NANOMAGIQC

National Physical Laboratory (NPL)

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the United Kingdom’s national standards laboratory.

From the supermarket to the hospital, from manufacturing to information technology,accurate measurement is essential to a civilised way of life.

The work of the NPL as the UK authority for physical measurement standards and metrology (the science of measurement) is therefore vital to all members of society.

NPL provides important measurement services to government, industry and ultimately every member of the UK public. In fulfilling this role, NPL has become thelargest applied physics organisation in the UK working in 12 scientific areas.

It manages the majority of the UK’s measurement research programmes and also offers a successful range of commercial services, applying its scientific skills to industrial measurement problems.

Fundamental & Wavelength Standards team

The Fundamental & Wavelength Standards team within NPL carries out research into the science underpinning future developments in precision metrology, especially atomic and quantum based phenomena, and the determination of fundamental constants which underpin the SI.

It has developed a wide range of interdisciplinary scientific expertise. Skills include:

• precision NMR,
• laser physics,
• high temperature superconductivity and SQUID applications,
• atomic imaging,
• detection and manipulation (STM and AFM),
• high Q microwave resonators,
• frequency standards and clocks,
• low temperature physics, and
• superconductivity.

Prof. John Gallop

John Gallop is Senior Fellow at the National Physical Laboratory where he has worked on development of precision measurement techniques across a wide range of physical parameters.

His main interest has been in superconducting electronics (especially SQUIDs and the Josephson effects).

He has published more than 150 papers in refereed journals and is author of a book,SQUIDs, the Josephson effects and superconducting electronics, (Adam Hilger, Bristol, 1991).

He holds BA (1st class honours) and DPhil in Physics, both from Oxford University. He is a visiting professor in the Physics Departments at both Imperial College (London University) and Strathclyde University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics in the UK.

Dr. Patrick Josephs-Franks

Patrick Josephs-Franks is a principal research scientist in the Fundamental & Wavelength Standards Team at NPL.

He worked for the UK Ministry of Defense for seven years developing a gyroscopebased on nuclear spin of helium-3 nucleii and also on high temperature superconductors and SQUID detectors.

His main interests include

• nano-engineered structures using ultra high vacuum scanning tunnelling microscopy,
• the development of miniature SQUIDs for single spin detection, and
• electron and nuclear spin resonance using brute force and optical pumping polarization methods.

He holds BSc and DPhil degrees in Physics from the University of Sussex. He is a member of the Institute of Physics in the UK and also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.