Invited Speaker – Professor, Oliver Williams

Institution:

Cardiff University

Current Positions:

Chair Professor 
Condensed Matter and Photonics Group 
School of Physics and Astronomy

Biographical details
Oliver Williams completed his PhD on the electronic properties of diamond at University College London in 2003. He then moved to Argonne National Laboratory where he held the Distinguished Postdoctoral appointment at the Centre for Nanoscale Materials.

In 2004 he joined the Institute for Materials Research in Belgium, an affiliated lab of IMEC vzw. He developed nanocrystalline diamond growth, specialising on the nucleation of ultra-thin diamond films and control of diamond electrical conductivity from intrinsic to superconducting.

He then received the Fraunhofer Attract award to move to the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Research in Freiburg and develop Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems from nanocrystalline diamond.

In 2011 he moved to Cardiff as a Reader in Experimental Physics and Marie Curie Fellow. Here he established Cardiff Diamond Foundry, the largest diamond growth group in the UK. His group focuses on MEMS, superconductivity, single photon sources, high frequency filters, thermal management and anything that exploits the extreme materials properties of diamond. He currently holds a Personal Chair in Experimental Physics.