I am interesting in studying materials that glow. Fluorescent and phosphorescent materials are ubiquitous – from the money in your pocket (did you know that the pound notes in your wallet contain Europium…?) to the next generation display-screens. Even your pet budgerigar fluoresces! For a bit more detail have a look here. I am also interested in using Raman imaging and optical spectroscopy to study the pigments used in medieval manuscripts.