Patrick Gill is a British physicist who is a Senior NPL Fellow in Time & Frequency at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the UK.

Education

Gill was educated at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

and the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

where he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1975 for research on Charge Transfer as a Laser Excitation Mechanism.

Research

Gill's research is concerned with laser frequency stabilisation techniques for very high resolution

spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets electromagnetic spectra. In narrower contexts, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Spectro ...

, and the development of leading-edge optical

atomic clock An atomic clock is a clock that measures time by monitoring the resonant frequency of atoms. It is based on atoms having different energy levels. Electron states in an atom are associated with different energy levels, and in transitions betwee ...

s that look to form the basis of a future redefinition of the

SI base unit The SI base units are the standard units of measurement defined by the International System of Units (SI) for the seven base quantities of what is now known as the International System of Quantities: they are notably a basic set from which al ...

second. These include optical clocks based on laser-cooled single ions confined in radiofrequency traps and neutral atoms held in

optical lattice An optical lattice is formed by the Interference (wave propagation), interference of counter-propagating laser beams, creating a spatially periodic intensity pattern. The resulting periodic scalar potential, potential may trap neutral atoms via ...

s, and which now reach uncertainties below that of the

caesium fountain An atomic fountain measures an atomic hyperfine transition by letting a cloud of laser-cooled atoms fall through an interaction region under the influence of gravity. The atomic cloud is cooled and pushed upwards by a counter-propagating lasers in ...

primary frequency standard. Additionally, he has developed a range of stable lasers and optical metrology instrumentation with application to high technology sectors such as

precision engineering Precision engineering is a subdiscipline of electrical engineering, software engineering, electronics engineering, mechanical engineering, and optical engineering concerned with designing machines, fixtures, and other structures that have except ...

and manufacture, space science, satellite navigation, Earth observation, defence and security and optical telecommunications.

Awards and honours

Gill is a Fellow of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

(FInstP) and was awarded their Young Medal and Prize in 2008 for world-leading contributions to optical frequency

metrology Metrology is the scientific study of measurement. It establishes a common understanding of Unit of measurement, units, crucial in linking human activities. Modern metrology has its roots in the French Revolution's political motivation to stan ...

. He also received the I. I. Rabi Award in 2007 from the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

International Frequency Control Symposium for contributions to time and frequency metrology and the realisation of single ion optical frequency standards. More recently, his group received the

Royal Institute of Navigation The Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) is a learned society and a professional body for navigation. The RIN was founded in 1947 as a forum for mariners, pilots, engineers and academics to compare their experiences and exchange information. Toda ...

's Duke of Edinburgh Award in 2014 for long term

development. Patrick is a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

and the

. He was awarded an MBE for services to Science in The Queen's

2015 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2015 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

. Gill was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:

References

Living people Academics of Imperial College London Academics of the University of Oxford Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of the University of Sussex Fellows of the Royal Society British physicists Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom) Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire {{UK-scientist-stub