Dr Alexy Karenowska

Background

Dr Alexy Karenowska is a magnetician with a research group based in Oxford’s Department of Physics. She completed her undergraduate degree in Engineering Science in 2007. She then went on to read for a D.Phil in Physics and was elected to a Fellowship by Examination at Magdalen in 2011, and a Fellowship by Special Election in 2014.

Alongside her work in magnetics, Alexy is also the Director of Technology at The Institute for Digital Archaeology (www.digitalarchaeology.org.uk), an organization dedicated to finding innovative technology-driven options for the documentation and preservation of heritage material. Alexy’s work is particularly focused on the application of 3D printing and machining technologies to the restoration or replication of damaged or destroyed archaeological structures and artefacts.

Alexy is Magdalen’s Widening Participation Fellow and has a special interest in helping potential applicants and their teachers learn more about the College. In connection with her work in physics, engineering, and archaeology, she runs an educational programme which works to bring to life the important relationships between the sciences, the arts, and the humanities.

Teaching

Undergraduate Physics and Engineering Science courses in electromagnetism, circuit theory and electronics, solid state devices, optical and electronic communications, electrical machines, and control theory.

Research Interests

Dr Karenowska’s main research interests lie in magnetics. In particular, she works on the study of fundamental and applied aspects of magnon dynamics. Magnons are the quanta of magnetic excitations known as spin-waves: microwave-frequency magnetic oscillations which can propagate over macroscopic distances through certain magnetic materials.

The dynamic properties of magnon systems are both rich and unusual; studying them experimentally not only offers important insight into the nuts and bolts of nanoscale magnetic physics, but provides a valuable route to improving our wider understanding of general wave and quasi-particle dynamics.

Magnon systems potentially provide the basis for novel types of magnetic information processing technology with exciting new functionalities.

Alexy’s activities in archaeology draw on her expertise in physics (in particular, electromagnetism) and electrical, mechanical, and civil engineering. She works on projects spanning photography and digital documentation to physical reconstruction of destroyed structures and artefacts. Alexy is the technical director of an international programme that has pioneered the application of architectural 3D printing and machining to the restoration and replication of archaeological structures that have been damaged or destroyed by conflict or natural disaster.

Selected Publications

• A. D. Karenowska, V. S. Tiberkevich, A. V. Chumak, A. A. Serga, J. F. Gregg, A. N. Slavin and B. Hillebrands, Oscillatory energy exchange between waves coupled by a dynamic artificial crystal, Phys. Rev. Lett., 108 015505, (2012).
• M. B. Jungfleisch, A. V. Chumak, V. I. Vasyuchka, A. A. Serga, B. Obry, H. Schultheiss, P. A. Beck, A. D. Karenowska, E. Saitoh and B. Hillebrands, Temporal evolution of inverse spin Hall effect voltage in a magnetic insulator-nonmagnetic metal structure, Appl. Phys. Lett., 99 182512, (2011).
• A. V. Chumak, V. S. Tiberkevich, A. D. Karenowska, A. A. Serga, J. F. Gregg, A. N. Slavin and B. Hillebrands, All-linear time reversal by a dynamic artificial crystal, Nature Commun., 1 141, (2010).
• A. D. Karenowska, A. V. Chumak, A. A. Serga, J. F. Gregg and B. Hillebrands, Magnonic crystal based forced dominant wavenumber selection in a spin-wave active ring, Appl. Phys. Lett., 96 082505, (2010).