Name:

Dr. Anna Peacock

 

 

Profession:

Photonics Physicist

 

 

Area of research:

How high power laser light interacts with materials.

 

 

 

 

About Anna....

At school, Anna Peacock had a curious interest in physics, but despite her natural aptitude for mathematics she found herself in an advanced chemistry programme as her teachers thought it a more suitable career option for a girl. However, when it came to her undergraduate studies Anna decided to keep her options open and headed away from her the local university (and their chemistry department) to pursue a mixture of sciences and mathematics at The University of Auckland (New Zealand). Although she continued to do well in chemistry, at the end of her first year she was approached by a senior physics professor who took her on a tour of the advanced teaching laboratories. As well as being enticed by the range of experiments on offer (it was the full sized particle accelerator that really caught her attention), Anna was inspired by the enthusiasm of the staff which led her to shift her major to physics. This turned out to be a pivot point in her career as on completing her BSc Anna was offered a scholarship to undertake a master’s degree within the physics department, which she ended up conducting in an area that was completely new to her – photonics! The outcome of this would see her move to one of the world’s premier photonics institutes, the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) at the University of Southampton, to conduct a PhD, and where she is now an established academic.

 

 

Over the course of her research career Anna has worked in many different aspects of photonics, all of which are related to the study of how high power laser light interacts with materials. The way that a material responds to an intense laser beam can be exploited to change the properties of the light, for example, by switching it on or off, changing its colour, or even making it travel along a different path. The impact of this research covers many disciplines; for example, the generation of light at visible wavelengths can be used in projection systems and visual display units (e.g., cinemas), whereas fast optical switches and routers can be used to increase the speed of communication systems (i.e., faster internet connections). More specifically, Anna now heads a group working on semiconductor photonics – an area that looks to exploit the ultrafast optical functionality of materials that are more traditionally used in electronics. The ultimate goal of the research is to integrate the optical and electronic functions in these materials to increase the speed and efficiency of gadgets such as computers, smart phones, imaging systems and sensors, which are widely used in day to day life.