Phase change photonics

Antony will work on areas that combine our expertise in nanomanufacturing and photonics. Specifically he will work towards a photonic platform that combines with microfluidics and develop the know-how to detect particles and biomolecules within plasmonically enhanced integrated photonic devices. This will involve advanced design and modeling techniques, advanced nanofabrication techniques and setting up experiments as well as analyzing these experiments. This is an exciting new area of research that is high risk and high reward which will work at the intersection of photonics, electronics and microfluidics. Such integrated platforms have been talked about for many years, but the know-how and the manufacturing technology to get them to work has thus far been unavailable. With rapid advances in photonics, as well as know-how in integration of microfluidics with electronics, this presents a new opportunity to integrate microfluidics with on-chip photonics using the significamnt know-how in these areas within the research group. The aim of this project will also be to carry out some early stage research into their potential in healthcare diagnostics, and may involve collaboration with colleagues in biochemistry and/or medicine if all goes according to plan. The use of integrated photonics with integrated microfluidics is a fledging fields and much new expertise and techniques need developing before its potential can be evaluated and this student-led project will prime many of these novel techniques to create the earsly stage know-how and a knowledge base of what works and what does not, and an understanding of how and why things work or do not.

This work will fall into several EPSRC priority areas. The primary areas will be Manufacturing the Future and Healthcare Technologies, but this project will also work alongside ICT and Physical Sciences. Given its interdisciplinary nature, it is by its very definition difficult to classify into one primary area, which is a key aspect of novelty of this research project. We envision use of several of these technologies and/or techniques and methods: EHD Printing, Advanced Atomic Force Microscopy, Photonic Chip Design, Advanced Nanolithography, Optical characterization techniques, Microfluidics, Transfer printing, Microscale moulding techniques, Analyte chemistry, Process development as well as data analysis, time domain data collection, in-situ spectroscopy, fibre coupled lasers, advanced microscope such as fluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy etc.