Professor David Neely sadly passed away in August 2020. The below information shares just some of his many admirable achievements during his long career in laser science and at the CLF.
STFC Fellow - Laser Applications
Research interests
Ion acceleration, Ion fast ignition, multi-pulse and pre-pulse effects, hot electron generation and transport, plasma mirrors and optics, X-ray radar and high power laser driven applications.
Background
PhD on ASE collisional excitation soft X-ray lasers at the Queens University of Belfast May 1992. Using the Vulcan laser which provided combined ns and ps pulses he worked on experiments exploring electron acceleration, high harmonic production, shocks and plasma diagnostics. The short pulse laser power was steadily increased through a number of facility upgrades, attaining PW performance in 2003 which enabled the first experiments fully in the relativistic interaction regime to be undertaken. His interest in pre-plasma free interactions led to utilising plasma mirrors in 2005 to enhance the laser contrast to investigate ion acceleration from ultra-thin (20nm) foils.
Worked at the Central Laser Facility, STFC, Oxfordshire, UK since 1993 and held the Mitsuyaki Abe Chair, PMRC, Japan from 2008 and continues to collaborate closely with international researchers in China, Europe, India, Japan and America. His grant funded research interests are in laser driven ion acceleration, fusion studies, high power industrial laser applications and plasma diagnostics. Recent work utilising multi-pulse and plasma optics have enabled extension into novel plasma environments at intensities of 10^22 W/cm^2. Co-supervised PhD students with Prof P McKenna at Strathclyde.
David Neely sadly passed away in August 2020.
In July 2022, the brand new Extreme Photonics Applications Centre (EPAC) building was dedicated for David. His innovative thinking had helped to kick start the EPAC project over a decade ago.
Honours and Esteemed positions
- Visiting Professorship at the University of Strathclyde 2007
- Mitsuyaki Abe Chair, PMRC, Japan 2008- 2014
- European Conference on Laser Interactions with Matter, Steering board, 2010
- STFC individual merit fellowship, 2010
- European Physical Society-Beam Plasmas and Inertial Fusion, Programme Committee 2015
