Surface Nanoscale Axial Photonics (SNAP)

Lead Research Organisation: Aston University
Department Name: College of Engineering and Physical Sci

Abstract

Over the last decade, much interest of scientists and engineers working in optics and photonics has been attracted to the research and development of miniature devices based on the phenomenon of slow light. The idea of slow light consists in reducing its average speed of propagation by forcing light to oscillate and circulate in specially engineered microscopic photonic structures (e.g., photonic crystals and coupled ring resonators). Researchers anticipated that slow light devices will have revolutionary applications in communications, optical and radio signal processing, quantum computing, sensing, and fundamental science. For this reason, the research on slow light has been conducted in many academic laboratories and industrial research centres including telecommunications giants IBM, Intel, and NTT. However, in spite of significant progress, it had been determined that current photonic fabrication technologies are unable to produce practical slow light devices due to the major barriers: the insufficient fabrication precision and substantial attenuation of light.

To overcome these barriers, this project will develop a new photonic technology, Surface Nanoscale Axial Photonics (SNAP) which will allow us to demonstrate miniature photonics devices with unprecedentedly high precision and low loss.

SNAP is a new microphotonics fabrication platform invented by the PI of this project. In contrast to previously considered slow light structures based on circulation of light in coupled ring resonators and oscillations photonic crystals, the SNAP platform employs whispering gallery modes of light in an optical fibre, which circulate near the fibre surface and slowly propagate along its axis. The speed of axial propagation of these modes is so slow that it can be fully controlled by dramatically small nanoscale variations of the fibre radius.

This project will develop the advanced SNAP technology for fabrication of ultraprecise, ultralow loss, tuneable, switchable and fully reconfigurable miniature slow light devices establishing the groundwork for their revolutionary applications in future Information and Communication Technologies. The success of the project will place the UK in the centre of this revolutionary development.

Planned Impact

The growing interest in the development of SNAP, invented by the PI in 2011, was recently triggered by his presentations at international conferences (among them 25 invited talks on SNAP in 2012-2015), invited industrial and academic seminars, and discussions with researchers working in optics and photonics in the UK and worldwide. The anticipated impact of this project in the broad academic communities outlined in the Academic Beneficiaries and its industrial economic and social impact summarized below will place the UK into the centre of this pioneering research.

Industrial and Economic Impact. The ambitious objective of the project is to boost the interest of telecommunication and computer industries in applications of the SNAP technology. It is anticipated that the new technology will attract the industry giants to its potential applications as well as give birth to start-up companies working on the research and applications of SNAP. In particular, one of the objectives of the project consists in creation of a start-up company to assemble SNAP fabrication setups for academic and industrial research centres (see Pathways to Impact). These actions will allow to create new jobs and attract young talented scientists and engineers to the field of modern photonics. In the long term, the market of high tech products, which are fabricated using the developed SNAP technology for the ICT and other applications, is expected to be created and grow significantly.

Societal Impact. The invention of SNAP technology was announced by the OSA press release in 2011, reviewed by the Physics Today editorial article in 2012, and broadcasted and reviewed by numerous other public outlets. In the short-term (1-5 years), the progress achieved in the course of the project will be broadly communicated through press releases and popular articles in the public media. In addition, the project team will deliver popular lectures on the topic of SNAP to the university students and general public. The long-term societal impact (5-50 years) is envisioned in the actual usage of SNAP devices in telecommunication, sensing, and quantum computing. These devices are anticipated to be used in the public sector (e.g., in smartphones and computers) and commercial and defence sectors (e.g., in the radars for aviation and missile defence systems). Since SNAP devices exhibit exceptionally low attenuation of light, their deployment will enable the economy of electric power and, thus, contribute to the cutting down of the world energy consumption. All this will positively impact the life of private individuals, job creation, security, and strength of the UK and world economy.
 
Description Modern microphotonic devices have very small dimensions, often comparable to a micron. Nevertheless, they consist of billions of atoms. The fabrication precision of such microdevices is usually determined by the average position of a very large number of atoms, which currently can be measured with the precision of a picometre (one-hundredth of the atomic size). It has been recognized that a similar ground-breaking sub-angstrom and picometre precision is also critical for the fabrication of a range of emerging photonics microdevices promising to revolutionize computer, communication, and sensing technologies. The major objective of this project was to demonstrate microphotonic devices fabricated with this incredible resolution based on the SNAP technology. The most important achievements of the project are:

1. Novel ultraprecise fabrication and sensing methods in photonics
a. We experimentally demonstrated sub-angstrom precise tuneable SNAP microresonators induced by a water droplet and by a nonuniformly heated metal wire positioned inside a silica microcapillary. We demonstrated tuneable SNAP microresonators by bending an optical fibre and touching two optical fibres. We achieved better than the 0.2 picometre accuracy in the tuning of spacing between microresonator eigenfrequencies.
b. We experimentally demonstrated novel sub-angstrom precise fabrication methods of SNAP microresonators using a femtosecond laser, a heating wire, and a flame. We discovered a "slow cooking" method of fabrication of SNAP microresonators and demonstrated better than 3 picometre precision in permanent tuning the microresonator eigenfrequencies.
c. We experimentally demonstrated the nonlocal microfluidic sensing platform. We determine changes in microfluidics along several millimetres of a slow-cooked SNAP resonator positioned at a microcapillary by a single measurement of its spectrum. This simple approach can be further developed for ultraprecise sensing of interaction between liquid food and container material, the objective of the Leverhulme Trust Fellowship project "Ultraprecise sensor to measure interactions between food and packaging materials" recently won by our team member Dr Gabriella Gardosi.

2. Fundamental phenomena in optic and photonics
a. We introduced and experimentally demonstrated a new type of microresonators, called bat microresonators, having a spatially uniform eigenmode field extended over hundreds of optical wavelengths. This unique property makes these resonators important for microparticle sensing and precision metrology.
b. We experimentally demonstrated tunnelling of light along the record long distance of 0.5 mm along the optical fibre surface.
c. We proposed a way to transport light by light at the microscale using a strong optical pulse, which can load, transfer, and unload a weaker pulse propagating along the mm-scale length of an optical fibre. Our proposal fills the fundamental gap in the demonstrated so far transportation of matter by matter, light by matter, and matter by light at the microscale. The team member of the project, Dr Manuel Crespo-Ballesteros, is currently working on the experimental realization of this device supported by the Leverhulme Trust research project "Light microtruck: controlled transportation of light by light at the microscale."

3. Increased research capability generated from training delivered in specialist skills.
The team of the SNAP project included Dr Gabriella Gardosi, Dr Manuel Crespo-Ballesteros, Dr Nikita Toropov, Dr Dashiel Vitullo, Dr Yong Yang, along with visiting PhD students Tabassom Hamidfar and Qi Yu.
a. Gabriella Gardosi began working on the SNAP project as a PhD student and defended her PhD in 2022. In 2023, Dr. Gabriella Gardosi was recognized as one of the Photonics100 honorees, individuals who are driving the photonics industry forward, https://www.electrooptics.com/news/photonics100-photonics-west-gabriella-gardosi-qa. Additionally, in 2023, she received the prestigious Leverhulme Trust Fellowship award for her work on the application of SNAP technology in the food industry. She continues her work in our Nanoscale Photonics Group on the development of SNAP technology.
b. Dr Manuel Crespo-Ballesteros continues to work in the Nanoscale Photonics group. After completing his work on the SNAP project, Dr Manuel Crespo-Ballesteros is currently focusing on the Leverhulme Trust project titled "Light microtruck: controlled transportation of light by light at the microscale" advancing the applications of SNAP technology.
c. Dr Nikita Toropov recently joined the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton where he continues to work on applications of optical microresonators, the topic closely related to the SNAP project.
d. After one year of work on the SNAP project in 2018-19 in our group, Dr Dashiel Vitullo joined the US Army Research Laboratory, where he created the SNAP lab similar to that we have at Aston University.
e. Following the completion of his work on the SNAP project, Dr Yong Yang moved to Wuhan University, China, where he became a Professor. Recently, he won a grant for the development of SNAP technology.
f. Two PhD students who visited the Nanoscale Photonics lab for a year during the duration of the SNAP project defended their PhD theses on SNAP technology. They are Dr Tabassom Hamidfar, currently a postdoc at Northwestern University, USA, and Dr Qi Yu, currently a Professor at Anhui University, Hefei, China, working on the development and applications of SNAP technology.

In working on the project, we encountered several negative results. While they caused the delay and partial reorientation of the project plan, working on their solution led us to new approaches and discoveries:

1. The effect of air convection prevented us from demonstrating sub-angstrom stable reconfigurable SNAP microresonator configurations introduced by external local heating. To solve the problem, we fabricated microresonators at the optical microcapillary surface heated internally by a nonuniform metal wire, whose reconfigurability was much less flexible. The positive outcome of our work on this problem was the idea of using water, which was nonlocally heated by light inside the microcapillary. The experiments with water led us to the discovery of the slow-cooking fabrication method.
2. The effect of the CO2 laser power fluctuations and system misalignment due to the temperature fluctuations did not allow us to avoid post-processing of SNAP microresonators to arrive at the required sub-angstrom precision. Solutions to these problems are feasible but require additional research efforts. We plan to realise these solutions in our project, which is currently under EPRSC consideration. This will allow us to demonstrate a system enabling the robust and scalable volume fabrication of SNAP devices with picometre precision.
3. Due to the insufficient Q-factor of fabricated SNAP microresonators with parabolic profile (typically Q<107) we were not able to demonstrate SNAP low repetition rate frequency comb generation. Improving the Q-factor of microresonators is possible by (a) advancing the silica surface cleaning procedure and (b) avoiding surface contamination by working in a clean room. We are collaborating on solutions to these problems in collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Overall, the work on the project allowed us to advance the SNAP technology significantly, discover new phenomena in optics and photonics, and outline the ways for future development of SNAP. The results obtained are critical for the future creation of robust and scalable SNAP technology for the fabrication of emerging photonics microdevices promising to revolutionize computer, communication, and sensing technologies.
Exploitation Route 1. The SNAP platform demonstrated the record sub-angstrom precision required for the fabrication of miniature delay lines and optical signal processors for applications in computer, communication, microwave photonics, and sensing technologies. For practical applications, it is desirable to combine the SNAP technology with other microphotonic technologies (e.g., silicon photonics), which are much better developed but unable to achieve the precision of SNAP. We expect future development of SNAP through our collaboration with academic and industrial groups in the UK (Optoelectronic Research Centre, University of Southampton) and worldwide (Laboratoire de Micro et Nano Technologies, Thales) working on microphotonic technologies on "SNAP on a chip".

2. We expect direct applications of SNAP microresonator circuits in Microwave Photonics. In experimental tests of these circuits, we plan to collaborate with academic groups in the UK (Microwave Integrated Systems Laboratory, Birmingham University) and worldwide (Nonlinear Nanophotonics group, The University of Twente).

3. The prospective SNAP low repetition rate tuneable frequency comb generators may become the first ever robust comb generators with tuneable separation between the comb lines. We will continue to work on the realization of these devices within the EPSRC project EP/W002868/1, "Advanced Optical Frequency Comb Technologies and Applications," in collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

4. The exciting outcome of this project was the discovery of the "slow cooking" phenomenon. Besides the ability to fabricate SNAP microresonators with breakthrough picometre precision, we plan to use the designed microcapillary system for testing the interaction between liquid food and food container material. This work has been recently started by Dr Gabriella Gardosi in her Leverhulme Trust Project "Ultraprecise sensor to measure interactions between food and packaging materials".

5. Critically, the SNAP devices demonstrated to date have been the products of breakthrough experiments. To bring these devices to realistic applications and further increase their precision, it is necessary to develop a robust manufacturing process that attains both ultra-accurate reproducibility and scalability. The solution to this challenging and timely objective is planned as our major future research work.
Sectors Aerospace

Defence and Marine

Agriculture

Food and Drink

Chemicals

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Electronics

Healthcare

Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology
URL https://www.aston.ac.uk/research/eps/aipt/nanoscale-photonics
 
Description 1. Following our recent and ongoing collaboration, US Army Research Laboratory has created a SNAP laboratory similar to our SNAP lab at Aston University. The main goal of this ARL lab is to apply SNAP microresonators to the development of quantum networks. Recently, several research groups in Germany, Japan, China, and Israel started research on SNAP technology following our work. 2. The work on the project was reported in more than 15 papers published in highly rated peer-reviewed journals and, besides other conference presentations, in more than 20 invited talks at the major international conferences on optics and photonics. Our work attracted the interest of public media and was highlighted by the editorial article of the Electro Optics Magazine. 3. Our discovery of the slow cooking phenomenon allows us not only to fabricate new SNAP devices with unprecedented precision approaching a picometer but also paves the way for the creation of new ultra-accurate sensors for applications in the food industry for testing the liquid food contamination caused by the food containers. 4. Our proposal of the way to control the transportation of light by light at the microscale using a SNAP device fills the fundamental gap in the demonstrated so far transportation of matter by matter, light by matter, and matter by light at the microscale. 5. The results of this project pave the way for the creation of a robust and scalable SNAP flatform enabling the fabrication of photonics microdevices with unprecedented picometre precision required for several critical industrial applications of photonics in optical communications, ultraprecise sensing and quantum technologies.
First Year Of Impact 2019
Sector Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Agriculture, Food and Drink,Electronics,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology
Impact Types Societal
 
Description Light microtruck: controlled transportation of light by light at the microscale
Amount £214,347 (GBP)
Funding ID RPG-2022-014 
Organisation The Leverhulme Trust 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2022 
End 08/2025
 
Description MOCCA
Amount € 1,092,000 (EUR)
Funding ID H2020-EU.1.3.1. - Fostering new skills by means of excellent initial training of researchers, grant number 814147 
Organisation European Commission 
Sector Public
Country Belgium
Start 02/2019 
End 01/2023
 
Description Towards quantum SNAP technology
Amount £12,000 (GBP)
Funding ID IES\R1\231250 
Organisation The Royal Society 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2023 
End 08/2025
 
Description Ultraprecise sensor to measure interactions between food and packaging materials
Amount £426,177 (GBP)
Funding ID ECF-2023-713 
Organisation The Leverhulme Trust 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2023 
End 08/2026
 
Description the British Council Women in STEM Scholarships programme for 2023-24
Amount £180,000 (GBP)
Funding ID WISF22-002 
Organisation British Council 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2023 
End 12/2024
 
Title microfluidic sensor 
Description We developed the SNAP microfluidic sensor which can detect the spatial and temporary changes at the silica-liquid interface. We discovered permanent nanoscale changes at the liquid-surface interface. This discovery may lead to new method of diagnostics of containers for food industry. 
Type Of Material Technology assay or reagent 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact We believe that the developed microfluidic sensing device can be used in surface science and also for the investigation of the quality of packaging in food industry. We suggest that our discovery will allow us to fabricate SNAP structures with the record 0.01 angstrom precision in effective radius variation of optical fibre. 
 
Title SNAP simulation software 
Description We have developed the software for simulation of SNAP structures which can be applied to modeling of SNAP devices and explanation of their characteristics measured experimentally. The software allows us to extract the coupling parameters between the input-output waveguides and SNAP microresonators from the experimental data. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact This software is routinely used in our laboratory. In 2019, as a part of our collaboration, we have further developed and transferred this software package to US Army Research Laboratory. The software is available to other research groups apon reasonable request. 
 
Description Flat Endface 
Organisation Arden Photonics
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Arden Photonics is interested in commercialisation of SNAP technology and transferring the SNAP setup to a commercial product. In addition, Arden Photonics is interested in the application and test of the performance of their device Optical EndFace Interferometer for testing of the cut edges of fibres used for fabrication of SNAP devices in our lab.
Collaborator Contribution Arden Photonics advertises the revolutionary SNAP technology in their contact universities and industry companies. The quality of SNAP microresonators created at the end face of optical fibres significantly depend on the end face flatness. To test it and improve it we use the EndFace Interferometer provided by Arden Photonics which the support of their engineers.
Impact Robust tests of SNAP structures to improve their performance with the equipment of Arden Photonics
Start Year 2018
 
Description JET Propulsion Lab 
Organisation National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Department Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Country United States 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution In 2023 we started collaboration with the group of Dr A. Matsko at JET Propalsion Lab. The first result of this collaboration was our joint paper published Communications Physics journal in 2023. Dr Matsko plans to visit Aston university in June 2024 to discuss our future collaborion.
Collaborator Contribution Consultations and participation in writing a joint paper.
Impact Crespo-Ballesteros M, Matsko A, Sumetsky M. (2023). Optimized frequency comb spectrum of parametrically modulated bottle microresonators. Communications Physics, doi: 10.1038/s42005-023-01168-2
Start Year 2023
 
Description Microcapillaries 
Organisation OFS
Department OFS Labs
Country United States 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Two papers (in Optics Letters and Optica) were published in 2018 and one paper (ACS Photonics) was published in 2021 as a result of this collaboration. Several conference papers including our report at CLEO in 2022 was published as a result of this collaboration.
Collaborator Contribution OFS Laboratories fabricated thin-wall microcapillary fibers which were used in our laboratory for the creation of SNAP devices. In September 2019 OFS Laboratory fabricated and delivered to my group new set of optical microcapillary fibres for for our future experiments with SNAP devices. Currently OFS is working on fabrication of new set of microcapillaries for our future experiments. This fruitful collaboration resulted in demonstration of novel nonlocal fibre sensing platform reported in our joint invited paper at Photonics West 2024 conference.
Impact Our ongoing research using the microcapillaries fabricated at OFS Laboratories resulted in discovery of the effect of localization of light by a droplet (Optica 2018) and a new way of sensing the phenomena at the silica-liquid interface at nanoscale. As the result of this collaboration, new phenomenon which we called "slow cooking of SNAP microresonators" was discovered. In 2022 using these microcapillaries we demonstrated the record fabrication precision of SNAP microresonators of 1 picometre in cutoff frequency variation. This result pave the way to robust and reproducible fabrication of SNAP devices with close to picometre precision.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Optical frequency combs 
Organisation National Physical Laboratory
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We fabricated SNAP microresonators and submitted them to our collaborators in the NPL for verify their performance as optical frequency comb generators.
Collaborator Contribution The group of Dr Pascal Del'Haye tested our SNAP microresonators to evaluate their applicability for the optical frequency comb generation. During the period of Covid pandemic, our collaboration slowed down. Now we re-establish our collaboration with NPL through the new group leader Dr Jonathan Silver on both the theoretical and experimental aspects of optical frequency comb generation in SNAP microresonators.
Impact While the parabolic profile of fabricated microresonators was satisfactory, it was determined that the Q-factor of our SNAP resonators (typically 10^6) was not enough to generate the optical frequency comb spectrum. We continue our work on the improvement of the Q-factor of our microresonators.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Quantum SNAP 
Organisation US Army Research Lab
Department Army Research Office
Country United States 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution The postdoc was trained at our group to develop the SNAP technology at the US Army Research Laboratory. Two collaborative papers were published in Optics Letters in 2018.
Collaborator Contribution Two joint papers were published. Consultations on the applications of SNAP technology in quantum networks.
Impact A postdoc working at Aston University and funded by the Army Research Lab was trained to develop the SNAP technology at the Army Research Lab. In summer 2019 I worked at the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) on the development of SNAP. My research was partly funded by ARL. As a result of this collaboration, a SNAP lab similar to our SNAP lab at Aston university has been created at ARL.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Quantum SNAP 
Organisation US Army Research Lab
Country United States 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution The postdoc was trained at our group to develop the SNAP technology at the US Army Research Laboratory. Two collaborative papers were published in Optics Letters in 2018.
Collaborator Contribution Two joint papers were published. Consultations on the applications of SNAP technology in quantum networks.
Impact A postdoc working at Aston University and funded by the Army Research Lab was trained to develop the SNAP technology at the Army Research Lab. In summer 2019 I worked at the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) on the development of SNAP. My research was partly funded by ARL. As a result of this collaboration, a SNAP lab similar to our SNAP lab at Aston university has been created at ARL.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Quantum SNAP 2 
Organisation Penn State University
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Our recent discussion preliminary discussions of Prof Ozdemir, Penn State University (PSU) discovered new emerging applications of the SNAP technology in quantum optical networks and computers. In March 2023 we applied for an Royal Society International Exchanges grant with Prof Ozdemir which we beleive will lead to new applications of SNAP in quantum technologies and to writing a new expanded proposal on this topic. In 2023 The Grant has been awarded and in September 2023 our collaboration strated with the visit of Prof Sumetsky to Penn State universty and disccussion of our future collaboration.
Collaborator Contribution The group of prof Ozdemir has the critical expertise in quantum devices including optical microresonators operating single photons which is required for the development of quantum SNAP.
Impact Royal Society International Exchanges grant, Sept 2023-Aug 2025
Start Year 2023
 
Title Control of resonant optical evanescent coupling between waveguides and resonators 
Description We have developed a method of determining evanescent coupling parameters of a waveguide coupled to a SNAP resonator of an input-output waveguide configured to provide electromagnetic field into the resonator. This method comprises: measurement of a Jones matrix spectrum of the coupled waveguide and resonator at each of multiple contact positions x along the resonator with fixed z; calculating a transmission spectrum of the coupled waveguide and resonator at each of the multiple contact positions x;generating a 2D s pectrogram by combining the calculated transmission spectrum of the coupled waveguide and resonator at each of the multiple contact positions x; estimating resonator parameters by fitting a resonator model to a 1D axial resonance spectrum derived from the 2D spectrogram; fitting a coupled WG/resonator model to a subset of 2D spectrogram data to estimate coupling parameters using estimated resonator parameters. 
IP Reference US20220390677A1 
Protection Patent / Patent application
Year Protection Granted 2021
Licensed No
Impact The developed method is important for succesful design and fabrication of different types of SNAP microresonators and, in particular, microresonators used in this project. It is important for the further development of the SNAP technology.
 
Title SNAP setup 
Description The SNAP setup for fabrication and characterization of SNAP devices 
Type Of Technology Systems, Materials & Instrumental Engineering 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact We have assembled the SNAP fabrication and characterization setup to be used and further developed on the course of this project. This setup has been upgraded for fabrication of SNAP structures at the surface of optical capillaries. 
 
Title surface-liquid interface sensor 
Description Based on the SNAP technology, we have demonstrated a new optical capillary device sensing the phenomena in the nanoscale vicinity of the silica-liquid interface. 
Type Of Technology Detection Devices 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact The demonstrated prototype structure can be used for the fabrication of new micro-devices with applications in telecommunications, surface science, and food industry. 
 
Description 3rd International AiPT Workshop FreQomb: Optical Frequency Combs 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The three-day event was held in person at the University from 29 November-1 December and brought together world-leading researchers and companies within the field. Academics from America, Australiasia and Europe attended the event along with representatives from companies including Enlightra Lab, Lambda Photometrics, NKT Photonics, Pilot Photonics and Toptica. The three days were devoted to the rapidly developing field of optical frequency combs and included talks, equipment demonstrations, a lab tour, a poster session and two roundtable discussions. The topics covered spanned the latest developments in innovative sources using lasers, waveguides and microresonators. Additionally, the workshop explored novel nonlinear dynamics effects in optical resonators, along with diverse applications of optical frequency combs in astronomy, quantum technologies, telecoms, and photonic computing. Professor Kerry Vahala from California Institute of Technology, Professor Scott Diddams from NIST at the University of Colorado and assistant professor Kiyoul Yang from Harvard University were among the attendees from the United States. In addition, Professor Harald Schwefel from University of Otago, New Zealand, Professor Arnan Mitchell from RMIT University, Australia, Professor Jérôme Faist from ETH Zürich, Switzerland, Professor. Alessia Pasquazi, Loughborough University and Prof Zhixin Liu from UCL in the UK attended.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://events.astonphotonics.uk/freqomb-workshop-30-nov-1-dec-2023/
 
Description Optical Frequency Combs Workshop at Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The workshop brought together leading researchers in the field of optical frequency combs science and technology to discuss its fundamentals, applications, and future opportunities. The topics covered included recent development of innovative sources based on lasers, waveguides and microresonators, novel nonlinear dynamics effects in optical resonators, and diverse applications of optical frequency combs in astronomy, quantum technologies, and photonic computing.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://events.astonphotonics.uk/comb2022/
 
Description Presentation of the project at the AiPT Open Labs 2023 event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact At our AiPT Open Labs Event, AiPT researchers working on SNAP technology gave talks about their latest research, share insights at interactive posters, and showcase innovative technologies at live demonstrations in our laboratories. The event was intended to promote greater interaction among AiPT members and openly exhibit our research activities. During the Open Labs session, researchers discussed their research, demonstrated technologies, and explained concepts.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://events.astonphotonics.uk/aipt-open-labs-7-june-2023/
 
Description lab tours 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact In 2018-2019 and in 2022 we organized three tours to our lab for the school pupils and their parents. In 2018-2023 (with the break caused by Covid pandemic) we had organized numerous tours to our lab for the academic and industrial visitors of Aston University.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019,2020,2022,2023
URL https://www.aston.ac.uk/research/eps/aipt/nanoscale-photonics