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PSI Newsletter

Dr Mark Dickinson and Andrew Gray, Curator of

Herpetology at the Manchester Museum have been ex-

ploring the world of frogs with a class of Year 12 Physics

students at the Manchester Museum.

The day started with an introduction into the use of col-

our in the animal kingdom. The students were also intro-

duced to a “glass frog” (where you can see its internal

organs) and a “splendid tree frog”, one of only about a

hundred left in the world.

Andrew explained how frogs were dying out in the rain forests of Central and South

America as a result of a fungus. His research, which combines field studies with captive

observations, focuses mainly on investigating the biology of the rare treefrog species. All

the studies conducted are completely non-invasive and are aimed at gaining a fuller un-

derstanding of the species concerned, so that the knowledge can be used to help con-

serve them.

Physicist Dr Mark Dickinson from the Photon Science Institute then explained the phys-

ics behind the research, including the use of visible and infrared techniques to analyse the

frog’s skin, and a master class in infrared techniques. Students were allowed to use the

infrared imaging apparatus to look at near and far infrared imaging and spectroscopy.

Frogs and Physics

Summer 2012

1 Frogs and Physics

1 Chemical Society review accepted

2 A Message from the Director

3 Photon 12

3 Branchpoint expansion in a fully complementary three-way

DNA junction

3 Three dimensional optical im-aging of actinide ions using two

photon spectroscopy

4 Chemical engineering of mo-lecular qubits - a joint publica-

tion between MIB and PSI

4 Louise Natrajan visits the INE

5 Detecting free radicals in the atmosphere

6 Report on the EPR conference and David Collisons birthday

lectures

8 Flash Bang - Andrew Thomas teaches school children about

the science of explosions

Inside this issue:

This newsletter consists of a

combination of articles, high-

lighting both recent grant

successes and those of a

personal nature.

Please send any items you

have either for The Photon

Science Institute website or

the next newsletter to

[email protected]

A student meets Prince

Charming (an extremely rare

splendid tree frog)

Two treefrogs – spot the one only camouflaged in the visible part of the spectrum

Chemical Society Review accepted

Andrew Thomas and Karen Syres have co-written a review entitled “Adsorption of or-

ganic molecules on rutile TiO2 and anatase TiO2 single crystal surfaces” which has been

accepted for publication by Chemical Society Reviews.

The major change within the PSI since Christmas has been

the arrival of many new colleagues. These include:

Cassy Kenny, who has replaced Joan as the Director’s PA.

Hopefully everyone has now met Cassy and introduced

themselves. Cassy appears to be coping with the oddities

of the Director and the PSI staff remarkably well. The new

layout for the newsletter has been Cassy’s initiative.

Steve Mottley and Siraj Mohammed have arrived from

Chemistry to re-establish an electronics workshop in the

PSI. Thanks to everyone who has helped Steve and Siraj

settle in. Hopefully we will have a further appointment in

electronics shortly.

Alistair Fielding has arrived from the University of Göttin-

gen to take up a position as an Application Scientist/Senior

Lecturer – a post partly funded by Bruker. Alistair’s remit

is to design new experiments to use the beautiful new

spectrometers within the ground floor laboratory.

Some of these changes have required a re-organisation of

office space. We have divided up the former post-room to

create two new offices and we are about to divide Kathy’s

office into two to create still further space. I think it is a

mark of the success we are achieving that we have to re-

organise to accommodate new staff. As the PSI grows,

regular re-organisation and re-allocation of space is likely.

A new experimental officer post in laser spectroscopy has

been advertised and I hope we can fill this post before the

summer. This will strengthen the research support team in

PSI and allow Med and Alasdair to help deliver an ever

improving service to academics. Part of the reason I could

persuade the Dean to release this post was because we

have obtained external funds to develop the sum fre-

quency generation spectroscopy experiment in the ground

floor laboratory. As we attempt to grow the PSI further,

external funding for the research support team is essen-

tial.

We are now planning the growth within the next phase.

I’ve proposed we pursue four new projects. These have

been chosen based on a balance of factors, which include:

projects that have already obtained significant external

funding and published significant work; projects that have

the potential to obtain significant external funding and

contribute world-leading science; projects that build links

to other sections of the university and beyond. The four

projects we have decided upon are:

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy (CARS):

this has arisen from discussions with colleagues at MIB (chiefly

Roy Goodacre). It could probably become a focus for developing

further advanced Raman techniques.

Sum Frequency Generation spectroscopy (SFG): this is already

an area where we have invested a small amount of money, and it

is leading to a good deal of external interest and funding. We

already have funds from National Nuclear Laboratories, BP and

EPSRC through collaboration with Imperial and Durham. An-

drew Thomas and Rob Lindsay, who have led the development

of the project, have further ideas and we have interest from

other groups at MIB and Chemistry in studying other systems.

EPR spectroscopy of photo-excited states: this is a project that

comes from moving the national EPR facility into the PSI. There

has been previous work in this area, but the range of spectrome-

ters we have in the PSI combined with the laser facilities make

this an opportunity to perform experiments other groups are

not equipped to perform.

Finally, we’ll develop the optical microscopy further. Already

Mark Dickinson and Tom Waigh, working closely with Vicki

Allan, have developed a Photoactivated Localisation Microscopy

(PALM) which allows optical microscopy well beyond the diffrac-

tion limit. We will continue in this area, building strongly links to

Life Science, but also looking for other collaborators who can

use this very high resolution optical microscopy.

These projects will occupy most of the time of the PSI research

team over the remainder of 2012. Other funded projects will

also be supported as a high priority. This means that a low prior-

ity will be given to research projects that are not externally

funded. This is simple fairness – our salaries and those of all sup-

port staff depend on earning research funds, so those that earn

such funds should receive a better service. This means, in turn,

that Med and Alisdair have been instructed not to support

groups which have no external funding unless the work is ap-

proved directly by me. This is not their decision, it is mine. If you

have a problem with this position, please speak to me directly.

Richard Winpenny

Director of the PSI

A Message from the Director

Page 2 PS I Newsletter Summer 2012

Members of the PSI are taking a leading role in the organization of PHOTON 12 at Durham University this year. Dave Binks,

Mark Dickinson, Krikor Ozanyan and Patricia Scully are all on the Programme Committee and will be chairing sessions at the

conference.

PHOTON 12 is the IOP’s premier event in Optics and Photonics and is the largest optics conference in the UK. The event is

the main forum for the IOP Optics and Photonics Division and the IOP Quantum Electronics and Photonics Group. For more

information see the conference website at www.photon.org.uk.

Congratulations to Louise Natrajan who has been awarded an EPSRC grant in the new directions for EPSRC research lead-

ers scheme, for the value of £311,505.

The title of her work is: “Three Dimensional Optical Imaging of Actinide Ions using Two Photon Spectroscopy”, and this will

provide a 2 year extension to her EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship.

PHOTON 12 Durham University, 3-6 September 2012.

Three Dimensional Optical Imaging of Actinide Ions using Two

Photon Spectroscopy


Branchpoint Expansion in a Fully Complementary Three-Way

DNA Junction

An article from Steven Magennis, Tara Sabir and Anita

Toulmin "Branchpoint Expansion in a Fully Complementary

Three-Way DNA Junction", has featured on the front cover

of JACS.

The research, which was conducted in collaboration with Dr.

Gunnar Schröder (Forschungszentrum Jülich), Dr. Anita Jones

(University of Edinburgh) and Prof. Peter McGlynn (University

of Aberdeen), describes the use of single-molecule FRET, time

-resolved spectroscopy, and molecular modeling to determine

the global structure of a fully complementary three-way DNA

junction. Three-way junctions are key biological intermediates

and are used as building blocks for nanoscience applica-

tions. The study revealed local unpairing at the branchpoint to

form a nanoscale cavity, despite the full Watson-Crick com-

plementarity of the DNA junction. The structure accounts for

earlier observations of the structure and flexibility of three-

way junctions.

DOI: 10.1021/ja211802z

http://www.photon.org.uk

C. J. Wedge, R. E. George, G. A. Timco, F. Tuna, S. Rigby, E. J. L. McInnes, R. E. P. Winpenny, S. J. Blundell

and A. Ardavan, “Chemical engineering of molecular qubits”, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2012, 108, 107204.

DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.107204

The arrival of the EPR facility within PSI has changed the face of the ground floor laboratory. It is also already changing our

publication rate, with more papers appearing with the PSI address. One of the earliest is a joint paper between PSI and the

MIB. The paper, which has just appeared in Physical Review Letters, involves use of pulsed EPR spectroscopy to measure phase

memory times in a series of molecules designed to be used as qubits in quantum information processing. The molecules were

made in the School of Chemistry at Manchester by Grigore Timco, and the measurements described were performed in

Oxford with a team led by Arzhang Ardavan, and at MIB by Floriana Tuna working with Steve Rigby. The new equipment

that has arrived in PSI will allow us, in the future, to perform the experiments here.

The paper is a follow-up to a

previous article (Phys. Rev. Lett.

2007, 98, 057201) which showed

that the phase memory time in

molecular magnets was suffi-

ciently long to allow manipulation

of spins to perform computation.

The first paper has been cited

almost one hundred and sixty

times in five years. The new

paper shows how, by choice of

more rigid organic groups, we can

extend the phase memory time

to around 15 microseconds.

Chemical engineering of molecular qubits – a joint publication

between MIB and PSI


Figure: two pulse electron spin echo decay for the molecule shown in deuterated

toluene at 1.5 K.

Louise Natrajan and Sean Woodall, a PhD student, have recently

visited the INE, at Karlsruhe Actinide NMR Centre of Excellence in

Germany. They spent six weeks studying Americium and Curium com-

pounds with NMR imaging and photophysics, jointly funded by an

EPSRC Windfall grant and the FP7-EURACT NMR programme. You

can learn more about the programme at: www.euract-nmr.eu/

Louise Natrajan visits the Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal

(INE) in Germany

http://www.euract-nmr.eu/

PS I Newsletter Summer 2012

FCH2I2CH2I +IF

CH2IO2CH2O2 I

International Scientific Advisory Board 2012 - Poster Session

The ISAB for 2012 will be taking place on Thursday 6th-Friday 7th September. There will be a

poster session in the foyer of the Alan Turing building on Thursday afternoon and evening with

wine and nibbles available. Please can PSI staff and students be aware that posters will be needed

for this session and all are welcome to attend.

Detecting free radicals in the atmosphere

Dr Carl Percival, of the School of Earth, Atmospheric and En-

vironmental Sciences at Manchester University and John Dyke

of Southampton University, a visiting professor at Manchester

University, have a joint NERC research grant to study atmos-

pherically important reactive intermediates, in the gas-phase

using photoelectron spectroscopy (PES). On the purpose-built

spectrometer used, VUV radiation ionizes a reactive interme-

diate and measures the ejected photoelectrons. By changing

the distance between the source of the intermediates and the

ionization region of the spectrometer, the reaction pathways

that these intermediates take can be followed, and reaction

branching ratios and rate coefficients can be measured.

At present the photoelectron spectrometer has a narrow exit

slit, with a single electron detector: a channel electron multi-

plier. This means that only one, single photoelectron energy is

detected at a time. The complete spectrum is obtained by

scanning the kinetic energy of the photoelectrons. Michele

Siggel-King (Cockcroft Institute) and George King from the

PSI have been working with Carl, John and Dr Asan Bacak,

also from the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental

Sciences, in the conversion of the spectrometer into a multi-

detection device. This device can detect simultaneously all of

the photoelectrons that are dispersed across the focal plane of

the spectrometer, enabling the complete photoelectron spec-

trum to be obtained in a single shot. This reduces data collec-

tion times by over an order of magnitude, which is especially

important for such dilute target systems as reactive intermedi-

ates, which will include free radicals. In this conversion of the

spectrometer, the single channel multiplier is being replaced

by a position sensitive detector. This consists of a pair of mul-

tichannel detection plates, to multiply the electron current by

~ 107, and a resistive anode. Charge sensing devices are con-

nected to the four corners of the resistive anode. By measur-

ing the charge division between the four charge-sensing de-

vices, the position where the electrons strike the exit plane of

the spectrometer can be determined. This information is then

processed to produce the final photoelectron spectrum. An

additional advantage of the redesigned spectrometer is that all

the photoelectrons will be analysed at the same value of ki-

netic energy within the hemispherical deflector that disperses

them according to their energy. This will ensure that the en-

ergy resolution of the spectrum is uniform across its whole

range. Initial experiments will study the simplest Criegee inter-

mediate CH2O2 , which can be produced by the consecutive

reactions

This Creigee intermediate is isoelectronic with ozone and like

ozone plays a very important role in atmospheric chemistry.

The longer term goal is to use photoelectron spectroscopy to

study other Criegee intermediates (e.g. CH3CHOO and (CH3)

2COO) and to use photoelectron spectroscopy as a measure-

ment method for Criegee intermediates in direct kinetics

studies of their atmospherically important reactions.

Report on the EPR conference and David Collison’s birthday

lectures

The 45th Annual International Meeting of the ESR Spectros-

copy Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry (http://esr-

group.org) was hosted in Manchester at Chancellors Confer-

ence Centre during the amazingly summery week of 25th – 29th

March 2012. Almost 100 delegates attended, and appreciated

the opportunity to have morning and afternoon tea and coffee

on the terrace (Pic 1) overlooking the deep green lawn and

magnolia trees in full bloom. The local organisation was led by

Eric McInnes and David Collison, and with magnificent support

from Prof Richard Winpenny, Dr Kathy England, Cassandra

Kenny, Sarah Evans and Gill Smith. (Pic 2)

The scientific highlight of the meeting was the 27th Bruker

Prize Lecture given by Professor Kev Salikhov (Pic 3) from the

Zavoisky Physical‐Technical Institute of the Russian Academy

of Sciences, Kazan, Tatarstan, under the title Quantum comput-

ing on electron spins using the pulse EPR spectroscopy methodol-

ogy, following an introductory salutation by Professor Robert

Bittl (Berlin). Indeed quantum computing featured heavily in

the conference, which was got off to a splendid start with

Richard Winpenny’s opening keynote lecture, EPR Studies of

Rings and Dimers of Rings and on the final morning Professor

Takeji Takui’s (Osaka) wide-ranging keynote lecture, New

aspects of nitroxides and open‐shell graphene fragments chemistry:

From quantum computers to energy conversion elements. Tech-

nique development was represented in the keynote lecture by

Walter Kockenberger (Nottingham), with From electron‐

nuclear spin pairs to the electron spin interaction with the bulk

nuclei: A closer look at dynamic nuclear polarization, and the

Wednesday of the conference was devoted to more biological

topics and began with a keynote lecture from Heinz‐Juergen

Steinhoff (Osnabrueck), entitled Structure and Conformational

Dynamics of Nucleic Acids and Membrane Protein Complexes

Studied by Site‐Directed Spin Labeling.

The health of the discipline of ESR Spectroscopy was reflected

not only in the large number of young scientists, over a third

of the delegates were PhD or postdoctoral scientists, but also

by the high quality of the Jeol Student Prize Talks; this year

five speakers were selected rather than the usual three. And

from an outstanding set of talks there was a very worthy win-

ner in Alice Bowen (Oxford) with Utilizing the TWT linear re-

gion: Double Electron‐Electron Resonance (DEER) with multiple

excitation pulses and dead‐time free three‐pulse DEER.

On the free afternoon, over twenty of the delegates elected

to visit the EPSRC EPR Spectroscopy Facility & Service in the

Photon Science Institute (www.epr.chemistry.manchester.

ac.uk), and were given a guided tour by Floriana Tuna,

Stephen Sproules and Daniel Sells. The conference dinner

was held in the imposing setting of the dining room of Wool-


Picture 1 - Delegates enjoy the sun at Chancellors

Picture 2 - Group photo by Art Heiss of Bruker

By David Collison

http://esr-group.orghttp://esr-group.org

Report on the EPR conference and David Collison’s birthday lectures, cont.

ton Hall (Pic 4), where the Chair of the ESR Spectroscopy

Group (Mark Newton, Warwick) oversaw the presentation of

the Student Prize Talk to Alice Bowen (Pic 5), by Peter Mead-

ows of Jeol (UK). Runners-up prizes for the posters came in

the form of recently published textbooks on EPR, authored by

Sushi Misra (published by Wiley), the Eatons (published by

Springer), the late Phil Rieger, and the co-authored work by

Klaus Moebius and Anton Savitsky (both published by RSC

Publishing). The 46th Annual Meeting will be held at The Uni-

versity of Warwick during 7th – 11th April 2013.

On the afternoon of the final day of the

conference the EPR theme moved to

the Chemistry Building at the University,

where a symposium entitled “1952 Was

A Very Good Year: A celebration of

Copper Acetate and David Collison.”

was held to celebrate DC’s 60th birthday

from earlier in March. Several of the

attendees at the conference kindly came

along to this event before heading

home. The speakers were drawn from

those who had suffered David’s supervi-

sion during their PhD studies and yet

had gone on to successful academic and

research careers. The symposium was

chaired by one of David’s own PhD su-

pervisors, Professor Dave Garner FRS, who recalled his own

student’s career. The opening keynote lecture was given by

Professor Annie Powell from Karlsruhe speaking about Su-

pramolecular approaches in the quest for improved molecular

magnets, followed by Dr Andrew Gaunt (Los Alamos), Dr

Leigh Jones (University of Galway), Dr Jon McMaster

(University of Nottingham), Dr Mark Murrie (University of

Glasgow) on a range of topics in bioinorganic, actinide, coor-

dination and materials chemistry. Richard Winpenny closed

the event with some well chosen and very kind words, and

DC gave his thanks for a truly memorable and very touching

occasion. Indeed a number of other academics who had

taught DC and then welcomed him as a colleague in Manches-

ter were also there: Frank Mabbs, David Machin, Alan

Thompson. There followed a reception

organized by Cassy Kenny and Kathy

England for all attendees and then there

was a splendid dinner for speakers and

guests, who included Professor Takui, at

the Yang Sing restaurant. Both Professor

Takui and Bernard Goodman (in an email

from China) explained that “we start

counting again at 60, so in Asian eyes you

are just starting your 2nd life”. Being re-

born sounds good!


Picture 3 - left to right, Peter Hoefer (head of Bruker EPR),

Kev Salikhov (Bruker Lecturer), Robert Bittl (Berlin), Mark

Newton (Chair of RSC ESR Spectroscopy Group)

Picture 4 - Delegates at the conference dinner

Picture 5 - Alice Bowen receiving the

Jeol prize

Andrew Thomas has presented a flash bang lecture entitled

“Physics and Chemistry: More Magic than Harry Potter” to

around 120 sixth formers at the Regional Science Centre Old-

ham as part of their National Science and Engineering Week.

The RSCO works in partnership with schools and universities

to develop science skills by creating and maintaining interest in

science education from an early age.

More info and picures are available at:

http://www.regionalsciencecentreoldham.ac.uk/news/

science_week.html

Flash Bang – Andrew Thomas teaches school

children about the science of explosions

The Photon Science Institute provides an

innovative and interdisciplinary environment for

research into and the application of photon science

- the understanding of how light interacts with

matter. The Institute fosters collaborations across

the physical, engineering, material, medical and

biological sciences to produce high-quality research

and knowledge transfer.

The Photon Science Institute

University of Manchester

Alan Turing building

Oxford Road

Manchester

M13 9PL

www.psi.manchester.ac.uk

And finally…

Congratulations to Kevin McManus who got married to Barbara on Saturday 19th May! The PSI staff wish you

all the best for a happy future!
http://www.regionalsciencecentreoldham.ac.uk/news/science_week.htmlhttp://www.regionalsciencecentreoldham.ac.uk/news/science_week.html

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