Department of Physics
Level 7 MSci Handbook
2014/15
7CCP4000 Project in Physics
7CCP4100 Project in Physics
www.kcl.ac.uk/physics
Contents
Contact Details ............................................................................................................................................ 3
Undergraduate teaching staff: ................................................................................................................. 3
Physics Department Office Staff .............................................................................................................. 4
MSci Administrative contact points at each College ................................................................................. 4
Golden Rules ................................................................................................................................................5
About This Handbook................................................................................................................................... 6
The Academic Year ......................................................................................................................................7
The Semester System ...............................................................................................................................7
Timetables 2014/15 ....................................................................................................................................7
King’s College London Teaching Dates ..........................................................................................................7
Your Degree Programme ............................................................................................................................ 8
Registering for modules ........................................................................................................................... 8
Reassessment ......................................................................................................................................... 8
Condoned fails ......................................................................................................................................... 8
Exit awards .............................................................................................................................................. 9
Structure of Programmes for 2014/15 ......................................................................................................... 9
Integrated Masters Programmes (MSci 4th year) ..................................................................................... 9
MSci Physics ............................................................................................................................................ 9
MSci Physics with Theoretical Physics...................................................................................................... 9
MSci in Mathematics and Physics ............................................................................................................. 9
Optional Modules .................................................................................................................................... 10
1. Project Information ................................................................................................................................. 12
1.1 MSci Projects 7CCP4000 and 7CCP4100 important dates .................................................................. 12
2. Organisation, Safety, Project Work and Assessment .............................................................................. 13
2.1 Organisation....................................................................................................................................... 13
2.2 Safety................................................................................................................................................ 13
2.3 Project Work and the Project Notebook ............................................................................................ 13
2.4 The Final Report ................................................................................................................................ 14
2.5 The Oral Examination......................................................................................................................... 14
3. Staff Projects ......................................................................................................................................... 15
4. Project Selection .................................................................................................................................... 15
5. Submission of Reports and The Deadline. ............................................................................................... 15
6. Late Submissions .................................................................................................................................... 16
7. The Wheatstone Prize ............................................................................................................................. 16
Appendix 1 – The project report and research letter .................................................................................. 17
A1.1 How to write the project report ....................................................................................................... 17
A1.2 The marking scheme and guidelines used by your examiners .......................................................... 19
Appendix 2 – Listing of Projects.................................................................................................................. 21
College statement on plagiarism.................................................................................................................36
How to avoid plagiarism ..........................................................................................................................36
Level 7 project selection form .................................................................................................................... 37
2
Contact Details
Department of Physics
King’s College London
Strand
London
WC2R 2LS
Fax : 020 7848 2420
Tel: 020 7848 2823
Email : james.french@kcl.ac.uk
Website: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/physics
Undergraduate teaching staff:
Dr B Acharya
Dr J Alexandre
Dr F Baletto
Dr J Bhaseen
Dr N Bonini
Dr B Butorac
Prof A De Vita
Dr W Dickson
Prof. J Ellis
Dr M Fairbairn
Prof. M Green
Dr S Garcia Manyes
Prof. L Kantorovich
Dr E Kozik
Dr E Lim
Dr C Lorenz
Prof. S Mannan
Prof N Mavromatos
Dr P Mesquida
Prof. C Molteni
Dr D Owen
Prof. A Paxton
Prof. D Richards
Prof. M Sakellariadou
DR S Sajjadi
Dr R Sapienza
Prof. S Sarkar
Prof K Suhling
Prof M Van Schilfgaarde
Dr C Weber
Dr G Wurtz
Prof. A Zayats
Room
S7.22
S7.30
S7.24
S4.02.c
S4.02.b
S3.19
S7.26
S3.08
S7.31
S7.29
S3.07
S7.14
S7.25
S4.02e
S7.32
S7.27
S7.11
S7.21
S4.02g
S7.23
S3.07
S3.10
S7.04
S7.18
S3.12
S7.17
S7.19
S3.11
S4.02.a
S4.02.d
S7.12
S7.10
Tel
2156
2429
2152
7161
7148
2774
2715
2930
7016
2121
7106
2160
1092
2883
2639
1780
2168
2241
2170
7448
7476
2753
1535
2322
2491
2514
2119
7246
7165
2573
2477
Email
bobby.acharya@kcl.ac.uk
jean.alexandre@kcl.ac.uk
francesca.baletto@kcl.ac.uk
joe.bhaseen@kcl.ac.uk
nicola.bonini@kcl.ac.uk
bozidar.butorac@kcl.ac.uk
alessandro.de_vita@kcl.ac.uk
wayne.dickson@kcl.ac.uk
John.Ellis@cern.ch
malcolm.fairbain@kcl.ac.uk
mark.a.green@kcl.ac.uk
sergi.garcia-manyes@kcl.ac.uk
lev.kantorovitch@kcl.ac.uk
evgeny.kozik@kcl.ac.uk
eugene.lim@kcl.ac.uk
chris.lorenz@kcl.ac.uk
samjid.mannan@kcl.ac.uk
nikolaos.mavromatos@kcl.ac.uk
patrick.mesquida@kcl.ac.uk
carla.molteni@kcl.ac.uk
dylan.owen@kcl.ac.uk
tony.paxton@kcl.ac.uk
david.r.richards@kcl.ac.uk
mairi.sakellariadou@kcl.ac.uk
shahriar.sajjadi-emami@kcl.ac.uk
riccardo.sapienza@kcl.ac.uk
sarben.sarkar@kcl.ac.uk
klaus.suhling@kcl.ac.uk
mark.van_schilfgaarde@kcl.ac.uk
cedric.weber@kcl.ac.uk
gregory.wurtz@kcl.ac.uk
a.zayats@kcl.ac.uk
To contact a member of staff by direct line from outside the College prefix the extension with 020 7848.
3
Physics Department Office Staff:
Room
Tel
Email
Department Manager
Dr Paul Le Long
S7.20
2148
paul.d.le_long@kcl.ac.uk
Departmental Co-ordinator
Mr James French
S7.03
2823
james.french@kcl.ac.uk
PGR/Research Programme Officer
Ms Julia Kilpatrick
S3.13
2155
julia.kilpatrick@kcl.ac.uk
UG/PFT Programme Officer
Ms Jean Dhanji
S7.03
tbc
tbc
Safety Officer & Laser Safety Officer
Mr Julian Greenberg
S3.09
2297
julian.greenberg@kcl.ac.uk
To contact a member of staff by direct line from outside the College prefix the extension with 020 7848.
Further contact information
You may find it useful to know the following contact numbers and websites:
Student Registration
Tel: 020 7848 3410, Fax: 020 7848 3059
Web:http://www.kcl.ac.uk/campuslife/services/newtokings/enrol/index.aspx
Assessment and Records Centre (ARC)
Tel: 020 7848 /2268/1715, Fax: 020 7848 2766
Web: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/arts-sciences/arc/ug/
Email: arc@kcl.ac.uk
The Compass
Tel : 020 7848 7070
Web : http://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/ug/experience/support/compass.aspx
Email : thecompass@kcl.ac.uk
Emergency
Tel: 2222
Security
Tel: 2874
MSci Administrative contact points at each College
KCL:
QMUL:
RHUL:
UCL:
James French
Susan Benedict
Gill Green
Dan Browne
james.french@kcl.ac.uk
s.benedict@qmul.ac.uk
gill.green@rhul.ac.uk
d.browne@ucl.ac.uk
tel.
tel.
tel.
tel.
020 7848 2823
0207 882 6959
01784 443506
020 7679 3602
4
Golden Rules

Check emails daily. All urgent and important information will be sent to you via email.

Attendance is vital. Listening to an exposition of a subject developed in lectures is an
important part of the process of learning physics. Just reading the notes is not a valid
substitute.

If you are unable to attend college due to illness, you must email your personal tutor and
the Department Office.

Read over lecture notes very soon after the lecture and if there are areas that are unclear
ask the lecturer or your tutorial assistant.

Before recording any lectures or meetings you must first obtain permission from all staff
involved.

Reading lists exist to prepare you for a course and help to develop a greater understanding
of the topics you are studying.

Studying in your own time is vital – devote a sufficient number of hours to it. 40 hours a
week (contact time plus independent study) is the goal. This won’t always be achieved but
striving for it will at least mean you spend an adequate amount of time studying. A study
diary will be useful where you note the number of hours done each day – this acts as a
reminder and incentive to study.

Study groups can be extremely beneficial. Form them if you find them useful.

Try to strike a balance between social and academic life.

Use a diary or online calendar to make a note of important dates and deadlines.

Deadlines are the last point at which you can hand something in. Anything handed in late
may not be marked, so don’t leave it to the last-minute, especially if you need to print
something.

Approach staff with questions during office hours or by arrangement. Make use of all
feedback mechanisms.

Make use of the Department Office. We are here to help solve any problems that come up.

Join the Maxwell Society.
 Approach Staff Student Committee representatives with problems and positive feedback.
5
About This Handbook
This handbook is intended as a guide for all level 7 MSci students in the Department of Physics,
King’s College London, during the academic session 2014/15. It should be your first point of
reference about the Department.
In particular, this handbook provides details of important procedures which you will need to follow
during the session, assessment information, details of programmes and modules available in the
Department. In addition, you will find plenty of other information that we are sure you will find
useful, such as contact names, telephone numbers, email addresses and facilities and services
available to you in the College. This handbook is mainly concerned with the Department of Physics
but you will find links throughout to central college facilities and to College regulations. In particular
you should see the Faculty of Natural and Mathematical Sciences webpages
(http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/nms/current/ug/) for more information about regulations, library
services, welfare, counselling, careers and many other things. Generally, if it’s about the Physics
Department, its staff or courses, then you will find the information in this handbook. If it’s about
central college facilities, services or college regulations then you will find that information on the
Faculty of Natural and Mathematical Sciences web pages. Some of the basic regulations that may
apply to you are printed in this booklet. If in doubt, just ask at the Departmental Office (details
below) and we will be happy to guide you.
A unique feature of the MSc and MSci programmes is that students may take courses from a
consortium of University of London Colleges: Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), Royal
Holloway University of London (RHUL) and University College London (UCL). This collaboration
provides students with a choice of courses covering a wide range of modern physics, taught by
leaders in the field. Level 7 project work is a genuine research project which is usually carried out at
King's. You should be aware that other Colleges will have different regulations and different ways
of delivering teaching and you must abide by and adapt to these. In return you will receive a much
broader education and enjoy a wider academic and intellectual experience – one of the main
benefits of this programme
The information in this booklet was compiled in July 2014. Whilst every attempt has been made to
ensure that details are as accurate as possible, some changes are likely to occur before or during
the 2014/15 session. You are advised to check important information either with the Department
Office (room S7.03) or with your tutor. Updates will often be sent you by email and/or displayed on
notice boards in the department.
We hope you find this handbook useful, and we wish you an enjoyable and successful year.
6
The Academic Year
The Semester System
The academic year is divided into two semesters. There are 10 weeks of teaching in each semester
plus a reading week on week seven of each semester. Modules worth 15 credits run over a single
semester; modules worth 30 credits run over both semesters. There is a short teaching, revision
and examination semester in May to June; courses are examined during this period.
Timetables 2014/15
Changes to timetables will be published on the Physics Department website and on notice boards
in the department. You should check regularly for updates.
Maxwell Lectures: Each Monday at 2:00pm in Room K2.31, Strand Building, Strand, London The
Maxwell Society Lectures are a series of lectures on topical scientific issues, during fall and winter
terms. They are aimed at a general audience and all are welcome to attend, especially those from
the other London universities. Details of the Maxwell Lectures are displayed within the department
and emailed out to students on a weekly basis. If you do not receive these emails please contact the
department office.
You should check the website regularly for course information and updates. You should check with
the relevant departments for up to date timetable information. Students on Maths and Physics
Programme's can find the Maths Timetable on the Maths department website
King’s College London Teaching Dates
Note: some classes in other Colleges may fall outside of these dates.
Semester 1
Monday 29 September 2014
-
Friday 12 December 2014
Semester 2
Monday 12 January 2015
-
Friday 27 March 2015
Revision Period and Summer Exams
Monday 27 April 2015
Friday 5 June 2015
Resit Exam Period
Monday 10th August 2015
-
Friday 21st August 2015
Students must be available on all of the above dates. Coursework deadlines will not be extended
or other special arrangements.
Although some Colleges have reading weeks most MSci classes will still be taught in these weeks.
7
Your Degree Programme
Registering for modules
Registration for modules takes place online via OneSpace, where a list of modules that you are able
to take in the following academic session will be available to select. It is also possible to amend your
selections by completing a module amendment form, which is available from ARC
www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/arts-sciences/arc/ug/modules.html
ARC will contact you via your King’s email with information on when you can make your selections
and how to access the online module selection facility. Before making your selections please read
the guidance notes carefully, and the online instructions given in OneSpace. If there is a problem at
any stage you must contact your department and ARC.
If you are taking courses at another College, it is very important that you fill out a course
registration form from that College (i.e. you must fill out a UCL form for UCL taught courses, a QMUL
form for QMUL taught courses and so on). These registration forms are available from the
department office. If you do not fill out these types of form for all of your courses at other colleges
you will not have a place in the examination hall. It is not enough to inform your home College of
your selection. You must complete the registration forms and submit them through your own
College administrator by the date specified by each College:
KCL:
QMUL:
RHUL:
UCL:
Early October and end of January for spring courses
Early October and end of January for spring courses
End of September (undergraduates), end of October (postgraduates)
Early October
If you drop a course at another College you should inform both your own College and the
administrative contact point at the College that runs the course.
Reassessment
Students are permitted one reassessment opportunities for level 7 modules, with reassessment
being offered at the first available opportunity. Reassessment opportunities are awarded at the
discretion of the programme board NB: Reassessment of KCL modules will take place in August.
Modules run by other intercollegiate institutions will take place the following May. Reassessment
of failed units of assessment should only be offered in cases where a student’s overall mark for a
module falls below the pass mark (50 for level 7). NB: Once a module is reassessed, the overall mark
for that module is capped at the pass mark.
Condoned fails
The rules on condoning are as follows:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
Failed marks can be condoned so long as they are >=40%.
Condonement will be considered after the first attempt (only if you are able to graduate).
In year four MSci students must pass a minimum of 120 credits
Projects cannot be condoned.
Any condonement is at the discretion of the Physics examination board.
8
Exit awards
Where a student has failed to satisfy the examiners in all elements of a programme and: a) has
exhausted any available reassessment opportunities; or b) has terminated their studies early but
has gained sufficient credit for a lower level or lower volume award The Programme Board of
Examiners may, at its discretion and in accordance with College eligibility criteria, recommend the
award of a nested qualification or an exit qualification in line with the programme specification or
relevant Faculty Board policy. The availability of nested or exit awards will be detailed in the relevant
programme specification. Once an award has been conferred there will be no further assessment
opportunities for any element of the programme leading to that award.
Structure of Programmes for 2014/15
Integrated Masters Programmes (MSci 4th year)
MSci Physics
7CCP4000 Project in Physics*
45 credits
and a choice of courses making up 90 credits from the courses available on the intercollegiate
MSci programme.
MSci Physics with Theoretical Physics
7CCP4000 Project in Physics*
45 credits
and a choice of courses making up 90 credits from the courses available on the intercollegiate
MSci programme.
MSci in Mathematics and Physics
7CCP4100 or CM461C
4th year Project
30 credits
In addition, a balanced combination of courses is chosen, in consultation with the MSci course
advisors/personal tutors, from the range available in the Departments of Mathematics and Physics.
9
Optional Modules
Course Title
No
KCL code
Taught by
Term Taught
Advanced Photonics
4425
7CCP4126
KCL
2
Advanced Physical Cosmology
4336
7XA1M336
UCL
2
Advanced Quantum Field Theory
4245
7XA44245
QMUL
2
Advanced Quantum Theory
4226
7XA14226
UCL
1
Astroparticle Cosmology
4605
7CCP4600
KCL
2
Astrophysical Plasmas
4670
7XA4S429
QMUL
2
Atom and Photon Physics
4421
7XA14421
UCL
1
Bio- and Nanomaterials in the Virtual Lab
4479
7CCP4479
KCL
1
Cosmology
4601
7XA4M108
QMUL
1
Dynamical Analysis of Complex Systems
4830
7CCMCS04
KCL
2
Electromagnetic Radiation in Astrophysics
4616
7XA4006P
QMUL
2
Electromagnetic Theory
4261
7XA44261
QMUL
1
Electronic Structure Methods
4476
7XA1G473
QMUL
2
Elements of Statistical Learning
4850
7CCMCS06
KCL
1
Environmental Remote Sensing
4702
7SSG5029
KCL
1
Equilibrium Analysis of Complex Systems
4820
7CCMCS03
KCL
1
Experimental Techniques in Condensed Matter
4477
7CCP4478
KCL
1
Extrasolar Planets & Astrophysical Discs
4690
7XA44690
QMUL
2
Formation & Evolution of Stellar Clusters
4319
7XA1M319
UCL
1
Functional Methods in Quantum Field Theory
4246
7XA4024P
QMUL
2
Lie Groups and Lie Algebras
4205
7CMMS01
KCL
1
Math Methods for Theoretical Physics
4201
7CCP4201
KCL
1
Mathematical Biology
4840
7CCMCS05
KCL
2
Molecular Biophysics
4800
7XA1M800
UCL
2
Molecular Physics
4431
7XA14431
UCL
2
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
4512
7XA84512
RHUL
2
Order & Excitations in Condensed Matter
4472
7XA14472
UCL
2
Particle Accelerator Physics
4450
7XA84450
RHUL
1
Particle Physics
4442
7XA14442
UCL
1
Phase Transitions
4215
7XA4013P
QMUL
1
Physics at the Nanoscale
4475
7CCP4474
RHUL
1
10
Course Title
No
KCL code
Taught by
Term Taught
Planetary Atmospheres
4630
7XA14630
UCL
2
Quantum Computation & Communication
4427
7XA1G427
UCL
2
Relativistic Waves & Quantum Fields
4242
7XA44242
QMUL
1
Relativity and Gravitation
4602
7XA44602
QMUL
1
Solar Physics
4640
7XA14640
UCL
2
Solar System
4650
7XA44650
QMUL
1
Space Plasma & Magnetospheric Physics
4680
7XA14C65
UCL
2
Standard Model Physics and Beyond
4501
7CCP4501
KCL
2
Statistical Data Analysis
4515
7XA9451B
RHUL
1
Statistical Mechanics
4211
7XA84211
RHUL
2
Stellar Structure & Evolution
4600
7XA44600
QMUL
1
String Theory and Branes
4534
7CCMMS34
KCL
2
Superfluids, Condensates and Superconductors
4478
7XA9478A
RHUL
1
Supersymmetry
4541
7CCMMS40
KCL
2
The Galaxy
4660
7XA4S430
QMUL
2
Theoretical Treatments of Nano-Systems
4473
7CCP4473
KCL
2
Theory of Complex Networks
4810
7CCMCS02
KCL
1
Students should take no more than one from each of the following groups:
•
4211 Statistical Mechanics
4215 Phase Transitions
•
4670 Astrophysical Plasmas
4680 Space Plasma and Magnetospheric Plasmas
•
4431 Molecular Physics
4473 Theoretical Treatments of Nano-systems
4476 Electronic Structure Methods
•
4319 Formation and Evolution of Stellar Clusters
4600 Stellar Structure and Evolution
•
4601 Cosmology
4605 Astroparticle Cosmology
•
4515 Statistical Data Analysis
4850 Elements of Statistical Learning
11
1. Project Information
All students in the fourth year physics MSci class and on the MSc programme are required to take a
project course. Single honours physics students will take a project offered by the Physics
Department. Joint honours students may choose a project offered by either of their departments.
Projects in the Physics Department involve 300 hours of work in total. Experimental, Theoretical and
Computational projects, as well as their combinations, are available.
MSc projects are longer – though still on the same basic subject area outlined later in this book. MSc
students should choose a topic in the same way as MSci students – the scope of the project will be
different but the topic will be the same. You are encouraged to discuss this with potential project
supervisors.
The following pages deal with the way in which the project work is organised. Guidelines for writing
the project report are given in Appendix 1. Appendix 2 is a listing of the physics projects, which are
offered by members of staff in the Physics Department as well as from other Departments of King's
College. Students are expected to choose a project offered by the College at which they are
registered for the MSci degree.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the project co-ordinator or the Departmental
Office. A Wheatstone Prize is normally awarded annually for the best 7CCP4100 project submitted
by a King's College student who is progressing to a higher degree
1.1 MSci Projects 7CCP4000 and 7CCP4100 important dates
All the important dates are collected below for your convenience:
Monday 22nd September
10:00 Room S7.06
Friday 26th September
Monday 29th September
Monday 12th January
(The 1st day of semester 2)
Midday Friday 27th March 2015
4pm Friday 27th March 2015
Monday 1st June – Friday 12th June 2015
Project induction for Level 7 students;
students receive handbooks and project
selection forms
Students return the Project Selection Forms.
Failure to return the form on time will result
in a project being assigned for you by the
project co-ordinator.
Projects are allocated and staff and students
are informed. Students may begin working
on their projects
Students start working on their Final Report.
Deadline for submission of the electronic
version of the Final Report, and Research
Letter by noon via Turnitin.
Deadline for submission of the hardcopy
version of the Final Report, and Research
Letter by 4pm to the UG Programme Officer.
The Oral presentations will take place.
12
2. Organisation, Safety, Project Work and Assessment
In this section the various elements of the project work are detailed in chronological order.
2.1 Organisation
The list of projects available is published to all fourth year students at the start of the session. The
list for the session 2014/15 is contained in Appendix 2 of this booklet. Note that more projects may
become available after this booklet has gone to print; these extra projects will be emailed to
students and/or announced during the level 7 induction meeting at the start of term.
All students are required to return a form — the ‘Project Selection Form’— with the selections of
the projects by the end of the 1st week of the 1st semester.
Students are strongly encouraged to consult staff members regarding projects that they are
interested in (see Section 3) prior to making their selection on the Form.
Please note that while we do our very best to accommodate student preferences, a number of
students may have given the same choices, and an alternative project may need to be allocated
instead, should this situation arise students will be consulted before any allocation is made.
2.2 Safety
It is of paramount importance that all work in the Physics Department is carried out safely. For that
reason, staff will have carried out a risk assessment for every project. For theoretical and
computational projects, the risks are normally minimal; nevertheless, there are general safety issues
with which every student must be familiar. For experimental projects there may be a number of
potential hazards, and to ensure safe working it is essential that students are made aware of these.
Students must not start work on a project until they have received instruction in general safety
and have also discussed the risk assessment for their project with the supervisor. Students must
sign a document to say that this safety information has been provided, and that they will conduct
their project in a safe and responsible manner.
2.3 Project Work and the Project Notebook
Work on the project will normally begin in the first semester. Your supervisor will discuss your own
work schedule with you and arrange a time for a weekly review of progress. The supervisor's duty
is to advise you on the conduct of the project and assist with the provision of any apparatus or
facilities needed. Do not expect the supervisor to do project work for you: the supervisor awards a
mark for your own enterprise and approach to the work. You must meet your supervisor at least
once a week to discuss your progress; it is important during the weekly discussions that you keep
him or her aware of exactly what you are doing.
Students must maintain a Project Notebook, which contains all of the analysis and data arising from
work carried out for the project. This ‘notebook’ may be in loose-leaf form if desired. Please, keep
note of everything you do during your project in this notebook. Firstly, it will help you to prepare
your report (see below). Secondly, the notebook must be submitted with the two copies of the final
report for the examiners' inspection.
13
Most of the scientific work for the project should be completed by the end of the first semester –
do not underestimate how long it will take to write your report. In any research project,
understanding some of the concepts you needed for your project in more detail, analysis of data,
preparation of figures, and the actual writing, takes just as long to do as the science, which is to be
reported. Remember that you should spend at least 300 hours on this 45 credit project. Most of the
marks for the course are awarded for the report. At the end of the first semester you must submit
a one-page progress report to your supervisor.
2.4 The Final Report
You should begin preparing your final report at the start of the second semester. Detailed guidelines
for writing the final report are given in Appendix 1 of this booklet. It is a good idea to prepare a list
of section headings as a preparation to the actual writing of the report and to discuss this with your
supervisor. Do not rely on being able to print out the final report on the last date for submission.
This particularly applies if your report contains a number of graphical images, which will require a
long time to produce of high quality!
On or before the deadline you must present two copies of your final report, research letter the
project notebook, and the three evaluation forms (one for your supervisor, one for your project
and one for the MSci programme) to the Undergraduate Student Officer, and one electronic copy
to Turnitin (see Section 5). The project notebook may be collected from the Undergraduate Student
Officer after the examination period. The final report will be marked by the supervisor and a second
examiner. The reports have the status of examination papers and will be retained for inspection by
the External Examiners and teaching quality assessors. They will not be returned to you so you
should make a (printed) copy for yourself before submitting the report for marking if you want to.
2.5 The Oral Examination
After the exam period you will be given an oral examination on your project by a panel of two staff
members. (This happens in August or September for MSc students). The appointed external
examiners have the right to be present as well. Students must attend their examination at the time
allocated on a published timetable. A timetable will emailed to you by the Undergraduate
Programme Officer around the time of the deadline for your written work. It is your responsibility
to ensure that you know the date and attend the oral presentation at the correct time.
In the examination you will give a talk on your project work lasting for 25 minutes. This will be
followed by about 20 minutes of questions from the panel members. IMPORTANT - Note that not
all the panel members will be familiar with the subject matter of your talk and only your supervisor
and second examiner will have seen your written report. Take particular care to give an introduction
to your talk at an elementary level to set the scene. Your project will probably be concerned with a
very specialised research area. If some of the examiners do not understand your talk you are likely
to score a low mark. In the oral exam your aim should be to present an outline of what you have
done which could be understood by undergraduate students at the third year B.Sc. level.
A departmental computer connected to a data projector will be available for the talk, although you
may use your own laptop if you wish to do so. You must ensure that your presentation file is loaded
into the computer and runs successfully well before the appointed time for your talk. As a
precaution; you are advised to save a backup file of your presentation on a USB key or a pdf version,
just in case you experience problems on the day. Please consult the Undergraduate Programme
Officer (Room S7.03) if you need help or advice on or before the day.
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A mark will be given for the oral examination, which will represent 20% of the final mark for the
project course.
3. Staff Projects
Appendix 2 of this booklet is a listing of projects, which have been proposed by members of King's
College physics staff. Further projects external to the department are also proposed. All these
projects are of research standard, and a well-written project report may provide the basis for a
publication in the scientific literature.
4. Project Selection
Under normal circumstances only one student will be assigned to each project. In order that the
allocation process is as fair as possible you will be asked to complete a module selection form, a
copy of the form can be found on the last page of this handbook. You must select six projects that
you would be interested in doing from the list provided, these choices are not ranked in any way.
You are strongly encouraged to discuss individual projects in the list with the staff before making
your choice, although in the interests of fairness project supervisors are not allowed to choose
which student’s will take their project.
Students must return the project selection form by 26 September to the Departmental office. This
form is the official departmental record of the work you are undertaking and will be used by the
Project Committee to allocate projects to students. Every effort will be made to ensure that every
student is assigned one of their preferences. However in exceptional circumstances this may not be
possible, and an alternative project may need to be allocated instead, should this situation arise
students will be consulted before any allocation is made.
5. Submission of Reports and The Deadline.
You will submit your project report BOTH electronically in pdf format via keats (by midday on the
day of the deadline), and as a hard copy (two copies, to the UG Programme Officer by 4pm on the
day of the deadline) and The versions must, of course, be identical.
On the keats page for the module you should submit your report using Turnitin, you can upload
draft versions of your report as many times as you like (albeit an originality score will only be
generated one per day), and to read the originality report on it, then modify it and resubmit, if you
wish. It is worth doing, because it will allow you to see the originality report, which we use as one
way to check whether your report is original. Turnitin is a very sophisticated tool to detect
plagiarism.
There are KCL web pages to help you. Go to Onespace, click on Study/plagiarism
support/turnitinuk/turnitin user guide/turnitin student manual. If in doubt just ask the UG
Programme Officer.
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Your hardcopy submission must include all of the following elements:
 two copies of the project report
 two copies of the research letter (for students on the module 7CCP4000 only)
 the project notebook
 three completed evaluation forms (one for the project work, one for the supervisor and
one for the entire MSci. programme)
The three evaluation forms will available on keats
The complete submission must be handed to the Undergraduate Programme Officer (Room
S7.03), not to the supervisor, unless they have requested this in addition. Submissions will be
accepted during the normal working week — Monday to Friday between the hours of 10am and
5pm (4pm on the deadline day itself). The Undergraduate Programme Officer will make a note of
the date of submission.
6. Late Submissions
Reports that are submitted late; within twenty four hours of the electronic submission deadline will
be capped at 40%.
Reports that are submitted late; after twenty four hours from the electronic submission deadline will
receive a mark of zero.
Where mitigating circumstances mean that you will be unable to submit your report on time, an
Extension Request Form should be used to request an extension to a deadline as soon as you
become aware of the problem. You can submit the form, along with appropriate documentary
evidence, any time before the deadline.
7. The Wheatstone Prize
A cash prize will normally be awarded for the best fourth-year project submitted by a student
proceeding to study for a higher degree. However, the Department reserves the right not to award
the prize and to vary the monetary value.
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Appendix 1 – The project report and research letter
A1.1 How to write the project report
The length of the final report should be 10,000 words. Reports over that length may have marks
deducted at the discretion of the supervisor. If you wish so, you should make a hardcopy of the
report for yourself because submitted reports will be retained for inspection by the External
Examiners and will not be returned to you.
The report should be on A4 size paper and bound in a simple folder. The report should normally be
prepared using a word processor with 1½ line spacing, 12 point font size, a single-column format
and 1 inch margins. Electronic copies must be uploaded in pdf format. It is highly encouraged to use
LaTeX to write your report since processing your text in this way would make your project report
look like a really professional scientific publication! You can either write directly using LaTeX (but
this requires learning the language!), or you can install LyX (www.lyx.org) on your PC or MaC and
type using it, which will save you a lot of time! LyX produces high quality LaTeX files, which include
figures, tables and complicated equations, however, no prior knowledge of the LaTeX language is
necessary. A short presentation on LyX and LaTeX will be made during the presentation of the course
in the 1st week of the 1st semester to help you to get started.
The report should conform to the standards of published work except that figures need not meet
the very high standards of presentation required by a scientific journal. Figures must, however, be
prepared electronically and included in a proper way into your presentations.
Note that published papers consist only of text (with appropriate numbered headings and subheadings), tables and figures. Graphs, Photographs, Plates and Diagrams are ‘figures’. Each table
and figure must be numbered (in the order of their appearance), labelled, contain a caption
explaining its content including insets (if any), notations, different curves, etc., and must be referred
to in the text. Captions to the tables and figures must be self-contained, i.e. reading them alone
should clarify the content and meaning of tables and pictures without referring to the main text; try
to avoid something like ‘See explanations in the main text’ as a caption.
Note that it is easier to read your report if an equation, table or figure are located in the text as close
as possible to where you refer to them. Do not put tables and figures at the end of the report.
Do not use bizarre fonts – ‘Times Roman’ or a Swiss font such as ‘Arial’ are normally used for papers
submitted to scientific journals.
For the module 7CCP4000 students are also expected to produce a research letter in the form of
an article in additional to the 10000 words report, it should include only the essential part of the
report, as an extract in the format of scientific literature. The research letter should consist of 4
pages including figures and references, two column, structured like: abstract, introduction, SoA
(previous related works), description of the work, details of the work, analysis, conclusion. For an
example see: http://prl.aps.org/info/authors.html
References to previously published work form an extremely important part of any research
report. References to published work consulted in the course of the project may be given in the text
in the Harvard form “name (year)” or “(name, year)” (e.g. ... as discussed by Smith (1997b) or ... as
reported in the literature (Smith, 1997b)) with the complete reference given in an alphabetically
ordered list at the end of the report. All references in this list must be cited in the text. Another way
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of citing other people work is to use numbered references, e.g. “as discussed in [1]” or “as discussed
by Smith et al in Ref. [11]”. The first citation should start with number 1, the next with 2, and so on,
i.e. the references are numbered sequentially as they appear in the text. At the end of the report
the complete list of all references must be provided. Of course, only references actually cited in the
text should be given in that list. Try to avoid references to websites unless these refer to scientific
software you used or pictures you have taken from there. If you refer to some information, please,
cite the appropriate original publication in a book or journal.
Note that if you use LaTeX (directly or with LyX), the correct style throughout your report will be
ensured automatically by selecting an appropriate style for the whole document (e.g. “article” or
“book”). Also, LaTeX (and LyX) have tools to ensure the correct and automatic numbering of
equations, figures, tables, sections and subsections, so that you do not need to worry about
numbering at all if a figure or extra equation need to be inserted or removed somewhere. This saves
actually a lot of time and allows you to concentrate on science rather than on word processing.
Any supporting material (such as computer program listings) should be presented in appendices and
not included in the word count.
Guidance on the standards and style expected of published work can be obtained by study of a few
original research papers – for example, those published in the Journal of Physics A: Mathematical
and General or in Physical Review. You may also wish to consult a book giving guidance to the writing
of scientific papers such as R. A. Day's “How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper” (Cambridge
University Press, 1989).
A copy of the marking scheme and guidelines used by the examiners is given in the next section of
this appendix and summarised below.
The pages of the report and individual sections and sub-sections must be numbered and the report
should include:
(a) a separate title page containing the course number (e.g. 7CCP4000), the title, author's
name and supervisor's name;
(b) an abstract summarising the report (typically 150—250 words);
(c) an introduction setting the project work in context;
(d) a discussion of any relevant published work including necessary background material such
as e.g. background theory
(e) a description of the work actually done;
(f) results of the work with an analysis of the data obtained;
(g) a discussion of the significance of the results;
(h) a final summary of the results, conclusions and suggested future work;
(i) a list of the references cited in the text;
(j) any appendices.
Your supervisor should be able to advise you on the relevant sections to be included and on their
context.
Your attention is drawn to the following extract from the University Regulations for Internal
Students — “Where the Regulations for any qualification provide for part of an examination to
consist of work written in the candidate's own time, the work submitted by the candidate must
be his [or her] own and any quotation from the published or unpublished works of other persons
18
must be acknowledged”. Failure to observe this Regulation is regarded by the University
Examination Board as a very serious matter. Note that the regulation includes unacknowledged
quotations or the paraphrasing of published material. Running your report via Turnitin may alert
you to the missing quotation references and hence help in complying with the Regulations.
A1.2 The marking scheme and guidelines used by your examiners
The main points the examiners will be looking for are detailed below, please note this is a general
and not exhaustive list of points that will be used to assess your work. The project supervisor will
award marks for your performance and the report. The second examiner will award marks for the
report only. All of the examiners in attendance will award a mark for the oral presentation.
For students taking the (45 credit) module 7CCP4000 the final mark of your project is calculated in
such a way that the project report makes up 60% of the final mark, the research letter is worth 20%
of the final mark, while the oral presentation accounts for 20% of the final mark.
For students taking the (30 credit) module 7CCP4100 the final mark of your project is calculated in
such a way that the project report makes up 70% of the final mark, while the oral presentation
accounts for 30% of the final mark.
The individual elements are marked out of 100 as follows:
Project report [100 points in total]
1) Student performance and initiative. [Worth 20 points decided by the supervisor]
 Did the student attend meetings?
 Did the student show great skill & initiative or did he/she require a lot of help and guidance?
 Did the student plan the project well?
 Should the student have been able to achieve more in the available time?
 How well did the student acquire new experimental, computational or theoretical skills?
 How well did the student handle any unexpected difficulties?
2) Presentation of the report. [Worth 20 points marked independently by both the supervisor and
second examiner].
 Is the report neat & does the style conform to that required of published work?
 Are the grammar & spelling good?
 Is the report divided into appropriate sections & sub-sections arranged in a logical order?
 Is the quality of graphical & other figures sufficiently good?
 Are all the equations, figures & tables numbered? Do the figure and tables have appropriate
captions?
 Is a complete list of references given in a logical style, at the end of the report?
3) Content of the Report [Worth 60 points marked independently by both the supervisor and
second examiner].
(a) Background and introduction (15 points)
 Is the significance of the project explained? – What is the scientific interest in this work?
 Has the project been placed in a wider context?
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 Is the particular aim of the project made clear?
 Are there sufficient references to earlier work, and is there evidence of a successful literature
search?
(b) The methods and theory used in the project (15 points)
 Is the theory discussed clearly and concisely, with all symbols explained?
 Is it sufficient for the reader to understand the theory to be used?
 Are the (experimental, computational or theoretical) techniques described adequately?
 In experimental work, are the equipment & samples described?
 Are all the techniques used justified?
(c) Results (20 points)
 Are the results presented in a comprehensible manner?
 Is the quality of the results good?
 Is the quantity of the results sufficient?
 Are errors & uncertainties in the data & methods discussed adequately?
 Have any cross checks been made to verify the data?
 Have the data been checked against any existing similar data?
 Is the analysis appropriate?
 Could further conclusions have been drawn from the student’s data?
 Are the results summarised concisely?
 Are directions for future work suggested?
(d) Conclusions (10 points)
 Could further conclusions have been drawn from the student’s data?
 Are the results summarised concisely?
 Are directions for future work suggested?
Research letter [100 points in total]
[Marked independently by both the supervisor and second examiner].





Are the formal requirements of a PRL met (structure, page count, )?
Are the figures suitable (resolution, size, choice of colors, arrangement of parts) for a PRL?
Do the captions describe the figures properly?
Are all(!) figures original? (no copies from the internet or anywhere else allowed unless
written permission has been obtained)
Have the appropriate equations been chosen to document the theoretical development
where applicable?
Oral presentation [100 points in total]
[Jointly agreed upon by both the supervisor and second examiner].





Was a clear description of the aims and results of the project given?
Were the graphs and diagrams legible, comprehensive and explained well?
Was a confident knowledge of the subject apparent?
Were questions answered correctly and completely?
Was good use made of the allotted time?
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Appendix 2 – Listing of Projects
Dr. Bobby Acharaya
Room S7.22
1) The theory and discovery of the Higgs boson.
You will study the basic theory behind the Higgs mechanism -- which is a key part of the Standard
Model of Particle Physics and is responsible for giving quarks, leptons and some gauge bosons mass.
You will develop a basic picture of the Standard Model, particularly of the interactions between
elementary particles. You will then go on to study how the Higgs boson was discovered at
experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This will involve developing an overview of the LHC
and particle detectors, how a Higgs boson can be produced in a collision between two protons, what
happens to it once it is produced and how it is detected from its decay products.
This project is most suited to students that have taken the symmetries course, two quantum
mechanics courses and are taking the 3rd year particle physics course.
Research Category: Theoretical
Dr. Bobby Acharaya
Room S7.22
2) The physics potential of future particle colliders
We have successfully completed the first run of the Large Hadron Collider. Physicists are planning
for the future and this includes ideas for new colliders.
This project will study the physics potential of future circular colliders. The questions which will be
addressed may include:
What improvements in Higgs boson properties can be achieved compared to the LHC?
What new opportunities arise for discovering physics beyond the Standard Model, such as
supersymmetry.
What can such colliders potentially teach us about the properties if dark matter?
What can we learn about the origin of neutrino masses?
Particle collisions and particle detection and data will be studied in detail as well as the origin and
application of Feynman diagrams for beyond the Standard Model physics.
Prerequisites: the project will be quite mathematically (Lagrangians, fields and gauge
symmetries)and computationally intensive (C++ for Monte Carlo simulations and data analysis)
Students are expected to have performed well in mathematics, computing, quantum mechanics
and the particle physics module. Enrolment in the 4th year Standard Model course is also
essential.
Research Category: Theoretical
Dr Jean Alexandre
Room 7.30
Lorentz symmetry violation in Field Theory
Relativistic invariance is one of the symmetries the most precisely checked experimentally, but if
one assumes a quantum theory of gravity for example, one can expect Lorentz symmetry to break
at high energies. This would lead to new Physics, beyond the Standard Model, and could explain
several mechanisms, from Collider Physics to Cosmology.
This project deals with Classical Field Theory, and is purely theoretical, although phenomenological
implications of different Lorentz-symmetry violating models will be studied.
The student choosing this project should have an excellent level in Mathematics, Electromagnetism,
Classical/Quantum/Statistical Mechanics, General Relativity.
Research Category: Mathematics, Field Theory, Special and General Relativity
21
R. Ashayer, C. Hunt (NPL)
Effect of washing on structure of additive conductive interconnect on smart
Textiles
A novel method for adding a metallic based conductive textile has been developed. However, a
critical performance metric for conductive textile is the ability to withstand multiple wash cycles. It
is known that the electroless layers suffers internal failure. Therefore, the aim of this project is to
investigate the effect of detergent on the degradation of the metal shells around the fibres.
Experimental technique will involve cross sectioning of the conductive textile using ion beam
miller . The metal layer thickness will then be examined using SEM to understand degradation of
the metal shell.
Dr Oleg Aslanidi
St Thomas' Hospital, SE1 7EH
Imaging and biophysical modelling tools for improved clinical treatment of cardiac
arrhythmia
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia. Currently there are over 6 million AF
patients in Europe. This chronic disease exhibits a self-sustained and treatment-resistant nature.
The mechanisms of AF are linked with self-sustained sources of abnormal excitation waves in the
heart - electrical rotors. Catheter ablation is a common clinical treatment aimed at eliminating such
sources by destroying the affected cardiac tissue with a localised energy delivery through the
catheter. However, the success rate of ablation treatment is low, with AF recurring in 30-50% of
treated patients. This is partly because ablation is based on empirical assumptions about "usual
suspect" rotor locations, rather than knowledge of precise locations in the patient. This approach
also results in extensive damage of cardiac tissue. Hence, there is a pressing need to develop
quantitative tools and improve treatments for this costly healthcare problem.
This project will apply novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocols to reconstruct detailed
whole-heart structure from AF patients, link the structure with cardiac electrical function using
biophysically detailed 3D computational models of the human heart, and then apply the models to
identify patient-specific locations of electrical rotors sustaining AF. Nonlinear wave theory predicts
that such rotors will reside in regions of the heart with the largest gradients of the cardiac wall
thickness - the project will test this hypothesis. This novel information will help improve the
effectiveness of clinical treatments for AF.
The project will involve MR image analysis and processing, basic programming and computer
simulations. Image-based 3D heart models have been developed in our group, and MRI data is
currently being collected. The student will carry out the image processing of the cardiac MRI data,
and then integrate the obtained structural information into the existing 3D biophysical models of
the heart. The models will be implemented using programming languages (Matlab and C) and their
simulations will be used to study the dynamics of electrical rotors. There is also scope for the student
to be involved in the MRI data acquisition.
Research category: Biophysical modelling, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Biomedical Engineering
Dr Francesca Baletto
Room S7.24
Supported nanocatalysts the case of Pt/MgO(100)
One the most attractive aims of nanoscience is the production of new materials suitable for the
application in areas as diverse as art decoration, drug delivery and catalysis. The building blocks of
nanoscience and nanotechnology are objects with at least one dimension in the range of 1-100 nm.
These three-dimensional nano-objects are often called nanoclusters or nanoparticles. They cover a
wide variety of possible morphologies depending on their size and chemical composition. Because
of the peculiar arrangements of the atoms, nanoparticles display unusual chemical properties. As a
22
consequence, understanding their morphology as a function of their size and external conditions
(such as temperature) is of great importance.
This project deals with the modelling of supported platinum nanoparticles deposited upon a
substrate, such as MgO. The computational approach is based on classical molecular dynamics
simulations, including metadynamics, and eventually accurate density-functional numerical
simulations for the study of chemisorption properties.
This study will include an analysis of diffusion and coalescence of Pt-clusters upon a substrate as a
function of temperature and of their initial morphology.
Skills: basics knowledge of a programming language for writing computer programs for the analysis
and visualisation of the simulation results. The calculations will be performed using existing software
packages written in Fortran90.
Research category: Computational Physics
Dr Joe Bhaseen
Room S4.02C
Path Integral Formulation of Quantum Mechanics
The Feynman path integral approach to quantum mechanics is based on a probabilistic summation
over space-time trajectories. This theoretical project involves setting up the Feynman path integral
representation for a quantum system and exploring its behaviour. Possible areas for investigation
include the use of instantons in quantum tunnelling, and comparisons with other approaches.
Prerequisites: Maths III may be useful but it is not essential.
Research Category: Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics, Mathematical Physics.
Dr Nicola Bonini
Room S4.02B
Computer simulation of two-dimensional crystals
Following the discovery of graphene with its unique physical properties, other one-atom-thick
crystals (e.g. MoS2 or BN) have attracted great attention.
What makes these materials so special? Are there other 2D systems with amazing properties just
waiting to be discovered or synthesized?
The aim of the project is to explore the electronic and vibrational properties of 2D metal
dichalcogenides that, according to recent studies, could be just as impressive as graphene.
The study will be conducted via computer simulations using quantum mechanical techniques. The
student will become familiar with cutting-edge concepts in condensed matter physics and state-ofthe-art first-principles computational techniques.
Research Category: Condensed matter physics, first-principles modelling, two-dimensional crystals.
Dr George Booth
Room tbc
Fixed Node approximations within a `second quantized' Quantum Monte Carlo
In computational approaches, if one wants to calculate a high-dimensional integral eciently, a
Monte Carlo random sampling of the space is performed. Since the Schr•odinger equation of
quantum mechanical problems can also be expressed as a high dimensional integral equation, a
whole class of techniques called `Quantum Monte Carlo' (QMC) approaches have arisen
to effeciently solve quantum many-body problems. However, this technique is severely restricted
when simulating many electron problems by what is called the `Fermion Sign Problem'. Here, the
act of sampling positive and negative regions which almost exactly cancel, gives rise to an
exponentially vanishing signal to noise ratio in computed properties. The standard QMC approach
in this regard is the `Diffusion Monte Carlo' method, which generally avoids the sign problem via a
fixing of the nodes of the wavefunction. This takes place within a real-space (co-ordinate)
representation of the wavefunction. However recently a more general diffusion Monte Carlo
23
approach has been formulated which can take place in general Fermionic Hilbert spaces - a `second
quantization' representation of the wavefunction.
In this project, analogous ways to constrain the differently signed regions of the sampled space will
be investigated, leading to new, lower-scaling techniques to sampled Fermionic spaces. This project
will involve substantial computer programming, and prior knowledge here in a language such as C
or FORTRAN is desirable. This project will also have the expectation of leading to publication quality
research.
Research Category: Computational simulation methods, Many-body quantum physics.
Dr Susan Cox
NHH, Room 3.4C
Nanoscale mechanics of sarcomeres in heart cells
Heart cells are able to beat due to a striped structure of cytoskeletal proteins called sarcomeres.
In this project you will investigate the nanoscale mechanical properties of sarcomeres using
atomic force microscopy. Force curves will be taken across the cell, revealing how the stiffness of
the sarcomeres varies with their structure. Specific proteins in the sarcomeres will be
simultaneously imaged using fluorescence microscopy. Initially fluorescence microscopy will be
performed at standard resolution, with the possibility of extending studies to super-resolution,
which can image structures down to a lengthscale of tens of nm. You will investigate differences
in mechanical properties between healthy cells and heart failure models.
Requirements: Willingness to work experimentally in a lab, interest in biophysics. Experience of
programming would be an advantage.
Research Category: Biophysics, Microscopy
Prof A De Vita
Room S7.26
The Most Dangerous Notch Angle in Crystalline Silicon.
This project will involve the study of fracture initiation in silicon, as a prototype brittle material,
with the goal of investigating the general problem of the existence of a critical notch angle, i.e. an
angle associated with the minimum failure load, for brittle structures containing edge V-notches.
Existing literature results based on continuum theory and a limited amount of experimental tests
suggest that a finite critical angle may always present, its value depending on the specific material
and sample geometry investigated.
In the present project, basic elasticity theory and highlights of the vast brittle fracture literature
will be revisited to establish the necessary cultural background on the crack initiation problem. In
the following, properly computational part the project will then involve the use of classical
molecular dynamics (MD) (based on the Stillinger-Weber classical potential, appropriately
modified to achieve brittleness of Si model systems) to get some practice of atomistic simulation
techniques. The progressive loading and crack initiation/initial propagation in an appropriately
shaped Si system with a pre-formed V-notch will then be investigated, to identify the failure load
value as a function of the V-notch angle, and eventually identify the angle of minimum critical
load.
The study will use the QUIP/QUIPPY package to perform all simulations, based on the FORTRAN
and Python programming languages.
Research Category: Experimental
24
Dr Wayne Dickson
Room S3.08
Nanostructured Metamaterials: Meta-particles: Fabrication and optical properties
Current research in nano-optics is dominated by investigations into the optical properties of
metamaterials, which exhibit exciting phenomena such as optical cloaking and negative refractive
and are being currently investigated for sub-diffraction limited imaging and ultra-high sensitivity
bio-/chemo-sensing. Research efforts have yet to fully explore these materials, particularly when
nanostructured so that individual elements have overall sizes below the vacuum wavelength of the
incident radiation.
Such structures constitute effective
particles (see Figure 1), and can be
comprised of multiple individual
plasmonic nano-particles which strongly
interact resulting in their effective
properties. Such meta-particles are
Figure 1: (a) ‘Meta-particles’ of metallic NRs. (b) NR waveguides (50 nm width)
expected to facilitate control of the
and (c) periodically nanostructured Au NR array.
scattering and absorption of incident
radiation which has a host of uses in sensing and nonlinear optics. The goal of this project is to assist
in the fabrication of meta-particles of various sizes (with differently sized individual elements) and
explore their optical properties using state-of-the-art spectroscopic techniques. Additionally, the
candidate may also have the opportunity to perform numerical simulations of the optical response
of the fabricated structures which will enable the unique absorption and scattering properties of
the meta-particles to be fully understood.
Research Category: Experimental
Dr Carmen Domene
Department of Chemistry, Britannia House (off-campus)
Visualization of ion conduction through membrane proteins
Ion channels are a large family of integral membrane proteins that form pores in cell membranes.
Channels allow the passive movement of ions down their respective concentration gradients at high
rates. However, despite this high rate of transport, channels are selective as to which ions pass. This
selectivity arises from structural properties of the channel, which dictate the energetic cost of
moving the permeable specie from the bulk solution at either sides of the cell membrane to the
inside of the actual pore. In this project, some aspects of ion conduction will be studied using
computational techniques. In particular, the work will involve writing computer code in tcl to
visualize ion conduction through membrane proteins and free energy maps.
Research Category: Computational Biophysics
Dr Malcolm Fairbairn Room S7.29
Generating the matter/anti-matter asymmetry
We will review various possible mechanisms of generating the
matter/anti-matter asymmetry through baryogenesis and leptogenesis. We will review the status
of these various mechanisms in light of the latest parameters from particle physics. We will solve
the Boltzmann equations for particles in the Early Universe and trace the CP violating decay of out
of equilibrium particles to investigate the parameter space of possible solutions to this problem.
We will also update constraints on models where the baryon asymmetry is generated by the decay
of primordial black holes in light of the latest data from cosmology and astrophysics.
Research Category: Theoretical
25
Dr Frederic Festy and Richard Cook
1) Blood oxymetry imaging using rigid endoscopy
White light rigid endoscopes are conventionally used by practitioners to diagnose a wide number
of diseases by allowing local visualisation of the internal body. We have recently designed a novel
way of imaging blood capillaries through skin using a rigid endoscope attached to CCD cameras
recording light reflected by fatty tissue layers at three different absorption wavelengths.
This project will focus on generating and analysis clean data using a recently-built prototype based
on a new state-of-the-art 3CCD Gig-E camera. The bulk of the work will be to develop new
algorithms to rapidly derive relative oxygen concentration of the capillaries and their relative blow
flow velocity. This project will require a lot of computer programming.
Vascular Image of the upper lip
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Dr F. Festy and Dr Kaspar Althoefer
2) Miniaturised tip force sensing for Cardiac Catheterisation
In the modern operating theatre, miniaturised
tools are inserted into a patient’s body through
small incisions (keyholes). The surgeon has only
limited information on the forces acting on the tip
of the tool, when compared to open surgery where
surgeons receive useful, tactile information from
their fingertips. Robot-aided minimally invasive
surgery has experienced a tremendous
technological advancement. With the advent of
specialised surgical robots such as systems
developed by Hansen Medical for cardiac
operations, surgeons are given advanced tools that Fig. 1. CAD drawings of a 7 Fr. catheter integrated
assist during complex operations and help to with the proposed fibre-optic force sensor.
improve the outcome of surgical procedures.
However, it has been recognised as a disadvantage
that the surgeon loses all tactile sensation when operating with the aid of a robot. The sense of
touch which is readily available during open surgery provides the surgeon with valuable information
about the operating site. Current research at a number of research institutes aims at equipping
surgical robots with sensors and feedback mechanisms to re-establish the surgeon with tactile
perception. It is thus vital to develop miniaturised sensors that can accurately measure the force at
the tool tip.
As part of this research, this multidisciplinary project
based in the Biomaterials, Biomimetics and
Biophotonics Department (Guys campus) and the
Engineering Department (Strand) will focus on design,
developing and testing new miniature force sensing
technologies. Based on incoherent fibre bundles and
fast CCD imaging for optical delivery and orientation
sensing, the sensitivity of this technique will be
calculated and measured against the minimum sensor
Fig. 2. Dynamic axial response of force sensor
size. The research of this project will dovetail with
when experiencing axial forces. The force are
current research at King’s aiming at creating force
compared with the response of a commercial
force
sensor
sensors that can measure the interaction forces between a cardiac catheter and heart walls (Figures
1 and 2).
Prof. Mark Green
Room S3.07
Protein capped organic nanoparticles for imaging – designing a surface
Our research group synthesizes nanoparticles for medical imaging; small particles that can access
cells and emit light that can be detected, giving clues about diseases states and allowing us to target
certain cellular conditions, such as cancer. In this project, we will prepare organic semiconductors
capped with a protein, and we will collaborate with imaging scientists in attempts to use these new
markers to image biological phenomena. This means examining the role of the particle surface and
elucidating the best way to make the particles useful in imaging applications.
Research Category: Experimental biophysics and nanotechnology
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Prof. Lev Kantorovich Room S7.25
Non-Equilibrium Green’s Functions and their application to quantum conductance
In this project a student will learn a succession of techniques from quantum field theory to quantum
statistical mechanics, including the second quantisation for electrons, a solution of the Schrodinger
equation with a time-dependent Hamiltonian, and non-equilibrium Green’s functions, in order to
consider a conductance of molecular junctions. These systems have great applications in nanoelectronics (e.g. nano-devices and scanning tunnelling microscopy). Several simple tight-binding toy
models will be considered and the current will be calculated as a function of the applied bias,
temperature and the electronic structure of the molecule modelled as a set of electronic energy
levels coupled to the contacts.
The project involves a lot of rather complicated mathematics, so only students who feel strong in
maths should consider it. Some of the work at a later stage would involve writing simple computer
codes for calculating the transmission function and the current-voltage characteristics. Working on
this project will give a student a chance to familiarise him/her-self with some of the modern
theoretical methods for studying non-equilibrium systems.
Research Category: Theoretical
Dr Evgeny Kozik
Room S4.02E
Advanced analytic continuation techniques
One of the major challenges in quantum many-body theory is finding a spectral representation of a
given correlation function. The problem arises because current computational methods are only
capable of reliably calculating correlators, such as, e.g., the single-particle Green’s function, as
functions of imaginary (Matsubara) frequency or time, while crucial dynamic properties, e.g., the
spectrum of elementary excitations, follow from the behavior of these correlators on the realfrequency axis. Hence the task of reliable analytic continuation of functional dependence from
imaginary to real argument often stands in the way of answering some of the most important
questions in many-body physics.
This project is aimed at implementation and further development of state-of-the-art numeric
analytic continuation methods. The student will master the fundamentals of quantum field theory
in condensed matter physics, such as the technique of Green’s functions and Feynman diagrams,
and build a versatile and powerful toolbox for spectral analysis. Successful realization of the project
will allow them to make valuable contributions to current research of the Group.
The project requires basic knowledge of quantum statistical physics and second quantization, theory
of functions of complex variables, as well as solid computer programming and data analysis skills.
Research Category: Computational Physics
Dr Eugene Lim
Room S7.29
The Sine-Gordon soliton and Backlund transforms
You will study the sine-Gordon soliton system, and understand how its solutions can be generated
by a mathematical trick called the Backlund transform. You will study its generalizations.
Research Category: Cosmology
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Dr Chris Lorenz
Room S7.27
Molecular dynamics simulations of the interaction between antimicrobial peptides
and model bacterial membranes
The student will utilise classical molecular dynamics simulations in order to study the interaction of
antimicrobial peptides with model bacterial membranes. In doing so, the student will perform
simulations of pleurocidin interacting with heterogeneous model lipid bilayers. This work is being
done in collaboration with an experimental group in the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. In
addition to performing the simulations, the student will be expected to a significant amount of
analysis of the simulations (those that they perform and some that have been carried out by
previous students) and in doing so will need to be able to modify existing code and preferably write
their own code. These simulations will be part of an upcoming scientific journal article that will be
submitted once the analysis of these simulations is completed.
Requirements of the student: be interested in biophysics, simulations and be able to write some
analytical code in a programming language of your liking.
Research Category: Computational Physics
Prof. Samjid Mannan
Room S7.11
Experimental Investigation of Nanoparticle Sintering
This project aims to shed light on fundamental mechanisms of nanoparticle sintering and the
properties of the resulting nanostructured material through experiment. Sintering metallic
nanoparticles together results in a material which can have dramatically different properties from
those in the bulk metal. In particular, the high density of grain boundaries and porosity left over
from the sintering process can lead to rapid diffusion of atoms through the sintered material.
Experiments will attempt to probe whether atomic diffusion is primarily caused by transport along
the grain boundaries or by surface diffusion across the pores by using electron microscopy. The
project is linked with collaborative work ongoing with Eltek Semiconductors (Ltd.), and there will be
opportunities to visit the company if the student is interested.
Research Category: Nanotechnology
Prof. Nick E. Mavromatos
Room S7.21
Neutrinos and a geometrical way of generating the Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry
in the Universe
Our Universe is mostly made of matter. It had been suggested by Sakharov that this asymmetry may
be due to different decay properties (due to Charge – Parity (CP) Violation) between particles and
antiparticles in the Early Universe, which could lead to the observed baryon (versus antibaryon)
asymmetry today. This is an out-of-equilibrium process in the expanding Universe termed
Baryogenesis, On the other hand, suggestions had been made that, at the early Universe, out-ofequilibrium processes that could generate lepton versus antilepton asymmetries also take place, at
an earlier stage (termed Leptogenesis), and then they are communicated to the baryon sector by
standard model processes that conserve the quantity ``baryon-lepton’’ number. In all such
processes extra (than the ones in the Standard Model) sources of CP Violation are required in order
to produce phenomenologically viable matter-antimatter asymmetries, and hence physics beyond
the standard model is needed. In this proposal we shall examine a radical new way of thinking along
these lines, without the need for such extra CP violation, by exploring the possibility that
Leptogenesis at an early (high-temperature) stage of the Universe, prior to Baryogenesis, may be
induced by non-trivial geometries, either of axisymmetric (rotating) black-hole type type, or
axisymmetric Bianchi cosmology type, or geometries with torsion. In particular, the relativistic field
theory of Majorana (or Dirac) neutrinos in such non-trivial background geometries will be
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formulated, and energy momentum dispersion relations between neutrinos and antineutrinos will
be calculated in such background space times. It will be demonstrated that the background induces
differences in the dispersion relations between neutrinos and antineutrinos, which imply different
population numbers already in thermal equilibrium between neutrino matter and antimatter.
Processes in the early universe, then, that violate lepton number can occur, which freeze out at
certain temperatures, leading to Leptogenesis. Some scenarios for generating phenomenologically
successful Baryogenesis in this way, without the need for extra sources of CP Violation will be briefly
discussed.
The project requires advanced knowledge of: the Standard Model, Relativistic Quantum Field
Theory, General Relativity Covariant Tensor Calculus, Statistical Mechanics and Elementary
knowledge of an Expanding Universe. Students choosing this project must have taken General
Relativity and Cosmology and 3rd year Particle Physics while Maths III would also be desirable, while
fourth year options on relativistic quantum fields are desirable but not necessary.
Research Category: Particle Physics, General Relativity, Cosmology, Relativistic Quantum Fields,
Statistical Mechanics.
Dr Patrick Mesquida
Room S4.02G
Nanopatterning of surfaces for biophysical experiments
Proteins are large biomolecules, which adopt a very specific, 3-d conformation to carry out their
biological function in Nature. However, under certain conditions, they can “fold” into a “wrong”
conformation and aggregate. This often leads to devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s or
Parkinson’s Disease. Understanding what leads to mis-folding is particularly important for Western
Societies wih their ageing populations. One hypothesis is that surfaces, for example of cells, induce
mis-folding. In this project, defined test surfaces will be designed and prepared in order to
investigate this hypothesis.
Prerequisites: Passion to work experimentally in a lab and interest in biophysics and biomedicine.
Ideally, the student should have opted for the module “Fundamentals of Nanotechnology and
Biophysics” in the 3rd year.
Research Category: Experimental
Dr. Carla Molteni Room S7.23
Structure and properties by computer simulations
Water is essential to life and has many interesting properties as an isolated molecule in the gas
phase, in the liquid phase and in the solid (ice) phases. In this project we will use computer
simulation methods, including density functional theory (a modern reformulation of quantum
mechanics for affordable calculations) and molecular dynamics to investigate the electronic and
structural properties of water in a variety of situations.
Some familiarity with the use of computers and computational methods (eg from 2nd year
Computational Laboratory) is desirable.
Research Category: computational physics, density functional theory, molecular dynamics, water
Dr Dylan Owen
Room S3.07
Measuring molecular flow in live immune cells
As part of an immune response, T cells (a type of white blood cell) scan target cells for signs of
infection. The interface between the T cell and the target is called the immunological synapse and is
a highly dynamic structure. We will use advanced fluorescence microscopy methods including those
based on super-resolution fluorescence imaging to analyze the dynamics (such as flow) of key
molecules at the synapse using particle tracking and image correlation approaches
Research Category: Biophysics, Optics, Microscopy
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Prof. Tony Paxton
Room S3.10
The electronic structure of ferroic perovskite crystals
Many multi-ferroic materials have the perovskite crystal structure. In order to understand and
manipulate these it is necessary to deduce their electronic structure and nature of the interatomic
forces that drive their phase transitions. You will research into this using simple matrix mechanics
in a basis of tight binding atomic-like orbitals. You will look for the minimum description needed to
demonstrate the principal energy bands and gaps, including the crystal field splitting of the dmanifold. There may be the opportunity to extend this to a computational study, including
molecular dynamics simulations at finite temperature.
Research Category: Quantum mechanics
Dr Edina Rosta
Location tbc
Equilibrium and non-equilibrium enhanced sampling methods in biomolecular
simulations
Markov state models are fundamental mathematical techniques used for describing accurately a
broad range of stochastic processes that are ubiquitous in Physics, Chemistry and Biological
Sciences. In this project we aim to develop combined equilibrium and non-equilibrium enhanced
sampling methods that are applicable to modern biomolecular simulations. We will analyse the
efficiency of new enhanced sampling biomolecular simulations methods using Markov state
models and provide a systematic comparison to existing algorithms. Applications range from
simulations and computational analysis of enzymatic reactions to protein-protein interactions. All
students with interest in computational modeling are welcome.
Dr Deb Roy
National Physical Laboratory
Adaptive optics for aberration correction in coherent Raman microscopy
Coherent Raman microscopy techniques are at the cutting edge of label-free imaging of living cells
and tissues. Imaging modalities such as stimulated Raman scattering and coherent anti-stokes
Raman scattering are powerful tools for the non-destructive imaging of biological systems with
chemically specific contrast. These imaging systems utilise multi-coloured, ultra-short laser pulses
and carefully engineered optical systems to ensure the best image quality and spatial resolution.
However, the turbidity and nanoscale optical inhomogeneity of biological tissue samples introduces
significant distortions to the wave front, lowering resolution and decreasing sensitivity.
Devices called spatial light modulators can correct for these sample induced wave front distortions
and present the opportunity for deep, sensitive imaging at high spatial resolution in turbid biological
samples. This opens the door for imaging structures previously unreachable by conventional optical
methods.
In this project, the researcher will incorporate a spatial light modulator into an existing coherent
Raman microscope. The student will then work on the development of sophisticated algorithms for
the correction of wave front distortions in model biological systems, quantifying the enhancement
in resolution and sensitivity. This project has a large practical content, focussing on the hands on
development of the instrument.
Prerequisites: This project requires a familiarity with optics and intermediate programming skills in
either Python or C++. Equivalent programming experience in Matlab is also acceptable.
Research Category: Adaptive Optics, microscopy, non-linear optics, algorithm development.
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Dr Shahriar Sajjadi
Room S4.02F
Uniform Dros by Capillary Microfluidics
Emulsions are dispersion of one phase in another with the aid of a surfactant. Surfactants are surface
active materials that adsorb at the oil-water interface, reduce interfacial tension and as a result the
droplet size, and protect droplets against coalescence. Emulsions are usually prepared using
homogenizers. Due to chaotic nature of flow in the dispersing zone of homogenizers, drops with a
high polydispersity are produced. Microfluidics is a technique which can deliver uniform drops. In a
microfluidic emulsification process, a liquid phase is pressed through a capillary to form droplets.
The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of surfactant concentration and location, and
the flow rates on the size and uniformity of droplets. Drop uniformity will be monitored by a video
camera optical microscopy.
Research Category: Condense Matter, Fluid Mechanics
Prof. Mairi Sakellariadou
Room SB7.18
Small scale structure on cosmic strings in anisotropic backgrounds
We will investigate the effect of an anisotropic background (Kasner type for instance) on the
evolution of a cosmic string network. In particular, we will first study whether a scaling regime can
be reached and then, considering small perturbations on the strings, we will investigate
observational consequences, for instance the effect on gravitational lensing.
Research Category: Theoretical
Dr Maria Sanz,
Britannia House room 1.17 (7 Trinity St. SE1 1D)
Rotational Spectroscopic Investigation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
One of the long standing challenges in astrophysics is the identification of the molecular carriers of
the unidentified infrared bands (UIRs), emission features observed in the infrared spectra of many
insterstellar objects. It has been proposed that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the
carriers of such bands. However, although PAHs are believed to be ubiquitous in space no individual
PAH has been identified yet. Rotational spectroscopy can play an essential role in the detection of
PAHs in the interstellar medium by providing the transition frequencies needed for astronomical
searches with radiotelescopes.
This project will involve the characterisation of the rotational spectrum of a PAH. The student will
have the opportunity of using cutting-edge techniques to determine molecular structure and will
gain expertise in computational modelling and rotational spectroscopy.
Research category: modelling, molecular spectroscopy, astrophysics
Dr Riccardo Sapienza
Room S7.17
Thermolectric generation in a disordered photonic media, towards paint-on solar
cells?
Thermoelectric materials, which can generate electricity from heat gradients, could play an
important role in a global sustainable energy solution. They are usually complex bulk materials and
often too inefficient to be cost-effective in most applications. With the recent development of
nanotechnology and nanoscale materials, a new era of complex thermoelectric materials is
approaching. We want to combine here the nanoscale control of both light and electrons for
future generation thermoelectric devices.
A bulk thermoelectric crystal is transparent, instead its nanostructured counterpart is opaque,
light cannot travel across it in a straight line and instead light diffusion is the dominant transport
mechanism. Light is trapped in the optical maze, gets absorbed and converted into heat. In these
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materials the same nanoscale inhomogeneities that trap the light also confine the heat, enhancing
the thermoelectric conversion even further.
The project consists in the realization and theoretical modeling of a random thermoelectric
medium that can be painted on a given object. The project has an experimental aspect (supervised
by Dr. Sapienza) and a theoretical one (supervised by Dr. Bonini); it requires assembly of the
material, experimental proof of electricity generation and theoretical modeling and optimization
of the process.
Skills required: knowledge of optics and solid state physics. Familiarity with basic Chemistry and
data analysis is also desirable.
Prof. Sarben Sarkar
Room S7.19
Relativistic Quantum Information
The aim of this project is to see the effects of general relativity on quantum information. The latter
has been important in the study of quantum teleportation , computers and cryptography. Most
analysis has been done in the context of a flat universe however.
In this project we will consider entanglement and black hole thermodynamics, and fidelity of
transportation in accelerated frames. An important theme will the observer dependence of
entanglement.
Prerequisites: This project will require strong skills in quantum mechanics (quantum field theory),
general relativity and mathematical methods in physics. Issues in quantum field theory though can
be addressed during the project.
Research Category: quantum field theory, general relativity, quantum information, Unruh radiation
Prof Klaus Suhling
Room S3.11
1) Fluorescent particle uptake by worms
Fluorescence microscopy is a powerful optical imaging technique in the life and biomedical sciences,
because it is minimally invasive and allows the observation of living specimens. The project, in
collaboration with Stephen Sturzenbaum, Analytical & Environmental Sciences Division, FranklinWilkins Building and Mark Green, Department of Imaging Chemistry and Biology, Division of Imaging
Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, St Thomas, will focus on feeding a range of fluorescent particles
and dyes such as, for example, quantum dots, fluorescent molecular rotors, nanodiamonds, gold
nanoparticles to C. elegans, a non-parasitic model nematode. The worms will subsequently be
imaged under a fluorescence microscope to map the location and progression of the particles
through the specimen. This is of interest for toxicology studies, and also for evaluation where and
how the worms process nanoparticles.
Skills required: knowledge of basic image analysis software and an interest in fluorescence,
microscopy and invertebrate model systems. For more info on worms, see: www.toxicogenomics.info
Research Category: Biophysics, Fluorescence Microscopy
Prof Klaus Suhling
Room S3.11
2) Photon counting Imaging
The use of a photon counting image intensifier coupled to a CCD camera is an established method
to acquire images at a low-light level. The Hubble Space Telescope’s faint object camera, and the
optical monitor of the x-ray multi-mirror mission (XMM) are both based on low light level photon
counting imaging devices. Linearity, a high dynamic range, large active area and high sensitivity in
the UV are particular strengths of this technique. Photon counting imaging is not restricted to
astronomy, its advantages have also recently been harnessed in fields such as autoradiography,
bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging.
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One characteristic feature of this method is a centroiding technique, where the intensity
distribution of each individual photon event is converted into positional information. The
resolution lost in the amplification and readout stages of the detector can thereby be recovered
and subpixel resolution be obtained. An important factor to consider in the design of a photon
counting imaging system is the choice of a suitable centroiding algorithm.
The project will focus on the optimization of software-based centroiding algorithms, and it is
envisaged that this will be tested on biological samples under a fluorescence microscope.
Skills required: programming in C++
Research Category: Physics, Fluorescence Microscopy
Prof Mark Van Schilfgaarde
Room S4.02A
Magnetic Exchange Interactions in Metals and Alloys
This project combines some first principles theory and model simulations of magnetism in bulk
materials. The student will use linear response theory to obtain magnetic exchange parameters Jij
for the Heisenberg model. The student will apply them first for simple metals such as Fe, and later
for more complicated intermetallic compounds and alloys. After calculating the Jij, the student will
use them in the Heisenberg model to study various magnetic phenomena in materials of interest,
such as spin waves, the critical temperature Tc, the temperature-dependence of the magnetisation
M(T) in various levels of approximation, and magnetic anisotropy. These properties can be
combined to assess their suitability for use in hard magnets.
Some new coding would be involved, in particular the calculation of temperature dependent
magnetisation M(T), or the extension of the calculation of magnetic exchange parameters to deal
with alloys.
Research Category: Computational Physics
Dr Cedric Weber
Room S4.02D
High temperature superconductors
In this project, the student will be introduced to theoretical quantum models of high temperature
superconductors. In particular, the focus will be on the role of strong correlations between electrons
in these systems. Various types of numerical approaches will be discussed. As a pedagogical
introduction to strong correlations, the student will program his own code for the quantum
fermionic Monte Carlo method, based on a Suzuki-Trotter decomposition of the partition function
(so-called Hirsch-Fye method). Extensions of the methodology to investigate the interaction
between quantum effects and spatial disorder will be considered.
Research Category: Numerical science; superconductors ; condensed matter physics; Quantum
Monte Carlo; correlations; Quantum physics
Dr Greg Wurtz
Room S7.12
Non-linear optical properties measurements from plasmonic thin films
metamaterials.
The project is to study the third order non-linearity χ(3)of bi-dimensional plasmonic metamaterials
made of metal-dielectric bilayers and multilayers. These systems have recently stimulated
increasing interest from the scientific community because of the breadth of physical properties they
demonstrate, from nonlocality to negative index behavior. While many fascinating aspects from
these artificial materials have yet to be discovered and explained, they are already proposed in
numerous applications including superlensing and optical cloaking. Here, we propose to reveal their
non-linear optical response in an effort to design active metamaterials.
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In this project the non-lineal optical properties of metallo-dielectric metamaterials will be
characterized using z-scan measurements. The experimental results will be rationalized using both
analytical calculations and numerical simulations.
Research Category: Optics and photonics, metamaterials, non-linear optics, z-scan.
Professor Anatoly Zayats
Room S7.10
Controlling light with nanostructured metals
The project is devoted to experimental studies of optical properties of metallic nanostructures, such
as absorption, transmission, reflection and photoluminescence. You will measure spectral behavior
of several types of nanostructures and determine nanostructure parameters responsible for these
properties. You will then design a nanosctructure with the spectral response required to detect the
presence of specific molecules in the nanostructure surroundings and will perform proof of principle
measurements of the sensing capabilities of the nanostructure. Prerequisites: Electromagnetism
(Y2) and Optics (Y3); Solid State Physics (Y3) is desirable.
Research Category: Optics & Photonics
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College statement on plagiarism
Plagiarism is the taking of another person’s thoughts, words, results, judgments, ideas, etc, and
presenting them as your own.
Plagiarism is a form of cheating and a serious academic offence. All allegations of plagiarism will
be investigated and may result in action being taken under the College’s Misconduct Regulations.
A substantiated charge of plagiarism will result in a penalty being ordered ranging from a mark of
zero for the assessed work to expulsion from the College.
Collusion is another form of cheating and is the unacknowledged use of material prepared by
several persons working together.
Students are reminded that all work that they submit as part of the requirements for any
examination or assessment of the College or of the University of London must be expressed in
their own words and incorporate their own ideas and judgments. Direct quotations from the
published or unpublished work of others, including that of other students, must always be
identified as such by being placed inside quotation marks with a full reference to the source
provided in the proper form. Paraphrasing – using other words to express another person’s ideas
or judgments – must also be acknowledged (in a footnote or bracket following the paraphrasing)
and referenced. In the same way, the authors of images and audiovisual presentations must be
acknowledged.
Plagiarism is cheating. Any work guilty of plagiarism will be punished severely, so it is important
to be on your guard to attribute statements to those who made them.
How to avoid plagiarism
1. Make sure when you take notes that any direct quotations (even of phrases) from the books
you read are within inverted commas. This way you will know which words are the author’s
and which are yours.
2. In essays, if you copy the language of someone else (a book, another person’s essay or notes,
lecture discussion etc.), you should put all such language within inverted commas and
indicate the source, either in a footnote or in brackets in the text. (‘Language’ includes parts
of sentences if the phrasing is distinctive, tables of statistics etc.) If you omit the inverted
commas, you are passing another’s work off as your own.
3. If you have borrowed an idea from a book and restate it in your own language, you do not
need to use inverted commas. However, it is best still to indicate the source, either in a
footnote, in brackets (Jones, Avoiding Plagiarism, p 134), or within the text itself. For
example you could write, ‘As Jones has argued in Avoiding Plagiarism . . .’ or ‘I agree with
Jones’ point that . . .’, etc. This will have the added benefit of showing your tutors that you
have consulted the literature.
4. On every essay, provide a full bibliography of the works you consulted for the essay.
5. Using Turnitin will help you avoid inadvertent plagiarism.
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Level 7 project selection form
SURNAME __________________________________________________
FORENAME(S) ___________________________________________________
PROGRAMME TITLE (tick one):
MSci Physics
MSci Physics with Theoretical Physics
MSci in Mathematics and Physics
MSc in Physics




Preferences
Choose six topics that you would wish to do from those listed in the level 7 handbook. Please give
the name of the supervisor and title for each of your preferences in the boxes below.
Every effort will be made to ensure that every student is assigned one of their preferences. However
in exceptional circumstances this may not be possible, and an alternative project may need to be
allocated instead, should this situation arise students will be consulted before any allocation is made.
This form must be returned to the Departmental Office (room S7.03) by 4pm Friday 26th
September 2014. Students that do not submit this selection form on time will be allocated a project
at random by the Project co-ordinator.
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