Research & Expertise

Conducted at both the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand and McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, my research spans experimental physics, computational modeling, and applied quantitative analysis. I focus on building predictive models, designing experimental systems, and applying rigorous scientific computing methods to solve complex physical and sustainability-related problems.

Low-Temperature AFM Instrumentation & Quantum Materials Science

Physics Engineering
PythonNumPySciPyMatplotlib

Development of atomic force microscopy systems for silicon nanodevices relevant to quantum computing.

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  • Designed and optimized a cryogenic, vacuum-compatible atomic force microscope for operation in high magnetic fields, balancing mechanical stability, thermal constraints, and low-noise measurement requirements.
  • Led electromechanical and optical integration of the AFM system, ensuring reliable operation of piezoelectric walkers, interferometric cantilever sensing, and signal routing under extreme environmental conditions.
  • Developed a custom wire-management solution to constrain and organize over forty cryogenic signal lines, reducing mechanical strain, preventing wire fatigue and breakage, and significantly simplifying fault diagnosis and maintenance.
  • Improved system modularity through redesigned connector schemes, enabling faster component replacement, reduced risk of shorts or poor contacts, and more robust long-term operation.
  • Enhanced optical interferometer performance for cantilever deflection sensing by implementing a reproducible fiber-tip metal-coating process, improving reflectivity and signal-to-noise ratio at low temperatures.
  • Developed software tools for data acquisition, automation, and analysis, enabling reproducible measurement sequences, consistent metadata capture, and faster identification of experimental failure modes.
  • Emphasized reliability-driven engineering and maintainability alongside performance, prioritizing solutions that support long-term experimental stability and shared use by multiple researchers.
  • Applied a systems-level approach to experimental design, recognizing and mitigating cross-coupling between mechanical, electrical, optical, and software subsystems.
  • Framed instrumentation improvements around experimental fidelity and reproducibility, aligning measurement practices with standards relevant to high-precision research and translational scientific applications.

Lanthanide-Doped Y₂SiO₅ Microcrystals for Quantum and Biomedical Applications (Published)

Physics
Materials PhysicsSpectroscopyPhotoluminescenceSEMXRDSynthetic Chemistry

Synthesis, characterization, and application of rare-earth doped microcrystals, linking optical and biomedical applications.

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  • Lanthanide-doped crystals are of growing interest because of their unusual optical properties, including narrow emission lines, long lifetimes, and the ability to emit light in spectral regions useful for imaging and sensing. In recent years, these properties have made lanthanide-based materials increasingly relevant not only for photonics and quantum technologies, but also for biomedical applications such as deep-tissue imaging, diagnostic sensing, and multimodal contrast agents, where optical stability and signal specificity are critical (PubMed 33103883).
  • In this work, we investigated the growth and optical quality of lanthanide-doped Y₂SiO₅ microcrystals produced using three different synthesis techniques: solution combustion, solid-state synthesis, and sol–gel processing. We found that the sol–gel method consistently produces high-quality X2-phase Y₂SiO₅ microcrystals with good structural and optical uniformity, outperforming the other approaches in terms of reliability and crystal quality.
  • To assess the optical performance of these materials, we performed absorption and site-selective laser fluorescence measurements on Nd³⁺-, Eu³⁺-, and Er³⁺-doped microcrystals at cryogenic temperatures. The results show that the as-grown microcrystals exhibit inhomogeneously broadened optical linewidths comparable to those of bulk crystals at similar dopant concentrations, indicating a high degree of optical quality despite the reduced crystal size.
  • These findings are significant because high-quality lanthanide-doped microcrystals combine the optical performance of bulk materials with the flexibility and scalability of micro- and nano-structured systems. This makes them promising candidates for future applications ranging from integrated photonic devices to biomedical technologies, including advanced biosensing and light-based therapeutic approaches such as photodynamic and photothermal therapies (PubMed 34533048).
  • Published peer-reviewed paper as second author. ([ScienceDirect](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0925346723006651?))

Quantifying Detector Performance for Phase-Contrast X-ray Imaging

Physics Medicine Data Science
PythonNumPyMATLABImage ProcessingCT Reconstruction

A comparative study of photon-counting and scintillating CMOS X-ray detectors for biomedical phase-contrast CT, focused on image quality, dose efficiency, and practical reconstruction limits.

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  • Medical X-ray imaging plays a critical role in diagnosis, but improving image quality without increasing radiation dose remains a central challenge. In this project, I evaluated the real-world performance of a next-generation photon-counting CMOS detector (Medipix3) against a conventional scintillating CMOS detector (Xineos) using propagation-based phase-contrast computed tomography at the Australian Synchrotron.
  • Using reconstructed CT data from biological samples, I quantified image quality across multiple tissue interfaces using signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), contrast-to-noise per resolution (CNR/Res), and a blind perceptual metric (NIQE). This allowed a detailed comparison of detector behaviour across exposure regimes, energy-counting modes, and anatomical features.
  • While established metrics suggested the scintillating detector produced higher-quality images under the tested conditions, perceptual quality analysis and literature comparisons revealed a more nuanced picture. The results highlighted how reconstruction artefacts, bad-pixel interpolation, and preprocessing choices can dominate detector performance, sometimes masking the theoretical advantages of photon-counting systems.
  • This work emphasizes the importance of pairing advanced detector hardware with equally robust data processing pipelines. The findings are directly relevant to biomedical imaging, where improving soft-tissue contrast at lower doses can expand diagnostic capability while reducing patient risk.