Summary
Will Branford is a Professor in Physics and the Head of Community for Matter. He is part of the management group of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and active in the nanotechnology effort at Imperial.
His main research focus is the interplay between structure, geometry, magnetic and electronic properties of materials. His background is in solid state chemistry where the structuring was at the atomic scale. His primary focus now is in magnetic textures at the nanoscale, where nanofabrication can impose an additional lengthscale of structure and geometry. Artificial Spin Ice is an example of a magnetic metamaterial whose properties derive from the properties of the nano-units in the array, rather than the material it is made from.
A strong motivation for the research is exploring the potential of new methods of computation, such as neuromorphic computation which is inspired by the brain and magnonics, where the information is carried in spin-waves.
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Lee O, Wei T, Stenning KD, et al., 2024, Task-adaptive physical reservoir computing, Nature Materials, Vol:23, ISSN:1476-1122, Pages:79-87
Stenning KD, Xiao X, Holder HH, et al., 2023, Low-power continuous-wave all-optical magnetic switching in ferromagnetic nanoarrays, Cell Reports Physical Science, Vol:4, ISSN:2666-3864, Pages:1-15
Vanstone A, Gartside JC, Stenning KD, et al., 2022, Spectral-fingerprinting: microstate readout via remanence ferromagnetic resonance in artificial spin systems, New Journal of Physics, Vol:24, ISSN:1367-2630
Gartside JC, Stenning KD, Vanstone A, et al., 2021, Reconfigurable Training and Reservoir Computing in an Artificial Spin-Vortex Ice via Spin-Wave Fingerprinting, Nature Nanotechnology, Vol:17, Pages:460-469
Stenning KD, Gartside JC, Dion T, et al., 2020, Magnonic bending, phase shifting and interferometry in a 2D reconfigurable nanodisk crystal., ACS Nano, Vol:15, ISSN:1936-0851, Pages:674-685
Gartside JC, Jung SG, Yoo SY, et al., 2020, Current-controlled nanomagnetic writing for reconfigurable magnonic crystals, Communications Physics, Vol:3, ISSN:2399-3650, Pages:1-1
Das PK, Slawinska J, Vobornik I, et al., 2018, Role of spin-orbit coupling in the electronic structure of IrO2, Physical Review Materials, Vol:2, ISSN:2475-9953
Gartside JC, Arroo DM, Burn DM, et al., 2018, Realization of ground state in artificial kagome spin ice via topological defect-driven magnetic writing, Nature Nanotechnology, Vol:13, ISSN:1748-3387, Pages:53-58
Carter-Gartside J, Burn DM, Cohen LF, et al., 2016, A Novel Method for the Injection and Manipulation of Magnetic Charge States in Nanostructures, Scientific Reports, Vol:6, ISSN:2045-2322
Zeissler K, Walton SK, Ladak S, et al., 2013, The non-random walk of chiral magnetic charge carriers in artificial spin ice, Scientific Reports, Vol:3, ISSN:2045-2322
Branford WR, Ladak S, Read DE, et al., 2012, Emerging Chirality in Artificial Spin Ice, Science, Vol:335, ISSN:0036-8075, Pages:1597-1600
Ladak S, Read D, Tyliszczak T, et al., 2011, Monopole defects and magnetic Coulomb blockade, New Journal of Physics, Vol:13, ISSN:1367-2630
Ladak S, Read DE, Perkins GK, et al., 2010, Direct observation of magnetic monopole defects in an artificial spin-ice material", Nature Physics
Branford W, Yares KA, Barkhoudaroy E, et al., 2009, Coexistence of Universal and Topological Anomalous Hall Effects in Metal CrO(2) Thin Films in the Dirty Limit, Physical Review Letters, Vol:102