This thesis opens with a brief review of the aspects of gravitational waves which are relevant for detector design and engineering, and an introduction to the LISA and LISA Pathfinder missions. The thesis describes original work carried out to support the LISA Pathfinder mission…
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A detailed study of fabrication and characterisation of bismuth (Bi) doped silica optical fibre has been investigated. Three different fibre fabrication techniques were applied to study the possible influence on Bi-luminescence: modified chemical vapour deposition (MCVD) and the…
This thesis investigates new fibre technologies and their application in nonlinear optical systems, designed mainly for telecommunications. The thesis includes a study of two different directions in achieving a high nonlinearity in a fibre system, namely holey fibres filled with…
Properties and applications of all-vanadium redox flow batteries are discussed and a two-dimensional model is developed. The model, which is based on a comprehensive description of mass, charge, energy and momentum transport and conservation, is combined with a global kinetic mo…
This thesis describes the application of multinuclear solid-state NMR to three materials systems: first, components of polymer-based proton-exchange fuel cells including the fluoropolymer membranes (Chapter 4) and the precious metal supported catalysts (Chapter 5); secondly, the…
The research reported in this thesis is focused on the identification of the structure of point defects in diamond using a variety of spectroscopic techniques. The defects studied are introduced by doping during synthesis, irradiation damage and annealing. Diamond produced by hi…
This thesis is comprised of two separate physics themes, both of which involve the ATLAS detector situated at the LHC at CERN. The first constituent is a study of the top quark signal in the fully-leptonic channel for proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 10 TeV…
The subject of this thesis is the simulation of X-ray cluster surveys and related issues, with a focus on the research that can be conducted with the International X-ray Observatory (IXO), or a similar next-generation X-ray observatory. A general purpose X-ray image simulator ha…
Polycrystalline tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films were prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) with an ITO (In\(_2\)O\(_3\)-10 wt.% SnO\(_2\)) target and deposited on borosilicate glass substrates. By changing independently the thickness, the deposition temperature and t…
This thesis discusses the development of optical read-out techniques, including a simple shadow sensor and a more elaborate compact homodyne interferometer, known as EUCLID. Both of these sensors could be utilised as part of a seismic isolation and suspension system of a ground-…
This thesis is an examination of the uses of mean-field theory in problems of the theory of strongly-correlated electronic systems, particularly to the problem of orbital ordering in transition metal oxides. We will apply mean-field theory to various models for orbital ordering …
For cost-efficient power applications of superconducting coated conductors based on YBa\(_2\)Cu\(_3\)O\(_7\) (YBCO) films, in applied fields or in self-field, further improvement of critical current by artificial flux pinning centres is required. This project investigated the in…
The increased contrast to noise ratio available at Ultrahigh (7T) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) allows mapping in space and time the brain's response to single trial events with functional MRI (fMRI) based on the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) contrast. This thesis …
Across cosmic time, stars have contributed most of the radiant energy found in the Universe and have created nearly all the chemical elements heavier than helium. Understanding the evolution of the Universe requires understanding the history of star formation. Stars form in gala…
The main aim of this research study was to develop methods for metabolic profiling, a process involving the identification of metabolites present in biological samples, by applying Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS). Three novel methods were …
The main reason for studying relativistic heavy-ion collisions is to discover the phase transition from nuclear matter to the Quark-Gluon Plasma. Such a transition is predicted to occur under conditions of high temperature and density. The predicted state features deconfined qua…
Gravitational waves are a prediction of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. They can be regarded as perturbations, or ripples, in the curvature of space-time that travel at the speed of light. Detectable gravitational waves are the result of the asymmetric acceleration of m…
In recent years spatial light modulators (SLMs) have become an integral part of many optical trapping experiments. Yet their usefulness, which stems from their flexibility, is often under exploited. In this thesis I seek to demonstrate how it is possible to expand the range of o…
Background and purpose: In vivo dosimetry is one of the quality assurance tools used in radiotherapy to monitor the dose delivered to the patient. The digital image format makes electronic portal imaging devices (EPIDs) good candidates for in vivo dosimetry. Currently there is n…