SCIENCE FOUNDATION IRELAND ANNUAL REPORT 2015
85
Front cover image
Winner of the SFI Image of the Year Competition 2015.
The image entitled ‘Lightening Wires’, taken by Matthew Gleeson, won Science Foundation
Ireland’s Research Image of the Year Competition at the Science Foundation Ireland Science
Summit in Kilkenny. Matthew Gleeson is a postgraduate researcher in the Department of
Physics and Energy at the University of Limerick. The image was taken as part of a PhD project
under the supervision of Dr. Ning Liu and Dr. Christophe Silien at the University of Limerick.
Description
This image shows the creation of very small artificial wires (nano wires) which can be used for
novel applications in future microchips and computers. The largest of the wires shown here
has a diameter similar to that of a human hair and was created using hydrothermal synthesis,
a process similar to pressure cooking. The bright white colour is caused by refraction, the
bending of light as it passes from one transparent substance to another, as seen here going
from the wire to the supporting glass slide.