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Phone:: (023) 8059 3897
Email:: R.S.Minns@soton.ac.uk

Dr Russell Minns

Associate Professor (From Royal Society University Research Fellow)

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Russell Minns is an Associate Professor within the School of Chemistry at the University of Southampton. His research focuses on time resolved spectroscopy of photochemical processes in the gas and solution phase, with a particular emphasis on the use of advanced light sources for novel spectroscopies.

We are fascinated by photochemistry and how molecules react to the light they absorb. In order to understand what happens we use laser pulses with ultrashort durations to capture the motion of molecules in real time.

Russell graduated with a first-class degree in Chemistry from Kings College London in 2001. He then worked with Professor Helen Fielding on Rydberg molecules obtaining his PhD in 2005. Following postdoctoral positions at the University of Virginia and UCL he was awarded a Ramsay Memorial Fellowship in 2009. In 2011 he moved to the University of Southampton to begin a Royal Society University Research Fellowship and in 2019 he was promoted to Associate Professor.

MSci, Chemistry, Kings College London, 2001

PhD, UCL 2005

Research

Publications

Contact

Research interests

Our research focuses on the use of femtosecond laser sources for the study of photochemistry and how molecules react to the absorption of ultraviolet light.

Using light pulses of ultrashort duration, we monitor chemical reactions as they happen, allowing us to follow changes in the arrangements of the electrons and the nuclei in real time.

To obtain the highest resolution and capture all of the key elements of a reaction we use a wide range of spectroscopic probes – from the infrared all the way through to the X-ray. Each probe provides sensitivity to different aspects of the dynamics occurring. The measurements provide intricate details on the fundamental nature of chemistry such as how bonds are made, broken or rearrange to form new molecular species.

As a group we are also always looking at developments in laser sources that can provide a different or more detailed view on the chemistry occurring. To this end we regularly work with, and at, major national and international facilities for the development of new methods for studying chemical dynamics.

Research group

Computational Systems Chemistry

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Key Publications

Smith, A. D., Warne, E. M., Bellshaw, D., Horke, D., Tudorovskya, M., Springate, E., Jones, A., Cacho, C., Chapman, R. T., Kirrander, A., & Minns, R. S. (2018). Mapping the complete reaction path of a complex photochemical reaction. Physical Review Letters, 120(18), [183003]. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.183003
Smith, A., Watts, H., Jager, E., Horke, D., Springate, E., Alexander, O., Cacho, C., Chapman, R., & Minns, R. (2016). Resonant multiphoton ionisation probe of the photodissociation dynamics of ammonia. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6CP05279G
Horke, D. A., Watts, H. M., Smith, A. D., Jager, E., Springate, E., Alexander, O., Cacho, C., Chapman, R. T., & Minns, R. S. (2016). Hydrogen bonds in excited state proton transfer. Physical Review Letters, 117(16), 1-5. [163002]. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.163002
Bainbridge, A. R., Harrington, J., Kirrander, A., Cacho, C., Springate, E., Bryan, W. A., & Minns, R. (2015). VUV excitation of a vibrational wavepacket in D2 measured through strong-field dissociative ionization. New Journal of Physics, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/10/103013
Galinis, G., Cacho, C., Chapman, R. T., Ellis, A. M., Lewerenz, M., Mendoza Luna, L. G., Minns, R. S., Mladenovic, M., Rouzee, A., Springate, E., Turcu, I. C. E., Watkins, M. J., & von Haeften, K. (2014). Probing the structure and dynamics of molecular clusters using rotational wave packets. Physical Review Letters, 113(4), 043004/1 to 043004/5. [43004]. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.043004

Articles

Conferences

Holmes, C., Jantzen, S. L., Yoshikawa, N., Minns, R., Hares, D., Cupilari, G., Gray, A., Smith, D., Gates, J. C., Brocklesby, W., Frey, J., & Smith, P. G. R. (2019). Mapping water contamination of jet fuel. In 2019 IEEE Avionics and Vehicle Fiber-Optics and Photonics Conference (AVFOP) IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/AVFOP.2019.8908177
Feehan, J. S., Watts, H. M., Anderson, P., Butcher, T. J., Price, J. H. V., Minns, R. S., Horak, P., Brocklesby, W. S., & Frey, J. G. (2014). Single exposure wavefront curvature estimation of high harmonic radiation by diffraction from a regular array. Paper presented at CLEO '14, San Jose, United States.

Letter/Editorial

Orr-ewing, A. J., Verlet, J. R. R., Penfold, T. J., Minns, R. S., Minitti, M. P., Sølling, T. I., Schalk, O., Kowalewski, M., Marangos, J. P., Robb, M. A., Johnson, A. S., Wörner, H. J., Shalashilin, D. V., Miller, R. J. D., Domcke, W., Ueda, K., Weber, P. M., Cireasa, R., Vacher, M., ... Neville, S. P. (2016). Electronic and non-adiabatic dynamics: general discussion. Faraday Discussions, 194, 209-257. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6FD90070D

Report

Burnett, A., Borghesi, M., Comley, A., Dean, M., Diaz-Moreno, S., Dye, D., Greenwood, J., Higginbotham, A., Kirrander, A., Marangos, J. P., McMahon, M., Minns, R., Newton, M., Orville, A. M., Penfold, T. J., Regoutz, A., Robinson, I. K., Rugg, D., Schroeder, S. L. M., ... Zhang, X. (2020). UK-XFEL Science Case. https://www.clf.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/UK%20XFEL%20Science%20Case%2005Oct2020%20online%20version.pdf

Dr Russell Minns
Chemistry, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ

Room Number NNN: 30/2036

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