Before arriving at the University Rachel had experience of working in a controlled environment aquarium with Antarctic Limpets at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge measuring raised metabolism following feeding and the associated shell growth.
Peck, L., Veal, R. Feeding, metabolism and growth in the Antarctic limpet, Nacella concinna (Strebel 1908). Marine Biology 138, 553–560 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002270000486
A year later at University of Utrecht Rachel gained experience working with radioactive steroids during in vitro studies of Pituitary enzyme activity of Catfish.
In recent years, there have been significant developments in lightwave technologies enabling wide exploitation of optical phase, as exemplified in particular by the dawn of Coherent Optical Communications - the key enabler for the growth in the capacity of the Internet. This is due to many key breakthroughs in laser technology (low-noise low-cost and compact lasers), new revolutionary concepts that have recently been introduced (e.g., the Optical Frequency Comb, the significance of which was demonstrated by the award of a Nobel Prize in 2005), and significant advances in electronics that, thanks to the increased speeds now possible, can accommodate the processing of very complicated coherent (amplitude + phase) signals.
Another exciting field is Hollow Core Optical fibres, which guides ligth in a central hole surrounded by a microstructure that prevents light escaping from the core. Although known for over 20 years, only very recently their fabrication enabled them to use their full potential.
