Christopher Hartland

Christopher is an experienced patent attorney with a research background in condensed matter physics and magnetic resonance.

His technical prowess sees him work across a wide range of technologies in the field of electronics and computing, including autonomous vehicles, electronic circuit design, medical devices, energy systems and the particularly challenging arena of patenting software inventions.  

The focus of his PhD in physics, which he completed under the sponsorship of De Beers Technologies, has equipped him with specialist knowledge and understanding to help protect innovations in the semiconductor and advanced materials technology space.  

During his research, Christopher studied the incorporation and migration of defects in as-grown and treated chemical vapour deposition grown synthetic diamonds. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), optical absorption, photoluminescence and DiamondViewTM techniques were employed to identify previously unreported defects and reveal key differences between the aggregation processes in high and low hydrogen content diamonds. Calculation of the spin-Hamiltonians of defects identified in the continuous wave EPR spectra allowed him to characterise the structures of the newly identified defects. Christopher presented his research at a number of national and international conferences.  

Christopher joined the electronics and computing group at Potter Clarkson in September 2014 and became a dual-qualified patent attorney in 2018. He is also an examiner for the UK Advanced IP Law and Practice (FD1) exam, one of the final exams taken by prospective chartered patent attorneys. Most recently, Christopher joined our team in Stockholm in January 2020.