Staff case study: Pascal Manuel
08 Sep 2024 - Rosie de Laune
Instrument scientist on the muon beamlines, part of the team developing Super-MuSR. Rhea did her PhD in St Andrews focussing on magnetism and superconductivity. This is where she got her first taste of doing muon experiments, at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) investigating thin films using low energy muons.
Dr Pascal Manuel gained his individual merit promotion in April 2024 for key contributions to quantum matter research using neutrons, expanding international collaboration and developing instrument capabilities at ISIS.
Pas has led and driven an extremely successful and impactful programme of research into quantum matter. He is a world-leading expert in understanding the complex interactions in materials using neutron diffraction.
Pas has used his expertise to open an international community of researchers to the potential and capabilities of neutron diffraction to quantitatively understand complex electronic behaviour.
Pas relentlessly looks for new research horizons and actively pursues them. He has developed instrumentation (namely, the WISH instrument and associated software) to deliver his research and to enlighten a community of researchers to the potential of neutrons. The resultant scientific outputs are hugely impressive and highly significant to the strategic theme of quantum matter and technologies. WISH is very scientifically productive and amongst the most over-subscribed instruments at ISIS. Much of the success of WISH is the result of Pas’s tireless efforts to enhance the performance of the instrument and to drive the scientific programme.
His future plan is ambitious and challenging and will lead to new science and collaborations that will further enhance the status of the ISIS facility. This progression is essential to exploit fully the capabilities of the WISH-II instrument, which is funded as part of the Endeavour programme.
