Imaging experts from the University of Southampton are supporting the development of an ultra-low noise camera designed for applications in optical astronomy and medical imaging.

Researchers in Physics and Astronomy are collaborating with Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) sensor specialists at vivaMOS to optimise the technology for large-area imaging.

The project, which is funded by the national SPRINT (SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology) business support programme, will exploit the low noise and high sensitivity capabilities of the vivaMOS sensor, which are unique in the market.

This will enable the development of a large field-of-view camera that can be used in optical astronomy, with further potential opportunities for detectors in the medical field of single-photon emission computerised tomography (SPECT) imaging.

Professor Tony Bird, of the Southampton Astronomy Group, says: "To this project with vivaMOS, we bring a background in astronomy, with particular experience in optical astronomy and astronomy detection integration, a focus on software and algorithms, and a strong interest in improving astronomy instruments.

"Local links are very important and it's great to be working with a local company such as vivaMOS. The field is impactful for our research and with several former Southampton University students now at vivaMOS, it’s also a strong platform from a teaching point of view."

Read the full story on the main news page.

Physicists from the University of Southampton have praised the "tremendous and well-deserved" share of this year's Nobel Prize for Physics for Professor Sir Roger Penrose.

Sir Roger, a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from Southampton in 2002, has been jointly awarded the global honour for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity.

Over many years, Sir Roger and his colleagues from the University of Oxford - where he is an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics – have visited Southampton to deliver seminars and public talks on relativity and his work.

He shares the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics with Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for their work on black holes.

Ivette Fuentes Guridi, Professor of Physics at Southampton, says: "I'm delighted for this tremendous and well-deserved global recognition of Roger's contributions to Physics. Sir Roger has been an invaluable mentor to me and so many others around the world, helping to nurture and encourage our careers.

"I've had the privilege to collaborate with him, including two recent papers proposing experiments to test his ideas on the collapse of quantum superpositions due to gravity. And as a Founder in the Roger Penrose Institute, we will soon be working with Roger to bring the UK arm of the Institute to Southampton which is incredibly exciting."

Read the full story on the main news page.