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Schemes for Engineers in Research and Development
Global Research Awards: Profiles
Dr Matthew Halsall - University of Manchester
Dr Matthew Halsall of the University of Manchester
spent a total of eight months over 2006-07 at the
University of California, Santa Barbara’s, Institute
for Quantum and Chromo Dynamics and Center for
Terahertz Science and Technology. His Global
Research Award project investigated, “Nitride
Semiconductor Devices for THz electronics”
This
Global Research Award was made at the beginning of
2006 and funded an 8 month total stay for Dr Halsall
and his family at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) THz laboratory starting from
April 2006. The Global Research Award scheme is
almost the only scheme open to UK applicants that
really makes it possible for academics with family
commitments to undertake these kinds of visits. Santa
Barbara is as expensive to visit as it is a
desirable place to live and the cost of family
relocation would have been prohibitive without the
Award.
The purpose of the research was to
investigate the application of an exciting new
electronic material (Gallium Nitride) to the
fabrication of devices for generation of THz
frequencies. The visit represented an almost unique
opportunity for the applicant as his own research
coincided with those of the host (Professor Sherwin)
in the field of THz devices. Moreover, there is also
present in the UCSB Engineering Faculty a very
strong group working on the nitride system for other
applications and their expertise could be tapped for
the design of the proposed devices. The project
proceeded to the successful design and engineering
of structures with the correct parameters for the
generation of THz frequencies from commercial
telecommunication laser systems. The final part of
the project involved the use of a large facility at
UCSB, the free electron laser.
The resulting work
has lead to a publication and two presentations at
international conferences. Moreover, the work is
continuing with a larger grant application to make a
commercial device under consideration by the
Research Councils. In the longer term, Matthew
views the experience of working in one of the top
North American labs as something of a watershed in
his career. Subsequently, he has reorganised the
management of his lab closer to the that of the UCSB
and started to put in motion the spinning off of his
own company to develop products for the telecoms
market in collaboration with a Canadian partner.
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