Nathan Vincent is a Graduate Scientist currently working in the Optical Frequency Metrology group within the Time & Frequency department at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). He joined in September 2023 following a 4-year integrated master’s in physics at Loughborough University, where he studied quantum and condensed matter physics. He completed his research project predicting electron transport and modified band structures within 2D graphene superlattices.
Nathan spent his first year of the NPL graduate scheme in Atomic Clocks & Sensors, mainly focusing on computational modelling to assist in the design and building of robust cubic cavity physics packages. This work for ESA and EPSRC focused on the optimisation of smaller designs, using COMSOL Multiphysics to stress test the structural and thermal properties of the systems. Alongside this, he built and tested current generation cubic cavities to quantify their effectiveness for a variety of projects.
Now in Optical Frequency Metrology, Nathan works on the characterisation and testing of RF signals from atomic clocks and frequency combs built by our partners in science and industry. Nathan uses the high-quality facilities, including key references from UTC(NPL), to help measure and improve commercial devices, which assists with troubleshooting and getting the products to market.
Areas of interest
- Robust solutions for time scales that can benefit others outside of the lab, with key interest in potential military applications.
- Structural and thermal engineering problems for space flight at high TRL.
- Computational modelling of new optical cavity designs to optimise performance.
- Helping key stakeholders to improve their own atomic clocks and frequency combs using our facilities.
- Building systems with electronics and software to measure and automate parts of our work previously mentioned.
Key publications
- Compact clocks & cavities for space and ground applications
P. Gill, S. Mulholland, H. Klein, G. Huang, I. Hill, B. Allen, M. Haji, J. Stacey, A. Spampinato, P. Tsoulos, G. Hockley, N. Vincent, M. Knapp, M. Trigatzis and G. Barwood
J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 2889, 012016 (2024)
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