Background

I completed a Master of Physics (MPhys) degree at Lancaster University in 2013. I then completed a Ph.D. researching low dimensional magnets under the supervision of Dr Paul Goddard.

Research Interests

My interests lie in exploring the magnetic characteristics of a type of material called coordination polymers, which are self-organising materials consisting of metal ions linked via organic or inorganic ligands which mediate magnetic exchange between the ions.

My project aimed to determine if it is possible to control the building blocks of magnetic materials and therefore design bespoke magnetic systems. Coordination polymers are interesting as the form of the final product can be engineered by choosing different starting components. A whole range of materials can therefore be created that have low exchange constants that can be studied using magnetic fields.

The project involved determining the key properties of magnetic materials using ESR, x-ray and neutron scattering, and in particular, high magnetic fields to take magnetisation, susceptibility and heat capacity measurements. These properties can then be related to the structure of the material. These measurements can be be used to gauge the suitability of the materials as realisations of model quantum magnetic systems and thereby check the validity of theoretical predictions of quantum theories of magnetism.

Current Role

After two short postdoctoral positions at Warwick (the first developing a UV sensor for use in autonomous vehicles with Dr Gavin Bell, and the second a continuation of his PhD work with Dr Goddard), Will joined the Chilton Group in the Chemistry Department at Manchester University working on the experimental arm of the ERC project "ContraVib: Chemical Control of Vibronic Coupling for Magnetic Materials". His work focuses on studying how phonons affect the magnetic relaxation in single-molecule magnets and molecular qubits.

Publications

• Leonardo H. R. Dos Santos, Arianna Lanza, Alyssa M. Barton, Jamie Brambleby, William J. A. Blackmore, Paul A. Goddard, Fan Xiao, Robert C. Williams, Tom Lancaster, Francis L. Pratt, Stephen J. Blundell, John Singleton, Jamie L. Manson and Piero Macchi, Experimental and Theoretical Electron Density Analysis of Copper Pyrazine Nitrate Quasi-Low-Dimensional Quantum Magnets, Journal of the American Chemistry Society 138, 7, 2280 (2016).

Conferences

Oral Presentations:

• The 12th International Symposium on Crystalline Organic Metals, Superconductors and Magnets (ISCOM), Halide Substitution in a Low-Dimensional Molecular Magnet, Zao, Miyagi, Japan (2017);
• IOP Magnetism, Magnetic exchange disorder in low-dimensional quantum magnets, Manchester, UK (2018).

Poster Presentations:

• IOP Magnetism, Characterisation of powdered low-dimensional spin-1 antiferromagnets with single-ion anisotropy, York, UK (2017);
• New Frontier of Molecular Materials (NFMM), Halide Substitution in a Low-Dimensional Molecular Magnet, Sendai, Japan (2017).

Courses Taken

ISIS Neutron Training School;
Indroductory Workshop on the Theory and Practice of EPR spectroscopy, University of Manchester.

MPAGS
Probes of Condensed Matter Part I;
Magnetic Resonance Hardware;
Classical and Quantum Phase Transitions.

Teaching Duties

I taught 1^st year undergraduate physics problems class for 4 years.

Write to

If you have any questions about the research work carried out by Dr Will Blackmore while at Warwick please email:

P dot Goddard at warwick dot ac dot uk

Contact Details

Present Address

Department of Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, U.K.