Professor Otto Muskens has praised the strength of multi-disciplinary research at the University of Southampton after securing three grant awards in just a two-week period.

The researcher will expand on recent scientific advances in space technologies and nanophotonics across the three projects, which represent a research income of around £1m to Southampton’s School of Physics and Astronomy.

The three projects for the Integrated Nanophotonics Group have been awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Leverhulme Trust and the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme.

“These grants will allow us to continue delivering new and original research that sustains the excellence of our School,â€? Otto says. “I think it is very important that we work together across our expertise in Engineering and Physical Sciences. Most of the excellent research in our Faculty is done with the input of many different teams and skills, and this is one particular strength of Southampton.â€?

The new Horizon 2020 SMART-FLEX project is aimed at creating smart and flexible metamaterial coatings for spacecraft and satellites. The research follows on from the EU-funded META-REFLECTOR project and will involve an international consortium of space tech partners.

The funding from the Leverhulme Trust will explore the extraordinary nonlinearities of light in complex media.

“We have been intrigued for a number of years by how light interacts with complex nanomaterials, in which light waves bounce around like in a nanoscale pinball machine,â€? Otto continues. “We will be targeting fundamental physics questions such as the existence of Anderson localisation, for which Philip Anderson received the Nobel Prize but which has never been demonstrated for light.â€?

The new grant from the EPSRC will allow researchers to share expertise of ultrafast nano-optics. The project will open up access to Southampton’s Chameleon Ultra II laser system to early stage researchers and fellowship holders that would otherwise not have access to comparable capabilities.

“It was certainly a nice surprise to get three grants at more or less the same time, but it was the result of many months of preparation,â€? Otto adds. “The three grants reflect very different aspects of the group’s activities, from very applied to very basic research.

“We are engaging in multi-disciplinary teams. For example, the SMART-FLEX project will involve Professor Kees de Groot from the School of Electronics and Computer Science and Professor Dan Hewak from the University’s Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics. Nanofabrication in Southampton’s world-class clean rooms is an important aspect of our research and takes up a lot of time and resources. To combine new materials and devices with optical experiments is challenging, but over the years we have built a strong track record and international visibility in this area.â€?

Physicist Masanori Hanada will help broach ground-breaking new interdisciplinary research opportunities at the University of Southampton through a prestigious fellowship.The early career researcher will arrive in Southampton’s School of Physics and Astronomy this October after securing an Ernest Rutherford Fellowship from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

The five-year fellowship, one of just 12 granted annually, will interface between the University’s String Theory and Holography Group and Southampton High Energy Physics (SHEP) theory group, which are combined within the Southampton Theory Astrophysics and Gravity (STAG) Research Centre.

Dr Andreas Jüttner, a Principal Research Fellow in Physics and Astronomy, says: "The award of this extremely prestigious and competitive fellowship comes at the best possible moment in time. We are concentrating our forces toward computing holographically the quantum mechanical wave function of the early universe by making use of methods from mathematical physics, particle physics and large-scale numerical simulations on state-of-the-art high-performance computers. Masanori has expertise and a strong track record in all of these disciplines that will strengthen Southampton's role as a world-leader in the areas covered by STAG Research Centre."

STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowships help future scientific leaders establish strong, independent research programmes and seek, in part, to attract outstanding overseas researchers to the UK.

Masanori will be arriving from the University of Colorado Boulder in the USA, where he has been expanding his expertise as a Research Associate. His experience includes spells as an Associate Professor at the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics at Kyoto University, Japan, a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, USA, and a Visiting Scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA.

Physics and Astronomy at Southampton has previously collaborated with Masanori on research themes such as lattice gauge theory, a topic for which the University has established an international reputation. In 2016, the University organised and hosted the International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, which included over 400 attendees from around the world.