It’s amazing to resume work in the labs and be able to do one of the things we like the most: keep doing cutting edge research in the generation of plasmonic metamaterials with potential applications ranging from bio sensing to energy harvesting, areas of increasing interest and need in our current and post-pandemic world.
PhD Student Mayela Romero Gómez
13 July 2020
Physics laboratories reopen
Experimental researchers are returning to the socially distanced laboratories as lockdown measures have been eased.
The majority of laboratory work at King’s was suspended in mid-March as the UK was put in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant that the experimental elements of projects were temporarily paused as data could not be collected.
As the country starts emerging from lockdown, the laboratories have now reopened with strict social distancing rules in place. We asked some of our researchers to send photos of their first days back in the lab and how it feels to return to campus.
I run the Levitated Nanophysics group at King's, and the opportunity to return to the lab was a great escape. More importantly, getting access for my research team was a huge relief, as the impact of lab closures on their careers weighed heavily on my mind. I have been involved in many weeks of planning to make this return happen, and we continue to push to safely increase the amount of experimental research in our Physics department. The value to me of just spending a morning playing with a laser... Priceless!
Dr James Millen
It feels great to be back in the labs and working (>2m apart) alongside my colleagues again. It's quite a relief that I can remember how to do experimental physics at all! Now it's time to conduct various CO2 reduction experiments with my latest plasmonic metamaterials as nanocatalysts!
PhD Student Anastasia Zaleska
I am super excited to be back in our teaching labs after 16 weeks, I’ve missed my students and our laboratory adventures. I can’t wait to see them all again soon.
Dr Eva Philippaki
In this story
Reader in Advanced Photonics
Senior Lecturer in Experimental Physics Education
Technical Services Manager Physics and Engineering