Mr Patrick Wang

Master of Chemical Physics, 1st class Honours, University of Edinburgh

I completed my undergraduate in chemical physics at the University of Edinburgh in 2024. During my degree, I worked at the Diamond Light Source, UK's national synchrotron, where I conducted research on synchrotron soft X-ray optics. Currently, I am in Adam Kirrander's group working towards my DPhil.

I am a member of the Institute of Physics and the Royal Society of Chemistry. I am a member of the RSC Theoretical Chemistry Interest Group committee.

I teach the undergraduate MChem physical chemistry tutorials for all years. 

Electrons are the particles that control the chemical behaviour of matter. Although modern quantum chemistry has been very successful in describing how electrons move and interact, one of the most difficult challenges is to account for electron-electron correlation: the subtle ways in which electrons avoid each other because of their mutual repulsion. Capturing this correlation accurately is essential for predicting the properties of atoms and molecules, but it often requires very demanding calculations. My research aims to develop the theoretical framework for capturing this effect via experiments now made possible by new technologies in X-ray free electron lasers. 

X-ray scattering offers a new route to probe this problem directly. When a beam of X-rays strikes a sample, the way in which the X-rays scatter contains information not only about where the electrons are, but also about how they are correlated with one another. Traditionally, scattering experiments have been used to determine crystal structures by focusing only on the elastic (coherent) part of the signal. In this work we explore how the inelastic part, which is inherently a two-electron effect, can provide additional insight into electron correlation.

1 P. Y. Wang, M. Bazan Da Silva, G. Held, H. Wang, K. Sawhney and A. C. Walters, An automated and robust method for modelling X-ray beamlines with plane grating monochromators, J Synchrotron Rad, DOI:10.1107/S1600577525003200.
2 P. Y. Wang, M. Bazan Da Silva, M. Hand, H. Wang, P. Chang, V. Beilsten-Edmands, T. K. Kim, T.-L. Lee, K. Sawhney and A. C. Walters, PGMweb : an online tool for visualizing the X-ray beam path through plane grating monochromators, J Synchrotron Rad, 2025, 32, 261–268.

Outside of work, I play the accordion in an orchestra in London as well as tending to my backyard hens.