Welcome to John Hartnett's Home Page

Associate Professor John Hartnett B.Sc (hons) PhD MAIP Principal Research Fellow School of Physics Frequency Standards & Metrology research group University of Western Australia

35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley,  WA 6009, Australia Tel: +61 8 6488 7013 (office) Tel: +61 8 6488 1332 (lab) Fax: +61 8 6488 1235 Mob: +61 419 040 587 john@physics.uwa.edu.au

Biosketch

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Born in Manjimup, Western Australia on March 24, 1952. Received both B.Sc. (hons I) and PhD with distinction from the

School of Physics at the University of Western Australia (UWA). In 2005 became an ARC QE II Post-Doctoral Research Fellow.

Currently works as a Principal Research Fellow with the Frequency Standards and Metrology (FSM) research group in the

School of Physics, UWA. Current research interests include ultra low-noise radar, ultra high stability microwave clocks based on

pure sapphire resonators, tests of fundamental theories of physics. Also he has an interest in non-standard cosmologies.

Authored more than 80 papers in refereed-scientific journals and hold 2 patents.

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Research Interests

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• Ultra stable cryogenic microwave oscillators based of a pure sapphire crystal (CSO),
• Development of CSO for stable local oscillator for VLBI radio-astronomy
• Time and frequency transfer – GPS carrier phase and TWSTFT
• Current link between UWA, Perth and the National Measurement Institute Sydney
• Detection of dark matter, e.g. axions, using low noise microwave techniques,
• Tests of fundamental theories of physics such as Special and General Relativity.
• A theoretical interest in new emergent ideas in cosmology,
• ….particularly Carmeli’s Cosmological General Relativity. Press Release!!
• Astrophysics as it pertains to dark matter and dark energy,
• Large scale structure of the universe.

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Current Research

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Involved in the development cryogenic sapphire microwave resonator-oscillators that can be used as flywheel oscillators for

cold atom atomic clocks, precision spectroscopy and potentially improved VLBI applications. Exceptionally stable clocks

based on a man-made ultra-pure sapphire crystal have become very important in recent times. All clocks need some device to

regulate time. In the old grandfather clocks, the long rods swinging back and forth, did this. You may have a quartz watch on

your wrist. If so, inside, there is a tiny quartz crystal that vibrates and regulates the time. In our clock, the sapphire crystal takes

this role as it stores electrical energy and releases it very slowly. It is, also very important that as the temperature varies our clock

remains stable. So we cool it, with liquefied helium gas, to about 270 degrees below freezing. At this temperature, it doesn’t

lose or gain more than 1 second in 100 million years.

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"Time is God's way of keeping things from happening all at once!"

"Relativity: God is in the ether but the Devil is in the detail!"

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Publications Listed: all Book chapters, Journal and Conference papers here Books NEW! Published soon Relativity: Modern Large-Scale Spacetime Structure of the Cosmos, Editor: M. Carmeli (World Scientific , Singapore, 2008) Starlight, Time and the New Physics (Creation Book Publishers, USA, 2007) Dismantling the Big Bang (Master Books, USA, 2006) Links Frequency Standards and Metrology  Research Group JPL time & frequency division Photos