BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:-//eluceo/ical//2.0/EN VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:91a3010b31f0e9265126a8a6f3d7ce33 DTSTAMP:20260829T045738Z SUMMARY:HHG in liquid crystals: a close look at symmetry-breaking transitio n DESCRIPTION:Abstract\nUltrafast Liquid Crystal Dynamics Group\, Max Planck for Nuclear Physics\, Heidelberg\, Germany\nHigh-order harmonic generation (HHG) spectroscopy is a powerful tool for probing electronic structures a cross different states of matter. Here\, we demonstrate its ability to res olve the evolution of microscopic order across a first-order phase transit ion in the thermotropic liquid crystal 5CB. Using a dynamically refreshed liquid-crystal platform\, we perform temperature-dependent HHG measurement s across the nematic-to-isotropic transition. The harmonic yield exhibits a distinct four-fold polarization anisotropy in the nematic phase that van ishes upon reaching the isotropic state\, with higher harmonics retaining nematic signatures longer than lower orders. A multiscale theoretical fram ework\, combining a 2D tight-binding model with Landau–de Gennes Q-tenso r theory and phase-matching effects\, explains these dynamics. These resul ts establish HHG as a sensitive probe for mesophase transitions and soft-m atter systems.\nDr Laura Cattaneo URL:https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/212321/hhg-in-liquid-crystals-a-close -look-at-symmetry-breaking-transition/ DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260826T130000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260826T140000 LOCATION:LT2 - Floor 1 \, Blackett Building\, South Kensington Campus\, Imp erial College London\, London\, SW7 2AZ\, United Kingdom END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:3156a4cd07a1e199a6d03166015baa52 DTSTAMP:20260829T045738Z SUMMARY:SPC Seminar – Plasma – Professor Zhi Qiao (Shanghai Tech Univer sity) DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Professor Zhi Qiao (Shanghai Tech University)\n\nTitle : Advanced X-ray Optical Diagnostics for Synchrotron and Free-Electron Las ers\n\nAbstract: Real-time diagnostics of the temporal and spatial charact eristics of beamlines at X-ray light sources\, including fourth-generation synchrotron radiation facilities and free-electron lasers\, remains a key challenge for large-scale scientific facilities. This talk will present o nline characterization methods for diffraction-limited X-ray optical compo nents in advanced light sources\, real-time beamline wavefront sensing tec hniques\, and their applications in X-ray multi-contrast imaging. I will a lso introduce single-shot arrival-time diagnostics and real-time single-sh ot wavefront sensing technologies developed for the Shanghai soft X-ray fr ee-electron laser and high-repetition-rate free-electron laser facilities. URL:https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/212333/spc-seminar-plasma-professor-z hi-qiao-shanghai-tech-university/ DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260828T150000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260828T160000 LOCATION:741\, Blackett Building\, South Kensington Campus\, Imperial Colle ge London\, London\, SW7 2AZ\, United Kingdom END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:57362e172cffb322cefd4702579da2a6 DTSTAMP:20260829T045738Z SUMMARY:Natural Sciences Showcase 2026 DESCRIPTION:Join a full day of presentations and stimulating discussions wi th the academics and prize-winning PhD students in the Faculty of Natural Sciences and find out about our innovative work. Everybody is welcome! Ple ase register as soon as possible (deadline is 17.00 on 21 September 2026). \n10.00 – 18.00\, SAFB G16 LT (Sir Alexander Fleming Building)\nWelcome coffee from 09.30 in the concourse level 1\n\nDepartmental talks sessions: 10.00 – 16.10 in SAFB G16 LT (coffee breaks in the concourse level 1).\ nPhD students poster competition: 12.30 – 13.40 in SAFB 120-122 (lunch w ill be provided) – Imperial staff and students will be able to vote for their favourite poster by Wednesday 23rd September\, 15:00 – posters wi ll be uploaded in our website in early September.\nPanel session: 16.10 – 17.10 in SAFB 120-122.\nAwards from 17.15 with canapés and drinks rec eption in the concourse level 1.\n\nDon’t miss this great opportunity to engage with our academics and postgraduate students. Please see the full programme below:\nProgramme\n10.00 – 10.05 Welcome\nWelcome and opening remarks by the Dean Professor Richard Craster.\n10.05 – 10.35 Centre for Environmental Policy Showcase\n\n10.05 – 10.20: Dr Caroline Howe (Assoc iate Professor) – Beyond the Silos: equity and justice in tackling biodi versity and climate\n10.20 – 10.35: Gail Sucharitakul (PhD student) – Addressing the Elephant in the Room: Value Pluralism in Nature Credit Mark ets\n\n10.35 – 11.20 Department of Mathematics Showcase\n\n10.35 – 10. 50: Dr Ed Cohen (Reader in Statistics) – Spatial statistics on manifolds : new mathematical tools for microbial and cell biology.\n10.50 – 11.05: Pablo Zurita Soler (PhD student) – Emergent coordination in small-scale biology: mathematics and mechanics of self-driven cilia\n11.05 – 11.20:   Elana Todd-Miller (PhD student) – Action All-Round: Semiclassical Pro pagation on a Sphere\n\nCoffee break (11.20 – 11.30)\n11.30 – 12.30 De partment of Life Sciences Showcase\n\n11.30 – 11.45: Dr Claudia Contini (Assistant Professor in Biotechnology and Engineering Biology) – Synthet ic Cells: from Soft Matter to Life-Like Behaviours\n11.45 – 12.00: Katar ina Piponi (PhD student) – The evolution and maintenance of same-sex sex ual behaviour in primates\n12.00 – 12.15: Natasha Granville (PhD student ) – Temperature mediates variation in bird responses to deforestation\n1 2.15 – 12.30: Cecil Lee-Grant (PhD student) – The Cyrtandra Conundrum: Integrative Approaches to a Mega-Diverse Genus\n\n12.30 – 13.40 Lunch a nd Poster session\n13.40 – 14.40 Department of Chemistry Showcase\n\n13. 40 – 13.55: Dr David Ayuso Molinero (Royal Society URF – Associate Pro fessor) – Why chiral light can barely tell left from right – and how to fix it by shaping it in 3D\n13.55 – 14.10: Naura Antariksa (PhD stude nt)  – Modulating Cockayne Syndrome B Phase Separation through Interact ion with Multimolecular G-quadruplexes \n14.10 – 14.25: Rowan Bailey (P hD student) – Mechanistic Investigation of [Co2(CO)8] Catalysed Photoami nocarbonylation Reactions\n14.25 – 14.40: Christina Siakalli (PhD studen t) – Coordination Chemistry of Hydroxyquinoline-Based Macrocyclic Lantha nide Complexes\n\nCoffee break (14.40 – 14.50)\n14.50 – 15.50 Departme nt of Physics Showcase\n\n14.50 – 15.05: Dr Frank Schindler (Associate P rofessor in Condensed Matter Theory) – Symmetry and Topology in Quantum Matter\n15.05 – 15.20: Amaya Calvo Sanchez (PhD student) – How to Buil d Non-Gaussian States for Quantum Sensing and Computation\n15.20 – 15.35 : Louis Beucher (PhD student) – The best of both worlds: when supercondu ctivity meets magnetism\n15.35 – 15.50: Alex van Lomwel (PhD student) – Quantum simulation of circular cluster interactions in a linear spin c hain\n\n15.50 – 15.55 Closing\nClosing remarks by Professor Richard Cras ter.\nCoffee break (15.55 – 16.10)\n16.10 – 17.10 Why Should We Suppor t Curiosity-Driven Research?\nPanel discussion will be chaired by Professo r Ramon Vilar Compte (Head of Chemistry Department\, Professor of Medicina l Inorganic Chemistry).\nThis year’s panel will focus on Curiosity-Driv en Research\, highlighting how fundamental science can lead to unexpected and transformative breakthroughs. Four academic members have been invited\ , each presenting a compelling example of such research: \n\nDr Niladri B anerjee (Department of Physics) – Quantum Mechanics: Semiconductors and Modern Electronics\nProfessor Jason Micklefield (Department of Chemistry) – CRISPR: Gene-editing Technology\nDr Julie McDonald (Department of Lif e Sciences) – Gut Microbiome research: Clinical applications and Disease prevention and management\nProfessor Kevin Buzzard (Department of Mathema tics) – Number Theory: Cryptography\n\n17.15 – 18.00 Canapes receptio n and prizes \nAwards will be given at 17.30. URL:https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/210483/natural-sciences-showcase-2026 / DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260923T100000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260923T180000 LOCATION:SAFB G16 LT\, Sir Alexander Fleming Building\, South Kensington Ca mpus\, Imperial College London\, London\, SW7 2AZ\, United Kingdom END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:88c0c2ac2a74feafdb6c6c112199763a DTSTAMP:20260829T045738Z SUMMARY:Sculpting light in space and time with metamaterials DESCRIPTION:What happens when we manipulate light not just in space\, but i n time? Discover how light waves from the past and future can interact wit h Professor Riccardo Sapienza\, Professor of Physics. \nPlease register to attend in person. A live stream link for online attendance is available h ere. \nWe look forward to seeing you on Wednesday 7 October!\nImperial In augurals are term-time lectures that celebrate our newest Professors\, r ecognising their academic journey and showcasing their research.\nAbstract \nLight powers the global internet\, enables deep-space and medical imagin g\, and sustains life on Earth. But how do we actually control the flow of something so fast and intangible? For centuries\, traditional optics re lied on the simple curved surfaces of glass lenses. Today\, the modern sci ence of light is driven by metamaterials\, nanostructured materials with o ptical properties not found in nature\, which have already given us ultra- thin lenses\, miniaturized photonic devices\, and unconventional lasers th at perform artificial-intelligence computations. \nBut what happens when we manipulate light not just in space\, but in time? Can we make light wav es from the past and the future interact? The answer\, surprisingly\, is y es. \nIn this lecture\, Riccardo Sapienza will trace our first steps towa rd spatio-temporal control of light\, including our recent experiments d emonstrating double-slit diffraction in time and the scattering of light from superluminal modulations (synthetic\, of course\, so relativity is no t broken!). He will close by looking ahead to what intertwining space and time could unlock: from dynamic holograms to entirely new paradigms for an alogue computing. \nBiography\n\nRiccardo Sapienza is Professor of Physic s and Vice-Dean for Research of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperia l College London\, where he is also Joint Director of the Centre for Pla smonics and Metamaterials. His research explores how light interacts with nanostructured matter\, spanning optical metamaterials\, unconventional l asing\, and neuromorphic photonic computing. He is co-founder and co-CTO o f the spin-out RAYD Technologies\, which translates this research into pr actice. \n\n\n \n\n\nHe earned his PhD jointly from the Laboratory for N onlinear Spectroscopy (LENS) in Florence and the École Normale Supérieur e (ENS) in Paris\, and held postdoctoral positions at the Institute of M aterials Science (ICMM-CSIC) in Madrid and ICFO – the Institute of Photo nic Sciences in Barcelona. He was on the faculty of King’s College Londo n before joining Imperial in 2017. \n\n\n\n\n URL:https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/212233/sculpting-light-in-space-and-t ime-with-metamaterials/ DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261007T173000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261007T183000 LOCATION:Lecture theatre 1\, Blackett Building\, South Kensington Campus\, Imperial College London\, London\, SW7 2AZ\, United Kingdom END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:01a884e7d165f8fbdb2d55ed9a0e0c3e DTSTAMP:20260829T045738Z SUMMARY:Celebrating 50 years of the Blackett Building DESCRIPTION:This year marks 50 years since the Blackett Building was named\ , and we’re planning a celebration to mark the occasion!\nKey details\nD ate: Thursday 8th October 2026\nTime: From 16:00\nWe’ll be taking a look back at the history of the building and the Department with a talk from A nne Barrett\, Imperial’s Archivist and Corporate Records Manager.\nThis will then be followed by celebrations in the Level 8 Common Room with wine and cake.\nWe’d love you to join us in celebrating this milestone. Spac es in LT2 are limited\, so if you would like to join us please RSVP via th e link at the top of the page.\n URL:https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/212226/celebrating-50-years-of-the-bl ackett-building/ DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261008T160000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261008T200000 LOCATION:Lecture Theatre 2\, Blackett Building\, South Kensington Campus\, Imperial College London\, London\, SW7 2AZ\, United Kingdom END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:3104c78f1b5199c910c9b0eecae6498c DTSTAMP:20260829T045738Z SUMMARY:HEP seminar: Caterina Vernieri (SLAC) – Delving into the Unknown: The Higgs Boson at Particle Colliders DESCRIPTION:\n\n\nThe Higgs boson was discovered in 2012 by the ATLAS and C MS experiments at the world’s most powerful particle collider\, the Larg e Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva\, Switzerland. This particle plays a uni que role in fundamental physics. It gives all of the known elementary part icles\, including itself\, their masses. While we now have a strong eviden ce that the Higgs field is indeed the unique source of mass for the known elementary particles\, the next step is to search for new interactions tha t could also explain why the Higgs field has the properties required by th e Standard Model of particle physics. The LHC has been central to this eff ort\, turning the Higgs boson from a discovery into a precision tool throu gh increasingly accurate measurements of its couplings\, production\, and decay modes. In this talk we present recent Higgs results from the LHC and discuss what they reveal about the Standard Model and possible new physic s. Looking ahead\, a next-generation e+e- collider would extend this progr am with per-cent-level precision measurements of Higgs properties not acce ssible at the LHC. The complementarity between the LHC and future collider s will be key to understanding the Higgs boson at a fundamental level.\n\n \n URL:https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/212176/hep-seminar-caterina-vernieri- slac-delving-into-the-unknown-the-higgs-boson-at-particle-colliders/ DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261014T150000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261014T160000 LOCATION:539\, Blackett Building\, South Kensington Campus\, Imperial Colle ge London\, London\, SW7 2AZ\, United Kingdom END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260826T130000 TZNAME:BST TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260828T150000 TZNAME:BST TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260923T100000 TZNAME:BST TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20261007T173000 TZNAME:BST TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20261008T160000 TZNAME:BST TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20261014T150000 TZNAME:BST TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR