Qin Lei

PhD Student

Qin was involved in QUEST whilst studying for a PhD in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford. Her research examined novel processing of composites to create materials with controlled electrical properties, and arranging these according to designs that allow unusual and previously unattainable manipulations of microwaves. Her particular focus was composites with controllable permittivty, and processing methods for fabrication, including extrusion, casting, spay deposition and 3D printing. As an example of possible applications, a surface-wave power-dividing lens was produced using successive casting with epoxy-barium titanate composites of specific volume fractions, to produce the required spatial variation in permittivity.