Dr Simon Horsley
Associate Professor
Location: Physics 614
Telephone: 01392 726610
Extension: (Streatham) 6610
Research Interests
I am interested in the theory of electromagnetism, acoustics, and wave physics in general. Recently I've been thinking about the application of topology to understand how waves propagate through materials. I am also interested in how waves reflect from metamaterial structures, and I work on the theory of quantum electromagnetism in dielectric media (I am interested in understanding how macroscopic bodies affect the quantum properties of the electromagnetic field, and how these in turn affect the motion of the object).
A few physics thoughts can be found here.
Education and Employment
2001-2005: MPhys Physics with Philosophy (University of York)
2005-2009: PhD "Aharonov Bohm type effects for composite systems" (University of York)
2010-2013: EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship award "New theoretical tools for metamaterial design" (University of St Andrews/University of Exeter)
2013-2016: Research Fellow (EPSRC QUEST Project)
2016-present: Royal Society TATA University Research Fellowship
Funded Research Projects
2010-2013: EPSRC Early Career Postdoctoral Fellowship
2013-2016: EPSRC QUEST project
2016-present: Royal Society TATA University Research Fellowship
2019-present: COST action "SyMat" (MC member)
2019-present: DSTL project "Exploring the space of electromagnetic materials"
Invited Presentations
Rank Prize 2019, Grasmere UK.
Metamaterials 2019, Rome.
EMTS 2019, San Diego.
Colloquium, Southampton 2018.
PIERS 2018, Toyama.
Colloquium, Glasgow 2017.
Rank Prize 2017, Grasmere UK.
PIERS 2017, Singapore.
EMTS 2016, Espoo.
PIERS 2016, Shanghai.
META '15, New York.
PIERS 2015, Prague
PIERS 2014, Guangzhou.
Contributions to the Community
Reviewer for the EPSRC.
Outreach
`How to build an invisibility cloak: What gravity can tach us about optics' (Pint of Science, IOP Xmas lecture 2018, Exeter school's Xmas lecture 2019) `Invisibility Science' at Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2011, and Royal Society of Edinburgh Science Exhibition 2012.
Membership of Societies
I am a member of the Institute of Physics (IOP), and the QEP and gravitational physics groups.