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In the basement of the UWA Physics building, you’ll find first-year PhD candidate Emma Paterson.
Emma set out on a mission to explore dark matter, which landed her in the Quantum Technologies and Dark Matter Research Lab.
Experimental physics isn’t something every little kid dreams of – including Emma.
She discovered her passion for physics in high school.
“In Year 10, I did physics and I fell in love with it from that first day,” says Emma.
“It seemed obvious to me that I should do physics at university.”
Emma studied a Bachelor of Philosophy at university, which “made [her] fall more and more in love with it”.
“I love how physics builds upon mathematical concepts to deepen our understanding of the natural world,” says Emma.
“It empowers us to … drive technological innovation.”
DARK MATTER
Emma’s primary research area is finding dark matter.
“Dark matter is a mysterious substance that is all around us, all the time,” says Emma.
“It makes up the majority of the matter in the universe – about 80% – yet we can’t seem to see it or interact with it.”
The other 20% of matter is things we can touch or see, like the device you’re reading this story on. But dark matter can’t be seen or felt.
Credit: Illustration by Sandbox Studio, Chicago
In their search for this mysterious dark matter, Emma and her colleagues built a device called a twisted resonator, which can twist light.
Emma hopes the twisted resonator will be able to detect dark matter – and also ultralight dark matter particles.
OUT OF THE DARK, INTO THE LIGHT
If dark matter wasn’t complicated enough, ultralight dark matter is where things get even trickier.
No one can be sure these particles exist. As their name suggests, they would have a very low mass.
The light weight of these particles means they have very weak interactions with the everyday world.
While the particles can’t be seen or felt, Emma’s twisted resonator has the ability to turn them into light – making them visible.
IT’S A COOL JOB
Emma conducts her experiments in high-tech fridges.
This way, the particles she’s trying to find can be cooled to -273°C.
“When you cool things down … you reduce the background noise,” says Emma.
Reducing background noise allows the team to conduct highly sensitive experiments, like their search for dark matter.
“Originally, my experiment was focused on detecting ultralight dark matter,” says Emma.
Her experiment took an unexpected turn when she discovered the light twisting machine could be used in the pharmaceutical industry.
Credit: via customslides.com
MIRROR, MIRROR
In their quest to detect light matter, researchers create new technology and devices, like Emma’s innovative twisted light resonator.
Building new devices to search for dark matter can have unexpected applications.
It turns out Emma’s machine could detect and interact with chiral (pronounced ky-ral) molecules.
A chiral molecule has a mirror image or a left-handed and right-handed version.
The same ingredients make up the molecule but they are arranged differently.
Caption: Chiral molecules are mirror images of each other
Credit: © Rupprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg/O.Trapp
Thalidomide is perhaps the most famous example of a chiral molecule.
The right-handed version suppressed cancer, but the left-handed version caused birth defects.
Whether a chiral molecule is left-handed or right-handed influences how it interacts with a person’s body.
Emma says the light twisting machine “could not only detect these chiral molecules but manipulate them”.
FROM MATTER COMES MEDICINE
The different versions of chiral molecules can be very good or very bad. They interact differently with the human body.
“It’s really beneficial to be able to separate these two forms when they’re manufactured,” says Emma.
The only way to separate them currently is a slow, expensive process.
Enter the twisted light resonator, which has the capacity to process and separate the good and bad molecule forms in bulk.
“Right now, I’m working on creating this device that can separate the two-handed forms of molecules,” says Emma.
Credit: Supplied: Emma Paterson
“This has the potential to make medicines that have fewer harmful side effects because we’re able to separate the more harmful handed form of the molecule.”
WOMEN IN STEM
One of the reasons Emma became involved with her lab was funding bodies who prioritise women in STEM.
They’re funded by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics.
There are five women in Emma’s lab, but they’re still the minority.
“It’s hard to not be able to relate to the people around you,” says Emma.
“It’s hard to be sure of yourself in team environments where there are a lot of men.
“It makes me question is this the field for me?”
This is despite 23-year-old Emma and her team having built a machine to find dark matter and a way to make medications safer and cheaper in the process.
Late last year, Emma spoke at the TedxKings Park Youth about her passion for discovery and innovation.
She hopes to inspire the next generations of female physicists.
“It’s fulfilling to be a role model for other women in physics,” says Emma.
