Doug's Home About me Teaching Research Job Vacancies Science in Print Publications Physics Department University

Please click here for my full staff profile. I was born in a small village in South West Scotland. (Click here for further details.) I recognised the potential of a career in Physics at the age of 12 when my school teacher managed to give himself a spectacular shock using a very large Van de Graaff generator which stunned him for several minutes. I studied for a BSc at the University of Edinburgh and went on to the University of Nottingham to study for a PhD on the Optical and Electrical Properties of III-V Compound Semiconductors. Following this I worked for three years as a postdoctoral research assistant at Nottingham and for three years as a Research Associate at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa. My research at the NRC was on high speed optoelectronic semiconductor devices. I came to Durham as a lecturer in 1992. In 2002 I was appointed Deputy Dean for the Faculty of Science; in 2005 I was appointed the Dean of the Graduate School and held this position for five years until 2010. My research interests are in the optical properties of semiconductor materials. I study a number of II-VI and III-V compounds which have technological importance for solar cell structures, optoelectronic devices and semi-magnetic materials. I also investigate devices fabricated from organic/inorganic systems. We have fabricated simple inorganic/organic device heterostructures and are using this system to study charge transfer in these novel systems. I am also part of a large EU initiative working on thin film solar cells in collaboration with a number of universities and industrial organisations within Europe. Our contribution to the programme has been through a novel use of optical spectroscopy techniques to study the interdiffusion and impurities in these structures with the aim of improving device efficiency. Current and past teaching commitments have included Level 1 Phases of Matter, Level 2 Electrons in Solids, Level 3 Semiconductor Physics, Level 4 Low Dimensional Solids and a postgraduate lecture courses on Spectroscopy and advanced crystal growth. I have also been a tutor for Level 1 and Level 2 and demonstrate in the Level 2 Laboratories. My other interests include music; I play the violin and the piano and am a member of a choir. I enjoy cooking, anything with chocolate is a great favourite. One of my great pleasures is travelling, the only continent I have not visited in Antarctica. Before coming to Durham, I live in Ottawa Canada for three years. My wife and I have three children. We are active in our local community as members of the parish church.