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Research interests

Philip’s primary research interests focus on the determination of atomic structure and the measurement of electronic structure and chemical bonding in crystalline materials using convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED) and quantitative CBED (QCBED). This has led to research interest and expertise in the following domains:

  • Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
  • Electron diffraction (CBED and QCBED)
  • Quantum crystallography (electron distribution and chemical bonding)
  • Electron crystallography
  • Metals physics
  • Strongly correlated electron materials, semiconductors and other inorganic compounds
  • Experimental and theoretical condensed matter physics
  • Plasmonics and electron dynamics in metals
  • Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS)
  • Detector characterisation, digital image restoration, quantification and quality control
  • Electron diffraction and scattering calculations, software development and programming
  • Computational physics and modelling
  • Creative approaches in teaching crystallography to undergraduates and postgraduates

A considerable proportion of Philip’s research efforts have involved technique development, spanning most of the domains listed above, with a tendency to develop a new technique and then apply it to the solution of a materials science problem. This approach to his research is best exemplified by the development of differential QCBED [1 – 3], which was immediately followed by the determination of the bonding electron density in aluminium [4, 5].

[1] P.N.H. Nakashima, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 (2007), 125506.

[2] P.N.H. Nakashima, B.C. Muddle, J. Appl. Cryst. 43 (2010), 280-284.

[3] P.N.H. Nakashima, B.C. Muddle, Phys. Rev. B 81 (2010), 115135.

[4] P.N.H. Nakashima, A.E. Smith, J. Etheridge, B.C. Muddle, Science 331 (2011), 1583-1586.

[5] P.A. Midgley, Science 331 (2011), 1528-1529.

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