Age: 28

A-Levels: Physics, Maths, Media Studies, and General
          Studies

Degree: BSc Physics, University of Surrey

PhD: Advances Fast ignition Studies, Imperial College, London

Kate spends her days working with VULCAN, one of the world’s most powerful focused lasers. Passionate about Flamenco dancing!

My job is...
I am a researcher based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. I investigate generating energy through nuclear fusion reactions, using one of the world's most powerful focused lasers!

Home is...
In Abingdon, a nice town near Oxford in a cute 1 bed flat. 

Story so far
I was initially switched on to science in Year 6 when I was taken to a Royal Institution Schools' Lecture. It was full of demos that involved blowing up stuff and big bangs, which, as an 11-year-old, I thought was really cool. I took double award science at GSCE level, which allowed me to study all three sciences. I decided to do physics as my major science at A-level as it gave me the chance to study the world at the most fundamental level. I also took a maths A-level to support my physics, even though I hated maths at school! This finally led me to choose physics as a degree subject and then to my PhD at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory/Imperial college. I haven't had a negative experience along this path; I've received a lot of encouragement. I can't believe people pay me to play around with cool stuff all day and do the subject I love!

Day in the life
It's hard to describe a typical day because no two days are the same! My time is spent working on high power laser experiments here, and abroad, analysing data and writing papers, or going to conferences in nice sunny places like Japan and Madrid.
If I'm on an experimental period (typically lasting six weeks) then we arrive at the lab about 9am, usually trying to cram as much caffeine inside us as possible! My experimental work involves a lot of optics, fiddling with mirrors and fine alignment of the targets that we shoot with the laser. We have to wear clean suits and shoes, we perform our experiments is a clean room. As the time is limited on our experiments, we tend to work long hours, usually until about 10pm (on a good day). It can be quite stressful but is also very exciting, especially working on our new laser, which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the world's most intense focused laser.
Once I have some data, I spend time analysing the data and trying to understand what physics we've uncovered. Using computer simulations also helps me to understand what is happening. It can be a confusing time with lots of head scratching but is very rewarding when the answers make themselves known. 
One of the best things about my work is that we get to present the data at conferences around the globe. Most conferences consist of talks and posters, a lot of social activity, and usually a lavish conference dinner too!

Pet project
My job is to use lasers to generate energy using nuclear fusion reactions. Fusion is the nuclear reaction that powers the sun. Atoms in the sun heat up and gain enough energy to fuse together. When atoms fuse, energy is released. In the sun, this energy goes back into heating the sun and producing more nuclear reactions. The temperature in the sun is millions of degrees and so the matter inside the sun is in a ‘plasma state'. A plasma state is when atoms in a substance have enough energy to break apart either partially or totally. The result is a soup of particles like electrons and the ‘middle bits' of atoms called nuclei (or ions).
We can use lasers to make plasma. If we fire a high power laser at a piece of material it makes a plasma with very high temperatures similar to those in the sun. The laser I use to make plasmas is called VULCAN and is in Oxfordshire. If we consider a standard light bulb has a power of about 100 watts, our laser has a power of ten million million 100 watt light bulbs! The laser pulse stays on only for a fraction of a second, to be precise a million millionth of a second!
We know hot material expands, and so do hot plasmas. As a plasma expands, the particles in the plasma get further apart and the chance that they will fuse is very small. We want try and ‘confine' the plasma so that the particles are together long enough to interact with each other. The sun does this by being massive; it uses its own gravitational field to keep the plasma together. As we don't have a laboratory the size of the sun, we need to find another way to keep the plasma together.
Some fusion scientists use magnetic fields to confine plasmas in giant doughnut shaped containers. I use many high power laser beams to squish down a spherical fuel capsule so it is very dense. The effect of this is like walking up a busy street; you are far more likely to bump into someone than on a quiet country lane. We effectively force the particles to interact with each other by moving them much closer together and then to add more energy we shoot an ultra powerful laser into the compressed fuel to ignite the fusion reactions.

Freetime
In my spare time I go to Flamenco dance classes which is amazing. I love to dance, and have done since I was two and a half. I used to do tap, ballet, modern and jazz dancing but stopped when I left my dancing school when I went to university. I also like to go to classes in the gym which is just as well since another passion of mine is cooking! 

Burning ambitions
To continue to work in physics and to get as far as I can. Also to keep working to communicate my physics to the general public. In my personal life, I eventually want to have a family and keep learning new things to keep life interesting.

The best thing is...
Being paid to have fun! I play around with lasers all day, get sent to different countries courtesy of the lab, and work with lots of other young people. What could be better?

Regrets?
My life is pretty perfect, I don't regret a thing!