News
Dr Grant Williams wins Hector Medal.
10 November 2010
The Hector Medal for physical sciences was awarded to Dr Grant Williams of Industrial Research in Lower Hutt for his internationally recognised work on the chemical and electronic structure of materials, especially high temperature superconductors. His work has led to a better understanding of the fundamental physics and the development of materials for magnetic sensors, radiation detection and imaging, and optical communication. (Source: Royal Society of New Zealand.)
For more info click here..
Podcast - Glass for radiation imaging.
13 May 2010
Our Changing World, Radio New Zealand National.
Andy Edgar and Chris Varoy are developing new glasses and glass ceramics which can store radiation so that the image is held like invisible ink and then retrieved digitally later.
The materials can detect X-rays, gamma rays and neutrons, and can be used for recording images of objects placed in X-ray or neutron beams.
While there are similar products already on the market, the group is trying to improve them. As Ruth Beran finds out, the materials are batched and poured in an inert, un-reactive environment of dry argon or nitrogen gas in a “glove box". (Image and text: Our Changing World.)
Left: Andy Edgar, PhD student Nicola Winch and Chris Varoy in the glass-making laboratory with the glove box in the foreground. Right: A garden water pump recorded in an imaging plate using x-rays, showing bent rubber blades and trapped gravel.
Listen to the podcast here..