Dr. Neil A. Salmon

My main activity is developing millimetre wave (mmw) novel sensors and systems for commercial exploitation in the aerospace and security sectors. Recent innovations are mmw quantum technologies of the second kind (exploiting entangled states) and investigating medical applications associated with the human skin.

In 2012 I joined the ‘Sensing and Imaging’ group at Manchester Metropolitan University as Reader, to research mmw polarimetric radar and radiometric imagers for screening people for concealed weapons and develop & teach an undergraduate BSc physics course. Before this, I was Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester, researching mmw technology and developing/teaching the ‘Radio Imaging and Sensing’ MSc course.

1994 to 2011: at DRA (UK MOD agency) with universities and industry I pioneered all-weather mmw imagers for air, sea & land platforms, as a Principal Scientific Officer. QinetiQ emerged from the DRA privatisation, where, as a QinetiQ Fellow, I researched mmw aperture synthesis concepts and scene simulation for satellite-based earth observation and personnel security screening. In a 2-year Royal Society Fellowship to Manchester University, I demonstrated several proof-of-concept near-field aperture synthesis imagers and formed the consultancy MMW-Sensors Ltd.

1984-94: I developed mmw diagnostics to research major nuclear fusion plasma instabilities in the JET tokamak (an experimental no-carbon energy source), gaining a PhD from Imperial College Plasma Physics group. On a Euratom Fellowship to the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, I developed a suite of mmw spectrometers to research temperature phenomena in the ASDEX-Upgrade tokamak.

1978-84: I completed a degree in Physics with Astrophysics at Leeds University, following by an MSc in Lasers and their Applications at Essex University, enabling me to develop optical and acoustic technology for defence applications at Plessey Electronics Systems Research (now Roke Manor Research).