The Cavendish Development Portfolio - Cavendish Laboratory

The Cavendish Laboratory 

Implementing a Vision for the Future of Physics 

in Cambridge


Overview 

This document summarises the exciting initiatives which constitute the Cavendish Laboratory’s Development 

Programme. It is the result of many discussions with colleagues in the Department, with the Cambridge University 

Development and Alumni Relations, with the School of the Physical Sciences and benefactors to the Department. 

The Development Programme arises from a document produced about twelve years ago and approved by the 

School of Physical Science and the University concerning the long-term redevelopment of the Cavendish 

Laboratory. While the main thrust of that document was a plan for rebuilding the Laboratory, at the same time the 

University’s 800 th Anniversary Campaign focused our attention upon the importance of seeking, in parallel, 

resources for studentships, fellowships, funding of university posts, outreach to the community and so on. 

Since we began, we have had a number of notable successes in implementing the Programme. The Physics of 

Medicine Building, the Kavli Centre for Cosmology in Cambridge, the Winton Programme, the Battcock Centre for 

Experimental Astrophysics and the forthcoming Maxwell Centre are prominent highlights of the activities over the 

last seven years and set the pattern for the development of the large-scale infrastructure of the Laboratory. 

The various projects outlined in this document span the complete range of activity within the Laboratory and are 

presented in order of increasing cost. But, it must be emphasised that gifts and benefactions at all levels are of 

enormous value to the Department. Thus, in the first few project sheets, small gifts can make an enormous 

difference to our ability to help students and to trying out speculative pioneering research initiatives. 

We have grouped the Development areas into four themes: 

• Support for people and their programmes 

• Endowment of Professorships 

• Equipment 

• Buildings and Infrastructure 

Please contact us, or the contact person listed in each sheet if we can provide more details about each programme. 

Andy Parker 

Head of Cavendish Laboratory 

Professor of High Energy Physics 

Malcolm Longair CBE FRS FRSE 

Director of Development 

Emeritus Jacksonian Professor of Natural 

Philosophy


Support for people and their programmes


Physics Research Support Fund 

Pump-Priming the Next Generation of Physics Research 

Many of the great discoveries in physics have come from speculative 

experiments carried out on the inspiration of individuals, often running 

counter to the conventional majority view. The ability to encourage 

research physicists at all stages in their careers, but especially early on, to 

attempt bold and innovative research is at the heart of some of physics 

greatest triumphs. For example, Lawrence Bragg discovered Bragg’s Law of 

Diffraction as a first year graduate student. 

To facilitate this key aspect of the Department’s research, a physics research 

support Fund has been set up, bringing together existing funds within the 

Department and providing a simple means for benefactors to contribute to the 

research work of the Department at a wide range of levels. Very often, small 

amounts of investment can have a quite disproportional benefit in testing out 

ideas that cannot attract funding from traditional funding sources. The 

guidelines for the operation of the Fund are as follows: 

• A Board of Managers, chaired by the Head of the Cavendish Laboratory and 

involving senior members of the Department, is responsible for the proper 

management of the Fund. 

• The capital and income of the Fund will be used to provide unrestricted 

grants to support the research in the Cavendish Laboratory. This might be in 

the form of fellowships, the provision of equipment or any other means of 

supporting innovative research within the Laboratory. 

• There is no restriction upon the areas of physics research that can be 

supported by the Fund. The emphasis is on innovation and interdisciplinary 

areas where new concepts can be exploited. 

Donations of all sizes can make a difference. The Department would be 

pleased to discuss naming opportunities in recognition of a major contribution 

to the Fund. 

High resolution image of a surface 

section of a scale of the Indonesian 

‘Green Swallowtail’ butterfly in 

unpolarised light (left) and with the 

scale placed between crossed 

polarisers (right). 

Head of the Cavendish: Professor Andy Parker 

Andy Parker is Professor of High Energy Physics and Professorial Fellow of Peterhouse. He is a founder of the ATLAS experiment 

for the Large Hadron Collider, and for 6 years he was the project leader for the ATLAS Inner Detector. His current research interests 

involve experiments to reveal new physics such as extra space dimensions, quantum-sized black holes, and supersymmetry. 

To find out more about this initiative please contact, in the first instance: 

Madeleine Langford-Allen, Associate Director, email mla38@admin.cam.ac.uk, tel 01223 339810


Graduate Student Support Fund 

Supporting the Next Generation of Physicists 

Among the most important roles of the Cavendish Laboratory is the training 

of research students. At any one time there are about 350 research students 

carrying out world-leading research in the Laboratory, who will be the 

future leaders of research in the UK and abroad in the years to come. We 

are fortunate that these students are of outstanding quality and bring fresh 

imagination and initiative to the research endeavour. 

The Laboratory has the capacity and desire to increase the size of the graduate 

student population in response to the exciting prospects offered by the 

research programme, and the national need for expert trained manpower of 

the highest intellectual and experimental attainment. 

Funding from external sources is variable and often limited. We need to be able 

to offer our own funds to the very best students from the UK and elsewhere, 

giving them, and us, the freedom to develop new research areas. A three-year 

PhD studentship costs about £99k (based on a lump-sum gift made in 2011/12). 

To kick-start the Graduate Student Support Fund, the Department will 

consolidate the existing funds available to it through the James Clark Maxwell 

Fund and other benefactions. The pressure on public funding means that we 

are becoming more and more reliant upon these benefactions to ensure that 

we continue to attract and support the very best graduate students from the 

UK and abroad. The Fund may also be used to provide additional support 

including training, equipment, travel expenses, and conferences at the 

discretion of the managers of the Fund. 

Donations of all sizes can make a difference. The Department would be 

pleased to discuss naming opportunities in recognition of a major gift, such as 

the endowment of a graduate studentship in perpetuity. 








Senior Physics Challenge 

School Physics with the Mathematics put back in 

One of the great successes of our outreach programme to schools has 

been the pioneering Senior Physics Challenge. This summer course 

gives talented young people the opportunity to understand how 

physics works as a theoretical discipline with the creative use of 

mathematics. 

To address the problem of the decline of physics student numbers in the 

UK, the Cavendish has created a major ‘schools physics development 

programme’ and ‘university access initiative’ called The Senior Physics 

Challenge. This development programme has two main aims: 

• Many of the most able school and college students, with aptitude in 

maths and a passion for physics, are not opting to study physics at 

university. The students' misconception about physics at a higher level 

arises from the removal of much mathematically-based problem 

solving from the school curriculum. The activities and material they 

encounter in the Senior Physics Challenge are specifically designed to 

dispel many of these myths about physics. 

• Universities seek fluency and ability in physical and mathematical 

analysis that are not given prominence in the current school physics 

syllabus. Some students and their schools are increasingly surprised 

and disadvantaged by the discrepancy between their expectations of 

higher physics and its reality. The aim is to demystify and make more 

accessible to a wider range of students the transition from A-level to 

university physics in the UK. The course has been outstandingly 

successful over the years. It has led to the national Rutherford 

Schools Physics Project, led by the Cavendish Laboratory. 

The course needs a dedicated organiser, ideally a bright young physicist 

who would be employed as a Teaching Fellow. The annual cost of the 

course, including the salary of the Teaching Fellow who would support 

the project half-time, is about £50k. There are strong possibilities of 

matching funds from other sources. 








Cavendish Physics Centre 

Physicists of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 

The unique history and tradition of Cavendish physics is an inspiration 

for future generations of scientists and their teachers. The full 

potential of the historical collections and their role in education will be 

greatly enhanced by a fully-supported Cavendish Physics Centre, 

which would bring together many different aspects of the interface 

between the Cavendish and the external world. 

The Cavendish Physics Centre is the vehicle for bringing together the 

various aspects of the programme to reach out to young people, their 

teachers and families. Our ability to reach larger audiences is limited by 

the resources needed to redevelop and expand the exhibition area and 

the manpower to sustain the outreach and teacher training activity. 

• The Cavendish Museum. There is great scope for increasing the 

wealth of material on display for educational purposes. Much of the 

historic material is in storage. An immediate programme would 

involve the refurbishment and expansion of the museum area, 

including many more interactive displays. 

• The Outreach Programme is organised by our full-time schools liaison 

officer, who runs a very wide variety of programmes for schools and 

young people in the area, supported by volunteers among the staff, 

graduate students and undergraduates. The scope of this key activity 

is limited by the staff effort available to support it. 

• Teacher Training Initiatives One of our most important programmes 

is refreshing school physics teachers in new ways of engaging young 

people in physics. These enrich the experiences of teachers and enable 

them to communicate the excitement of contemporary physics and its 

role in the future of society. 

Many possibilities for philanthropic support of this programme include 

funding a full-time Director of the Cavendish Physics Centre with the 

focus firmly on schools, teachers and young people (£100k per year), a 

gift to support a major redevelopment of the Cavendish Museum 

(£500k), and the support of further outreach personnel working under 

the supervision of the Director of the Physics Centre (£80k per year). 








Endowment of Professorships


Endowment of Professorships 

Enabling the Best to do Better 

One of the most effective ways of enhancing the research and 

teaching programme of the Laboratory is through the 

endowment of distinguished chairs. Although these were often 

established long ago, the initial endowment has long ceased to 

cover even a small fraction of the salary costs of the most 

distinguished physicists we seek to attract. The endowment of 

Professorships releases resources that can be used to support the 

research and teaching programme of the Laboratory in very 

substantial ways. 

We have identified five chairs for which endowment funds are 

sought. Three of these are established chairs: 

• Jacksonian Professorship of Natural Philosophy, currently 

vacant; 

• Professorship of Nanophotonics, currently held by Jeremy 

Baumberg; 

• 1966 Professorship of Theoretical Physics. 

The endowment of three new Professorships is expected to result in 

major enhancements of the research and teaching activity: 

• Professorship of Thin-Film Magnetism, the area of recent 

appointee Professor Russell Cowburn. 

John Cockcroft, Nobel Prize winner for Physics in 1951, 

Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy 

The endowment of Professorships is a major component of the 

University’s Development Campaign. The investment sought to 

endow a post in perpetuity is about £2.5m for an existing post, and 

about £5m for a new post, based on a lump-sum gift made in 

2014/15. 








Equipment


Equipment 

General Equipment Fund 

One of the most helpful contributions to the research programme 

is through the provision of funds for general equipment. State of 

the art equipment is essential if the Laboratory is to maintain its 

position in the forefront of experimental physics. The problem is 

exacerbated by the fact that the research councils will often only 

provide partial support for the purchase of equipment. 

For large equipment purchases, collaborations with other 

Departments are often essential, but during the early phases of 

many of the most innovative programmes, which would not have a 

chance of being funded by the research councils, there is a need for 

the investment of modest funds to enable the prototyping to be 

carried out. This often involves the expenditure of several tens of 

thousands of pounds. 

Another example is contributions of equipment for larger scale 

projects, such as the helium-3 spin echo spectrometer. While many 

of the components could be built in the Laboratory, many of the 

items had to be purchased from specialist manufacturers. 

A section of the beam-line for the helium-3 atomic 

spectroscopy system. While much of the equipment 

was built in-house, individual parts of the system had to 

be purchased from commercial suppliers, typically 

costing £10k - £50k. 

Another example of the need for modest sums to support the 

research programme is the provision of specialist teaching facilities. 

One of the recent successes has been through the provision of 

facilities for training in computer aided design and electronics design 

and construction, which was made possible through the generosity 

of a Cavendish benefactor. 

The typical request for specialist equipment is for sums of the order 

£10k - £50k. 

A training session in CAD techniques in the new 

computer-aided design and electronics teaching suite 








Equipment 

The Next Generation of Semiconductor Materials 

Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) is a sophisticated, ultra high 

vacuum technique for the growth of high-purity thin crystalline 

films with atomic monolayer precision. This technique led to a 

number of major advances in nanoscale science and technology, 

including the development of novel semiconductor devices such 

as the first terahertz laser and the first triggered source of 

entangled photons by the Semiconductor Physics group, led by 

Professor David Ritchie. 

New possibilities have been opened up by the change from 

traditional III-V semiconductor materials to functional oxides, 

pioneered by the Quantum Matter group under the guidance of 

Professor Gil Lonzarich. These materials include dielectrics, metals, 

superconductors, ferroelectrics, and fully spin-polarized 

ferromagnets, exhibiting a wide range of different properties. 

The Thin Film Magnetism group, under the leadership of Dr Crispin 

Barnes, has for many years studied the fundamental properties of 

magnetic metal films incorporating them into device structures with 

novel functionalities. 

The aim of this project is to create a centre for the MBE growth of 

thin films of functional oxides. The time is now ripe for the 

exploitation of a range of different materials in bulk with very well 

controlled properties. This is a unique opportunity to draw together 

three world-leading research groups with complementary expertise 

to establish a new grouping for the fabrication and exploitation of 

next-generation of device structures made from oxides. 

A molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system for the growth 

of ultra-pure III-V semiconductors 

Applications include ultra-high density information storage, ultra 

fast switching and potential energy storage applications, novel 

multi-functional device structures where electric and magnetic fields 

combine. The investment sought is £1m. 








Equipment 

Understanding and Exploiting the Unique Physics of Molecules 

The Optoelectronics and Microelectonics research group in the 

Cavendish Laboratory led by Professors Sir Richard Friend, 

Henning Sirringhaus and Neil Greenham is one of the 

internationally leading research groups in the device physics of 

conjugated polymer semiconductors. The Thin Films and 

Interfaces Group is developing techniques for improved structural 

control in the assembly of molecules from solution. 

While much of our work in the past has been focused on 

understanding the properties of thin molecular films over 

micrometer length scales and their application in thin-film devices, 

recent breakthroughs are now allowing us to study physical 

properties on the length scale of individual molecules and nanoscale 

molecular assemblies. This opens up new opportunities not only for 

better understanding of the unique charge and spin transport 

physics and the optoelectronic properties of such well- controlled 

molecular assemblies, but also for discovery of novel device 

functions and architectures that use these unique properties. 

This will define a scalable approach to nanotechnology, based on 

manufacturing by self-organised solution assembly and direct-write 

printing, for a broad range of applications in energy conversion and 

storage as well as information processing and storage. 

To establish the Centre we need to invest in new experimental 

techniques for molecular scale electronic characterisation. In 

particular, we need to make use of the latest advances in scanning 

probe instrumentation offering unprecedented measurements of 

electronic structure on molecular length scales as illustrated in the 

diagrams. This requires an investment of £1m. 

Imaging of the charge distribution in a conjugated 

pentacene molecule with an atomic force microscope. 








Buildings and Infrastructure


Rebuilding the Cavendish 

The Rebuilding to Date 

In 2002, the Cavendish submitted a proposal to the 

University for the phased redevelopment of the 

Laboratory on its present site in response to a number of 

pressures, driven by the need to maintain the excellence 

of the research and teaching programmes and to continue 

to regenerate these in the long-term future. 

BDP produced a visionary plan for the redevelopment of the 

whole site which was approved by the central university 

bodies. The successful elements of the programme so far 

are: 

• Physics of Medicine Building (£12.5M) - opened 

December 2008; Herchel Smith Professor of Physics of 

Medicine Ben Simons appointed 2011 

• Kavli Institute of Cosmology (£5M) - opened November 

2009 

• Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability 

(£20M) - David Harding gift; Richard Friend, Director of 

Programme. Inaugurated March 2011 

• Battcock Centre for Experimental Astrophysics (£5M + 

£1M) - construction completed Autumn 2103 

• Maxwell Centre for the collaboration between the 

Physical Science and Indistry (£25.6M) - fully funded by 

HEFE and the University. Planned to be completed 

autumn. 

The rebuilding of the rest of the Cavendish is the top priority 

for the Laboratory. There are a number of urgent reasons 

for this as indicated overleaf. 









Scientific and Strategic Aims 

• The Cavendish has a key role to play in the national interest: small UK 

physics departments are under threat 

• Large departments like the Cavendish need to maintain a large 

output of highly qualified graduate students and undergraduates 

from the UK and abroad 

• Other universities look to the Cavendish as a national and 

international leader in Physics teaching and research 

• We need to continue to enhance our extensive programme of Public 

and Schools education, which has been demonstrably successful and 

effective 

• Physics is still considered by HEFCE as a strategically important and 

vulnerable (SIV) subject 

• Recent changes to Higher Education funding may hit SIVs particularly 

hard since VCs may close physics and chemistry departments through 

lack of AAB undergraduates and/or undergraduates choosing to 

spend their £9K tuition fee on more applied/vocational subjects 

• The Cavendish has an even more important role in protecting the 

health of the subject. The pressing need continues to be for state-ofthe 

art laboratories, office and supporting infrastructure and services 

to the highest level of modern design 

• These are essential if the Cavendish is to be able to recruit and retain 

the very best physicists from the world-wide pool of outstanding 

individuals 

• The facilities need to be flexible to accommodate future 

developments and collaborations 

• Expansions of the programme may take place through strategic 

collaborations with other departments and Universities and with 

industry 









The Need to Rebuild 

• The rebuilding of the Cavendish Laboratory was 

completed in 1974 on the West Cambridge site 

with a design lifetime of about 25 years; it was 

designed in an era when energy was cheap and 

there was little concern about the environment 

• The buildings have proved functional, but are not 

of high quality, reflecting the need to provide the 

maximum space possible for the available 

resources 

• There is very significant overcrowding in many 

areas of the laboratory 

• The building is far outside current space and 

environmental norms and there are numerous 

deleterious design features which would be very 

expensive to mitigate 

• The internal construction of the buildings is very 

wasteful of space which cannot be reclaimed at 

economic cost 

• The flat roofs are a continuing nightmare and very 

vulnerable to water damage. This has resulted in 

accidents and serious health & safety issues. 

Asbestos is a severe problem, particularly in the 

Mott Building 

• Many areas of the Mott building continue to be 

barely inhabitable during the summer months 

• The operating costs are very large relative to 

modern design norms. As an example, with single 

glazing, there are severe heat losses 









The Elements of the Continuing Redevelopment 

There are three main components to complete the Redevelopment: 

(1) It is proposed that the buildings will include a large clean room and common large scale experimental facilities for 

use by all. This will lead to economies in the provision of such facilities. 

All the experimental groups from the Mott building will be housed in the new buildings: 

• Quantum Matter 

• Semiconductor Physics 

• Surfaces, Microstructure and Fracture 

• Thin Film Magnetism 

• Structure and Dynamics 

(2) A second major element would comprise the following experimental groups: 

• High Energy Physics 

• Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics 

• Optoelectronics 

• Microelectronics 

• Nanophotonics 

• Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory 

• Astrophysics larger experimental laboratories. 

(3) The third element comprises teaching and infrastructure support of all types: 

• Administration and finance division 

• Stores 

• Lecture halls 

• Common room 

• Library 

• Central services of all types 

• Museum and Physics Centre for public education. 








Redevelopment on the Paddocks Site 

An outline concept 

The University wishes the Cavendish 

to be relocated on the Paddocks site 

and we have already some conceptual 

drawings about how this could be 

achieved. Probably, we would need 

to expand the development all the 

way to the Madingley Road. 

The indicative costs of the whole 

project are shown in the Table below:

The Cavendish Development Portfolio - Cavendish Laboratory

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