Dr Stuart Wimbush

Associate Investigator

Phone:

+64 4 463 0093

Address:
Robinson Research Institute
Victoria University of Wellington
PO Box 600
Wellington 6140

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• stuart.wimbush@vuw.ac.nz
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Biography

Stuart Wimbush is Principal Scientist in the Robinson Research Institute of Victoria University of Wellington, where he works at the intersection between applied science and early-stage engineering, envisioning, developing and prototyping future applications of high-temperature superconducting materials.

Stuart’s educational background is in Applied Physics (MPhys, University of Salford, UK), Physics (Dr. rer. nat., TU Dresden and Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, Germany) and Materials Science (Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institute for Materials Science, Japan). He brings together the diverse strands of his academic training to address problems spanning the field of superconductivity from fundamental science to materials development to device application.

His vision is to help bring superconducting technologies out of the research laboratory and into widespread everyday use for the broad benefit of society at large. Some of the projects he is currently working on include the development of superconducting transformers for use on high-speed (bullet) trains, the application of superconducting motors to future electric passenger aircraft, and the design of superconducting magnets to enable high-efficiency space propulsion systems.

At the same time, he works on improving and better understanding the performance of the superconducting materials that underpin these technologies, with a view to further increasing the efficiency and thereby the economic attractiveness of these applications.

Research interests

Stuart's long-running research interest lies in the interplay of superconductivity and magnetism, two cornerstones of solid state physics.

Along the way, he has been diverted into the materials science aspects of the synthesis of wide-ranging novel materials, in particular via thin film routes and biochemical bulk synthesis. This in turn has led him to broader fields of investigation, encompassing other types of functional materials and nano-scale device fabrication.

The recently emerged field of sustainable energy devices is one of rapidly growing importance that offers the opportunity to combine these diverse interests towards a common goal.