Intraband photoconductivity in p-type germanium at 10.6μm, A F Gibson & P N D Maggs, J. Phys D: Appl. Phys., Vol. 7, 1974
In 1971, having been awarded a degree in physics by Southampton University, I needed something to do. I applied for a couple of jobs without much enthusiasm, but decided that I was really interested in the possibility of fusion reactions driven by high power laser radiation. This was the promise of unlimited energy from controlled fusion - the reaction normally only taking place inside thermonuclear weapons and stars. Essex University was doing such research, and I was offered a Science Research Council studentship there for three years to study laser-plasma interactions leading to the degree of PhD.
When I duly arrived in September 1971, thin as a rake and brown as a berry from several weeks on the Greek Islands, I was told that there seemed to be a problem with my research topic. I never knew what really happened, but I was assigned to Alan Gibson to study laser interactions, not in plasma, but in germanium - a semiconductor. I didn't have the heart (or guts) to tell Alan that of all the subjects I had studied at Southampton, solid state physics was the one I liked and understood least (with the possible exception of thermodynamics). However, after a few weeks it became clear that, once more, I had fallen on my feet. Alan was professor of physics at Essex and also head of department. He had had a most impressive career in the scientific civil service, working at the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) at Malvern on optical interactions with solid state devices. He was one of those rare people who, no matter how much they had to do, always had time to sit down with one of their research students to talk a problem over. He also had the ability to explain a seemingly intractable problem in physics with such clarity, that just for a few precious minutes it became clear.
While Alan Gibson provided the intellectual drive and strategy for the work, Maurice Kimmitt was the hands-on man, the Mr Fixit. Maurice was also originally from the scientific civil service, having worked at the Services Electronic Research Laboratory at Baldock. His technical background was in far-infrared radiation and he had worked on the optical diagnostics for the ill-fated ZETA project at Harwell. Maurice was the one-stop-shop for all practical and experimental problems. Go to Maurice with a difficulty, and he always had just the right lens, or mirror or piece of germanium to solve the problem.
Alan Gibson was only 65 when he died, but his colleague at Essex, and co-Fellow of the Royal Society, Rodney Loudon, wrote an excellent memoir of him published by the Royal Society. I was amazed to discover that Alan, born in India, had first come to England at the age of eight unable to write English! It is a measure of his subsequent ability, that he became a Principal Scientific Officer at RRE at the exceptionally young age of 32. After Essex University, Alan went on to become Director of the new Laser Facility at Rutherford Laboratory. Maurice Kimmitt, now Emeritus Professor, still lives in Brightlingsea in the same house where I first visited him over 40 years ago.
The PhD work was to investigate the photoconductivty of P-type germanuim at 10.6 microns, the principal wavelength of the CO2 laser. The paper, detailed above, describes some of the results of my work. Needless to say, it was written by Alan.
In 1971, having been awarded a degree in physics by Southampton University, I needed something to do. I applied for a couple of jobs without much enthusiasm, but decided that I was really interested in the possibility of fusion reactions driven by high power laser radiation. This was the promise of unlimited energy from controlled fusion - the reaction normally only taking place inside thermonuclear weapons and stars. Essex University was doing such research, and I was offered a Science Research Council studentship there for three years to study laser-plasma interactions leading to the degree of PhD.
When I duly arrived in September 1971, thin as a rake and brown as a berry from several weeks on the Greek Islands, I was told that there seemed to be a problem with my research topic. I never knew what really happened, but I was assigned to Alan Gibson to study laser interactions, not in plasma, but in germanium - a semiconductor. I didn't have the heart (or guts) to tell Alan that of all the subjects I had studied at Southampton, solid state physics was the one I liked and understood least (with the possible exception of thermodynamics). However, after a few weeks it became clear that, once more, I had fallen on my feet. Alan was professor of physics at Essex and also head of department. He had had a most impressive career in the scientific civil service, working at the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) at Malvern on optical interactions with solid state devices. He was one of those rare people who, no matter how much they had to do, always had time to sit down with one of their research students to talk a problem over. He also had the ability to explain a seemingly intractable problem in physics with such clarity, that just for a few precious minutes it became clear.
While Alan Gibson provided the intellectual drive and strategy for the work, Maurice Kimmitt was the hands-on man, the Mr Fixit. Maurice was also originally from the scientific civil service, having worked at the Services Electronic Research Laboratory at Baldock. His technical background was in far-infrared radiation and he had worked on the optical diagnostics for the ill-fated ZETA project at Harwell. Maurice was the one-stop-shop for all practical and experimental problems. Go to Maurice with a difficulty, and he always had just the right lens, or mirror or piece of germanium to solve the problem.
Alan Gibson was only 65 when he died, but his colleague at Essex, and co-Fellow of the Royal Society, Rodney Loudon, wrote an excellent memoir of him published by the Royal Society. I was amazed to discover that Alan, born in India, had first come to England at the age of eight unable to write English! It is a measure of his subsequent ability, that he became a Principal Scientific Officer at RRE at the exceptionally young age of 32. After Essex University, Alan went on to become Director of the new Laser Facility at Rutherford Laboratory. Maurice Kimmitt, now Emeritus Professor, still lives in Brightlingsea in the same house where I first visited him over 40 years ago.
The PhD work was to investigate the photoconductivty of P-type germanuim at 10.6 microns, the principal wavelength of the CO2 laser. The paper, detailed above, describes some of the results of my work. Needless to say, it was written by Alan.