BIO

Will Branford is a Professor in Physics and the Head of Community for Matter. He is a Co-director of the School of Human and Artificial Intelligence. He is part of the management group of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and active in the nanotechnology effort at Imperial.

His main research focus is the interplay between structure, geometry, magnetic and electronic properties of materials. His background is in solid state synthesis of magnetic materials, where the structuring was at the atomic scale. His primary focus now is in magnetic textures at the nanoscale, where nanofabrication can impose an additional lengthscale of structure and geometry. Artificial Spin Ice is an example of a magnetic metamaterial whose properties derive from the properties of the nano-units in the array, rather than the material it is made from.

A strong motivation for the research is exploring the potential of new methods of computation, such as neuromorphic computation, which is inspired by the brain, and magnonics, where the information is carried in spin-waves. If you are interested in a genaral overview of my research, you can watch my Inaugural Lecture via the media link below. The title is 'How physics made AI possible, and how it can make it more efficient'. Inaugural lectures are public lectures which showcase the research of newly promoted professors.

MEDIA

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FACULTY

  • Faculty of Natural Sciences

POSITION NAME

  • Professor of Solid State Physics

FIELDS OF RESEARCH