Hello! I am Patrick Yuheng Wang, a chemical physicist educated at the University of Edinburgh. I am now working towards my DPhil in theoretical and physical chemistry in ultrafast dynamics at the University of Oxford.
During my undergrad, I worked at the Diamond Light Source in Didcot, UK’s national synchrotron facility. I gained a significant experience with X-ray optics and X-ray ray-tracing during my research. My master’s thesis work focussed on developing new methodologies in simulating soft X-ray beamlines. A copy of my thesis can be found here.
I am primarily interested in the theory of electronic correlation effects and how that can inform novel experimental techniques with X-ray free electron lasers.
I am a member of the Institute of Physics and an associate member of the Royal Society of Chemistry. I serve on the Theoretical Chemistry group committee of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Publications
2025
Wang, Patrick Yuheng; da Silva, Murilo Bazan; Hand, Matthew; Wang, Hongchang; Chang, Peter; Beilsten-Edmands, Victoria; Kim, Timur K.; Lee, Tien-Lin; Sawhney, Kawal; Walters, Andrew C.
PGMweb: an online tool for visualizing the X-ray beam path through plane grating monochromators Journal Article
In: Journal of Synchrotron Radiation, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 261–268, 2025.
@article{Wang:tv5072,
title = {PGMweb: an online tool for visualizing the X-ray beam path through plane grating monochromators},
author = {Patrick Yuheng Wang and Murilo Bazan da Silva and Matthew Hand and Hongchang Wang and Peter Chang and Victoria Beilsten-Edmands and Timur K. Kim and Tien-Lin Lee and Kawal Sawhney and Andrew C. Walters},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600577524011603},
doi = {10.1107/S1600577524011603},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-01-01},
urldate = {2025-01-01},
journal = {Journal of Synchrotron Radiation},
volume = {32},
number = {1},
pages = {261–268},
abstract = {We present here a newly developed software tool (called ıt PGMweb) for computing and simulating the X-ray beam path through a plane grating monochromator (PGM), a key component in soft X-ray beamlines at modern synchrotron and free-electron laser facilities. A historical overview of the development of PGMs is presented, with special attention dedicated to the collimated PGM optical scheme found at several X-ray facilities worldwide. The analytical expressions that fully describe the geometry of a PGM are derived and have been implemented as functions in a Python library (ıt pyplanemono). ıt PGMweb is distributed as a web-based application that can be run in any modern browser without installation, making its use very straightforward for X-ray beamline designers and beamline scientists alike.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
We present here a newly developed software tool (called ıt PGMweb) for computing and simulating the X-ray beam path through a plane grating monochromator (PGM), a key component in soft X-ray beamlines at modern synchrotron and free-electron laser facilities. A historical overview of the development of PGMs is presented, with special attention dedicated to the collimated PGM optical scheme found at several X-ray facilities worldwide. The analytical expressions that fully describe the geometry of a PGM are derived and have been implemented as functions in a Python library (ıt pyplanemono). ıt PGMweb is distributed as a web-based application that can be run in any modern browser without installation, making its use very straightforward for X-ray beamline designers and beamline scientists alike.
2024
Wang, Patrick Yuheng; Bazan da Silva, Murilo; Held, Georg; Wang, Hongchang; Sawhney, Kawal; Walters, Andrew C.
An Automated and Robust Method for Performing Ray-tracing Simulations of Soft X-ray Beamlines Journal Article Forthcoming
In: Journal of Synchrotron Radiation, Forthcoming.
@article{Wang2024b,
title = {An Automated and Robust Method for Performing Ray-tracing Simulations of Soft X-ray Beamlines },
author = {Wang, Patrick Yuheng and Bazan da Silva, Murilo and Held, Georg and Wang, Hongchang and Sawhney, Kawal and Walters, Andrew C.},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-12-16},
urldate = {2024-12-16},
journal = {Journal of Synchrotron Radiation},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {forthcoming},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Wang, Patrick Yuheng
Improving the Accuracy of Flux Calculations in Ray Tracing Simulations for Soft X-Ray Beamlines Masters Thesis
University of Edinburgh, 2024.
@mastersthesis{nokey,
title = {Improving the Accuracy of Flux Calculations in Ray Tracing Simulations for Soft X-Ray Beamlines},
author = {Wang, Patrick Yuheng},
url = {https://patrick.scot/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/thesis.pdf},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-05-01},
urldate = {2024-05-01},
school = {University of Edinburgh},
abstract = {The advent of synchrotron radiation with high brilliance and coherence has brought forth a variety of novel characterisation techniques to understand reactions under challenging conditions. In the soft X-ray range, techniques such as X-ray absorption spectroscopy have played an important role in the fields of surface, material, and battery research. Techniques such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) can provide highly surface-sensitive structural information. This opens the possibility for detailed studies of e.g. heterogeneous copper catalyst poisoning in methanol synthesis by Swallow et al. [1] A universal component to all soft X-ray beamlines is the plane grating monochromator (PGM), which at present is poorly simulated in the context of ray-tracing. Due to its complex and non-intuitive geometry, even state-of-the-art ray-tracing software like SHADOW [2] cannot correctly account for self blockages resulting in over-reporting flux in simulation. The requirement for manual input and verification makes a systematic and holistic simulation of a soft X-ray beamline extremely difficult. This thesis presents the formal analytical expressions for geometrical quantities within a PGM. The expressions are packaged in callable functions in python to interact with SHADOW ’s application programming interface (API). This enables the automatic handling of ray-tracing calculations natively within SHADOW. In addition, a set of tools are proposed which are compiled to enable more robust workflow for simulating any general soft X-ray beamline with a PGM. The methodology was verified extensively by performing systematic calculations for beamline B07c at the Diamond Light Source. Calculations confirmed the existence of higher order contamination and its scope. A figure of merit function is also proposed that can quickly inform an optimal mode of operation for the B07c beamline and other beamlines in general.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {mastersthesis}
}
The advent of synchrotron radiation with high brilliance and coherence has brought forth a variety of novel characterisation techniques to understand reactions under challenging conditions. In the soft X-ray range, techniques such as X-ray absorption spectroscopy have played an important role in the fields of surface, material, and battery research. Techniques such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) can provide highly surface-sensitive structural information. This opens the possibility for detailed studies of e.g. heterogeneous copper catalyst poisoning in methanol synthesis by Swallow et al. [1] A universal component to all soft X-ray beamlines is the plane grating monochromator (PGM), which at present is poorly simulated in the context of ray-tracing. Due to its complex and non-intuitive geometry, even state-of-the-art ray-tracing software like SHADOW [2] cannot correctly account for self blockages resulting in over-reporting flux in simulation. The requirement for manual input and verification makes a systematic and holistic simulation of a soft X-ray beamline extremely difficult. This thesis presents the formal analytical expressions for geometrical quantities within a PGM. The expressions are packaged in callable functions in python to interact with SHADOW ’s application programming interface (API). This enables the automatic handling of ray-tracing calculations natively within SHADOW. In addition, a set of tools are proposed which are compiled to enable more robust workflow for simulating any general soft X-ray beamline with a PGM. The methodology was verified extensively by performing systematic calculations for beamline B07c at the Diamond Light Source. Calculations confirmed the existence of higher order contamination and its scope. A figure of merit function is also proposed that can quickly inform an optimal mode of operation for the B07c beamline and other beamlines in general.
Recent Posts
- Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle and Fourier Analysis
As the semester goes on, I find myself to be quite often in a pickle to find spare time. Therefore, what I will be writing about is mostly what I need to know for my exams. Tedious as it may sound, there are still absolutely stunning proofs and derivations that can bring a smile to…
Read more: Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle and Fourier Analysis
- Symmetry, and Lie Algebra
Back by popular demand, this is the third instalment on my journey to learn Quantum Field Theory. “I am waiting for another blog post.” Ben Thamm, University of Edinburgh Student Arguablly one of the most important concepts in the whole of modern physics is one of symmetry. Suppose we were to perform an experiment today,…
Read more: Symmetry, and Lie Algebra
- Casimir Effect, Renormalisation Theory, Topology, and Sum of All $n$ for $n\in \mathbb{Z}^+$
This is the second instalment of my journey to learn Quantum Field Theory. This week, I got a preview at Renormalisation Theory and how we can use this to solve seemingly impossible physical problems, and during the process, I encountered a particularly peculiar sum… Questionable Pedagogy… I remember that in grade 10, my then maths…
Read more: Casimir Effect, Renormalisation Theory, Topology, and Sum of All $n$ for $n\in \mathbb{Z}^+$
- Automatic Door Opener for My Flat
I became quite interested in servers running in python after my first exposure to Django. I thought I’d put my Raspberry Pi to good use by making an automatic door opener for my flat. Background The street entrance to my building is controlled by an archaic intercom/buzzer system. Say a person with a delivery for…
Read more: Automatic Door Opener for My Flat
- Canonical Quantisation to Establish a Quantum Theory of Fields with Harmonic Oscillators
At the beginning of this summer, I embarked on the journey of learning about the ephemeral nature of life (or, quantum field theory), as a mean of exercising the mind if you will, so that I won’t start off the new semester having to resort to google to remind myself what Newton’s second was. Much…
Read more: Canonical Quantisation to Establish a Quantum Theory of Fields with Harmonic Oscillators
