Dr Vincent Couling
Senior Lecturer
- 033 260 5237
- couling@ukzn.ac.za
- PhD
- Physics
- Pietermaritzburg Campus
Dr Couling has a PhD in experimental and computational molecular optics. His research interests lie in the measurement and calculation of the fundamental optical, electric and magnetic properties of molecules, as well as in the measurement and modelling of molecular interaction effects.
Research profiles
Research overview
Dr Couling’s research group is concerned with the precise and accurate experimental measurement of the fundamental optical, electric and magnetic properties of molecules, as well as with the measurement and modelling of molecular interaction effects.
Current projects
Current projects include the measurement of depolarized Rayleigh light-scattering, and measurements of the Kerr and Buckingham effects (where polarized laser light passes through a medium in the presence of a strong electric field or electric field gradient, respectively, thereby inducing a measurable birefringence). This allows for the determination of fundamental molecular electric properties, including the (hyper)polarizabilities and quadrupole moments.
Media
The Buckingham-effect experiment, used to measure molecular electricquadrupole moments