 and 2013, I enjoyed a Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers and worked at the Technische Universität München (Germany) with Prof. Michael Hartmann. During 2014, I had a Marie Curie (IEF-Fellowship for career development) at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. My project was called SQUIRREL (Sensing QUantum Information coRRELations). I then became a Ramon y Cajal tenured fellow at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid until July 2019 where I joined the WLM.|} Dr. Andrew Gascoyne (Lecturer) I am a Lecturer in mathematics and physics. I graduated with a PhD from the University of Sheffield in 2011 and worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate on a STFC funded project entitled "Magnetic Features and Local Helioseismology" before joining the University of Wolverhampton as a Lecturer in Mathematics in 2015. My research is within the broad area of Solar physics, which is the branch of astrophysics that specialises in the study of the Sun. I am focused on Helioseismology; the study of acoustic wave propagation within the interior of the Sun, and MHD (magnetohydrodynamics) wave propagation. Mathematical modelling is a vital part of this research in order to compare and predict observational signatures and understand the many complex mechanisms and processes involved in the interaction of the solar acoustic modes with magnetic elements on the Sun i.e., Sunspots and Plage regions. Juan Camilo López Carreño (Teaching Associate; PhD) My path in Physics started in 2009 at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá—the Andean capital of Colombia. There I did the undergraduate studies of physics and after completing the five years program under the guidance of Dr. Herbert Vinck, I set sails into research on quantum optics. My journey continued in 2014, this time in Spain, at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid where I obtained the Master degree and was fortunate to become part of the group of Dr. Fabrice Laussy and Dr. Elena del Valle and join their efforts in the research on fundamental issues of quantum mechanics and the quantum description of polaritons. Guillermo Díaz Camacho (Visiting PhD Student) I am a PhD student from Madrid (Spain), and I am in Wolverhampton as a visiting student in the group of Prof. Fabrice Laussy. I did my undergrad in Physics at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and set to continue my academic path with a Master degree in Theoretical Physics at the same university. It was at this point when I got interested in quantum optics and quantum information, and in 2015 pursued a PhD program at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid under the supervision of Prof. Carlos Tejedor. My main line of research is quantum optics in semiconductor nanostructures, studying systems such as microcavity polaritons. Eduardo Zubizarreta Casalengua (Visiting PhD Student) I finished the Physics degree in 2016 at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. That very year, I met Dr. Fabrice Laussy and Dr. Elena del Valle together with the group they led and I began to collaborate with them. From those first steps, my interest in quantum mechanics, especially quantum optics and quantum information, has grown swiftly and it keeps on raising. I continued my academic career doing a Master degree in Condensed Matter and Biological Systems at the same university. Nowadays I’m in a PhD program (in Madrid) under the supervision of Dr. Elena del Valle. We stay in touch with the Wolverhampton group with whom we share many common projects. My research is mainly focused on the generation of quantum light, unraveling its nature, understanding the underlying mechanisms and search for future applications. Always looking for the analytical way to face any problem. Katarzyna (Kasia) Sopinska (Intern) I am young student of Dudley college, and I am currently doing an applied science course on level three. My interests lie on a large variety of topics, ranging from art to philosophy. However, the subjects that I am the most passionate about are mathematics and physics, both at an experimental and at theoretical level. At the University of Wolverhampton I am doing an internship, which is helping me to develop my experimental skills but also to deepen my theoretical knowledge. You... We are starting from scratch. We need motivated people at all levels of qualification. Join us, if you can! Close collaborators Dr. Daniele Sanvitto Daniele is the head of the advanced photonics lab in Lecce, Italy. He is our top experimentalist collaborator with whom we are actively working on a new road toward quantum computing. Dr. Amir Rahmani Amir is an Iranian theorist with expertise in dealing with old-style, lengthy algebra running through scores of handwritten pages. We collaborate on light-matter dynamics in unconventional configurations and with new degrees of freedom. Past Students, interns Mariam Adam and Anji Bard were two Nuffield foundation supported students, working in our group (from July 25 till August 15, 2017) on the problem of the characterisation of quantum sources of light from their photon emission.