Rate My Professor Brendan Dromey

Professor Brendan Dromey holds the position of Professor in the School of Mathematics and Physics at The Queen's University Belfast, where he serves as Co-Head of the Centre for Light-Matter Interactions. He completed his undergraduate and Master's degrees at University College Dublin and his PhD at Queen's University Belfast on high harmonic generation from relativistic laser plasmas, receiving the European Physical Society Plasma Physics Division PhD Award in 2007. Following a research fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics (2007–2008), he returned to Queen's on an EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship to investigate intense attosecond pulse generation from relativistic plasmas. He advanced to Reader in the Centre for Plasma Physics, leading pioneering experiments on the TARANIS laser at Queen's and the Gemini laser at the Central Laser Facility, which provided the first insights into proton interactions in scavenger-free matter on picosecond timescales. In 2017, he was appointed Visiting Professor at University College Dublin and received the Visit Belfast Ambassador Award.

Dromey's research specializes in ultrafast nanodosimetry, elucidating how ionizing radiation, particularly ions, causes macroscopic long-term radiation damage in matter. His seminal contributions include publications such as 'Attosecond phase locking of harmonics emitted from laser-produced plasmas' (2009), 'Ultrabright attosecond sources from relativistically oscillating mirrors' (2009), 'Condensed matter systems exposed to radiation: multiscale theory, simulations, and experiment' (Chemical Reviews, 2024), 'Attosecond pulse isolation via intense laser field synthesis' (Physical Review Research, 2024), and 'Real-time observation of frustrated ultrafast recovery from ionization in nanostructured SiO2' (Physical Review Letters, 2024). With over 6,600 citations and an h-index of 41 on Google Scholar, his work has profoundly impacted relativistic laser-plasmas, high harmonic generation, and attosecond science. Additional accolades include a Marie Curie International Fellowship (2007). He delivered his inaugural lecture in 2023 and contributes to PhD supervision in laser-driven radiation sources.