Yasir Noori
SSI fellow
University of Southampton
Interests
I am interested in the engineering and physical science behind electronic and photonic technologies for all kind of applications that benefit our society. I satisfy my interest through:
- Perusing a research career in these fields.
- Reading about the philosophical and political aspects of the enterprise of scientific research, such as the philosophy of progress in science and government research strategies.
- Raise public awareness of the importance of scientific research through outreach activities and the translation of science news articles to Arabic.
- Learning about businesses and startup companies, particularly those focused on niche technologies that have just found their way out of their laboratory.
My work
During my PhD at Lancaster University I have worked on designing, fabricating and testing chip-size photonic components for quantum key distribution (QKD). The method of QKD uses the fundamental laws of quantum physics to securely distribute a cryptography key between a sender and a receiver. My project span the areas of integrated photonics, nano fabrication, quantum optics, material science and cyber security. I then worked on developing next generation high energy particle tracking detectors using Gallium Arsenide as the active material to replace the existing ones in the ATLAS detector in CERN that are based on Silicon. I was involved in performing the material growth, device fabrication and electronic characterisation of the pixel detectors.
I am currently working within an interdisciplinary team of Chemists, Physicists and Electronic Engineers from the Universities of Southampton, Warwick and Nottingham to develop phase change memory (PCM) systems using the method of electrodeposition. We work as part of an EPSRC programme (£6.3m) titled Advanced Devices by ElectroPlaTing (ADEPT). PCM have the advantage of being faster and smaller than other non-volatile memory technologies such as flash which is the first application of my work. However, I am also keen on using PCM as a method for realising artificial neurons for applications in neuromorphic computing.
During my research on PCM I have developed a tool for simulating the electrical behaviour of a crossbar memory array and published it online for others to benefit from it. Since then I realised that there are probably many other researchers like myself who have developed other scientific tools that are related to the field of neuromorphic computing. I want to encourage myself and others to make their codes have a better impact through publishing them and adapt good software writing practices, which led me to the SSI fellowship.
Online Presence
Check out contributions by and mentions of Yasir Noori on www.software.ac.uk