Cavendish Laboratory

First year PhDs getting ready for some fun activities

First year PhDs finding their group

Karishma Jain, Deputy Director for Postgraduate Education, briefing the students about some fun activities

Last evening was all about fun, and new beginnings at the Cavendish for our incoming PhD students this year! They got to know each other through games, “real vs fake” introductions, and a lively round of physics networking bingo - all along with plenty of pizza, of course! 🍕✨

Our final piece of kit, the cryogenics facility, has moved to the Ray Dolby Centre, officially wrapping up our 11-month, 14-phase relocation!🙌

Thanks to all our Cavendish community and our partners MovePlan and Restore Harrow Green for making this huge move a true team success👏

The Cambridge Walking Tour Map

Newton's Apple Tree

The old Cavendish Laboratory

Mathematical Bridge

Have you been on our Self-Guided Cambridge Physics Walking Tour? 🎧
Stroll through the historic streets and cloisters of Cambridge where discoveries that changed the world were made. 🌍You can download the free tour via Voice Map app: buff.ly/v9I8zUm

IB Lab session

A fresh academic year, a new beginning and a milestone moment! ✨
Earlier this week we saw the very first IB Lab session at the Ray Dolby Centre, marking an inspiring start to the term.
Here’s to a year filled with curiosity, collaboration, and discovery!
#RayDolbyCentre #IBLab

QuanTour logo with the words "Awarded IOP Lise Meitner Medal Quantour"

🎉Excited to celebrate QuanTour’s 2025 Institute of Physics Lise Meitner award! We were proud to host the travelling quantum light source in Cambridge and contribute to this groundbreaking initiative. Congrats to the QuanTour team for their brilliant work.
©D. Reiter/DR

selfie of five people with a large group of students sitted in an auditorium in the background.

Welcome to our first-year undergraduates👋✨
Today the Undergraduate Teaching Team (Rachael, Richard and Helen), our Director of Undergraduate Education Ulrich Schneider and Head of Department Mete Atature welcomed the Part IA cohort in the Ray Dolby Auditorium.

Jochen Guck

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Prof Jochen Guck, former Reader in Biophysics at the Cavendish and a great contributor to our Department. He will be missed by his former colleagues and friends. We send our most sincere condolences to his family. buff.ly/oLTNVRH

Prof John Clarke

Cavendish Museum

SLUGS invented by Paul Wraight and John Clarke

A proud moment🎉 Cavendish alumnus Prof John Clarke awarded the #NobelPrize2025, with Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis. They opened the door to quantum technologies based on superconducting qubits, putting quantum phenomena to work in real devices. buff.ly/lnm99ls

Welcome to the new academic year! 🎉

For the first time, all lectures across the academic year will take place in our new home, the Ray Dolby Centre.

We wish all our students, both new and returning, the very best for the year ahead!

Hadzibabic Group Lab

Researchers found that when a two-dimensional homogeneous Bose gas is driven far from equilibrium, it shows universal behaviour - following the same simple rules regardless of its starting point.
🔗 Read the full article: buff.ly/a9aIjMt
#Physics #BoseGas #ColdAtoms

Repeated image of a thin film emitting red light, above a text reading: 'Cambridge researchers are writing a new chapter in the textbook, showing that organic materials are able to generate charges all by themselves.'

News flash: organic materials can generate electricity all by themesleves 💡

Exciting new collaborative research between Cavendish and @chemistrycambridge.bsky.social scientists that could transform the future of solar energy and electronics ☀️

See how: buff.ly/pzZGoCT

@natmater.nature.com

Royce Cleanroom Training A one-week, technically-focused course providing hands-on training in transistor fabrication and analysis within a clean room environment

Event course link ➡️ roycecleanroomtraining2026.eventbrite.co.uk

@universityofleeds.bsky.social @swanseauni.bsky.social #CSConnected @cambridgephysics.bsky.social

#RoyceCambridge #trainingcourse #transistorfabrication #semiconductor #nanofabrication #Research #Academia #Industry #CambridgeUK

Image Credit: Supersharp: https://www.supersharp.space/supersharp-has-ignition/

✨ Join for a fascinating talk by Dr Sam Grimshaw from the Whittle Laboratory today at 6pm. Discover how the push towards zero-emission electric jet engines connects with the mysterious science of cricket ball swing.📍 Ray Dolby Centre, Cambridge
Details: buff.ly/Nvm92qj

Graphical representation of small molecule sensing using a mid-infrared metamaterial made of gold nanoparticles

✨ Cavendish researchers have found a way to tune tiny clusters of metal nanoparticles to interact with light in surprising ways.
The findings could improve non-invasive sensing technologies for #healthcare and environmental monitoring.
Read the article: buff.ly/XFMKjCH

Prof Tuomas Knowles in a smart blue shirt and trousers, standing at a white board, writing equations and annotations.

If you want evidence of science making a tangible difference, Prof Tuomas Knowles has 5 successful companies to show you: https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/the-protein-pioneer?utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky

@cambridgephysics.bsky.social

At CORDE's #AtomScattering and #AtomMicroscopy Facility, we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible✨

Using helium atom scattering the researchers can carry out ultra-sensitive structural and dynamic analysis of 2D materials and surfaces.

🔗 Find out more: corde.phy.cam.ac.uk/characterisa...

Home - CORDE Web Portal CORDE is a gateway to outstanding nanofabrication, characterisation and precision fabrication capabilities for the research community.

🌐 We’re live! Cambridge’s Collaborative R&D Environment (CORDE) is here to connect ideas, people, and scientific innovation. Follow us for updates on how CORDE can support your research and open doors to new ideas and discoveries💡
corde.phy.cam.ac.uk

#CORDE #Innovation #CambridgeResearch

Students at the Ray Dolby centre

Understanding the Space at National Space Academy session

Learning tricks of a Pit Stop at Espire session

Plasmonic Gap Sensing by Nanophotonics Group

The 40th edition of #PhysicsAtWork welcomed more than 2,000 students at the Ray Dolby Centre to explore the many different careers that a Physics degree can open up. From #robotics to forensic science to an inspiring talk on the #JWST, the event was packed with hands-on science.
ℹ️ buff.ly/T5hSB4S

Quantum Materials Lab

Calling all prospective PhD applicants!
🗓 Date: 7th October | ⏰ Time: 3–5 PM
Join us for a special lab visit and get an inside look at our research and collaborative working environment.
Interested in attending? Please complete the form by 22 September. buff.ly/uBGwquE

Molecules with infrared-active dipoles coupling together with optical field confined inside plasmonic nanocavity

Molecules never sit still – always vibrating, twisting, stretching. Researchers at the Cavendish have shown that inside #plasmonic nanogaps (tiny cavities of trapped light), they start moving in sync – like tuning forks beating together. buff.ly/ddTFKaF #NanoPhotonics

Earlier this afternoon we also had an interesting discussion with world-leading physicists Prof Mark Thomson, Prof Jocelyn Monroe, Prof Graziano Venanzoni and Dr Saskia Charity about the intriguing complexities of #particlephysics @oxfordphysics.bsky.social
@cambridgephysics.bsky.social

Cambridge

📢 Join us in Cambridge for the 17th European Conference on Molecular Electronics (ECME 2025) at the Ray Dolby Centre, 22-26 September.

Speakers include Henry Snaith, Alberto Salleo, Sahika Inal, Thuc-Quyen Nguyen, Paul Blom and Stuart Parkin.

👉Find out more and register: buff.ly/HHQ84NU

Prof. Arash Mostofi (chair of the Psi-k, Professor at Imperial and also a TCM alumnus at the Cavendish Laboratory) on the left and Dr Gunnar Felix Lange on the right receiving the award.

Dr Gunnar Felix Lange and Dr Bo Peng

👏 Congratulations to Dr Bo Peng & Dr Gunnar Felix Lange for winning the inaugural Psi-k CECI Award at #PsiK2025 in Lausanne! Their project on New concepts of topology from theory to modelling and applications won the award. 🏆 buff.ly/UIte0S6

Creativity in science: a conversation with Akeelah Bertram and Kevin Lim - People doing Physics Explore the intersection of art and science in this podcast episode featuring artists Akeelah Bertram and Kevin Lim, discussing creativity and physics.

Listen to Episode 38 of #PeopleDoingPhysics: buff.ly/n2Dy8Yw
#PhysicsPodcast

Is there room for subjectivity and artistic freedom in science? Our latest episode of #PeopleDoingPhysics explores how creativity influences scientific discovery with Cavendish Art Science Fellow Akeelah Bertram and physicist Kevin Lim.

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts or👇🧵

Droplet Bouncing

Recent research at the Cavendish Laboratory, in collaboration with the University of Bath, has shown that whether a droplet of liquid sticks or bounces depends on its speed and size, rather than solely on how water-repellent the surface is. Article link: buff.ly/GljhsjJ

colorfoul illustration of a birthday cake with a banner saying '11 today Isaac'

Happy 11th birthday, Isaac ! This week marks 11 years since the first question was attempted on @isaacphysics.org, now know as Isaac Science.

Take a look back at Isaac's staggering stats over the years:
isaacscience.org/isaac_11

Will you try Isaac's toughtest question, 'Cooling Excalibur'?

Credit: CORDE Academy

🌟 Surfaces, Interfaces & Thin Films Day 2025 🌟
16 Sept 2025 | Durham University
A free one-day event bringing together researchers, students and industry to explore the latest in thin films, surfaces and interfaces. An event delivered by CORDE Academy.
Register now 👉 buff.ly/yKI0ebV

World at One - 02/09/2025 - BBC Sounds News, analysis and comment from BBC Radio 4

Our very own Lisa Jardine-Wright spoke today on
BBC Radio 4 about challenges in physics education. She called for more support for physics teaching while also noting rising interest in A-level physics vital for the UK economy. Listen at 42 min. in. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

The Energy Materials lab

Containers of materials used in experiments

Reaching #NetZero means rethinking how we generate, store & use energy. 🌍
At the Cavendish, Siân Dutton’s group is creating new materials for energy-efficient computing, generation, transmission and storage—driving the transition to a greener future. buff.ly/pEI41uL