Examiners of my viva

Ni external examiner, nama dia Dr. Stephen Sweeney....drp Surrey University. Some details on him :

Stephen's primary research interests lie in the area of semiconductor laser physics with a particular onus on optimising laser performance. He has produced >150 journal papers and conference proceedings in this area including several invited papers. Stephen has recently expanded his interests into photonic sensors based on both III-V and Si technologies. Recent topics include:

• semiconductor lasers for temperature insensitive operation (quantum dots, dilute-nitrides etc)
• widely tunable lasers
• vertical cavity surface emitting lasers and LEDs for plastic fibre systems
• semiconductor lasers for optical pumping (EDFA, Raman) and printing and data storage applications
• using photonic devices to sense chemical and biological samples (liquids and gases)

Yang ni pulak internal examiner, Dr. Kristian Groom. Details on him :

Kristian received the MPhys and Ph.D degrees from the Department of Physics & Astronomy at The University of Sheffield, in 1999 and 2003, respectively. He then joined the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering at the same university, where he is presently based.

Since obtaining his PhD, for research into the carrier processes and dynamics in InGaAs quantum dot lasers, he has mainly worked on long wavelength GaAs-based lasers (under the EU NanoMat programme) and InP-based quantum cascade lasers, and has co-authored over 30 papers.

In 2005 he was awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering / EPSRC Research Fellowship for research into advanced semiconductor laser engineering, with his main research interests being III-V semiconductor lasers, amplifiers and superluminescent diodes, and the development of advanced fabrication technologies for such devices.

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Alhamdulillah, both of them were very nice... tanya soalan dgn cara baik, bukannya tanya soalan seolah2 cam nak menembak atau menganiaya kita....both are family man, so biasanya mrk2 ni ada gak la hati perut, hehehe.... Kebanyakan soalan were asked by Steve tu, yg internal tak banyak soalan pun, mungkin sbb dia muda lagi and tak berapa experience. Tapi tu lah, the viva lasted almost 4 hours!

Mula2 depa bgtahu start kul 2pm, jadi saya pun dtg la kul 2pm, pastu rupanya, Steve tu terlewat naik train drp Surrey (jauh gak surrey ni drp sheffield, ada gak la more than 3 hours)...so, mrk tunda ke 2.30 pm. I had to wait in the head of department sitting room. Berdebar tak tau nak kata la, huhu....pastu mrk start la viva...dalam 4 jam tu cuma 15 minit je kot rehat, sbb mrk nak ke toilet...

The atmosphere masa viva tu informal je...saya makan biskut lagi masa tu sbb lapar sgt...by dah dekat 3 jam setengah tu, saya mula lembik, dia tanya soalan sampai 3 kali baru la faham, sbb cam otak dah tak leh compute dah, penat sgt! Tapi pakcik tu keep on saying, I have to ask this question...

Kuar2 bilik tu dah gelap...kul 6pm lebih...yeap maghrib jamak la nampaknya sbb dah isyak by that time...mrk suh duk luar bilik dalam 10-15 minits before mrk panggil balik utk bgtahu kita lulus ke tak....i think that 15 minutes was the longest EVER 15 minutes i ever had! rasa cam dua jam tunggu, huhu, berdebar tok sah nak kata la...tskk

Akhirnya depa panggil masuk n bgtahu la, yg setelah berbincang mrk decided to pass me with minor correction, alhamdulillah!! Ada la lagi pujian yg lain, tapi biasalah mat salleh suka puji org, tak yah la citer kat sini...

Lepas beberapa hari viva, John bgtahu yg Steve tu berminat lagi nak jumpa saya dalam bulan January...sbb dia interested in the results...pastu yg internal tu pun masa sy jumpa nak amik correction pun kata, sorry la lama viva tu, Steve tu mesti interested dgn thesis tu sbb kalau tak takkan sampai 4 jam....he said it is a good thing..(well, i dunno, 4 hours is really traumatic for me)

Habislah satu chapter dalam hidup saya dan suami....Allah Maha Besar, segala pujian dikembalikan kpd Allah... saya doakan rakan2 yg masih berjuang berjaya juga one day, ameen...