This visionary field of research started when ultra-intense laser light was focused on to solids producing high brightness and highly collimated beams of energetic electrons, photons, protons, neutrons and heavy ions.  The total electricity generated in America is approximately a terawatt and modern ultra-intense short pulse lasers have pulse powers of petawatt (1000 terawatt). It is not surprising that amazing new physical conditions are created when such intensities are focussed down to dimensions of a human hair - these are the conditions that naturally exist in stars.

Non-neutral plasma activities at Strathclyde University include experimental and theoretical relativistic electron beam physics, electron cyclotron masers, cyclotron autoresonance masers (CARMs), free electron lasers, superradiant sources, novel electron sources, pseudospark physics, low temperature plasmas and plasma diagnostics. Plasma experiments include a laboratory experiment to simulate auroral kilometric radiation (AKR). This experimental and computational AKR research enjoys close links with the Plasma Physics Group at St Andrews University's School of Mathematics and Statistics.

The light emitted by the stars is a direct result of the nuclear reactions that naturally occur when massive clouds of gas collapse and heat, whether it be the constant shine of our Sun shown above, or the newly observed flares of gamma-ray bursters. The abundances of the elements here on Earth are the result of nuclear reactions that have occurred in previous generations of stars. The understanding of nucleosynthesis processes and of the energy generation in astrophysical objects is the subject of Nuclear Astrophysics studied experimentally by the Edinburgh Nuclear Physics Group.

Explosive Hydrogen Burning

Many lasers, including tabletop systems, have pulse powers in the multi-terawatt (1012 W) and petawatt (1015 W) range. When focused to an area of a few mm, the laser radiation can reach 1019 to >1020 W/cm2. It is at these ultra high intensities that an exciting new area of research, laser induced nuclear physics can be studied. Research by the Ultra Intense Laser Nuclear and Plasma Studies Group at the University of Strathclyde and the Nuclear Physics Group at the University of the West of Scotland concentrates on ultra-intense laser produced proton, neutron, γ-rays and heavy ion beams as well as fast particle production and effects on the nucleus.

At the Nuclear Physics energy scale our understanding of the structure of the constituents of nuclei, nucleons and mesons, is still rather limited. We are confronted with a type of strongly interacting many-body systems (hadrons) whose mass is largely determined by their relativistic quark-gluon dynamics. There is an enormously large mass gap between the nucleon and its constituents: the current quark masses account for only 2% of the mass of a nucleon. It is a unique case in physics that we cannot separate out the constituents of hadrons - there are no free quarks in nature. Rather they are confined in hadrons and we do not yet have a theory that explains this properly. Finally, we know very little about correlations of quarks or gluons which should determine the long range structure of the nucleon, and the origin of the nucleon's spin is still a puzzle.

There are essentially two methods to unravel the structure of composite systems such as hadrons:

The Laser Plasma Interactions Group at Strathclyde is studying the interaction of intense laser pulses with matter. There are two main laser-plasma based activities:

• fundamental studies of laser-plasma interactions (e.g. non-linear optics of plasma), and

• radiation and particle production (e.g. wakefield acceleration, cluster interactions, high-harmonic generation). A programme to utilise the electrons from a wakefield accelerator in a free-electron laser to produce coherent electromagnetic radiation has been set up.

In addition to access to the large laser facilities in the UK and abroad, a new Scottish femtosecond laser facility the Strathclyde Electron and Terahertz to Optical Pulse Source, TOPS, capable of intensities of more than 1019 Wcm-2, was built to support long term programmes in this area. The group collaborates with scientists at the Universities of St Andrews and Dundee.

These nuclei are highly unstable and lie very far from the valley of ß-stability. Such nuclei exhibit unusual phenomena and provide an extreme test of models of nuclear structure. The properties of these nuclei also strongly influence explosive astrophysical events such as supernovae.

Neutron-Rich Nuclei

Since the discovery some thirty years ago that nucleons and mesons, or more generally hadrons, are made of quarks, we have been wondering why quarks only come in doublets or triplets. Heavy hadrons, or baryons, consist of three quarks; mesons are made of a quark-antiquark pair. The theory of strong interaction, Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD), allows for different quark combinations provided they are colour neutral. The observation of such exotic hadrons promises insight into the largely unknown dynamics of quark-gluon systems, in particular with respect to the confinement of quarks within hadrons.

Pentaquarks

By pooling its strengths in Soft Condensed Matter and Measurement Science and Characterisation, SUPA has created a major initiative to explore the creation of new nanocolloidal materials. Nanocolloids are particles whose size is measured in nanometres (millionths of a millimetre): this is much larger than an atom, but far smaller than the scale (microns) of the colloidal particles encountered in current technologies (e.g. paints). Nanocolloids offer new avenues for self-assembly of functional materials: for example by casting thin films of magnetic nanocolloids one might vastly exceed existing limits to the density of digital media that can be stored on hard-discs, DVD/RW and other devices. Longer term opportunities involve the assembly of three dimensional structures for catalysis and drug delivery, and even the creation of "nano-robotic" agents to perform bespoke functions, based on an understanding of nature's own nano-robots (molecular motors, enzymes and other intracellular machines).

By pooling its strengths in Novel States of Quantum Order and Extreme Conditions Physics, SUPA has created a major initiative to explore states of quantum order arising under extremes of high pressure, low temperature and high magnetic field. By varying these parameters it should be possible to explore emergent phenomena with unprecedented precision and, we hope, to access entirely new states of matter so far unforeseen. One fascinating area is that of "quantum criticality" in which a solid is forced to undergo a change from one state of magnetic order to another at very low temperature. This creates a competition between kinetic and potential energies of the electrons, producing giant fluctuations and exotic material properties, yet to be explored.

A major intellectual and technical commitment within SUPA is to combine the extreme pressures available at CSEC with the expertise of St Andrews in superconducting materials, to control and explore the resulting new phases of matter. These phases may underpin new information technologies for the 21st century.

To learn of job opportunities relating to this initiative, visit SUPA Jobs Pages.