The University of Western Australia

Professor John Hartnett

Research Professor
Academic Staff (Physics)

Contact details

Address

Academic Staff (Physics)
The University of Western Australia (M013)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone

6488 7013 (office) / 6488 1332 (lab1) / 6488 3443 (lab2)

Fax

6488 1235

Email

john.hartnett@uwa.edu.au

Location

Room 5.80, Physics Building, Crawley campus

Qualifications

BSc PhD W.Aust.

Biography

Born in Manjimup, Western Australia on March 24, 1952. Received both his B.Sc. (hons) and PhD with distinction from the School of Physics at the University of Western Australia (UWA). He currently works as a Research Professor at the University of Western Australia. His current research interests include ultra-high stability cryogenic microwave oscillators based on pure sapphire resonators, tests of fundamental theories of physics such as Special and General Relativity and their cosmological implications. He has published more than 170 papers in scientific journals and conference proceedings and holds 2 patents.

Key research

1) Ultra high stability cryogenic microwave oscillators based of a pure single-crystal sapphire. Applications are to provide low noise local oscillators to atomic physics labs, time and frequency atomic fountain standards, and VLBI radio-astronomy.

2) Low phase noise synthesis of microwave signals

2) Tests of fundamental theories of physics such as Special and General Relativity, standard particle model of physics and measurement of the drift in the fine structure constant.

4) A theoretical interest in cosmology, and the impact of drift in fundamental constants

Publications

Thesis: 1
Edited book: 1
Refereed Book Chapters: 8
Refereed Journal Papers: 102
Refereed Conference Papers: 3
Conference Papers: 81
Patents: 2
Web of Science Citation Report: Total citations: 612; Average: 8.15; h-index: 12

Roles, responsibilities and expertise

Research Professor. Heads up own Local Oscillator research group doing development of cryogenic sapphire oscillators.

Future research

Improving cryogenic sapphire oscillators that use specially designed ultra-low vibration pulse-tube cryocooler technology.

Development of low phase noise synthesis techniques to provide a low noise reference for standards labs and VLBI radio-astronomy.

Funding received

1.ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship, “New Secondary Frequency Standard for Space Applications,” (2001-2004), $56,234/year = $195,000
2.ARC Linkage Grant, “High Performance Microwave Oscillators for Radars,” (2002-2004), ARC $412,108: PSI: $108,000
3.UWA small grant, “Whispering-Gallery-Mode Sapphire-Dielectric Resonators with Exceptionally Enhanced Quality-Factor,” (2001) $19,740
4.ARC Linkage International Grant, "Investigations and Characterization of New Materials for Wireless Communications," (2002-2004), $23,190.
5.Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship (60 days), with the National Measurement Institute of Japan, AIST, Tsukuba, Japan, (October-December 2003) JSPS: $14,600
6. Communications Research Labs (CRL) UWA collaborative grant “H-Maser Cavity Design,” (2003) CRL: $23,000
7.ARC Linkage International Grant, “Novel High-Q Resonant Structures for Space and Telecommunications,” (2005-2007) ARC: 30,000
8.ARC Linkage International Grant, “Microwave Characterisation of New Magnetic and Dielectric Structures and Materials,” (2005-2007) ARC: 30,000
9. ARC Discovery grant, “New High Precision Tests on the Standard Model of Physics and Relativity,” included my QEII Fellowship, (2005-2009) $913,000
10.ARC Linkage grant, “Application of Femtosecond Light Sources to Generation of Low Noise Microwave Signals,” (2005-2009) ARC: $798,057, PSI:$ $165,000
11.ARC Linkage Infrastructure and Equipment grant, “A Facility for Ultra-Precise Time and Frequency Transfer: Creating an Australian User Group for the ESA Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space Mission,” (2005) ARC: $242,000, UWA/Curtin University/French Collaborators $213,500
12.National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan, consultative grant, “Development of a Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillator,” (2005-2006): NICT $415,781
13.UWA grant, “The Elimination of Dark Matter from Galaxy Clusters using Carmelian Cosmology,” (2006) $6,150.
14.ARC Linkage Infrastructure and Equipment grant, “National Electromagnetic Characterization Facility for Advanced Materials,” (2007) ARC: $150,000
15.ARC Discovery grant, “Extending the Spectrum and Performance of Ultra stable Frequency Generation,” (2008-2011) $1,016,542
16.ARC Linkage grant, “Application of Ultra-High Stability Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillators to Very Long Baseline Interferometry” (2008-2011) ARC: $320,000, PSI: $75,235, RioTinto: $35,000, UWA: $32,000, Curtin University of Technology: $10,000, CSIRO: $5,000
17.UWA Research Collaboration Award, “Measurements at the Quantum Limit and Beyond,” (2009) $10,000
18.ARC Discovery Project, “Precision Time and Frequency in the Lab and in Space to Test Fundamental Physics,” (2010-2012) $750,000.
19.Australian Academy of Science, Scientific Visits to Europe award (2010) $8100
20. M.I.T. Haystack Observatory collaboration grant (2010-2011) $15,830.00

Total from all sources: $5,717,153

Industrial relevance

Ultra-high stability oscillators employed as a low noise reference have commercial potential to atomic physics labs, for pumping atomic fountain clocks, and to radio-astronomers to provide a better reference by up to 2 orders of magnitude, that the currently used hydrogen maser.

Languages

English

Memberships

Australian Institute of Physics

Honours and awards

•ARC Australian Postgraduate Award (Industry), UWA, 1997-2000;
•IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium, Pasedena, USA, conf. fellowship, 1998;
•Joint Meeting European Frequency & Time Forum – IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium, Besançon, France, conference fellowship, 1999;
•Measurement Science & Technology Best Paper Award 1999;
•Australian Post-doctoral Research Fellowship, 2001-2004;
•Distinction in Physics PhD thesis, School of Physics UWA, June, 2001;
•Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship (60 days), with the National Measurement Institute of Japan, AIST, Tsukuba, Japan, October-December 2003;
•ARC QEII Research Fellowship 2005-2009;
•Australian Academy of Science, Scientific Visits to Europe, the Morris Bede Fellowship award 2010;
•IEEE UFFC Society 2010 W.G. Cady Award, presented at the IEEE Frequency Control Symposium, New Port Beach, California, USA, 2nd June, 2010. The citation reads “For the construction of the ultra-stable cryogenic sapphire dielectric resonator oscillators and promotion of their applications in the fields of frequency metrology and radio-astronomy.”

Previous positions

1991 – 1996 R&D and sales, WADECO Ltd (Japanese microwave sensor manufacturer), Sydney
1997 – 2000 Ph D student and tutor, University of Western Australia
2001 – 2004 ARC Research Fellow, University of Western Australia
2003 JSPS Research Fellow, NMIJ, AIST, Tsukuba Japan
2005-2009 ARC QEII Research Fellow, UWA
2006 Principal Research Fellow, UWA
2009 Tenured Research Professor, UWA

Patents

P1 “Temperature Compensated Oscillator“; Australian Provisional Patent Nov. 2001.

Teaching

Supervisor to honours and PhD students

Current external positions

Consultant to National Measurement Institute of Japan (NMIJ) in the Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan

Current projects

Developing a cryogenic sapphire oscillator that is cooled with an ultra-low vibration designed cryostat and CryoMech PT407RM pulse tube cryocooler.

RFCD

291705, 240203

Research profile

Research profile and publications