About
Bill Brocklesby started in research at the Clarendon Laboratory in Oxford, working on laser spectroscopy. He worked as a post-doctoral member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell laboratories, where he worked on novel spectroscopy of rare-earth doped optical fibres. He moved to Southampton as a lecturer in the Physics Department in 1989, and moved to the ORC (now Zepler Institute) in 2003. At present he is an Associate Professor in the Zepler Institute.
Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Novel imaging & microscopy techniques in the visible and XUV spectral regions;
- Coherent diffractive imaging of nanoscale systems using XUV radiation generated by high-power ultrashort pulse lasers;
- Large-scale beam combination;
- Raman microscopy, near-field techniques such as scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM), atomic force microscopy, & scanning tunnelling microscopy;
- Optical spectroscopy of rare-earth doped materials and optical fibres.
Current research
Bill Brocklesby’s research has centered around novel imaging & microscopy techniques in the visible and XUV spectral regions over the last 10-15 years.
He is at present working on coherent diffractive imaging of nanoscale systems using XUV radiation generated by high-power ultrashort pulse lasers. This interest in high-power ultrafast lasers led to involvement in the ICAN project, conceived by Gérard Mourou and Toshiki Tajima, which studied large-scale beam combination of ultrafast fibre lasers for wake-field acceleration.
Dr Brocklesby was Project Manager of ICAN, and large-scale beam combination remains a topic of interest.
Dr Brocklesby also has extensive research experience in Raman microscopy, near-field techniques such as scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM), atomic force microscopy, & scanning tunneling microscopy, as well as a background in optical spectroscopy of rare-earth doped materials and optical fibres.
Research projects
Completed projects
Publications
Teaching
Dr Brocklesby teaches in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, on the ‘Lasers’ module, and for the ZI on the ‘Advanced Lasers’ module.
He has won several teaching awards from the Southampton Students Union, including runner up in the ‘Feedback’ section, and runner up in the ‘best lecturer’, category in 2017.
In 2016 he was named as one of the 'Beacons of the Photonics Industry' in the area of teaching by Photonics Spectra magazine; one of only two people named in this category and 10 people total.