On Friday 30th September the School of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Lincoln hosted our first ever PGR symposium event. We invited alumni who are currently PGR students at other institutions to give a short (10-15 minute) presentation about their research projects alongside some of our own PhD students. 

The final speaker was Alek Radic, who is studying for a PhD in the Optoelectronics group at the University of Cambridge. Alek’s research is on the development of 4D operando optical scattering microscopy to track ion dynamics and phase transitions in battery electrodes.

In his talk, Alek started by introducing a technique called transient absorption spectroscopy, for determining the excited state dynamics of electrons in materials. He then spoke in more detail about ‘wide-field’ transient absorption microscopy, which is
an interferometrically enhanced optical technique used to track changes in the morphology, dynamics and structure of advanced materials.