What do you do at ISIS?​

​​I have been studying iron-based superconductors since they were discovered in Japan in 2006, and am currently using both neutrons and muons to study samples that are made by my Chinese collaborators. By using muons, I am able to investigate a very small magnetic field within these superconducting materials to understand the symmetry of the electron pairing in the superconducting state. 

Another area I have been involved in, this time with a Japanese collaborator, is caged type thermoelectric materials. These materials have a cage-like arrangement with one atom in the centre and have potential applications to turn waste heat – such as that from car exhausts and industry – into usable electric power.

What route did you take to get to where you are now?

After completing my PhD at the Indian Institute of Technology I then went on to do postdoctoral research at the University of Southampton, before being awarded a fellowship in Hiroshima, in Japan, for two years. On return from Japan, I worked briefly at St Andrews University in Scotland before joining ISIS.​

What key attributes do you need for your job?

I am curiosity driven, and my favourite part of the job is finding new phenomena in the complex materials. Sometimes I don't sleep because I want to know what's happening during the experiments!​

What do you like most about your job?

The advantage of working at ISIS compared to a university is the freedom to do different kinds of research, and to collaborate with people all over the globe. At a university, there is a risk that you can become isolated: here I have collaborators from Japan, India, China, the USA, Europe and Argentina. Any new materials come to ISIS and we get the opportunity to work with the scientists when they come here.

​What has been your greatest achievement in your role so far?

The most exciting things I have seen in the last 20+ years at ISIS were the discovery of a new field of superconducting materials and the installation of the high field magnets. I was the lead for the £2.1m project that designed the advanced magnets for neutron scattering that have led to improvements for my research work, and many others users at ISIS.