Rich received his PhD for the spectroscopy of trapped ions from Imperial College London in 2006, and subsequently continued in this area of research at Aarhus University in Denmark. In 2008 he joined the Centre of Cold Matter at Imperial College, where he spent 8 years developing methods to cool molecules to low temperatures and use them to probe fundamental physics phenomena.
Since joining NPL in 2016 Rich has worked on the caesium fountain clocks that underpin UK time, and has helped produce robust version of these state-of-the-art systems for a number of international laboratories. He is also involved in the development of high stability optical frequency references for space applications.
Rich’s principal research interest is in time and frequency metrology using ultra-cold atoms. He is currently exploring opportunities to apply the extremely precise techniques used for this to other areas, such as trace analysis of gases and radioisotope dating. He maintains an interest in the exploration of fundamental physics through the precision measurement of atoms and molecules.