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Dr David Hall

Senior Lecturer In Physical Sciences

School of Physical Sciences

david.hall@open.ac.uk

Biography

Professional biography

David is a Senior Lecturer in Physical Sciences at the Open University and Director of the Centre for Electronic Imaging (CEI) which is a collaboration between the Open University and Teledyne e2v.  Teledyne e2v are a world-leading technology company that offer space imaging solutions, including space-qualified imaging sensors, arrays and sub-systems for space science, ground astronomy and Earth observation, helping to solve the mysteries of the Universe and understand climate change on Earth.

David received an Honours Degree in Physics (MPhys) from Oxford University, UK, in 2006.  Following his Masters, he completed his PhD on the impact of detection physics in X-ray CCD imagers and spectrometers from the Open University in 2010 in an industry-sponsored studentship with Teledyne e2v.  Appointed as an e2v Research Fellow in 2010 and Lecturer in Physical Sciences in 2017, he has continued his research with the Centre for Electronic Imaging into the space radiation environment and its impact on space imaging and spectroscopy systems such as CCDs, being appointed as Director of the Centre for Electronic Imaging in January 2024, managing a grant portfolio of around £10M.

David has worked towards the ESA Gaia, Euclid and Athena missions, the ESA and Chinese Acadamy of Science SMILE mission, NASA's WFIRST mission, instrument background and graded-Z shielding, p-channel device technology and the fundamental physics of radiation damage in silicon and how this impacts the lattice.  His research also focusses on the use of device-based simulations, including the modelling of CCDs and novel imaging techniques, alongside the simulation of instrument background, from XMM-Newton to ATHENA.  David has developed collaborations with the Swiss Light Source at the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) and the Diamond Light Source (UK) towards the development of applications for the Electron-Multiplying CCD in synchrotron-based research and medical imaging, developing other applications for technology and techniques originally designed for space science. 

David is a member of the Discovery Advisory Committee for Science
(DACS), as well as the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships sifting and
interview panels.

A list of publications in print can be found on the Publications tab, which provides links to downloadable copies of all papers.  Further information and bibliometrics are available through David's Google Scholar Profile.

If you are interested in any of David's research, publications or projects, or if you would like to collaborate in the future, please contact him at the email address on the left.

Research interests

Instrumentation development and study of the underlying physical processes for detectors in space science and synchrotron research:

  • Radiation damage in silicon-based devices: the causes, the consequences and methods for removing and reducing the impact (experiment and modelling).
  • Inter-disciplinary approaches to advancing understanding of traps and defects, leading inter-disciplinary research into first-principle simulations of, and methods to reduce, defects in silicon.
  • Instrument background in silicon devices for space-science missions (simulation and measurement).
  • Semiconductor device technology (n-channel and p-channel CCD, EM-CCD, SCD and CMOS).
  • Soft X-ray detectors, detection techniques and data analysis algorithms.
  • Hard X-ray detectors, detection using scintillators or direct detection and novel data analysis methods.
  • X-ray detectors and detection techniques for synchrotron research (RIXS, X-ray crystallography).
  • Novel imaging detectors and techniques, scale-space techniques for X-ray data.

Teaching interests

David has developed his experience in teaching at the Open University across a variety of areas.  He has taken on the role as a "topic specialist" in a range of areas of the Open University "Practical Science" course in Physics and Astronomy, from NMR to Probing the Electron.  He has also written course materials for the final project for students in the course, revolving around mathematical modelling through teamwork in distance learning.

David also worked as part of the team developing the OU's new Space Science Masters course, combining his research experience working on Gaia and teaching experience on the Practical Science and Research Skills Masters courses, providing students with a real-life research problem to solve and enabling them to contribute to the analysis of Gaia data alerts.

Alongside his work on the Space Science Masters, David has also been heavily involved in the presentation and production of the level 3 course on Electromagnetism, including the development of the next generation of the course.

Impact and engagement

As Director of the Centre for Electronic Imaging (CEI), David often collaborates with Teledyne e2v.  This collaboration between academia and industry ensures that the research undertaken has real and tangible impact to UK industry.  The collaboration agreements in place between Teledyne e2v and the Open University enable a much more in-depth study of the device physics than would otherwise be possible, bringing great benefits to space science and synchrotron applications.

David ran a very successful outreach project on the UKube-1 mission under funding from STFC's Science in Society scheme, reaching over 1,200 local school pupils in the first year of operation.  The equipment and materials developed in this project are still being used in outreach activities in local schools, colleges and amateur interest groups, as well as for external visitors to the CEI laboratories.

External collaborations

David is working across a variety of projects in many collaborations in academia across the UK and Europe (e.g. MSSL, Durham, IoA Cambridge, ONERA, PSI), with industry (e.g. e2v, XCAM) and with the space agencies (e.g. ESA, UKSA).  Alongside these European partnerships, David is also working with collaborators in the US such as those at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Publications

Journal Article

Using the XMM-Newton small window mode to investigate systematic uncertainties in the particle background of X-ray charge-coupled device detectors (2025)

Investigation of an irradiated CCD device: Building and testing a Charge Transfer Inefficiency correction pipeline using the Pyxel framework (2024)

SMILE Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) CCD370 proton irradiation results (2024)

Soft X-ray performance of an optimised charge-coupled device for astronomy (2024)

Non-ionizing radiation effects in a soft X-ray CMOS image sensor (2024)

Impact of particle passage and focusing from micro-pore optics for radiation damage estimates (2024)

Euclid II. The VIS instrument (2024)

SMILE soft X-ray Imager flight model CCD370 pre-flight device characterisation (2023)

Impact of impurities in shielding material on simulations of instrument background in space (2023)

Effectiveness of a dual solenoid magnetic shield at reducing x-ray-like background in silicon-based x-ray detectors (2023)

Flight photon counting electron multiplying charge coupled device development for the Roman Space Telescope coronagraph instrument (2023)

The CCD instrument background of the SMILE SXI (2023)

The Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) on the SMILE Mission (2023)

Modelling the impact of radiation damage effects in in-flight and on-ground irradiated Gaia CCDs (2022)

Mitigating the effects of particle background on the Athena Wide Field Imager (2022)

Developing the active trap model for charge-coupled device charge transfer optimization in large-scale space missions (2022)

Understanding the evolution of radiation damage on the Gaia CCDs after 72 months at L2 (2022)

Improving radiation hardness in space-based Charge-Coupled Devices: an experimental validation of a new pre-fabrication modelling technique (2022)

Effects of temperature anneal cycling on a cryogenically proton irradiated CCD (2021)

Proton-induced traps in electron multiplying charge-coupled devices (2021)

Measurement and optimization of clock-induced charge in electron multiplying charge-coupled devices (2021)

Enhanced simulations on the Athena/Wide Field Imager instrumental background (2021)

Faint objects in motion: the new frontier of high precision astrometry (2021)

Characterization of the Particle-induced Background of XMM-Newton EPIC-pn: Short- and Long-term Variability (2020)

Importance of charge capture in interphase regions during readout of charge-coupled devices (2018)

Development of in-situ trap characterisation techniques for EMCCDs (2018)

Soft X-ray radiation damage in EM-CCDs used for Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (2018)

The SMILE Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) CCD design and development (2018)

Mitigation strategies against radiation-induced background for space astronomy missions (2018)

Trap pumping schemes for the Euclid CCD273 detector: characterisation of electrodes and defects (2017)

Improving radiation hardness in space-based Charge-Coupled Devices through the narrowing of the charge transfer channel (2017)

Evolution and impact of defects in a p-channel CCD after cryogenic proton-irradiation (2017)

Comparing simulations and test data of a radiation damaged charge-coupled device for the Euclid mission (2017)

In situ trap properties in CCDs: the donor level of the silicon divacancy (2017)

A study of the double-acceptor level of the silicon divacancy in a proton irradiated n-channel CCD (2016)

Postirradiation behavior of p-channel charge-coupled devices irradiated at 153 K (2016)

Technology advancement of the CCD201-20 EMCCD for the WFIRST coronagraph instrument: sensor characterization and radiation damage (2015)

Proton irradiation of a swept charge device at cryogenic temperature and the subsequent annealing (2015)

Studying charge-trapping defects within the silicon lattice of a p-channel CCD using a single-trap “pumping” technique. (2014)

Studying defects in the silicon lattice using CCDs (2014)

Development of EM-CCD-based X-ray detector for synchrotron applications (2014)

Determination of in situ trap properties in CCDs using a "single-trap pumping" technique (2014)

An improved model of charge transfer inefficiency and correction algorithm for the Hubble Space Telescope (2014)

Simulations of charge transfer in Electron Multiplying Charge Coupled Devices (2014)

Vacancy-oxygen defects in silicon: the impact of isovalent doping (2014)

Comparison of EM-CCD and scientific CMOS based camera systems for high resolution X-ray imaging and tomography applications (2014)

Developing a CCD camera with high spatial resolution for RIXS in the soft X-ray range (2013)

Improving the spatial resolution of soft X-ray detection using an Electron-Multiplying Charge-Coupled Device (2013)

Phosphorous-vacancy-oxygen defects in silicon (2013)

The noise performance of electron-multiplying charge-coupled devices at soft X-ray energy values (2012)

The influence of electron multiplication and internal X-ray fluorescence on the performance of a scintillator-based gamma camera (2012)

Optimisation of device clocking schemes to minimise the effects of radiation damage in charge-coupled devices (2012)

Electron-multiplying CCDs for future soft X-ray spectrometers (2012)

Assessment of space proton radiation-induced charge transfer inefficiency in the CCD204 for the Euclid space observatory (2012)

Improving the resolution in soft X-ray emission spectrometers through photon-counting using an Electron Multiplying CCD (2012)

The noise performance of electron-multiplying charge-coupled devices at X-ray energies (2012)

Modelling charge storage in Euclid CCD structures (2012)

Photon-counting imaging camera for high-resolution X-ray and γ-ray applications (2011)

Improving the spatial resolution of a soft X-ray Charge Coupled Device used for Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (2011)

A study of electron-multiplying CCDs for use on the International X-ray Observatory off-plane x-ray grating spectrometer (2010)

Gaia spectroscopy: processing, performances and scientific returns (2010)

Space radiation environment effects on X-ray CCD background (2010)

High resolution x-ray and γ-ray imaging using a scintillator-coupled electron-multiplying CCD (2009)

The use of automatic scale selection to improve the spatial and spectral resolution of a scintillator-coupled EMCCD (2009)

Modelling instrument background for CCD x-ray spectrometers in space (2007)

Presentation / Conference

CMOS image sensors for x-ray interferometry (2024)

In situ cryogenic electro-optical and radiation hardness characterization of a T2SL MWIR sensor for space imaging (2024)

Tracking radiation damage of Euclid VIS detectors after 1 year in space (2024)

Evaluating UV detector enhancement technologies for the next generation of space telescopes: the path to CASTOR (2024)

Assessing the suitability of CIS220 for low light astronomy (2024)

Non-ionising radiation effects in a soft X-ray CMOS image sensor (2024)

Short-term trap decay in a cryogenically irradiated charge-coupled device (2022)

Predicting the performance benefit of multi-level clocking in CCDs using the active trap model (2022)

Modelling charge transfer inefficiency in Gaia CCDs with in-flight and on-ground data (2022)

Calibrating and correcting charge transfer inefficiency in CCDs using Pyxel (2022)

Processing x-ray data on board the SMILE SXI (2020)

Gaia CCDs: charge transfer inefficiency measurements between five years of flight (2020)

Radiation damage testing status of the CCDs for the SMILE SXI (2020)

Development of a photon-counting near-fano-limited x-ray CMOS image sensor for THESEUS' SXI (2020)

Developing the active trap model for CCD charge transfer optimisation in large-scale space missions (2020)

Monte Carlo simulations of hyper-velocity particulate mechanics within silicon micropore optics (2020)

Enhanced simulations on the ATHENA/WFI instrumental background (2020)

Reducing the Athena WFI charged particle background: results from Geant4 simulations (2020)

The silicon lattice defects in proton and gamma irradiated n-channel CCDs (2019)

C3TM: CEI CCD charge transfer model for radiation damage analysis and testing (2018)

VIS: the visible imager for Euclid (2018)

WFIRST coronagraph detector trap modeling results and improvements (2018)

Predicting the particle-induced background for future x-ray astronomy missions: the importance of experimental validation for GEANT4 simulations (2018)

Evaluation of the ATHENA/WFI instrumental background (2018)

Evolution of proton-induced defects in a cryogenically irradiated p-channel CCD (2017)

Validation of NIEL for >1MeV electrons in silicon using the CCD47-20 (2016)

Development of the X-ray camera for the OGRE sub-orbital rocket (2016)

Charge transfer efficiency in a p-channel CCD irradiated cryogenically and the impact of room temperature annealing (2016)

Mapping radiation-induced defects in CCDs through space and time (2016)

Comparing simulations and test data of a radiation damaged CCD for the Euclid mission (2016)

VIS: the visible imager for Euclid (2016)

The effect of radiation-induced traps on the WFIRST coronagraph detectors (2016)

Cryogenic irradiation of an EMCCD for the WFIRST coronagraph: preliminary performance analysis (2016)

Electron multiplication CCD detector technology advancement for the WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph (2015)

Challenges in photon-starved space astronomy in a harsh radiation environment using CCDs (2015)

A global shutter CMOS image sensor for hyperspectral imaging (2015)

The impact of radiation damage on photon counting with an EMCCD for the WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph (2015)

Initial results from a cryogenic proton irradiation of a p-channel CCD (2015)

VIS: the visible imager for Euclid (2014)

Assessment of the performance and radiation damage effects under cryogenic temperatures of a P-channel CCD204s (2014)

The Euclid VIS CCD detector design, development, and programme status (2014)

In situ trap parameter studies in CCDs for space applications (2014)

The relationship between pumped traps and signal loss in buried channel CCDs (2013)

Pixel-level modelling and verification for the EUCLID VIS CCD (2013)

High-resolution soft x-ray spectrometry using the electron-multiplying charge-coupled device (EM-CCD) (2013)

Developing a high-resolution x-ray imager using electron-multiplying (EM) CCDs (2013)

Mitigating radiation-induced charge transfer inefficiency in full-frame CCD applications by ‘pumping’ traps (2012)

Device modelling and model verification for the Euclid CCD273 detector (2012)

The use of CCDs and EM-CCDs for future soft x-ray spectrometers (2012)

Assessment of proton radiation-induced charge transfer inefficiency in the CCD273 detector for the Euclid Dark Energy Mission (2012)

Modelling charge transfer in a radiation damaged charge coupled device for Euclid (2012)

Compact CMOS camera demonstrator (C3D) for Ukube-1 (2011)

The use of EM-CCDs on high resolution soft x-ray spectrometers (2011)

Imaging and spectroscopy using a scintillator-coupled EMCCD (2008)

Simulating and reproducing instrument background for x-ray CCD spectrometers in space (2008)

Report

RVS Radiation Campaign 4 data III - Parameter Measurement (2014)

RVS Radiation Campaign 4 data II - Data Calibration (2014)

RVS Radiation Campaign 4 data: Initial assessment (2012)

Analysis of the RVS tests in the 3rd Astrium Radiation Campaign II: Charge injection delay variation (2010)

Data preparation for the RVS tests in the 3rd Astrium Radiation Campaign (2010)

Analysis of the RVS tests in the 3rd Astrium Radiation Campaign I: Low-level and varying background level analysis (2010)

Thesis

Exploring the impact of detection physics in X-ray CCD imagers and spectrometers (2010)