A Brief History of Sonya

I studied for my undergraduate degree in physics at the University of Bristol (1998-2002), taking some time out for an ERASMUS year at the University of Bologna, Italy. Following a final year project in the Positron Group at Bristol, I decided to continue my research in the field of condensed matter physics with the Superconductivity and Magnetism Group at the University of Warwick.

Ph.D. Research

I was involved in a number of projects ranging from studies of magnetism in the hexaborides, field induced order and superconductivity in the heavy fermion PrOs₄Sb₁₂, and in particular investigating spin-gap behaviour in the spin-tetrahedral compound Cu₂Te₂O₅Br₂.

During my three years at Warwick I grew a number of polycrystalline and single crystals and carryied out in-house characterisation at Warwick. I have also made many a trips to the ESRF and ILL facilities in Grenoble, and the ISIS neutron spallation source in Oxfordshire.

Thesis abstract

A study of the static and dynamic magnetic behaviour of Cu₂Te₂O₅(Br_xCl_1-x)₂

Thesis 

You can view or download a pdf. copy of Sony's thesis here

Current Role

Sonya graduated in July 2006 and has moved to London where she is currently working in the Clinical Operational Research Unit (CORU) at University College London.