Instruments
Here is a potted history of my research interests, via the instruments I have worked with.
During my PhD I was involved in the theoretical modelling of waves in coronal loops with complex magnetic geometries and determining the influence of dynamical backgrounds on MHD oscillations. On completing my thesis, I found that the analysis of observational data had more appeal. Since then I have utilised data from a number of different satellites (NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory & STEREO, Hinode SOT), rockets (High-Resolution Coronal Imager) and ground-based telescopes (Dunn Solar Telescope, Swedish Solar Telescope, Mauna Loa Solar Observatory) for probing MHD waves. In particular, I have published a number of articles on the measurement and tracking of Alfvénic waves in both the chromosphere and corona.
From 2014, I had a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship which focused on working with data from the superb ROSA instrument based at the Dunn Solar Telescope. ROSA is a multi-camera, multi-wavelength imager that allows simultaneous observations of different layers in the solar atmosphere. It is a UK designed instrument that was built and run by Prof. Mihalis Mathioudakis and Dr David Jess from Queen's University Belfast.
Over the last six years I have been working with the High Altitude Observatory (USA) and been analysing data from the Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP), another fantastic ground-based telescope that observes the corona in infrared emission at 10747 Å. Unfortunately the CoMP instrument has been underused! It is superb for MHD Alfvenic waves studies in the corona, e.g., see my highlighted publications above.
The instrument is currently being upgraded - so I am looking forward to getting my hands on the new data products!
In 2014 I was invited to be a member of a NASA science team for the High-resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C) re-flight mission. There was an unsuccessful re-flight in July 2016 , suffering from mechanical failure of the telescope shutter. In July 2018 we had the launch of Hi-C 2.1 and the science papers are just coming out.
In 2015, Northumbria University joined part of a consortium of international institutions contributing to the next generation of solar telescopes, the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST). DKIST will provide us with the highest-ever resolution images of the Sun!
I was the Northumbria PI on a proposal put forward to the Science & Technology Facilities Council by a consortium of UK institutions (Queen's Belfast, Sheffield, UCL, Glasgow, St. Andrews, Warwick & Armagh Observatory) to obtain funding for detector development for the visible light instruments. Northumbria also developed software for the automated tracking and detection of waves.
The amazing first light pictures from DKIST have recently been made public. Getting excited for the start of science operations in the near future!