Dr Mark Light
X-ray diffraction for materials characterisation
Profile
Dr Mark Light is a specialist in X-ray diffraction (XRD) with more than 25 years’ experience in this field of materials characterisation. He is Head of the Materials X-ray Diffraction Facility at the University of Southampton, a world-leading centre equipped to offer a wide range of XRD techniques.
Mark’s particular expertise lies in structure solution from single crystal X-ray diffraction, powder diffraction and the interface between the two. Having worked on industry projects throughout his career, he’s well placed to understand companies’ needs, whether they are seeking to understand a material failure or optimise its properties.
The focus of Mark’s own research is total scattering and its interpretation through the Pair Distribution Function, with application to structure in aqueous metal salt solutions. To date he has published more than 400 peer-reviewed journal articles in national and international publications. He is on the editorial board of the journal Transition Metal Chemistry.
Mark gained a geochemistry degree and a PhD in crystallography, then secured a postdoctoral position with the EPSRC National Crystallography Services at Southampton. He took up his current role in 2005, and as a Facility manager is proud to be a collegiate member of the University’s wider scientific community.
In 2017 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in recognition of his ‘significant contribution to the chemical sciences’.
Back to about page