Richard Berry

Associate Professor of Physics

My research is focused on rotary molecular motors, in particular the Bacterial Flagellar Motor, which is a rotary molecular engine powered by the flow of ions across the inner, or cytoplasmic, membrane of a bacterial cell envelope. Each motor drives a protruding helical filament, and the rotating filaments provide the propulsive force for cells to swim. We use a range of optical techniques to try and understand how these living machines work.

Molecular motors are tens of nanometres in size, and we measure their motion using novel forms of light microscopy to follow visible "handles" such as sub-micron gold or polystyrene spheres and single fluorescent molecules. We measure the position of the handles with nanometre and sub-millisecond resolution using fluorescence microscopy, laser dark-field microscopy and laser interferometry. Optical tweezers (3-D laser traps) and other methods are used to push single motors around. We also use single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to detect separate components of the motors and assess how they interact with each other.

For more information, please visit the web pages for my research group or send me an email.

Research area Biophotonics Imaging

Research interests Fluorescence imaging Optical trapping Single molecule fluorescence

Department Physics

Steve Sheard

Associate Professor of Engineering Science

My research interests are in the general area of optoelectronics, including integrated circuit based surface emitting laser devices, optically controlled smart tags, and optical sensors.

Jason Smith

Professor of Photonic Materials and Devices

Our research focuses on the optical and electronic properties of solid state nanostructures for applications such as optoelectronics devices, quantum information processing and photovoltaics.

Robert Smith

Associate Professor

My research interests involve ultracold atoms

Hannah Smithson

Professor of Experimental Psychology

I use adaptive optics enabled ophthalmoscopes as a tool to investigate visual perception, aiming to answer such questions as "How do the neural circuits in human retina process colour information?".

Henry Snaith FRS

Professor of Physics

Our research is primarily focused on developing the physics and technology behind low cost photovoltaic concepts.

Shankar Srinivas

Professor of Developmental Biology

Paul Stavrinou

Associate Professor of Engineering Science

My research interests span the development of materials (organic and inorganic) for photonic applications and optoelectronic device components.

Ludmilla Steier

Associate Professor of Inorganic Chemistry

My research addresses solar-driven conversion of small molecules (CO₂, water) into fuels and chemicals using photo- and electrocatalysts.

Hannah Stern

Associate Professor of Materials

Our research interests are probing the photophysics, excited state dynamics and spin physics of emerging quantum optical material systems.

Chris Stevens

Associate Professor of Engineering Science

My research area is Ultrafast Electronics which is a rapidly developing field in which we explore the ultimate speed limits of electronics.