28 Apr 2026
Ross is currently working on a fibre laser front end for the Vulcan 20-20 laser long pulse beamlines.
Since joining STFC in 2022 Ann has worked at RAL Space, building and testing optical payloads for CubeSats as well as developing alignment techniques for large lenses and lens barrels
Pedro Oliveira leads the Vulcan Laser Group and serves as Deputy Technical Director for the Vulcan 20-20 upgrade, where he is also Work Package Manager for the high-energy beamlines.
Muhammad Tahir Jamal is a Laser Scientist at the Central Laser Facility (CLF), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Kai joined the CLF in August 2025, joining the Vulcan laser system team in developing the new Vulcan 20-20 upgrade.
Dave joined the CLF in December 1978 when the Vulcan Laser Facility was still in its infancy, but already having its first major upgrade.
Martin joined CLF Target Fabrication Group in 2001 and became Group Leader in 2004.
Emily is a chemistry graduate working as part of the UPLiFT program on the research and development of inertial confinement fusion targets, with focus on their manufacture by two-photon polymerisation printing.
Claire specialises in fabricating micro targets for high-powered experiments.
27 Apr 2026
Pawala joined the CLF in 2022 following six years of experience at CLF Scitech Precision Ltd as a Target Fabrication Scientist.
Chris’s current research interests are high rep rate target solutions and developing novel targets for studying matter under extreme conditions.
24 Apr 2026
Raoul Trines is a theoretical plasma physicist at the Central Laser Facility. He specialises in analytic and numerical studies of parametric instabilities in laser-plasma interactions, as well as laser-driven particle acceleration in plasma
Alexander is a theoretical and computation plasma physicist (specialised in laser-plasma physics) based in the CLF, and leading the Plasma Physics Group (PPG)
Hamad’s journey with the CLF began during his PhD at Queen’s University Belfast, where he conducted most of his experimental work in the target areas of Vulcan and Gemini.
Margaret joined the Central Laser Facility in 1997 after achieving a BSc in Physics from Imperial College, University of London.
Kevin obtained his PhD in 2015 in laser plasma-instabilities (LPI) developing in Inertial Confinement Fusion experiments from École Polytechnique and CEA
Jack is a hands-on experimental physicist specialising in laboratory astrophysics and plasma diagnostic development, principally X-ray spectroscopy and optical Thomson scattering.
David is the Vulcan 20-20 work package manager for plasma diagnostics and data management.
Chris joined the CLF as staff in 2018, focusing on X-ray detectors and diagnostics for EPAC.
Marilena is focusing on ultrafast spectroscopy techniques, including 2D-IR spectroscopy, and is working on establishing an optical photothermal detection system.
Mike joined the CLF in 1989 and his research has centred on development and scientific application of lasers, detectors and spectroscopic and imaging instrumentation including the Raman Kerr-Gate.
Marta coordinates Ultra Facility operations and manages the Chemistry and Instrumentation Laboratories.
Emily works in Ultra as graduate laboratory support, supporting the running of operations and the chemical preparation laboratory.
Sayantan started work as one of the Instrument Scientists at Ultra in the summer 2024 to support the Facility’s operations and expertise.
Ryan completed a three-year postdoc position at the University of Edinburgh, before joining the Ultra team in 2024 to support user experiments and assist in the delivery of the HiLUX project.
Partha obtained his PhD in physical chemistry from the Department of Chemistry of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 2017.
Igor joined the CLF in 2013 to support the maintenance of the Ultra laboratory infrastructure, to provide visiting scientists technical and scientific support
Ian obtained his PhD in time-resolved infrared spectroscopy from the University of Nottingham in 1997 before joining the STFC in the same year.
Greg joined the CLF at the beginning of the STFC & BBSRC funded Ultra project to develop the scientific application of ultrafast lasers and molecular dynamics spectroscopy techniques