Research Seminar – Are Capacitors Charged by Electrons or Photons? – 1 April 2015

The next EDA Research Seminar entitled ‘Are Capacitors Charged by Electrons or Photons?’ by Dr Richard J Collier, will take place on Wednesday 1 April 2015 from 2 – 3 pm in KBSX3.

The seminar will examine the charging of a capacitor from several aspects, including some unusual transmission line phenomena. After a brief summary of the characteristics of electrons and photons, the seminar will go on to show that the ‘current’ description of circuits may not be the complete picture and that both electrons and photons play important roles in the guiding of electronic signals.

In October 1968, Dr Richard J. Collier was appointed as a Lecturer in Electronics. Up to October 2000, when he left the Laboratory, his lectures always included the topics of both Transmission Lines and Electromagnetic Theory. Dr Collier used to be the head of department in EDA before he went to Cambridge. Following his ‘retirement’ from Kent, he spent a further 13 years in Cambridge as a Senior Research Associate at the Cavendish Laboratory and a Praeceptor in Physics at Corpus Christi College. During this period he completed two books, “Microwave Measurements” – published by IET in 2007 – of which he was the joint editor and “Transmission Lines” – published by the Cambridge University Press in 2013 – of which he is the sole author. On retiring back to Canterbury in 2013, he was appointed as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the School of Engineering and Digital Arts.

Dr Paul Young will chair the seminar and all members of staff are welcome to attend.