Professor Kishan Dholakia of this School has been awarded the Institute of Physics Thomas Young Medal and Prize for 2017. This prestigious award is for his “contributions to the field of optical micromanipulation using shaped light fields in liquid, air and vacuum”.

The citation goes on to talk about Prof Dholakia’s “internationally acknowledged and distinguished reputation for his work … including new insights into the understanding of complex light fields and their propagation”.

School of Physics & Astronomy Press Release

Posted: 30/06/2017

The precise wavelength of a laser is important in numerous applications, but measuring changes of wavelength to one part in ten thousand million has been quite demanding. Our group has invented a new technique for doing such measurements based on the random scattering of laser light from a rough surface. This breakthrough could revolutionise the use of lasers in certain applications in quantum technologies and in healthcare.

Check out the article here: 10.1038/ncomms15610
University of St Andrews press release
School of Physics & Astronomy press release

Posted: 06/06/2017

OSA journal, Optics Letters, turns 40 this year and as part of the celebrations they are compiling a list of their top 100 cited articles. Currently numbers 26-100 are listed here. Numbers 1-25 will be released later in the year.

We are very pleased to note that our group leader, Prof. Kishan Dholakia, is featured on the list. The article, “Mechanical equivalence of spin and orbital angular momentum of light: an optical spanner” is number 53, with 539 citations as of Jan 4th 2017 (Clarivate Analytics).

Mechanical equivalence of spin and orbital angular momentum of light: an optical spanner
N. B. Simpson, K. Dholakia, L. Allen, and M. J. Padgett
Optics Letters 22(1), 52-54 (1997)
doi: 10.1364/OL.22.000052

Posted: 31/05/2017

We have updated our social (academic?) media presence. Use the buttons in the menu on the left or check out the links below.

Check out our revived twitter account at:
http://twitter.com/OpticManip

Check us out on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/OptManipStAnd

Published: 17/05/2017

While citations are still the most recognised academic kudos, the growing use of digital media offers many different avenues for impact and dissemination of results. Altmetric tracks these alternative metrics to measure impact of publications. We are now adding Altmetric badges to our publication listings, hover over the badges for more information.

Why not check out our top 10 articles, currently ranking highest on Altmetric below.

Continue reading Alternative impact: Tracking our publications with Altmetric →

Check out our new article, Rotational Dynamics and Heating of Trapped Nanovaterite Particles, at ACS Nano here.

Don’t have subscriber access? Use this link to access the article for free (limited to 50 e-prints during the first 12 months of publication).

Published: 15/12/2016

Our recent article in Biomedical Optics Express (BOEx), Enhancement of image quality and imaging depth with Airy light-sheet microscopy in cleared and non-cleared neural tissue, was one of BOEx’s top 10 downloads of September.

Check out the article here.

Published: 10/10/2016

Welcome to the new website for the Optical Manipulation Group at University of St Andrews.

The website is still a work in progress so check back regularly for new updates.