Charles Ironside was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and was educated at Allan Glen's School, Glasgow. He completed his first degree in Physics at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh in 1974 and was award a first class honours BSc. His PhD was completed in 1978 and was on a type of tuneable semiconductor laser, the Spin-Flip Raman Laser. His Phd work was at the Physics Department of Heriot-Watt University.
From 1978-1984 he worked as a post-doctoral research assistant at the University of Oxford. He first worked in the Inorganic Chemistry department on time resolved spectroscopy of solids and on energy transfer mechanisms between luminescent ions. He then moved to the Clarendon Laboratory to work on time-resolved spectroscopy of solids on a picosecond timescale. He worked on ultrafast effects in semiconductors.
In 1984 he moved to the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, University of Glasgow to take up a post as a lecturer. In 1992 he was promoted to Senior Lecturer and in 1994 he was promoted to Reader. In 1999, he was promoted to Professor of Quantum Electronics
Presently he taught on the following courses:- an MSc module in Optical Data Transmission, Communication Systems 3A, Communications 4, Electronic devices 2, Special Design project 5, Industrial Project EE5, Industrial Management EE5
He has published more than 200 research papers and presently his research interests are centred on high-speed optoelectronics and include ultrafast all-optical switching in semiconductor waveguides, monolithic modelocking of semiconductor lasers and ultrafast optoelectronic modulators employing Resonant Tunneling Diodes, semiconductor laser driven by resonant tunneling diodes and quantum cascade lasers
For publications see:-