ProfessorNeil Alford, FREng, FRS

Professor of Materials

Department of Materials - Faculty of Engineering

RESEARCH

Overview
Neil's work on high temperature superconductivity was transferred to industry. His work on microwave dielectric materials has resulted in the development of ultra low loss alumina resonators and an understanding of the defect chemistry of TiO2 which has allowed the production of very high Q and high dielectric constant materials. This technology has been patented and transferred to industry. His research on low loss microwave dielectrics and functional materials led to the development of the first room temperature, earth’s field MASER (a Microwave laser).

Selected publications

Continuous-wave room-temperature diamond maser Jonathan Breeze, Enrico Salvadori, Juna Sathian, Neil Alford and Christopher Kay. Nature 555, pages 493–496 (22 March 2018) doi:10.1038/nature25970

Enhanced magnetic Purcell effect in room-temperature masers, Breeze J, Tan K-J, Richards B, Sathian J, Oxborrow M, Alford NM , 2015 Nature Communications, Vol: 6 doi:10.1038/ncomms7215 (2015)

Room-temperature cavity quantum electrodynamics with strongly coupled Dicke states, Breeze JD, Salvadori E, Sathian J, Alford NMN, Kay CWM, 2017, NPJ QUANTUM INFORMATION, Vol: 3, ISSN: 2056-6387
Room Temperature Maser Mark Oxborrow, Jonathan Breeze and Neil Alford NATURE, 16 August 2012 DOI 10.1038/nature11339 (2012)

GRANTS

  • GRANT
    High Energy Density Capacitors Manufactured with Optoelectronic Tweezers (CapOET)
    Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E1 Oct 2017 - 31 Mar 2021
    Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E: High Energy Density Capacitors Manufactured with Optoelectronic Tweezers (CapOET) (2017-2021)
  • GRANT
    Experimental Equipment Call for Imperial College London
    Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)1 Apr 2015 - 31 Mar 2016
    Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC): Experimental Equipment Call for Imperial College London (2015-2016)
  • GRANT
    STFC Impact Accleration Award
    Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)1 Apr 2014 - 31 Mar 2015
    Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC): STFC Impact Accleration Award (2014-2015)
  • GRANT
    Integrated Graphene - based sensor devices and scalable microfabrication process development based on graphene - metal multilayer deposition
    Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)1 Feb 2013 - 31 Jul 2015
    Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC): Integrated Graphene - based sensor devices and scalable microfabrication process development based on graphene - metal multilayer deposition (2013-2015)
  • GRANT
    Design and Engineering of Photocatalytic Material Structures for Solar Hydrogen
    Kaust1 Jul 2012 - 31 Dec 2015
    Kaust: Design and Engineering of Photocatalytic Material Structures for Solar Hydrogen (2012-2015)