We work among extraordinary people doing extraordinary things; get to know some of them by reading these quick-fire interviews.
Name: Jack Harrison
Job title: Graduate student, Condensed Matter Physics
What are you currently working on?
My research focuses on experimental methods to investigate antiferromagnetic materials, largely based on synchrotron x-ray beamlines. Our group discovered a family of 'topological' textures in hematite, a type of iron oxide and the main constituent of rust. These are stable at room temperature and in the presence of reasonably strong magnetic fields, with the potential to be used for data storage applications. I have focused on working out how to reproducibly nucleate these textures, as well as tune some of their properties such as size and density.
Describe a typical day
My days vary a lot, mostly because my experimental work at x-ray beamlines occurs periodically throughout the year. For a week every few months I will be working very long hours to collect as much data as possible. The rest of the time my days consist of processing and analysing the collected data, running some simulations, writing proposals and experimental reports, preparing manuscripts and keeping up with current research in my field.
If you had an entire day at your disposal (not at work), what would be your ideal way to spend it?
There are so many great options here! I love going to theme parks, so a day out at one of those would be great. Perhaps a long walk in the countryside stopping off at a pub for some lunch if the weather was nice. I appreciate anything that lets me spend some time with my family and friends.
What is your favourite place in Oxford?
Probably the Natural History Museum. I find it a relaxing place to visit and there’s always something new to discover there. I love to learn about animals and the planet; the fact it’s right next to the physics department is just a bonus!
What discovery would you like to see in your lifetime?
I think it would be great if we were to find a room temperature, ambient pressure superconductor. Not only would it enable a lot of fun lab experiments, it would also lead to a revolution in low-dissipation energy transport and generation, which I think would make it a very interesting time for physicists.