Prof Ray O'Neill

    Experimental Physics, Hamilton Institute

    John Hume Building
    3.15
    (01) 708 6682

    Biography

    Prof. Ray O’Neill is an experimental physicist with interests in innovation systems, data analytics and machine learning. A native of Belfast, he completed a BSc in Physics and a PhD in atomic and molecular physics at Queen’s University, Belfast, before joining the Department of Experimental Physics at Maynooth as a lecturer and researcher in 1993. Since 2004 he has held various administrative positions at Maynooth including Dean of the Faculty of Science, Dean of Research and Graduate Studies and, most recently, Vice President for Innovation from 2013-16. From 2011-13 he chaired a multi-institutional and agency working group which developed the first national policy on ensuring integrity in research in Ireland, and over the same period was from 2011-13 he was a member of the European Universities Association Research Policy Group. From 2014-16 he was chair of the Maynooth University Curriculum Commission, which reviewed and made recommendations for the future of the undergraduate curriculum across the University.

    Research Interests

    I have made contributions to understanding of electron impact excitation phenomena in atoms and positive ions, and have published results in leading international journals including the Physical Review, Journal of Physics B, and Physical Review A. I have also published experimental investigations in quantum entanglement and informatics, and in applications of near infra-red light scattering for biomedical imaging and diagnostics. Current research is on innovation systems and data analytics.

    Peer Reviewed Journals

      Year Publication
    2008 'A 12-channel, real-time near-infrared spectroscopy instrument for brain-computer interface applications'
    Soraghan C.;Matthews F.;Markham C.;Pearlmutter B.;O'Neill R.;Ward T. (2008) 'A 12-channel, real-time near-infrared spectroscopy instrument for brain-computer interface applications'. Conference Proceedings : ... Annual International Conference Of The Ieee Engineering In Medicine And Biology Society. Ieee Engineering In Medicine And Biology Society. Conference, :5648-5651 [full-text] [Details]
    2004 'Direct measurement of P+ for electron impact excitation of H(2p) at 54.4 eV'
    Gradziel, ML;O'Neill, RW (2004) 'Direct measurement of P+ for electron impact excitation of H(2p) at 54.4 eV'. Journal Of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular And Optical Physics, 37 :1893-1907 [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2001 'Microcontroller based double beam modulation system for atomic scattering experiments'
    O'Neill, RW;Greenwood, JB;Gradziel, ML;Williams, ID (2001) 'Microcontroller based double beam modulation system for atomic scattering experiments'. Measurement Science and Technology, 12 :1480-1485 [full-text] [Details]
    1998 'Polarization correlation measurements of electron impact excitation of H(2p) at 54.4 eV'
    O'Neill, R W; van der Burgt, P J M; Dziczek, D; Bowe, P; Chwirot, S; Slevin, J A (1998) 'Polarization correlation measurements of electron impact excitation of H(2p) at 54.4 eV'. Physical Review Letters, 80 :1630-1633 [full-text] [Details]
    1998 'Observation of collective effects in the multiphoton ionization of atomic deuterium'
    Bowe, P; Giammanco, F; O'Neill, R W; van der Burgt, P J M; Slevin, J A (1998) 'Observation of collective effects in the multiphoton ionization of atomic deuterium'. Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, 58 :1389-1398 [full-text] [Details]
    1998 'Two-colour intensity suppression of multiphoton ionization of atomic deuterium'
    Bowe, P;O'Neill, RW;van der Burgt, PJM;Slevin, JA;Raczynski, A;Zaremba, J;Chwirot, S (1998) 'Two-colour intensity suppression of multiphoton ionization of atomic deuterium'. Journal Of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular And Optical Physics, 31 :1003-1010 [full-text] [Details]
    1998 'A Technique for absolute measurements in near threshold excitation of positive ions: application to excitation of C+'
    I D Williams, J B Greenwood, B Srigengan, R W O'Neill and I G Hughes (1998) 'A Technique for absolute measurements in near threshold excitation of positive ions: application to excitation of C+'. MEASUREMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 9 :930-938 [Details]
    1998 'Observation of collective effects in the multiphoton ionization of atomic deuterium'
    P Bowe, F Giammanco, R W O’Neill, P J M van der Burgt and J A Slevin (1998) 'Observation of collective effects in the multiphoton ionization of atomic deuterium'. PHYSICAL REVIEW A, 58 :1389-1398 [full-text] [Details]
    1995 'Elastic Scattering of Electrons from Ions'
    J B Greenwood, I D Williams, B Srigengan, W R Newell, J Geddes and R W O'Neill (1995) 'Elastic Scattering of Electrons from Ions'. NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION B, 98 [Details]
    1995 'Energy Resolution of a Planar Trochoidal Monochromator'
    I D Williams and R W O'Neill (1995) 'Energy Resolution of a Planar Trochoidal Monochromator'. MEASUREMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 6 [Details]
    1995 'Low Energy Elastic Backscattering of electrons from Ar+'
    J B Greenwood, I D Williams, B Srigengan, W R Newell, J Geddes and R W O'Neill (1995) 'Low Energy Elastic Backscattering of electrons from Ar+'. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS B: ATOMIC MOLECULAR AND OPTICAL PHYSICS, 28 [Details]
    1994 'The Oxford Electron Beam Ion Trap: a device for spectroscopy of highly charged ions'
    J D Silver et al (23 authors including R. O'Neill) (1994) 'The Oxford Electron Beam Ion Trap: a device for spectroscopy of highly charged ions'. Review of Scientific Instruments, 65 [Details]
    1991 'A New Technique for Excitation Studies in Electron-Ion Collisions'
    R W O'Neill, I G Hughes and I D Williams (1991) 'A New Technique for Excitation Studies in Electron-Ion Collisions'. ZEITSCHRIFT FUR PHYSIK D, 21 [Details]

    Other Journals

      Year Publication
    1997 'Shining light on hydrogen atoms'
    P. Bowe, P.J.M. van der Burgt, R. W. O’Neill, and J. Slevin (1997) 'Shining light on hydrogen atoms' Irish Scientist Yearbook 1997, . [Details]

    Conference Publications

      Year Publication
    2008 A 12-channel, real-time near-infrared spectroscopy instrument for brain-computer interface applications
    Soraghan C.;Matthews F.;Markham C.;Pearlmutter B.;O'Neill R.;Ward T. (2008) A 12-channel, real-time near-infrared spectroscopy instrument for brain-computer interface applications Proceedings of the 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS'08 - Personalized Healthcare through Technology , pp.5648-5651 [full-text] [Details]
    2008 A 12-Channel, real-time near-infrared spectroscopy instrument for brain-computer interface applications
    Soraghan , C., Matthews, F., Markham, C., Pearlmutter, B. A., O'Neill, R. and Ward, T.E. (2008) A 12-Channel, real-time near-infrared spectroscopy instrument for brain-computer interface applications Proceedings of the 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Vancouver, BA, Canada, 20-24 August 2008 [full-text] [Details]
    2008 A 12-channel, real-time near-infrared spectroscopy instrument for brain-computer interface applications
    Soraghan, C and Matthews, F and Markham, C and Pearlmutter, BA and O'Neill, R and Ward, TE (2008) A 12-channel, real-time near-infrared spectroscopy instrument for brain-computer interface applications Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2008. EMBS 2008. 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE , pp.5648-5651 [full-text] [Details]
    2008 A 12-Channel, real-time near-infrared spectroscopy instrument for brain-computer interface applications
    Soraghan, C and Matthews, F and Markham, Charles and Pearlmutter, Barak A and O'Neill, R and Ward, Tomas E (2008) A 12-Channel, real-time near-infrared spectroscopy instrument for brain-computer interface applications 2008 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society , pp.5648-5651 [Details]
    2007 Imaging through a biological medium using speckle noise removal techniques
    Cuddihy A.;Hennelly B.;Naughton T.;Markham C.;O'Neill R. (2007) Imaging through a biological medium using speckle noise removal techniques Optics InfoBase Conference Papers [Details]
    2007 Imaging through a biological medium using speckle noise removal techniques
    Cuddihy A.;Hennelly B.;Naughton T.;Markham C.;O'Neill R. (2007) Imaging through a biological medium using speckle noise removal techniques Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging - Proceedings of SPIE [Details]
    2007 Imaging through a biological medium using speckle noise removal techniques - art. no. 66291W
    Cuddihy, A;Hennelly, B;Naughton, TJ;Markham, C;O'Neill, R (2007) Imaging through a biological medium using speckle noise removal techniques - art. no. 66291W Diffuse Optical Imaging of Tissue , pp.6291-6291 [Details]
    2006 A DUAL-CHANNEL OPTICAL BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE IN A GAMING ENVIRONMENT
    Soraghan, C;Matthews, F;Kelly, D;Ward, T;Markham, C;Pearlmutter, BA;O'Neill, R (2006) A DUAL-CHANNEL OPTICAL BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE IN A GAMING ENVIRONMENT CGAMES'2006: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 9TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER GAMES: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MOBILE SYSTEMS , pp.35-39 [full-text] [Details]
    2006 A Dual-Channel Optical Brain-Computer Interface In A Gaming Environment
    Soraghan , C.J., Matthews, F., Kelly, D., Markham, C., Pearlmutter, B.A. and O'Neill, R. (2006) A Dual-Channel Optical Brain-Computer Interface In A Gaming Environment CGAMES 2006 - 9th International Conference on Computer Games: AI, Animation, Mobile, Educational and Serious Games, Dublin, Ireland, 2006 [full-text] [Details]
    2006 Steady State Visual Stimulation of the Brain: Optical Study of Task Related Effects
    Lebid, S., Markham, C., O'Neill, R., Ward, T., Soraghan, C. and Condron, J. (2006) Steady State Visual Stimulation of the Brain: Optical Study of Task Related Effects 5th European Symposium on Biomedical Engineering (ESBME 2006), Patras, Greece, 7-9 July 2006 [full-text] [Details]
    2005 Towards dual modality nerve assessment using electrical and optical techniques
    Lebid, S;Ward, T;O'Neill, R;Markham, C;Coyle, S (2005) Towards dual modality nerve assessment using electrical and optical techniques 17th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors, Pts 1 and 2 , pp.399-402 [DOI] [Details]
    2005 Multi-timescale measurements of brain responses in visual cortex during functional stimulation using time-resolved spectroscopy
    Lebid, S. and O'Neill, R. and Markham, C. and Ward, T. and Coyle, S (2005) Multi-timescale measurements of brain responses in visual cortex during functional stimulation using time-resolved spectroscopy SPIE Proceedings (5823-5827) Optical Sensing and Spectroscopy Conference, Dublin, Ireland, 4-5 April 2005 , pp.606-617 [full-text] [Details]
    2005 Multi-timescale measurements of brain responses in visual cortex during functional stimulation using time-resolved spectroscopy
    Lebid S.;O'Neill R.;Markham C.;Ward T.;Coyle S. (2005) Multi-timescale measurements of brain responses in visual cortex during functional stimulation using time-resolved spectroscopy Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering , pp.606-617 [DOI] [full-text] [Details]
    2005 Multi-timescale measurements of brain responses in visual cortex during functional stimulation using time-resolved spectroscopy
    Lebid, S;O'Neill, R;Markham, C;Ward, T;Coyle, S (2005) Multi-timescale measurements of brain responses in visual cortex during functional stimulation using time-resolved spectroscopy Opto-Ireland 2005: Optical Sensing and Spectroscopy , pp.606-617 [DOI] [Details]
    2004 Functional Brain signals: a photon counting system for brain activity monitoring
    S. Lebid, R.W. O’Neill, C. Markham, T. Ward and S. Coyle (2004) Functional Brain signals: a photon counting system for brain activity monitoring IEE Conference Proceedings of The Irish Signals and Systems Conference 2004, Vol. 1, Belfast, N. Ireland, 30 June-2 July 2004 , pp.469-474 [full-text] [Details]
    2004 Acquiring functional brain signals with photon counting systems: A time domain approach for pattern reversal steady-state visual evoked potentials at multiple time scales
    S. Lebid, R.W. O'Neill, C. Markham and T. Ward (2004) Acquiring functional brain signals with photon counting systems: A time domain approach for pattern reversal steady-state visual evoked potentials at multiple time scales Proceedings of Second European Workshop on Optical Fibre Sensors, Vol. 1, Santander, Spain, 9-11 June 2004 , pp.9-11 [Details]
    2000 Collective Effects in the Laser Plasma formed by 2+1 REMPI of Atomic Deuterium at 243 nm
    B. Shortt, F. Giammanco, P.J.M. van der Burgt and R.W. O'Neill (2000) Collective Effects in the Laser Plasma formed by 2+1 REMPI of Atomic Deuterium at 243 nm XXVII Annual Plasma Physics Conference, Brighton, UK, March 2000 [Details]
    2000 Collective effects in the transient plasma formed by multiphoton ionization of deuterium atoms by a pulsed laser beam
    B Shortt, F Giammanco, P J M van der Burgt and R W O’Neill (2000) Collective effects in the transient plasma formed by multiphoton ionization of deuterium atoms by a pulsed laser beam Proceedings of the International Seminar on Atomic Processes in Plasmas, NIFS-PROC-44, Toki, Japan, 29-30 July 1999 [Details]
    1997 Collective effects in the multiphoton ionization of atomic hydrogen at 243nm
    P Bowe, R W O’Neill, P J M van der Burgt, J A Slevin and F. Giammanco (1997) Collective effects in the multiphoton ionization of atomic hydrogen at 243nm International workshop on photoionisation, Chester, UK, July 1997 [Details]
    1997 Plasma effects in multiphoton ionization (Anomolous saturation and modification of time of flight profiles)
    P Bowe, R W O’Neill, P J M van der Burgt, F. Giammanco and J A Slevin (1997) Plasma effects in multiphoton ionization (Anomolous saturation and modification of time of flight profiles) International Conference on Lasers ’97, New Orleans, USA, December 1997 [Details]
    1997 Two colour intensity modulation of the multiphoton ionization of atomic hydrogen
    P Bowe, R W O’Neill, P J M van der Burgt, J A Slevin, A Raczynski, J Zaremba and S Chwirot (1997) Two colour intensity modulation of the multiphoton ionization of atomic hydrogen International workshop on photoionisation, Chester, UK, July 1997 [Details]
    1995 Metastable excitation and resonant ionisation of atomic deuterium at 243nm
    P Bowe, R W O'Neill, P J M van der Burgt and J A Slevin (1995) Metastable excitation and resonant ionisation of atomic deuterium at 243nm Proceedings of XIX International Conference of Physics of Electronic and Atomic Collisions, Whistler, BC, Canada, 1995 [Details]
    1995 Coherence studies of electron impact excitation of H(2p)
    R W O’Neill, P J M van der Burgt, D Dziczek, P Bowe, S. Chwirot and J A Slevin (1995) Coherence studies of electron impact excitation of H(2p) Proceedings of XIX International Conference of Physics of Electronic and Atomic Collisions, Whistler, BC, Canada, 1995 [Details]
    1993 Near Threshold Excitation of Ar+ using a new crossed beams apparatus
    I D Williams, R W O'Neill, J B Greenwood, I G Hughes and B Srigengan (1993) Near Threshold Excitation of Ar+ using a new crossed beams apparatus Proceedings of XVIII International Conference of Physics of Electronic and Atomic Collisions, Aarhus, Denmark, 1993 [Details]
    1989 Experimental investigation of near threshold excitation in electron-ion collisions
    I G Hughes, R W O'Neill, A Chutjian and I D Williams (1989) Experimental investigation of near threshold excitation in electron-ion collisions Proceedings of XVI International Conference on the Physics of Electronic and Atomic Collisions, New York, USA, 1989 [Details]

    External Collaborators

      Name Role / Description Country
    Prof I D Williams. Queen's University Belfast, UK Electron-ion collisions
    Prof N J Mason. Open University, UK EU COST Programme, Radiation damage in Biomolecules
    Prof S Chwirot. Nicholas Copernicus University, Poland Elecron scattering
    Prof R.W. McCullough. Queen's University, Belfast EU Integrated Infrastructure Low Energy Ion Formation