Abigail James, DHil Atomic and Laser Physics

I am a current DPhil candidate in Prof. Norreys’ group and a member of Linacre College. My research is in the area of Plasma Wakefield Acceleration with a focus on imaging diagnostics and beam alignment techniques using reinforcement machine learning. I am a member of the AWAKE-UK consortium and the John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science.

I graduated from King’s College London with a masters degree in physics focusing on both particle physics and quantum field theory however my research project was with the Informatics department where I worked on multi-agent modelling with a view to understanding the effects of proprioception in continuum robotic systems. After this I spent a year in Australia at the University of Melbourne where I worked on machine learning applications to neuroimaging in acute stroke research.

I joined the University of Oxford in 2020 working in Ultracold Quantum Matter as part of a team developing cold atom sources for use in gravitational wave and dark matter detection using atom interferometry. In 2022 I joined the Norrey’s group under the AWAKE UK project to work on the development of an imaging diagnostic to identify information about the structure of Wakefield’s used in plasma acceleration.

My research focuses on the area of oblique angle Frequency Domain Holography (FDH) which uses photon acceleration to construct detailed images of relativistic objects in a plasma accelerator. Our diagnostic package includes novel injection methods for electron acceleration coupled with reinforcement learning techniques for maintaining beam alignment in more universal applications. I’m primarily interested in novel imaging and detection methods for accelerator physics.

As well as my research, I am an active science communicator, teaching physics using examples from science fiction and pop culture in an effort to close the gap between current research and the general public. My aim is help people connect with complicated topics and the scientific community as a whole. My TikTok channel, Pop Culture Scientist, has over 200K followers.

Email: abigail.james@physics.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Physics Page: https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/our-people/coughlana