Educational Background and experience: MSci in Mathematics from QUB, DegreePlus from QUB , Industrial Experience with Seagate for 3 years 

CDT Project: Bringing ab-initio design into the lab: temperature dependence of plasmonic response 
Supervisors: Dr. Myrta Gruening, Dr. Lorenzo Stella, QUB 

Project description:  The heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology developed by Seagate uses surface plasmons to increase the storage density in hard drives. My project aims to use ab-inito methods to evaluate plasmonic materials for application in the near-field transducer as part of HAMR. Density functional theory and many-body perturbation theory will the main tools for this study, focusing on the refractory nitrides. The effect of temperature on the electronic and optical properties of materials also will be investigated from first principles.  

General Research/Science Interests:
Ab-initio modelling, many-body perturbation theory, density functional theory, electron-phonon interactions. 

CDT Involvement: 
I was one of the main organisers for the CDT Conclave 2019.   

Impact Activity:  
I have taught the introductory physics computer coding classes in C and Python and I’ve attended courses on scientific writing and data provenance. As my project is in collaboration with Seagate, I’ve made industry links within the company. I have presented my work at multiple conferences in Europe and the UK.    

Contact me 
dmurphy60@qub.ac.uk 

Testimonial:
The most positive part of my experience as part of the CDT is the sense of community there is in my cohort and with the wider CDT organisation.