Personnel Dr Moore studied mathematics and physics at the University of Cambridge, and the physics of materials and crystallography at the University of Bristol. His main interest is in diamond, both natural and synthetic, and he closely collaborates with the diamond industry. He has worked in nuclear spectroscopy, cosmic ray physics, plasma physics, particle physics, solid state physics and positron physics. The strain fields of dislocations, stacking faults and growth-sector boundaries are being studied in materials of industrial importance, such as synthetic diamond, quartz and gallium arsenide. The diffraction physics of X-ray interference phenomena is also of great theoretical and experimental interest.
Imperfections can reveal the modes of growth of crystals, both natural and synthetic.
They also affect the physical properties of materials. For example, the presence of nitrogen in diamond greatly reduces the otherwise exceptionally high thermal conductivity. The facilities of the College Electron Microscope Unit are also employed for microprobe analysis and for scanning electron microscopic studies of surfaces. Work being done at low temperatures reveals electric charge states of vacancies. Another exciting area being pursued is positronium production at condensed monolayers of gases on graphite which is yielding new insights into two-dimensional behaviour, an approach originating in this laboratory.