Giles Hammond
- Professor, Scientific Advisory Board Member
- University of Glasgow
Prof Hammond joined the Institute for Gravitational Research in 2007 as an RCUK Academic Fellow and was promoted to Reader in 2012 and Professor in 2016. He has made significant contributions to the development of the monolithic stages of the Advanced LIGO quadruple pendulums, and has led the installation of several suspensions at both the Hanford and Livingston sites. He has further pioneered the development of the fused silica suspension for the 10m prototype interferometer at the AEI Hannover and developed techniques to provide continued fused silica suspension support for the GEO-HF upgrade. His gravitational wave research also includes the development of techniques to characterise the mechanical stress in fused silica suspension elements, grow silicon/sapphire crystalline fibres and analyse of the performance gains for suspension upgrades to Advanced LIGO and future 3rd generation detectors. He further leads the development of ultra-sensitive MEMS gravimeters which utilise soft springs to provide the lowest resonant frequency devices in the world. This work, under the Quantum Technology Hub in Quantum Enhanced Imaging (https://quantic.ac.uk/) has enabled a MEMS to make the first measurement of earth tides. This work has significant industrial spin-offs in the fields of oil & gas prospecting, environmental monitoring and defence.
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