Congratulations to Professor Alexander Shluger (UCL Physics & Astronomy and the London Centre for Nanotechnology) who has been awarded 2020 David Tabor Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics, for his seminal and wide-ranging contributions to surface and nanoscale physics.
He has developed new theoretical models of atomic force microscopy (AFM), a type of scanning probe that allows the properties of a material to be explored at nanoscale.
These models have furthered our understanding of a range of mechanisms involved in AFM imaging, providing deep insights into the roles of AFM tip structure, surface distortion and atomic dynamics in image formation, and the atomistic origins of friction. His models have set the standard for the interpretation of AFM images.
Professor Shluger has also developed atomic-scale models of defects at the surfaces and interfaces of insulators and how these interfaces are modified by electronic excitation and carrier injection.
Professor Shluger is the third recipient of the award from the LCN in recent years, following Professor Geoff Thornton (UCL, 2015) and Professor Adrian Sutton (Imperial, 2018).
