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Department of Physics

The Cavendish Laboratory
 
Read more at: How to build new types of low-cost biosensor that access the biomolecules in blood, sweat, and tears (and urine)
Graphic illustration of a hand holding a phone and connected to a health monitor and a computer

How to build new types of low-cost biosensor that access the biomolecules in blood, sweat, and tears (and urine)

5 May 2023

That's the new challenge of an £8.6M EPSRC programme grant on Ubiquitous Optical Healthcare Technologies (UbOHT) that will fund three Cambridge researchers, along with teams at York, Strathclyde and Exeter. The project will develop 'BioSensors 2.0', new sensors that are low-cost and can be used outside of the hospital...


Read more at: New findings pave the way for stable organic solar cells that may enable cheap and renewable electricity generation
OPV SUN HIGH CONTRAST

New findings pave the way for stable organic solar cells that may enable cheap and renewable electricity generation

19 April 2023

Organic solar cells show great promise for clean energy applications. However, photovoltaic modules made from organic semiconductors do not maintain their efficiency for long enough under sunlight for real world applications. Scientists have now revealed an important reason why organic solar cells rapidly degrade under...


Read more at: New findings open opportunities beyond conventional LED technologies for Infrared Perovskite LEDs
infrared LED

New findings open opportunities beyond conventional LED technologies for Infrared Perovskite LEDs

4 April 2023

Cavendish researchers have demonstrated infrared perovskite LEDs with exceptional performance at high brightness, paving the way towards commercialization and introducing new opportunities beyond conventional LED technologies, such as perovskite electrically pumped lasers which potentially can be used for medical...


Read more at: Discovery of a new topological phase could lead to exciting developments in nanotechnology
Illustration of merons in a twisted bilayer: blue and red arrows pointing inwards and forming two triangles floating above a bed of purple and yellow balls. The triangle shapes reflect below the surface of the balls to form a blue and red hexagonal shape.

Discovery of a new topological phase could lead to exciting developments in nanotechnology

29 March 2023

Cambridge researchers have discovered a new topological phase in a two-dimensional system, which could be used as a new platform for exploring topological physics in nanoscale devices. Two-dimensional materials such as graphene have served as a playground for the experimental discovery and theoretical understanding of a...


Read more at: Humanity’s quest to discover the origins of life in the universe
From left to right - Emily Mitchell, Didier Queloz, Kate Adamala, Carl Zimmer. Landscape with Milky way galaxy. Sunrise and Earth view from space with Milky way galaxy. (Elements of this image provided by NASA).

Humanity’s quest to discover the origins of life in the universe

4 March 2023

For thousands of years, humanity and science have contemplated the origins of life in the Universe. While today’s scientists are well-equipped with innovative technologies, humanity has a long way to go before we fully understand the fundamental aspects of what life is and how it forms. “We are living in an extraordinary...


Read more at: Professor Jeremy J Baumberg appointed Harold Aspden Professor of Fundamental Physics
Professor Jeremy J Baumberg appointed Harold Aspden Professor  of Fundamental Physics

Professor Jeremy J Baumberg appointed Harold Aspden Professor of Fundamental Physics

24 February 2023

Director of the Nanophotonics Centre, Professor Jeremy J Baumberg FRS, FRSC has been appointed the Harold Aspden Professor. This new professorship is named after Dr Harold Aspden (Trinity 1950) - IBM’s Director of Patent Operations in Europe and a dedicated scientist who passed away in 2011. After his death, his wife Wendy...


Read more at: Cambridge researchers unravel exciting prospects for mixed metal halide perovskite systems for a variety of optoelectronic applications
Researchers find a way to develop mixed metal systems for a variety of applications

Cambridge researchers unravel exciting prospects for mixed metal halide perovskite systems for a variety of optoelectronic applications

16 February 2023

Researchers at the Cavendish Laboratory have found that mixed-metal perovskite devices display significantly higher long-range mobility and greatly suppressed ionic screening effects when compared to the more popular pure-lead-based devices. The key conclusions derived from this work will propel further development of the...


Read more at: European funding success for Cavendish researchers
Portrait photo of Eloy De Lera Acedo on the left and Akshay Rao on the right

European funding success for Cavendish researchers

1 February 2023

Two researchers from the Cavendish Laboratory have won European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grants Eloy De Lera Acedo and Akshay Rao are two of the eight Cambridge awardees to receive the ERC Consolidator grants, given to excellent scientists who have 7 to 12 years’ experience after their PhDs, to pursue their most...


Read more at: Professor Andy Parker elected next Master of Peterhouse
Portrait of Andy Parker smiling on a dark purple background

Professor Andy Parker elected next Master of Peterhouse

31 January 2023

Head of the Cavendish Laboratory Professor Andy Parker MA, DPhil(Oxon), FInstP, CPhys, has been elected as the next Master of Peterhouse from July 2023. Professor Andy Parker is a Professor of High Energy Physics. He began his long association with the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) as a summer student, before...


Read more at: More clues to understand our early Universe
Overview of the HERA telescopes on site at the Karoo Radio Reseve in South Africa.

More clues to understand our early Universe

30 January 2023

An array of 350 radio telescopes in the Karoo desert of South Africa is getting closer to detecting “the Epoch of Re-ionization” — the era just after the first stars ignited and galaxies began to bloom . This is a great step forward for the understanding of our early universe. In effect, these observations represent the...