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Clare Hall, University of Cambridge Summer Visiting Student Program Report

2019 Academic Year
Chao Zhang: PhD candidate, Department of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo

Overview

This visiting program is based on the partnership agreement (2006~) of Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) and Clare Hall, the University of Cambridge. Several graduate students and faculty members are dispatched to Clare Hall every year and are allowed to perform research activities or attend classes held at the University of Cambridge with accommodation at Clare Hall. I stayed in Cambridge from August 1st to 24th 2019, and mainly attended the Business and Entrepreneurship Summer Program during the first 2 weeks and visited multiple laboratories and companies in the final week. By attending this summer program, I enriched my understanding on the process of launching startups, company management, current state of oversea startups etc. After the summer program, I visited laboratories and companies related to my previous and current research areas, and also visited laboratories of different areas to broaden my perspective. With this experience, I fostered a better understanding on the latest trends of multiple fields and found the possibilities of merger with the research of my lab. In addition, I built up valuable connections for my future research and development. Thanks to the support of RCAST, I could make this outreach activity fruitful and rewarding.

Clare Hall

Colleges of the University of Cambridge accommodate students of different field and provide them with opportunities to communicate with each other. Clare Hall was established in 1966 as a spin-off of Clare College which was founded in 1326. Generally speaking, colleges of the University of Cambridge with long history such as Selwyn College etc. have dining halls with the “high tables”, which appears in the movie like Harry Potter. These tables are the dining space dedicated for academics and guests. On the other hand, the dining room of Clare Hall does not hold this type of table. It has huge windows with an atmosphere of openness so that the professors and students can enjoy the meals by sitting together. Although there are negative images about English dishes, at least you can enjoy extremely delicious meals at the dining room of Clare Hall. Clare Hall invites a speaker for a seminar in every Wednesday evening and holds a formal dinner after the presentation.

In Clare Hall, a room is assigned to each student and visitor, and common shower rooms, kitchens, and lounges are facilitated. I was assigned in a room of Brian Pippard Building for around 3 weeks. The kitchen in each building is also a place for interaction since you will encounter with the students and visitors living in the same building there. Clare Hall also consolidates a coin laundry area, parking lots for automobiles and bicycles. Following the advice of former visitors from RCAST, I rented a bicycle right after my arrival. It was convenient for me to move to the classroom, visiting destinations, the nearest station etc. Thereafter, I could visit a number of researchers and experts working in the front lines within my short period of stay. In addition, I had the pleasure in joining a lunch with Prof. David Ibbetson who is a British lawyer and the president of Clare Hall, and Dr. Ian Black who researches on historical geography.

  • The entrance of Clare Hall (left), The courtyard of Clare Hall (right)
  • With the Prof. David Ibbetson the President of Clare Hall (left), In the dining room of Clare Hall (right)

Summer program

I have attended the Business and Entrepreneurship Summer Program for 2 weeks. This is one of the summer programs of the University of Cambridge. The lectures were held at Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS), which are in the location of 7-minute by a bicycle from Clare Hall. The lectures take off for around 9AM, and groupworks are assigned form round 3PM to 5PM. After the dinner, there was a 1-hour evening talk at the Lady Mitchell Hall, which is around 3-minute by a bicycle from Clare Hall. The attendee of the whole summer programs can attend this evening talk.

  • The lecture at the business school (left), Presentation of our groupwork (right)
  • Members of our groupwork (left), A meal of the cafeteria of the business school (right)

Totally above 60 people from several 10 countries attended the Business and Entrepreneurship Summer Program. The attendees had a variety of backgrounds, they include the director of the MBA course of the University of Seattle, the CEO of a consulting startup who are an alumna of MIT, a staff of National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) who are an alumna of UTokyo, students of the Faculty of Economics of UTokyo, a British lawyer, a certified public accountant of US, a research fellow of ETH Zurich, a student entrepreneur running an IT company in India, and students from universities all over the world etc. The program invited faculty members in business field, successful businesspeople, investors, so that the lectures also contain the stories of personal experiences. The summer program was a digest version of the MBA program, and covered business comprehensively. In the 2-week intensive course, the attendees will take lectures about product design, prototyping and minimum viable product, service provision, marketing delivery, value proposition, defining the customer, route to market, business model, revenue streams, types of funding, risk reward return, cash flow, manufacturing and logistics, intellectual property (IP) etc. and learn money-raising, a variety of revenue models, marketing including such as beachhead strategy and advertisement, importance of a team, design of products which is emphasized in Europe, various types of patents and trademarks and their features etc. There were around 2-hour groupwork every day, and attendees propose a business plan based on the knowledge from the lectures. In the last day of the program, each group presents the business plan cultivated throughout the 2 weeks. It was beneficial for me to learn business comprehensively since it was outside of my field. I felt that the most valuable factor of this course was the connections with the attendees and the lecturers which were built throughout the program.

Visiting Activities

August 2nd: Aston University (Birmingham)
Prof. Richard Nock, Mr. Mala Sadik, Mrs. Yang Lu, Dr. Yong Yang

I visited Prof. Nock of Aston University first and discussed with him about quantum key distribution (QKD), random modulation continuous wave (RMCW) light detection and ranging (LiDAR), digital circuit design, flash-type 3D measurement. From the discussions, I collected information about the possibility of introducing QKD technologies to user authentication systems, the spatial resolution of RMCW LiDAR, and the limitation factor of the spatial resolution of flash-type LiDAR. In addition, I talked with Mr. Sadik who is good at digital circuit design and collected information about test bench for field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Next, I visited the lab of Dr. Yang and asked about taper fiber and surface nanoscale axial photonics (SNAP) resonator. I had a chance to take a look of the precious machine for fabrication of taper fiber and asked about the principle of SNAP resonator. Yamashita-Set lab of RCAST where I belong also deals with taper fiber. I am looking forward to collaborating with Dr. Yang on SNAP resonator in the future. Lastly, I was allowed to visit the lab of Prof. Sugden. This lab works on laser machining technologies, and Mrs. Lu who is one of the graduate students introduced the lab for me. Her topic is design of optical coherence tomography phantom. In this technology, femto-second pulse at 1064 nm is incident on glass materials, 3D marking can be performed inside of the glass through multi-photon absorption. I also had a chance to take a look on the samples. Yamashita-Set lab is collaborating with Kanzaki lab on bio sensing using femto-second pulse laser at 1064 nm. The accompanying physics is also multi-photon absorption. Since we are using the identical technology, I would like to look at the prospect of collaborating with this lab.

  • From left: Prof. Nock, me, Mrs Lu, Dr. Yang
August 10th~11th: Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III University, Collège de France, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris
Dr. Liqing Jiao (IPGP)

  • A poster of Dr. Jiao’s lab
  • Dr. Jiao received 8-year tutelage of Prof. Paul Tapponnier who is a world authority in geological sciences. Dr. Jiao is an expert on numerical analysis and modeling in the field of plate tectonics and crustal deformation. Since I also worked on numerical simulation for optical communications, we mainly talked about calculation. In optical fiber communication, people generally utilize the nonlinear Schrödinger equation to calculate the variation of optical electric field. In free-space optical communication, people use statistical models which emulate the atmospheric turbulence. In QKD, the calculation is done with the principle of quantum optics. Dr. Jiao utilized classical mechanics on the behaviors of continental plates and earthquake deformation. If the time allows, I would like to challenge to mechanical simulation of carbon materials. Yamashita-Set lab has studied the optical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNT) for many years. However, we have not explored the mechanical property such material. Since CNT is a candidate for the material of space elevators, I am happy to be involved in such space exploration field.

After talking with Dr. Jiao, I visited the lab room which Marie Curie used to do her experiments 100 years ago. The lab room was within this institute. Although the room was refurbished, it still showed the signs of the era one century ago. A photo of Marie Curie was hanging on the wall. Marie Curie discovered Radium on 1898. The trolley which she used to carry Radium at that time was placed outside of the room. In addition, a lecture room where she gave talks still exists in the ground floor of the institute. Although this room was also refurbished, the space was laden with history.

  • From left the lab room of Marie Curie, the trolley that she used to carry Radium, the classroom which she gave talks.

In the second day, I visited Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III University, Collège de France, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III University has awarded the highest rating in linguistics, modern literature, theater, English, and video art. Collège de France, with a history of around 500 years, is one of the top institutions of higher education for academics and education in France. Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris is a great cathedral of the Roman Catholic church and is the representative of Gothic architecture. It was named to the UNESCO list of world heritage as the name specified as “Banks of the Seine” with its adjacent cultural assets.

  • Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III University and the entrance of Collège de France

Cathédrale Notre-Dame partially gave way due to damage from a fire which took place during April 15~16 2019. Around $1 billion was donated for restoration from all over the world only 2 days after the disaster. Although the President Macron promised restoration in those days, the question arose at that time: how to restore the architecture with around 800-year history authentically? Good news was brought right in the middle of such turmoil. Dr. Andrew Tallon of Vassar College and Dr. Paul Blaer of Columbia University utilized the 3D laser scanner ScanStation C10 of Leica to scan the cathedral and collected 3D point clouds of the shapes of the cathedral which contains around 1 billion points. Probably, the cathedral has been under construction for restoration based on their 3D data.

  • Cathédrale Notre-Dame under construction for restoration

Actually, I am doing research on 3D laser scanning for industrial inspection at RCAST for the moment, and out technology is also planned to cover digital archive of cultural heritages. Once there is any disaster on the heritages, the 3D data of them enables precise and rapid restoration. On the other hand, museums have been accompanied with expensive transportation of cultural assets so far. Exhibition of 3D data can remove such expensive and troublesome transportation. Moreover, the audiences can also browse the cultural assets which cannot been transported since people do not need to access to the assets directly. Therefore, such 3D scanning possesses a potential of 3D revolution which popularize the concept of exhibition of 3D data in museums etc. all over the world. However, conventional 3D cameras suffer from low spatial resolution and problem of failing in detection of parts with black color or high reflectivity. Conventional laser scanner also suffers from noise issues. Versatile 3D measurement technologies are thus highly expected. Although I was not afforded sufficient time on that day, it was a precious experience for me to observe the cathedral in the flesh.

August 18th: Imperial College London, University College London (UCL)

I got myself from Cambridge to London to visit Imperial College London and University College London (UCL). Unfortunately, I could not find any lab for visiting in both universities since it was the summer vacation period. In Imperial College London, I visited the campus especially the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. There was a plate on the wall of the entrance. It is to accolade the achievement of the winning the Nobel Prize in Physics by Prof. Dennis Gabor. It says: In 1947 Dennis Gabor conceived the idea of wavefront reconstruction for improving the performance of the electron microscope. This became the basis for the invention of optical holography for 3D imaging, but implementation required coherent light sources and had to wait the emergence of the laser some years later. Gabor was awarded the Nobel Prize for his invention in 1971. It reminded me of the first director of RCAST Prof. Takanori Okoshi who used to be engaged on the research of holography. Later on, Prof. Okoshi and Prof. Kikuchi proposed coherent optical fiber communication which has been recognized as the defacto standard of optical fiber communication nowadays.

  • At the entrace of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, there was a plate on the wall which was to accolade the achievement of the wining of the Nobel Prize in Physics by Prof. Dennis Gabor.

In UCL, I mainly visited the Faculty of Engineering. There is a place called Darwin Building in this faculty, which is named after Charles Darwin. As a matter of fact, Darwin cultivated his interest on the natural history during his study on theology at the University of Cambridge. It is widely known that he published the concept of “the evolutionary origin of species” on 1859. In fact, he published the concept at this university for a reason. UCL was founded as a university (which is different from college). It was a university without religious faith. Oxbridge with Christian religiosity were afraid of loss of vested interests. Thereafter, they pressured UCL into making concessions, and wanted to deprive it of the status of university. In addition, the Church of England was against the approval of the royal charter for degree-granting on the ground of lacking religiousness in UCL. However, UCL acquired the royal charter on 1836 and gained the status as a university. Later, such no religiousness of UCL had a potent influence on the development of academics. Since the origin of species was a concept which rejected the Christianity outright at those time, Darwin was not allowed to publish it at the University of Cambridge which was founded for the purpose of research on Christianity. This is why he published the evolution theory at UCL which was the only university without Christianity religion at those days. In 1964, Darwin College was established in commemoration of Charles Darwin in the University of Cambridge.

  • At the Darwin Building, UCL
August 19th: Cambridge Graphene Center, the University of Cambridge
Prof. Tawfique Hasan

I visited Prof. Hasan who has researched on optical devices at the Cambridge Graphene Center. Prof. Hasan is specialized in materials. Recently, a marvelous paper of Prof. Hasan’s lab was accepted by Science Magazine, which is about fabrication of an extremely small spectrometer with a length of 50 to 100 um. This would be the smallest spectrometer in the world. I talked with him about deposition of graphene D-shaper optical fiber, fabrication of optoelectronic circuits based on ink-jet printing. Since my lab also deals with carbon materials such as graphene and CNTs, it was beneficial to get to know the related research. In addition, we also extended our discussion into optical communications, QKD, and 3D measurement.

  • With Prof. Hasan
August 20th: Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, the University of Cambridge
Prof. Seb Savory

Prof. Savory is an authority in optical fiber communication. Especially, he achieved quite a few world-class results in digital coherent optical fiber communication. Since I used to work on the identical field decade ago, I talked with him reminiscing back to those years revolutionary for optical fiber communication. Prof. Savory’s is now researching on optical fiber networks such as 100 Gbit/s, 400 Gbit/s, 600 Gbit/s, 1 Tbit/s data communication and optical access networks employing digital coherent technology. This lab possesses a 250-km optical fiber transmission link, and network experiments have been performed by control of the traffics with wavelength selective switches. Besides the above topics, we also talked about optical wireless communication, QKD, and 3D measurement.

  • With Prof. Savory
August 21st: Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory and Cavendish Laboratory
Dr. Katsuya Miura (Vice Director)

I visited Hitachi Cambridge Lab and the Vice Director Dr. Miura introduced me about their research topics and showed me around the Cavendish Lab. Dr. Miura mainly introduced their quantum computer technologies. This lab is aiming to establish quantum computers employing CMOS technologies. CMOS technologies have been prevailed in various information processing hardware of mobile phones, computers, automobiles etc. With utilizing the spins of single electron confined in a transistor under an ultralow temperature, the cost of development can be driven down. The solution is also scalable at the same time. In the middle of Dr. Miura’s introduction, he mentioned about the achievement in quantum computers of Prof. Yasunobu Nakamura of RCAST, and this let me realize again about the name recognition of RCAST.

  • Hitachi Cambridge Lab, the Vice Director Dr. Miura, and Cavendish Museum (the desk of Maxwell)
August 22nd: Department of Geography, the University of Cambridge
Dr. Gabriel Amable

I visited Dr. Amable of Department of Geography. He is specialized in airborne LiDAR for the environmental sciences. I enjoyed the talk since I am also working on LiDAR, and collected information about airborne laser scanning done by flying objects, processing of 3D point clouds, and the related market development.

August 22nd: Cambridge Research Laboratory - Toshiba Europe
Dr. Robert Woodward

I mainly talked with Dr. Woodward about QKD. This lab has developed a novel protocol called “twin-field QKD” which can extend the communication distance beyond 500 km based on optical fiber. In conventional QKD, a single photon is transmitted from one end of an optical fiber to the other end. On the other hand, in the twin-field QKD, optical pulses are sent toward the halfway point of an optical fiber from its two ends, and the photons are detected at the middle point. Secret key bits are generated via the detection results. Computer simulations were also performed to confirm that the operation of the transmitters and the detectors can be driven with the conventional principle and the communication distance can be doubled while the security and the communication speed were maintained.

  • Cambridge Research Laboratory - Toshiba Europe, and Dr. Woodward

Acknowledgement

Finally, I would like to express my immense gratitude to my supervisors Prof. Shinji Yamashita and Prof. Sze Yun Set who allowed me to conduct this outreach activity during my PhD study. I am also truly grateful to Prof. Takao Hamakubo and Prof. Izuru Makihara of Clare Hall club, Ms. Eriko Okamatsu and related staffs of the strategic planning office of RCAST, professors and researchers of UK who acknowledged my visits, and the people I met during my stay in UK.

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