UV light sources based on solid silica fibres
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Optoelectronics Research Ctr (closed)
Abstract
Optical fibre lasers offer significant benefits in comparison to other laser sources, such as extremely low thermal lensing, extraordinary good beam quality and very high plug efficiency. Optical fibre lasers have worldwide sales in excess of $300M and a predicted annual growth rate of 20-40%, thus are rapidly replacing other types of more conventional lasers. Indeed, the increasing deployment of high power fibre lasers in manufacturing has improved consumption efficiency.
Up to date only near-IR sources have been manufactured in fiberized forms. The challenge is to develop new fiberized sources in the mid-UV. The successful manufacture of optical fibre lasers would have numerous applications which include, amongst others, water purification, insulators (such as plastics or glass) marking and processing, explosive detection, forensics and counter measures.
This projects aim to demonstrate the possibility to use solid silica fibres to efficiently generate light in the UV. The proposed programme spans from the manufacture of specialty silica fibres transparent to the UV, doped with novel lasing elements, the design of fiberized laser pumps, and their combination in suitable systems to produce a new generation of affordable higher performance lasers.
A variety of lasers with wavelength in the range 170nm to 330 nm will be developed and their applications in Raman spectroscopy and supercontinuum generation will be investigated.
Up to date only near-IR sources have been manufactured in fiberized forms. The challenge is to develop new fiberized sources in the mid-UV. The successful manufacture of optical fibre lasers would have numerous applications which include, amongst others, water purification, insulators (such as plastics or glass) marking and processing, explosive detection, forensics and counter measures.
This projects aim to demonstrate the possibility to use solid silica fibres to efficiently generate light in the UV. The proposed programme spans from the manufacture of specialty silica fibres transparent to the UV, doped with novel lasing elements, the design of fiberized laser pumps, and their combination in suitable systems to produce a new generation of affordable higher performance lasers.
A variety of lasers with wavelength in the range 170nm to 330 nm will be developed and their applications in Raman spectroscopy and supercontinuum generation will be investigated.
Planned Impact
This project aims to demonstrate the possibility to manufacture UV light sources from solid silica optical fibres. The main application of this proposal outcome resides in the industrial exploitation for the many applications where high intensity and short wavelength are fundamental: security, forensic, water/food sterilization, insulator marking/processing.
The UK economy has important players in all these fields. For example, Renishaw is world leader in the manufacture of metrology systems to be used for forensic and explosive detection, SPI lasers and Fianium are major manufacturers of optical fibre lasers for marking/processing, a number of companies provide UV water sterilization systems.
In the report "The worldwide Market for Lasers: Market Review and Forecast 2012" from Strategies Unlimited, in 2012 the global market for near-IR optical fibre lasers passed the $300m mark and the UK holds more than 10% of it, most of which in the companies spun off from the ORC. Applications are now limited mainly to metal processing. The possibility to extend the operational range outside the near-IR would allow for the processing of insulators as plastics and glasses and increase the fraction of laser marked ($7b) taken over by optical fibre lasers. Fianium (project partner) will investigate this possibility and provide the project with market specifications and investigate ways to exploit the results commercially.
In addition, the use of UV Raman for the remote detection of explosives and the measurement of traces of narcotics has been developed in the UK. Renishaw Ltd (project partner) firstly exploited commercially these systems and is currently the world leader of UV Raman spectrometers for applications ranging from forensic to security and gemmology. The use of fiberised sources will improve the signal to noise ratio in Raman systems by increasing the spectral density of exciting light allowing for fast measurements and clearer identification of single molecules.
Finally, UV sources are currently used in a range of sterilization and purification plants which range from swimming pools to drinking water plants to waste water treatment units. The Drinking Water Inspectorate reported that "to ensure microbiologically clean seawater it is a requirement in England and Wales for purification systems to be filled via the operational UV" and plans in the next 5 years to investigate the effect of UV radiation on the production of new chemicals in water.
The manufacture of UV light sources will have huge benefits an all these fields. It is predicted that the industrial connections of this project will facilitate the technology transfer from academia to the industry, with a demonstrator being planned at the end of this project.
On a long term (10-50 years) basis, it is reasonable to assume that the market for UV fibre sources will continue to increase and replace more conventional lasers, especially for application in the processing and marking of insulators like plastics and glasses. Similarly, as two of the largest manufacturers of optical fibre lasers are based in the UK, it is realistic to expect that the fraction of the world laser market taken over by British companies will increase.
The UK economy has important players in all these fields. For example, Renishaw is world leader in the manufacture of metrology systems to be used for forensic and explosive detection, SPI lasers and Fianium are major manufacturers of optical fibre lasers for marking/processing, a number of companies provide UV water sterilization systems.
In the report "The worldwide Market for Lasers: Market Review and Forecast 2012" from Strategies Unlimited, in 2012 the global market for near-IR optical fibre lasers passed the $300m mark and the UK holds more than 10% of it, most of which in the companies spun off from the ORC. Applications are now limited mainly to metal processing. The possibility to extend the operational range outside the near-IR would allow for the processing of insulators as plastics and glasses and increase the fraction of laser marked ($7b) taken over by optical fibre lasers. Fianium (project partner) will investigate this possibility and provide the project with market specifications and investigate ways to exploit the results commercially.
In addition, the use of UV Raman for the remote detection of explosives and the measurement of traces of narcotics has been developed in the UK. Renishaw Ltd (project partner) firstly exploited commercially these systems and is currently the world leader of UV Raman spectrometers for applications ranging from forensic to security and gemmology. The use of fiberised sources will improve the signal to noise ratio in Raman systems by increasing the spectral density of exciting light allowing for fast measurements and clearer identification of single molecules.
Finally, UV sources are currently used in a range of sterilization and purification plants which range from swimming pools to drinking water plants to waste water treatment units. The Drinking Water Inspectorate reported that "to ensure microbiologically clean seawater it is a requirement in England and Wales for purification systems to be filled via the operational UV" and plans in the next 5 years to investigate the effect of UV radiation on the production of new chemicals in water.
The manufacture of UV light sources will have huge benefits an all these fields. It is predicted that the industrial connections of this project will facilitate the technology transfer from academia to the industry, with a demonstrator being planned at the end of this project.
On a long term (10-50 years) basis, it is reasonable to assume that the market for UV fibre sources will continue to increase and replace more conventional lasers, especially for application in the processing and marking of insulators like plastics and glasses. Similarly, as two of the largest manufacturers of optical fibre lasers are based in the UK, it is realistic to expect that the fraction of the world laser market taken over by British companies will increase.
Publications
Jiang X
(2020)
Coherently enhanced third-harmonic generation in cascaded microfibers
in Optics Letters
He J
(2019)
High-Peak-Power Tunable Source at 550 nm From a Frequency-Doubled Yb-Doped Fiber MOPA
in IEEE Photonics Technology Letters
Wang Y
(2019)
Gadolinium: The Forgotten Rare Earth in Silica Doping
Jiang X
(2019)
Enhanced UV third-harmonic generation in microfibers by controlling nonlinear phase modulations.
in Optics letters
Grivas C
(2018)
Generation of Multi-Gigahertz Trains of Phase-Coherent Femtosecond Laser Pulses in Ti:Sapphire Waveguides
in Laser & Photonics Reviews
Jiang X
(2018)
Optimized microfiber-based third-harmonic generation with adaptive control of phase mismatch.
in Optics letters
Donko A
(2018)
Point-by-point femtosecond laser micro-processing of independent core-specific fiber Bragg gratings in a multi-core fiber
in Optics Express
He J
(2018)
56 kW peak power, nanosecond pulses at 274 nm from a frequency quadrupled Yb-doped fiber MOPA
in Optics Express
Jiang X
(2017)
Fundamental-mode third harmonic generation in microfibers by pulse-induced quasi-phase matching.
in Optics express
Wang Y
(2017)
Ultraviolet photoluminescence in Gd-doped silica and phosphosilicate fibers
in APL Photonics
Pidishety S
(2017)
Orbital angular momentum beam excitation using an all-fiber weakly fused mode selective coupler.
in Optics letters
Brambilla G
(2017)
Nonlinear optics in nanofibers
Wang Y
(2017)
All-fiber sixth-harmonic generation of deep UV.
in Optics letters
Donko A
(2017)
Femtosecond inscription and thermal testing of Bragg gratings in high concentration (40 mol%) germania-doped optical fibre
in Optics Express
Ismaeel R
(2016)
Removing the Directional Degeneracy of LP 11 Mode in a Fused-Type Mode Selective Coupler
in Journal of Lightwave Technology
Abdul Khudus MIM
(2016)
UV generation in silica optical fibres: from rare earth doping to nonlinear optics in nanofibers
Brambilla G
(2016)
[INVITED] Optical microfibre devices
in Optics & Laser Technology
Khudus MI
(2016)
All-fiber fourth and fifth harmonic generation from a single source.
in Optics express
Wang Y
(2016)
UV light generation in optical fibres
Wang Y
(2016)
UV generation in silica fibres
Ismaeel R
(2016)
Polarization Maintaining Mode Selective Coupler
Abdul Khudus MI
(2016)
Phase matched parametric amplification via four-wave mixing in optical microfibers.
in Optics letters
Brambilla G
(2016)
Specialty optical fibres and devices for the internet of things
Abdul Khudus M
(2015)
Harmonic Generation Via ? 3 Intermodal Phase Matching in Microfibers
in Fiber and Integrated Optics
Huang T
(2015)
Coupling-length phase matching for efficient third-harmonic generation based on parallel-coupled waveguides.
in Optics letters
Abdul Khudus M.I.M.
(2015)
Parametric up- and down-conversion in sub-wavelength waveguides: coherent sources in the UV and IR
Khudus MI
(2015)
Effect of intrinsic surface roughness on the efficiency of intermodal phase matching in silica optical nanofibers.
in Optics letters
Ismaeel R.
(2014)
Glass nanowires for nonlinear optics and sensing: a top - down approach
Abdul Khudus, MIM
(2014)
Parametric chi3 light generation in subwavelength waveguides,
in Proceedings of ACP2014
Sun Y
(2014)
Analysis of one-third harmonic generation in waveguides
in Journal of the Optical Society of America B
| Description | 1) UV lasing has been demonstrated in Gd-doped silica glass; 2) lasing from a forbidden transition has been observed; 3) a previously unknown photodarkening effect has been observed when using ns lasers to pump Gd-doped silica and silicate glasses; 4) UV light can be generated using very short (1cm) tapered optical fibres using cascaded nonlinear effects; 5) intrinsic surface ripples given by the nature of the material fabrication are a significant limit to the efficiency achievable with third harmonic generation; 6) four wave mixing can produce UV and has less limitations given by intrinsic surface ripples. 7) Gd-doped preforms exhibit strong fluorescence at 0.3um when pumped at the absorption lines of Gd3+ ion. 8) Gd doped silica fibres exhibit a strong fluorescence at ~0.31um; 9) Gd-doped phosphosilicate fibres also exhibit strong fluorescence at 0.31um when pumped at 0.25 or 0.27um. |
| Exploitation Route | non-academic: the investigation og Gd-doped glasses resulted in three patents. one on devices capable to generate non-uniform phase beams, one on new magneto optical material and one on in-fibre mirrors. This last two patents have attracted significant interest for industrial applications in isolators and in distribute sensing. |
| Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Construction,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Energy,Environment,Security and Diplomacy |
| Description | Methodology partly developed in this award has been used as the basis to set-up a company commercialising specialty fibres with enhanced backscattering |
| First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Energy,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Security and Diplomacy |
| Description | ACTPHAST |
| Amount | € 40,621 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | P2014 - 63 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Department | Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 10/2015 |
| End | 03/2016 |
| Description | Giant magneto-optic response in rare-earth doped glasses and manufacturing of related devices and sensors |
| Amount | £806,862 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/S013776/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2019 |
| End | 12/2021 |
| Description | Industry |
| Amount | $69,607 (USD) |
| Funding ID | HO2016050002A9 |
| Organisation | Huawei Technologies |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | China |
| Start | 01/2017 |
| End | 01/2018 |
| Description | Laser assisted manufacturing of taps for high power fibre laser |
| Amount | £108,682 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 12/2018 |
| End | 03/2020 |
| Description | Nanobaths for DNA analysis |
| Amount | £140,896 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/M018962/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2015 |
| End | 04/2017 |
| Description | Seventh Framework Programme (FP7): P2015 - 36 - ACTPHAST |
| Amount | € 63,722 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | P2015 - 36 - ACTPHAST |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Department | Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 09/2016 |
| End | 09/2017 |
| Description | Zepler Institute |
| Amount | £16,882 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Southampton |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2016 |
| End | 07/2016 |
| Description | China Scholarship Council |
| Organisation | Guangdong University of Technology |
| Country | China |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | provided experimental set-up and software |
| Collaborator Contribution | 12 months scholarship for ass. prof. Xiujuan Jiang |
| Impact | 1 conference paper |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Renishaw |
| Organisation | Renishaw PLC |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Access to equipment and to data originated from simulations. Experiments that resulted in the generation of UV light using four wave mixing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expertise on second harmonic generation in all fibre systems. This source was used to generate UV using four wave mixing in optical fibre tapers. |
| Impact | This collaboration produced three joint publications (DOI: 10.1364/OE.24.021777, 10.1364/OL.41.000761, 10.1117/12.2227585 ). |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | SPI Lasers |
| Organisation | SPI Lasers UK |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Use of SPI Lasers 150W 915nm pump towards the UV laser pumping set-up |
| Collaborator Contribution | SPI lasers provided an array of 919nm diode lasers providing a total output of up to 150W. |
| Impact | The main outcome of this collaboration is the enhanced set-up used to pump the UV laser. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Sol-gel Rare earth samples |
| Organisation | University of Milano-Bicocca |
| Department | Department of Mathematics and its Applications |
| Country | Italy |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | pulled fibres out of samples provided by collaborators and used for the project. generated common IP |
| Collaborator Contribution | provided several sol-gel samples, with sizes suitable for fibre drawing (1cm diameter, 7cm long) generated common IP |
| Impact | 14 joint publications, 1 patent, 1 patent application |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Title | FUSED FIBRE COUPLERS, AND APPARATUSES AND METHODS FOR THE MANUFACTURE AND USE THEREOF |
| Description | A fused fibre coupler comprising: a single mode fibre, SMF, and an orbital angular momentum fibre, OAMF, the fibres having a coupling portion in which the fibres are longitudinally aligned side by side and fused at least over a coupling length in which the SMF and OAMF are tapered such that the diameter of the SMF and the diameter of the OAMF give the fibres matching effective refractive indices for a single mode of the SMF and an orbital angular momentum, OAM, mode of the OAMF for a coupled wavelength of light. |
| IP Reference | WO2017207952 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2017 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | none yet |
| Title | MAGNETIC FIELD SENSORS, METHODS OF DETECTING A MAGNETIC FIELD, AND RELATED MAGNETICALLY RESPONSIVE LIGHT PROPAGATING COMPONENTS AND OPTICAL DEVICES |
| Description | The application relates to the technical field of magnetic field sensors. In particular, the application relates to magnetic field sensors incorporating magnetically responsive light propagating components formed to be usable as Faraday rotators, in particular in fibre form. The application also relates to other optical apparatus incorporating the magnetically responsive light propagating components. |
| IP Reference | GB1719576.9 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2017 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | Filed in November 2017 |
| Title | OPTICAL FIBRE SENSING |
| Description | The present disclosure relates to apparatus and methods for sensing using an optical fibre. Aspects of the invention relate to a sensor system, a detection device, an optical fibre, a method of manufacture of an optical fibre and a sensing method. |
| IP Reference | GB1802708.6 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2018 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | Patent application filed on 20 Feb 2018 |
| Company Name | SABDAH PHOTONICS LIMITED |
| Description | Sabdah commercializes specialty fibres with enhanced response for distributed acoustic sensing. |
| Year Established | 2019 |
| Impact | None, yet. Waiting for University of Southampton RIS legal team to formalise IP licencing agreement |