Difference between revisions of "Steve Sharples"

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(Added mug-shot, research (past and present) tidied things up... generally padded it out and made it a bit more official-looking)
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<big> Applied Optics :  Steve Sharples</big>
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__NOTOC__
  
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== Where to find me ==
+
{|class="wikitable" align="right"
 +
|-
 +
|[[Image:Steve_sharples_2011.jpg‎ |link=]]
 +
|-
 +
|}
 +
 
 +
== Senior Research Fellow, Applied Optics Group ==
 +
 
 +
'''Phone:''' +44 (0)115 95-15220 (6th floor office), which rings through to +44 (0)115 84-67892 (2nd floor research office)
 +
 
 +
'''Location:''' Tower 606, Tower 202
 +
 
 +
'''Email''' ''(@nottingham.ac.uk)''''':''' steve.sharples
 +
 
 +
=== Previous research ===
 +
 
 +
I've worked in the field of laser ultrasonic research since 1997, and
 +
obtained my PhD, "All-Optical Scanning Acoustic Microscope" from the
 +
University of Nottingham in 2003. My research has centred around using novel
 +
laser ultrasonic techniques for materials characterisation and
 +
nondestructive evaluation (NDE). This has involved developing new
 +
techniques, new instrumentation, and new insights into the interaction of
 +
acoustic waves with materials. During the course of my PhD I improved the
 +
instrumentation to such a degree that for the first time we were able to
 +
take images – rather than single point measurements – of surface acoustic
 +
waves (SAWs) which were generated and detected using lasers. This
 +
improvement in the instrumentation led to an area of research on "Adaptive
 +
laser ultrasound with programmable optical field distributions" (2000-2003),
 +
which had profound implications for ultrasonic testing integrity. This was
 +
the study of the deleterious effects of anisotropy and microstructure on the
 +
propagation of ultrasound, and improving the methods and mechanisms to
 +
model, measure, analyse and predict this behaviour. Demonstrations of these
 +
effects led to revelations amongst many industrial (and some academic)
 +
collaborators, as it explained beautifully some of the phenomena (including
 +
unreliable data) that they had been seeing.
 +
 
 +
Success in this initial work led directly to a Core Project in the new
 +
Research Centre for NDE, formed in April 2003, titled "NDE of Difficult
 +
Materials" (2003-2007). My work here used the understanding of acoustic
 +
aberration to develop techniques in three key areas. (1) Using the
 +
information gained from the effects of acoustic aberration to infer
 +
statistical properties (mean grain size, degree of anisotropy) of the
 +
material under investigation. (2) Acoustic aberration correction, whereby
 +
the aberration is detected using a multi-channel acoustic detector which I
 +
had developed, and applying correction to the generation pattern. This
 +
cancels out the effects of the microstructure, giving greater confidence and
 +
clarity for the detection of defects. (3) Development of a new technique I
 +
termed "spatially resolved acoustic spectroscopy" (SRAS) which is capable of
 +
imaging microstructure, crucial for estimating likelihood of
 +
structure-sensitive failure mechanisms. [[Matt Clark]] and I are joint inventors
 +
on the patent for this technique.
 +
 
 +
From 2007-2008 I worked on a project entitled "Advanced ultrasonic
 +
techniques for highly scattering ordered and semi-ordered materials", which
 +
involved developing techniques for rationalising the amount of information
 +
necessary to determine key properties of these complex materials (such as
 +
degree of randomness, or porosity).
 +
 
 +
=== Current research ===
 +
 
 +
I am the principal researcher working on the RCNDE Core Project, "Laser
 +
ultrasonics for the detection of damage precursors" (2008-present).
 +
Conventional (linear) ultrasonics is very poor at detecting changes in the
 +
material structure of a component which have an influence on its working
 +
life, prior to the formation of measurable cracks and dislocations. New
 +
techniques are being developed in order to study the relationship between
 +
fatigue and the material elastic nonlinearity – a deviation from Hooke’s
 +
Law, which describes a linear relationship between stress and strain.
 +
Although these nonlinear ultrasonic techniques are potentially much more
 +
sensitive than linear methods, measurable changes are several orders of
 +
magnitude smaller than the equivalent changes in the linear response, so
 +
they are tricky to implement.
  
−
Generally located in the Tower, possible locations to find me:
+
I am the principal investigator on a 2.5 year emda (East
 +
Midlands Development Agency) and Rolls-Royce funded Technology Demonstrator
 +
project, to develop the SRAS instrumentation for materials characterisation (1 April 2010 -
 +
31 October 2012).
 +
This has involved reducing the size of the SRAS instrument from one which
 +
takes up an entire optical bench, to one where all the optics could fit
 +
inside a shoebox. The instrument will gain the ability to scan rough
 +
surfaces, and the lateral resolution will be pushed down below 25 microns.
  
−
* 202 - Applied Optics Research Lab - 84-67892
+
I am the researcher on [[Matt Clark]]'s Let Nano Fly! micro-project entitled, "Complex near-field optics placed by AFM as an enabling technology for nanoSRAS inspection", or '''nanoSRAS''' for short, from 1 April - 31 July 2011 (part time equivalent to 2.5 months).
−
* 303 - ARRO-SAM Lab - 95-15638
 
−
* 307 - Nonlinear Lab - 95-15615
 
−
* 606 - Steve's Office - 95-15220
 
−
* 306 - O-SAM Lab/Ultrasound Labs foyer - 95-15386
 
  
−
Email: steve.sharples@nottingham etc
+
== Where to find me ==
  
−
Mobile: 07976 706623
+
* 202 - Applied Optics Research Lab - 84-67892
 +
* 303 - [[OSAM|ARRO-SAM Lab]] - 95-15638
 +
* 306 - [[OSAM|O-SAM Lab]]/Ultrasonics Labs foyer - 95-15386
 +
* 307 - [[%_fatigue|Nonlinear Lab]] - 95-15615
 +
* 606 - My office - 95-15220
  
−
== Things I do ==
+
== Other activities and responsibilities ==
  
−
* Sort out [[Optics lunches]]
+
* Organise the [[Optics lunches|Applied Optics Group seminars]]
 
* Laser ultrasonics expertise, and look after the [[Laser Ultrasonics Lab]] (Tower 303-307) infrastructure:
 
* Laser ultrasonics expertise, and look after the [[Laser Ultrasonics Lab]] (Tower 303-307) infrastructure:
 
** [[OSAM|O-SAM and ARRO-SAM]] instruments
 
** [[OSAM|O-SAM and ARRO-SAM]] instruments
Line 26: Line 104:
 
* Some practical RF electronics expertise (Minicircuits stuff)
 
* Some practical RF electronics expertise (Minicircuits stuff)
 
* Eagle/PCB Train expertise (see the [http://optics.eee.nottingham.ac.uk/eagle/eagle2pcbtrain.html Eagle PCB ->PCBTrain Export How-to] and the section about [[Installing locally#Eagle|installing Eagle using VPM]])
 
* Eagle/PCB Train expertise (see the [http://optics.eee.nottingham.ac.uk/eagle/eagle2pcbtrain.html Eagle PCB ->PCBTrain Export How-to] and the section about [[Installing locally#Eagle|installing Eagle using VPM]])
−
* Look after the main optics Linux server ("armchair"), and the [[Linux How-tos|local Linux network]], with help from Roger and Matt
+
* Look after the main optics Linux server ("armchair"), and the [[Linux How-tos|local Linux network]], with [[Roger Light]] and [[Matt Clark|Matt]]
 
* [[Laser Safety]] expertise, consultation and form-signing
 
* [[Laser Safety]] expertise, consultation and form-signing
 
* Look after the Linux off-site backups - see Steve or Roger for disaster recovery
 
* Look after the Linux off-site backups - see Steve or Roger for disaster recovery
Line 35: Line 113:
 
** [http://optics.eee.nottingham.ac.uk/agilent_scope/ Agilent Infiniium scopes]
 
** [http://optics.eee.nottingham.ac.uk/agilent_scope/ Agilent Infiniium scopes]
 
** [http://optics.eee.nottingham.ac.uk/tek/ Tek scopes and AFGs]
 
** [http://optics.eee.nottingham.ac.uk/tek/ Tek scopes and AFGs]
−
** [http://optics.eee.nottingham.ac.uk/lecroy_tcp/ LeCroy scopes]
+
** [http://optics.eee.nottingham.ac.uk/lecroy/ LeCroy scopes]
 
** [[Experimental PC#BNS SLM|BNS SLM]] (kernel driver written by Matt)
 
** [[Experimental PC#BNS SLM|BNS SLM]] (kernel driver written by Matt)
 
** [[Experimental PC#PI PCI stage driver|PI stages]] (kernel driver written by Matt)
 
** [[Experimental PC#PI PCI stage driver|PI stages]] (kernel driver written by Matt)
 
** [[Experimental PC#comedi|Amplicon PCI230 DAQ comedi driver]] (mainly written by others)
 
** [[Experimental PC#comedi|Amplicon PCI230 DAQ comedi driver]] (mainly written by others)
−
* Look after the group laptop (now a Dell 12" jobbie running Windows XP)
+
* Look after the group laptop (Dell 12" running Windows XP)
−
* Look after the old group laptop, an Apple Macbook. The screen decided to spontaneously crack, and so it is now pensioned off for desktop duties (mainly video encoding). See Steve if you want to use it.
 
−
* Maintain the http://optics.eee.nottingham.ac.uk webpage
 

Revision as of 09:37, 4 April 2011


Steve sharples 2011.jpg

Senior Research Fellow, Applied Optics Group

Phone: +44 (0)115 95-15220 (6th floor office), which rings through to +44 (0)115 84-67892 (2nd floor research office)

Location: Tower 606, Tower 202

Email (@nottingham.ac.uk): steve.sharples

Previous research

I've worked in the field of laser ultrasonic research since 1997, and obtained my PhD, "All-Optical Scanning Acoustic Microscope" from the University of Nottingham in 2003. My research has centred around using novel laser ultrasonic techniques for materials characterisation and nondestructive evaluation (NDE). This has involved developing new techniques, new instrumentation, and new insights into the interaction of acoustic waves with materials. During the course of my PhD I improved the instrumentation to such a degree that for the first time we were able to take images – rather than single point measurements – of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) which were generated and detected using lasers. This improvement in the instrumentation led to an area of research on "Adaptive laser ultrasound with programmable optical field distributions" (2000-2003), which had profound implications for ultrasonic testing integrity. This was the study of the deleterious effects of anisotropy and microstructure on the propagation of ultrasound, and improving the methods and mechanisms to model, measure, analyse and predict this behaviour. Demonstrations of these effects led to revelations amongst many industrial (and some academic) collaborators, as it explained beautifully some of the phenomena (including unreliable data) that they had been seeing.

Success in this initial work led directly to a Core Project in the new Research Centre for NDE, formed in April 2003, titled "NDE of Difficult Materials" (2003-2007). My work here used the understanding of acoustic aberration to develop techniques in three key areas. (1) Using the information gained from the effects of acoustic aberration to infer statistical properties (mean grain size, degree of anisotropy) of the material under investigation. (2) Acoustic aberration correction, whereby the aberration is detected using a multi-channel acoustic detector which I had developed, and applying correction to the generation pattern. This cancels out the effects of the microstructure, giving greater confidence and clarity for the detection of defects. (3) Development of a new technique I termed "spatially resolved acoustic spectroscopy" (SRAS) which is capable of imaging microstructure, crucial for estimating likelihood of structure-sensitive failure mechanisms. Matt Clark and I are joint inventors on the patent for this technique.

From 2007-2008 I worked on a project entitled "Advanced ultrasonic techniques for highly scattering ordered and semi-ordered materials", which involved developing techniques for rationalising the amount of information necessary to determine key properties of these complex materials (such as degree of randomness, or porosity).

Current research

I am the principal researcher working on the RCNDE Core Project, "Laser ultrasonics for the detection of damage precursors" (2008-present). Conventional (linear) ultrasonics is very poor at detecting changes in the material structure of a component which have an influence on its working life, prior to the formation of measurable cracks and dislocations. New techniques are being developed in order to study the relationship between fatigue and the material elastic nonlinearity – a deviation from Hooke’s Law, which describes a linear relationship between stress and strain. Although these nonlinear ultrasonic techniques are potentially much more sensitive than linear methods, measurable changes are several orders of magnitude smaller than the equivalent changes in the linear response, so they are tricky to implement.

I am the principal investigator on a 2.5 year emda (East Midlands Development Agency) and Rolls-Royce funded Technology Demonstrator project, to develop the SRAS instrumentation for materials characterisation (1 April 2010 - 31 October 2012). This has involved reducing the size of the SRAS instrument from one which takes up an entire optical bench, to one where all the optics could fit inside a shoebox. The instrument will gain the ability to scan rough surfaces, and the lateral resolution will be pushed down below 25 microns.

I am the researcher on Matt Clark's Let Nano Fly! micro-project entitled, "Complex near-field optics placed by AFM as an enabling technology for nanoSRAS inspection", or nanoSRAS for short, from 1 April - 31 July 2011 (part time equivalent to 2.5 months).

Where to find me

  • 202 - Applied Optics Research Lab - 84-67892
  • 303 - ARRO-SAM Lab - 95-15638
  • 306 - O-SAM Lab/Ultrasonics Labs foyer - 95-15386
  • 307 - Nonlinear Lab - 95-15615
  • 606 - My office - 95-15220

Other activities and responsibilities

Retrieved from "https://optics.eee.nottingham.ac.uk/w/index.php?title=Steve_Sharples&oldid=1056"