National Hub in High Value Photonic Manufacturing

Lead Research Organisation: University of Southampton
Department Name: Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC)

Abstract

Photonics is one of six EU "Key Enabling Technologies. The US recently announced a $200M programme for Integrated Photonics Manufacturing to improve its competiveness. As a UK response, the research proposed here will advance the pervasive technologies for future manufacturing identified in the UK Foresight report on the Future of Manufacturing, improving the manufacturability of optical sensors, functional materials, and energy-efficient growth in the transmission, manipulation and storage of data. Integration is the key to low-cost components and systems. The Hub will address the grand challenge of optimising multiple cross-disciplinary photonic platform technologies to enable integration through developing low-cost fabrication processes. This dominant theme unites the requirements of the UK photonics (and photonics enabled) industry, as confirmed by our consultation with over 40 companies, Catapults, and existing CIMs.
Uniquely, following strong UK investment in photonics, we include most of the core photonic platforms available today in our Hub proposal that exploits clean room facilities valued at £200M. Research will focus on both emerging technologies having greatest potential impact on industry, and long-standing challenges in existing photonics technology where current manufacturing processes have hindered industrial uptake. Platforms will include:
Metamaterials: One of the challenges in metamaterials is to develop processes for low-cost and high-throughput manufacturing. Advanced metamaterials produced in laboratories depend on slow, expensive production processes such as electron beam writing and are difficult to produce in large sizes or quantities. To secure industrial take up across a wide variety of practical applications, manufacturing methods that allow nanostructure patterning across large areas are required. Southampton hosts a leading metamaterials group led by Prof Zheludev and is well positioned to leverage current/future EPSRC research investments, as well as its leading intellectual property position in metamaterials.
High-performance special optical fibres: Although fibres in the UV and mid-IR spectral range have been made, few are currently commercial owing to issues with reliability, performance, integration and manufacturability. This platform will address the manufacturing scalability of special fibres for UV, mid-IR and for ultrahigh power sources, as requested by current industrial partners. Integration with III-V sources and packaging issues will also be addressed, as requested by companies exploiting special fibres in laser-based applications. In the more conventional near-infrared wavelength regime, we will focus on designs and processes to make lasers and systems cheaper, more efficient and more reliable.
Integrated Silicon Photonics: has made major advances in the functionality that has been demonstrated at the chip level. Arguably, it is the only platform that potentially offers full integration of all the key components required for optical circuit functionality at low cost, which is no doubt why the manufacturing giant, Intel, has invested so much. The key challenge remains to integrate silicon with optical fibre devices, III-V light sources and the key components of wafer-level manufacture such as on line test and measurement. The Hub includes the leading UK group in silicon photonics led by Prof Graham Reed.
III-V devices: Significant advances have been made in extending the range of III-V light sources to the mid-IR wavelength region, but key to maximise their impact is to enable their integration with optical fibres and other photonics platforms, by simultaneous optimisation of the III-V and surrounding technologies. A preliminary mapping of industrial needs has shown that integration with metamaterial components optimised for mid-IR would be highly desirable. Sheffield hosts the EPSRC III-V Centre and adds a powerful light emitting dimension to the Hub.

Planned Impact

Our vision is to create a hub that is the Go-To place for the UK photonics industry who are interested in:
1. Improving existing manufacturing processes for production of photonics components
2. Supply of prototype components and sub-systems to their designs
3. A one-stop-shop for trialling user ideas and developing new manufacturing processes
In addition to this user pull, the Hub will push out new processes that enable hitherto difficult or expensive
device/component ideas resulting from EPSRC investments in advanced photonics research. The Hub will work at TRL 2- 3 and will provide the currently-absent manufacturing research component of the TRL chain within the UK photonics infrastructure. Much of photonics is clean-room based (III-V semiconductors, fibres, silicon photonics, metamaterials) and we believe the UK suffers from not having a clear route from its physics-based research investments, through development of devices, to prototype production using new processes, before finally handing on to mid-TRL entities (e.g. HVM Catapult) or direct to industry for incorporating into trial systems and prototypes. Currently, this photons-to-production value chain does not have a broad physics-based ideas engine to underpin it. Thus UK Photonics plc is constrained to buy products already on the market from (usually) foreign companies (fibres, silicon waveguides, etc.) that puts them at a competitive disadvantage, since their competitors can do the same.. Our own commercial experience shows the advantage of investing in TRL 2-3 processes, e.g. Fibrecore, approximately £10m turnover, the world-leading special fibre production company and SPI Lasers who transferred their entire production processes from Southampton. Both now supply special fibre and fibre lasers throughout the UK photonics industry. We will do the same for each of our platform technologies and can offer £200M of clean room investment as a national resource for industry.
Examples of impact of the photonics production engine (i.e. the Hub) are as follows:
Metamaterials: lenses and arrays, polarises and isolators, dispersion compensators, electro/magneto-optical modulators, spatial light-modulators.
Fibres: Ultrasensitive distributed gas and chemical sensors, radiation-hard, fibres, low-latency fibre cables for data centres, connectorised mid-IR power delivery cables (100W) for surgical, industrial sensing and defence applications, kW-class ultra-reliable pulsed fibre lasers systems for industrial materials processing.
III/V Semi-conductors: Integrated light sources on silicon through CMOS-compatible processes, high-power fibrecompatible pump lasers at new wave lengths, mid-IR sources compatible with both silicon photonics and fibre devices.
Silicon photonics: Photonic-electronic convergence designed for integration on a silicon platform, metamaterials, plasmonics devices on silicon, special fibres for interlinking silicon devices in data centres
The above is a small selection from a list of over one hundred devices we have in mind that require new processes to make them faster, cheaper, better. All have seen early-stage demonstration, and have excited industry, but are currently impractical for lack of a low-cost robust manufacturing process. Through our industrial and mid- and high TRL collaborators these innovations and their enabling processes will have direct impact in defence, security, healthcare, communications and the wider UK high value manufacturing sector.
The Hub will thus provide the missing foundations to support the currently-disconnected UK photonics infrastructure and embed EPSRC's major investments in physics-based photonics into the early stage of the supply chain. Currently, much of EPSRC's investment is taken up abroad and our vision is to change this by providing the innovation engine for UK Photonics plc. This will have a major impact on the way it does business.

Organisations

 
Description The Photonics Hub aims to produce research at low TRL levels that will improve manufacturing by optimising multiple photonic platform technologies such as 2D materials, optical fibres, silicon photonics and light generation/delivery. Additionally, the grand challenge aims to enable integration through developing low-cost fabrication processes. Research has been driven both by emerging technologies with potential industrial impact, and industry-driven projects on specific topics of interest to our industrial partners. The Hub has developed manufacturing technologies related to 4 platforms, namely:

- HIGH PERFORMANCE OPTICAL FIBRES. Although fibres in the near and mid-IR spectral range have been made, few are currently commercial owing to issues with reliability, performance, integration and manufacturability. This platform has started to address the manufacturing scalability of special fibres for visible and near/mid-IR, and for ultrahigh power sources, as requested by current industrial partners. The scalability of the manufacturing process of hollow core silica fibres for high power delivery and low-latency telecom has continued with preforms capable to deliver ~10km of fibres being developed. Simultaneously, a new class of optical fibres for fibre lasers has been developed, to optimise the power output in single mode operation.
Hollow core fibre manufacturing has moved from Photonics Bandgap Fibres towards Antiresonant Fibres, which have the benefits of wider transmission bandwidths, a smaller glass overlap and loss limited by leakage loss. Low-loss has been achieved in fibres optimised for operation in the near-IR and visible, with values lower than conventional solid core telecom fibres. A record low loss (<0.2dB/km) has been achieved in the telecom window at 1.55um. A connector between hollow core fibre and single mode fibre has been developed which provided very low insertion loss (0.9dB), low back reflection (-48dB) and good modal quality (higher order modes (HOMs) content is suppressed by 21dB relative to the fundamental mode). Multicore and multiple multimode core fibres have been fabricated using the stack and draw technique. Devices such as fan-in-fan-out couplers and multicore amplifier in the telecom wavelength region have been developed for mode division multiplexing.
Research on LMA fibres has focused on Single-Trench-Fibre (STF), a novel LMA fibre design comprising an all-solid fibre structure that can be made using conventional fibre manufacturing technologies. The STF design functions were based on the selective loss mechanism of modes for single-mode operation. The modal properties, including effective mode area of the fundamental mode (FM) and the losses of FM and HOMs have been investigated. Er-doped STFs with an ultra-low NA of 0.04 and core diameter up to 60 µm were fabricated using conventional Modified Chemical Vapour Deposition (MCVD) and solution doping techniques. Characterisation of these fibres has revealed remarkable HOM suppression performance, while high power tests showed a good laser efficiency (> 45%) at 1.55 µm.

- LIGHT GENERATION AND DELIVERY: Significant advances have been made in extending the range of III-V light sources to the mid-IR wavelength region, but key to maximise their impact is to enable their integration with optical fibres and other photonics platforms, by simultaneous optimisation of the III-V and surrounding technologies. Analysis conducted within the Hub has determined that low power and low voltage operation of such devices will be critical to achieve the required level of integration. A new approach to the problem has been initiated and designs of inter band-cascade lasers have been developed. Our research also aims to develop a convincing micro-display demonstrator which harnesses our patented, super-efficient Hybrid LED technology, using quantum dots to generate light of any colour from a standard blue LED chip. This technology represents a paradigm shift in efficiency for LEDs, having recorded 123% effective colour conversion efficiency for multi-coloured LEDs. In contrast to a standard LED which uses a simple optical energy transfer mechanism to generate white light, our Hybrid technology employs both optical and electrical energy transfer mechanisms simultaneously and circumvents optical losses, to achieve greater than 100% colour conversion efficiency for a wide range of colours from a single blue LED chip. Devices we have made over the last 12 months are suitable for general lighting applications. The ability to shrink down the size of the LEDs enables us to manufacture high density arrays of super-high efficiency colour tuneable LEDs and opens up new opportunities in the wearable display market.
New fibre structures based on a tubular core surround, connected to a Kagome-style lattice cladding, have also been developed and refined. These have been designed to enable easier fibre fabrication, cleaving and splicing. Strong links to end-users of Kagome fibres for mid-IR power delivery applications have been established, including supplying samples for use in the medical industry and a healthcare-related collaboration with the University of Oxford (temporary spoke) on laser delivery at 3.1 µm for use in diagnosing lung disease and breathe analysis.
Finally, amplifiers have been developed to amplify short pulse lasers operating in the 2 um wavelength region. There is a growing demand for this type of lasers and applications demand higher and higher output power, for which adequate amplifiers are necessary. We have identified the germanate family of glasses as one of the most promising materials for developing ultra-compact fibre amplifiers operating at 2 um wavelengths. Through numerous experimental iterations, we have designed a glass composition and developed a reproducible synthesis process. The glass material we have developed offers an ideal combination of thermo-mechanical properties, high concentration doping in amplifying Tm3+ ions and suitable transparency across the mid-infrared region. We are currently optimising the maximum doping level, in order to achieve optical amplifiers as short as 1cm. these will be used in the final boosted amplification stage of a mast oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) chain in order to achieve record high peak powers whilst suppressing undesirable nonlinear effects.

- 2D MATERIALS. One of the challenges in 2D materials and metamaterials is to develop processes for low-cost and high-throughput manufacturing. Advanced 2D materials produced in laboratories depend on slow, expensive production processes such as electron beam writing and are difficult to produce in large sizes or quantities. Manufacturing methods that allow nanostructure patterning across large areas are are being developed to secure industrial take up across a wide variety of practical applications.
2D (including graphene, MoS2, WS2, MoSe2, WSe2, Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3, and h-BN) materials and thin films have been manufactured by chemical vapour deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), and Van der Waals Epitaxy (VdWE), to provide wafer-scale processing and transfer methods which meet the industrial needs. The investigation of different protocols have allowed to minimise the surface roughness and decrease the effect of grain boundaries, thus to optimise the optical and electrical properties.
The most recent work has focused on developing deposition and fabrication techniques for new material structures for metamaterials including self-assembled metasurfaces, phase change chalcogenide films and tuneable plasmonic nanostructures. Using high-throughput physical vapour deposition and characterization techniques we are exploring the potential of chalcogenides as compositionally-tuneable alternatives to noble metals for UV-VIS plasmonics, metasurfaces and 'epsilon-near-zero' photonics. Binary (Bi:Te and Sb:Te) and ternary (Bi:Sb:Te) alloys are found to exhibit a plasmonic response (a negative value of the real part of relative permittivity e1) in their amorphous and/or crystalline states at UV/VIS wavelengths. We continue to develop nanomechanical metamaterial device functionalities: During this reporting period we have demonstrated a reflective light modulator based upon a dynamic Salisbury screen. We have also developing approaches to the integration of metasurfaces and active metadevices with optical fibre platforms by realizing a fully fiberized and packaged metadevice for all-optical signal modulation based on coherent absorption.

- SILICON PHOTONICS. This platform potentially offers full integration of all the key components required for optical circuit functionality at low cost. Southampton and Sheffield have worked to find optimal ways in which to integrate Quantum Cascade Lasers onto the Silicon platform. Our research has focused on the fabrication of Ge-on-Si, suspended-Si and suspended-Ge platforms and their characterisation at longer wavelengths. We have fabricated devices in these 3 platforms and characterised them at a range of wavelengths using new experimental setups that we built in 2017. The key achievements of our research are: a) Realisation of low loss suspended Si waveguides suitable for sensing applications that operate up to 8 micrometers, which is the transparency limit of silicon. b) Demonstration of a low-loss Ge-on-Si platform operating up to 8.5 micrometers. c) Improving the fabrication of suspended Ge waveguides. d) Designing passive Si photonics circuits suitable for integration with quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) fabricated in Sheffield.

- INTEGRATION. The main aim of this work package, overarching all the four platforms, is the integration of the four platforms with a particular eye on cost reduction, manufacturing efficiency, and the capture of 'smart' value at component level. We have developed a multi-strand approach to integration, from design through to applications development and have used inputs from other work packages, collaborations with industry, and temporary spokes enabled by the Hub innovation fund to further the research in this work package. New fabrication methods for compatible semiconductor devices have been developed, and working with the University of Strathclyde and Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics, we have demonstrated the successful transfer of mid-infra red lasers from the growth substrate to a host Silicon substrate; thereby establishing the initial stages of a method for fabricating Photonics Integrated Circuits (PICs). Applications in the medical field are being explored with the University of Oxford, in the metrology field through working with the Future Metrology Hub, and in the quantum, displays and optical storage fields with industrial collaborators. Initial discussions with the compound semiconductor Catapult have taken place to explore reliability analysis.
Exploitation Route The photonics Hub has carried out both research on key photonic platforms and targeted industrial projects. These last efforts have been used by companies towards the commercialization of products.
Sectors Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Security and Diplomacy
 
Description The Future Hub in Photonics supports 4 major research platforms (2D materials, optical fibres, silicon photonics and light generation and delivery) and the grand challenge of integration to develop novel manufacturing technologies for the industry. Over 80 targeted projects have been funded by the industry with ~£20M over the last seven years. These technologies are being exploited by the industrial partners for the improvement of their products and the development of novel products / technologies, some of which are being exploited in a newly formed start-up (Lumenisity Ltd), which has been acquired by Microsoft.
First Year Of Impact 2016
Sector Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology
Impact Types Societal,Economic
 
Description Consultation with Department of Digital Culture Media and Sports
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
 
Description Contribution to strategy document on UK research infrastructure
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
URL http://www.ukri.org/research/infrastructure
 
Description Ofcom Report
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Citation in other policy documents
Impact Provides a roadmap for next generation of broadband and national internet backbone communications
URL https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/211115/report-emerging-technologies.pdf
 
Description Provide information for the Technical Education Bill
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
 
Description Recognition on UKRI Website
Geographic Reach Europe 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact Recognises the impact of sustained government research funding on the creation of employment and wealth in the local community and worldwide. Notes the creation of a cluster of companies that owe their origins to the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton.
URL https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20210821080008/https://epsrc.ukri.org/newsevents/ca...
 
Description Royal Society consultation on mechanisms to recognise the contribution of industrial researchers
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Membership of a guideline committee
 
Description Set-up All-Party Parliamentary Group on Photonics
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
URL https://photonicsuk.org/appg-photonics/
 
Description 'Hetero-print': A holistic approach to transfer-printing for heterogeneous integration in manufacturing
Amount £5,541,652 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/R03480X/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2018 
End 05/2023
 
Description ACTPHAST
Amount € 73,535 (EUR)
Organisation European Union 
Sector Public
Country European Union (EU)
Start 01/2017 
 
Description Add-on Fabrication
Amount £3,500 (GBP)
Organisation Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies 
Sector Academic/University
Country Italy
Start 03/2019 
End 06/2019
 
Description Agile Quantum Safe Communications (AQuaSec)
Amount £5,802,826 (GBP)
Funding ID 104615 
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 11/2018 
End 03/2021
 
Description Bespoke Fabrication
Amount £16,000 (GBP)
Organisation University College Cork 
Department Tyndall National Institute
Sector Academic/University
Country Ireland
Start 04/2019 
End 06/2019
 
Description Bespoke fabrication
Amount £11,000 (GBP)
Organisation University College Cork 
Department Tyndall National Institute
Sector Academic/University
Country Ireland
Start 09/2019 
End 10/2019
 
Description DSTL
Amount £1,700,000 (GBP)
Organisation Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2016 
End 10/2018
 
Description Development of semiconductors in quantum communications
Amount £250,000 (GBP)
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2016 
End 02/2017
 
Description Development of silicon photonics components
Amount £278,000 (GBP)
Funding ID n/a 
Organisation Pointcloud Inc. 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 11/2018 
End 04/2020
 
Description ENERGY RESILIENT MANUFACTURING 2: SPATIO-TEMPORAL BEAM TAILORED FIBRE LASERS FOR ENERGY RESILIENT MANUFACTURING
Amount £649,938 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/P012248/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2016 
End 09/2019
 
Description EPSRC National Epitaxy Facility
Amount £12,000,000 (GBP)
Funding ID NS/A000054/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2016 
 
Description Feasibility of a novel low cost technique to deposit chalcogenides
Amount £111,001 (GBP)
Funding ID 132374 
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2016 
End 09/2017
 
Description Feasibility of a novel low cost technique to deposit chalcogenides
Amount £24,097 (GBP)
Funding ID 132374 
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2016 
End 07/2017
 
Description Fellowship
Amount £438,876 (GBP)
Organisation Royal Academy of Engineering 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2016 
End 07/2021
 
Description Fellowship
Amount £188,960 (GBP)
Organisation Royal Academy of Engineering 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2018 
End 05/2023
 
Description GRANT AGREEMENT NO. 79472: ACCELERATING PHOTONICS INNOVATION FOR SME'S: A ONE STOP-SHOP-INCUBATOR
Amount € 30,000 (EUR)
Funding ID GRANT AGREEMENT NO. 79472 
Organisation European Commission 
Sector Public
Country European Union (EU)
Start 03/2021 
End 09/2021
 
Description Horizon 2020
Amount £129,102 (GBP)
Funding ID Next Generation metamaterial-based SMART and FLEXible Optical Solar Reflectors 
Organisation European Union 
Sector Public
Country European Union (EU)
Start  
 
Description Horizon 2020
Amount £220,003 (GBP)
Funding ID Manufacturing energy supply platform for wearable electronics 
Organisation European Union 
Sector Public
Country European Union (EU)
Start  
 
Description Impact Acceleration Project
Amount £120,000 (GBP)
Funding ID SP2001/M 
Organisation SPI Lasers UK 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2018 
End 09/2019
 
Description Industrial
Amount £658,096 (GBP)
Organisation Lumenisity 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2018 
End 05/2020
 
Description Industrial
Amount £250,000 (GBP)
Organisation Toshiba Research Europe Ltd 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2017 
End 01/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £228,227 (GBP)
Organisation Huawei Technologies Research and Development UK Ltd 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2018 
End 09/2019
 
Description Industrial
Amount £410,000 (GBP)
Organisation IQE Europe Limited 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2018 
End 09/2019
 
Description Industrial
Amount £25,000 (GBP)
Organisation LIG Nex1 
Sector Private
Country Korea, Republic of
Start 03/2018 
End 07/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £10,000 (GBP)
Organisation Lumenisity 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2018 
End 02/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £48,000 (GBP)
Organisation Qpeak Inc 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 06/2017 
End 03/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £250,828 (GBP)
Organisation SPI Lasers UK 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2018 
End 12/2020
 
Description Industrial
Amount £53,000 (GBP)
Organisation Qpeak Inc 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 06/2017 
End 03/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £417,831 (GBP)
Organisation IS Instruments 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2017 
End 12/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £178,539 (GBP)
Organisation Rockley Photonics 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 01/2017 
End 10/2017
 
Description Industrial
Amount £15,000 (GBP)
Organisation Rohm 
Sector Private
Country Japan
Start 07/2017 
End 01/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £220,000 (GBP)
Organisation Honeywell Aerospace 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 09/2017 
End 03/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £141,742 (GBP)
Organisation Leonardo MW Ltd. 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2019 
End 01/2020
 
Description Industrial
Amount £250,000 (GBP)
Organisation Artiman Ventures 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 05/2017 
End 11/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £460,000 (GBP)
Organisation Huawei Technologies Research and Development UK Ltd 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2019 
End 07/2022
 
Description Industrial
Amount £71,250 (GBP)
Organisation Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2018 
End 05/2019
 
Description Industrial
Amount £2,000 (GBP)
Organisation BAE Systems 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2017 
End 10/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £50,000 (GBP)
Organisation Lightpoint Medical 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2017 
End 03/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £584,869 (GBP)
Organisation Seagate Technology (Ireland) 
Sector Private
Country Ireland
Start 01/2016 
End 01/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £171,353 (GBP)
Organisation Huawei Technologies 
Sector Private
Country China
Start 06/2017 
End 06/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £76,704 (GBP)
Organisation Lumenisity 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2017 
End 03/2021
 
Description Industrial
Amount £33,000 (GBP)
Organisation IS Instruments 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2016 
End 11/2019
 
Description Industrial
Amount £700,000 (GGP)
Organisation Slice, Inc. 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 03/2017 
End 03/2019
 
Description Industrial
Amount £6,000 (GBP)
Organisation Merck 
Sector Private
Country Germany
Start 09/2016 
End 10/2016
 
Description Industrial
Amount £25,000 (GBP)
Organisation Qinetiq 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2016 
End 12/2019
 
Description Industrial
Amount £60,000 (GBP)
Organisation Lumenisity 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2017 
End 07/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £43,568 (GBP)
Organisation II-VI Incorporated 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 04/2017 
End 07/2017
 
Description Industrial
Amount £35,000 (GBP)
Organisation Sestosensor 
Sector Private
Country Italy
Start 09/2017 
End 03/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £211,000 (GBP)
Organisation SPI Lasers UK 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2017 
End 08/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £404,000 (GBP)
Organisation Honeywell Aerospace 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 06/2018 
End 03/2019
 
Description Industrial
Amount £371,000 (GBP)
Organisation Pointcloud Inc. 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 08/2018 
End 08/2019
 
Description Industrial
Amount £637,000 (GBP)
Organisation Toshiba Research Europe Ltd 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2017 
End 04/2019
 
Description Industrial
Amount £1,955,000 (GBP)
Organisation Huawei Technologies 
Sector Private
Country China
Start 01/2019 
End 01/2023
 
Description Industrial
Amount £50,000 (GBP)
Organisation Northrop Grumman 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 10/2016 
End 10/2017
 
Description Industrial
Amount £1 (GBP)
Organisation Qinetiq 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2017 
End 05/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £50,000 (GBP)
Organisation Northlab Photonics AB 
Sector Private
Country Sweden
Start 01/2017 
End 09/2017
 
Description Industrial
Amount £602,925 (GBP)
Organisation Saudi Aramco 
Sector Private
Country Saudi Arabia
Start 10/2017 
End 10/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £2,112,342 (GBP)
Organisation Microsoft Corporation 
Sector Public
Country United States
Start 04/2017 
End 04/2019
 
Description Industrial
Amount £108,682 (GBP)
Organisation Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2018 
End 10/2019
 
Description Industrial
Amount £1 (GBP)
Organisation FlexEnable Ltd 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2018 
End 10/2018
 
Description Industrial
Amount £87,000 (GBP)
Organisation Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2018 
End 05/2019
 
Description Industrial - Bi-doped fibre amplifiers and lasers
Amount £80,000 (GBP)
Organisation II-VI Incorporated 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 05/2017 
End 05/2020
 
Description Industrial - Development of few mode, multicore erbium doped amplifiers
Amount £190,015 (GBP)
Organisation Huawei Technologies 
Sector Private
Country China
Start 06/2017 
End 06/2019
 
Description Industrial - FMF Isolator x 3
Amount £2,250 (GBP)
Organisation Phoenix Photonics Ltd. 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 11/2016 
End 11/2016
 
Description Industrial - Hollow core fibre fabrication
Amount £30,415 (GBP)
Organisation Lumenisity 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2016 
End 10/2016
 
Description Industrial - Hollow core fibre programme
Amount £1,170,000 (GBP)
Organisation Lumenisity 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2017 
End 02/2019
 
Description Industrial - Super-high efficiency, wearable microdisplays utilising Hybrid LED technology
Amount £437,000 (GBP)
Organisation PhotonStar LED 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2016 
 
Description Industrial - fs writing of waveguides
Amount £53,709 (GBP)
Organisation Huawei Technologies 
Sector Private
Country China
Start 01/2017 
End 10/2017
 
Description Industrial development contract
Amount £52,000 (GBP)
Organisation SP Technical Institute of Sweden 
Sector Academic/University
Country Sweden
Start 09/2016 
 
Description Industrial project
Amount £70,000 (GBP)
Organisation Trumpf 
Sector Private
Country Germany
Start 10/2015 
End 03/2016
 
Description Industry - FMF isolator
Amount £750 (GBP)
Organisation Phoenix Photonics Ltd. 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2016 
End 03/2017
 
Description Industry - Modulator development
Amount £2,023,391 (GBP)
Organisation Rockley Photonics 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 11/2017 
End 11/2022
 
Description Industry - Multimode amplifiers
Amount £14,750 (GBP)
Organisation Phoenix Photonics Ltd. 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2016 
End 03/2017
 
Description Industry - process development
Amount £100,000 (GBP)
Organisation Rockley Photonics 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 04/2016 
End 04/2018
 
Description Innovate UK
Amount £42,373 (GBP)
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start  
 
Description Innovate UK - Materials for HAMR
Amount £211,227 (GBP)
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2016 
End 12/2017
 
Description Laser Technologies for Future Manufacturing
Amount £1,768,136 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/P027644/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2017 
End 06/2022
 
Description MISSION (Mid- Infrared Silicon Photonic Sensors for Healthcare and Environmental Monitoring)
Amount £5,757,814 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/V047663/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2021 
End 06/2026
 
Description PhabLabs 4.0
Amount £1,200,000 (GBP)
Funding ID 731610 
Organisation European Commission H2020 
Sector Public
Country Belgium
Start 01/2017 
End 12/2021
 
Description Programme Grant - AirGuide Photonics
Amount £6,160,545 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/P030181/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2017 
End 05/2023
 
Description QFoundry (Quantum Foundry)
Amount £5,777,425 (GBP)
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2020 
End 08/2023
 
Description RAEng Chair and Advanced Laser Lab
Amount £247,000 (GBP)
Funding ID SP2001/N 
Organisation SPI Lasers UK 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2019 
End 08/2020
 
Description RAEng Chair and Advanced Laser Lab
Amount £233,000 (GBP)
Funding ID SP2001/L 
Organisation SPI Lasers UK 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2018 
End 08/2019
 
Description RAEng Chair and Advanced Laser Laboratory
Amount £211,000 (GBP)
Funding ID SP2001/O - RAEng Chair and Advanced Laser Laboratory - 1st Nov 2020 to 31st August 2021, £211k 
Organisation SPI Lasers UK 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 11/2020 
End 08/2021
 
Description Research Fellowship
Amount £496,398 (GBP)
Organisation Royal Academy of Engineering 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2017 
End 08/2022
 
Description Responsive mode
Amount £486,940 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/N013883/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2016 
End 01/2018
 
Description Silicon photonic thermal photodetectors for mid-infrared sensing
Amount £346,227 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/W020254/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 11/2022 
End 10/2024
 
Description Smart2Go
Amount € 3,967,016 (EUR)
Funding ID 825143 
Organisation EU-T0 
Sector Public
Country European Union (EU)
Start 01/2019 
End 12/2022
 
Description Standard Research
Amount £381,101 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/N020057/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2016 
End 12/2018
 
Description Towards a revoltion in Optical Communications
Amount £1,055,484 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/V012789/1 
Organisation University of Southampton 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2021 
End 01/2024
 
Description Towards a revolution in optical communications
Amount £1,055,484 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/V012789/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2021 
End 03/2024
 
Description Underpinning Equipment Enhancing Semiconductor Characterisation Capabilities in the EPSRC National Epitaxy Facility
Amount £381,158 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/V036203/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 11/2020 
End 05/2022
 
Description University Research Fellowship - Wheeler
Amount £468,624 (GBP)
Organisation The Royal Society 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2015 
End 09/2020
 
Description Zepler Institute Stimulus Fund
Amount £15,900 (GBP)
Organisation University of Southampton 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2018 
End 12/2018
 
Description Zero-change manufacturing of photonic interconnects for silicon electronics
Amount £408,475 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/V005022/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2020 
End 05/2024
 
Description communications
Amount £211,227 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/N510063/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2016 
End 12/2018
 
Description grant
Amount £58,000 (GBP)
Organisation University of Huddersfield 
Department Future Metrology Hub
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2017 
End 01/2018
 
Description industrial
Amount £150,000 (GBP)
Organisation SPI Lasers UK 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2016 
End 06/2017
 
Description industrial
Amount £25,000 (GBP)
Organisation SPI Lasers UK 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2016 
End 08/2017
 
Description industrial
Amount £109,935 (GBP)
Organisation Qopsys 
Sector Private
Country Italy
Start 05/2018 
End 04/2021
 
Description industrial
Amount £286,000 (GBP)
Organisation SPI Lasers UK 
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2018 
End 08/2019
 
Title 2D Hetrostructures 
Description We have succesfully demonstrated a black-Si/MoS2 heterostructure using two scalable large-area techinques for energy storage applications. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Publications, grant propsals 
 
Title Advanced Fibre Preform Characterisation Tool 
Description This device is now fully integrated into SPI Lasers' fibre fabrication facilities and used to characterise preforms for high power fibre lasers and amplifiers 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact As a result of this advanced preform characterisation technique, the fibre laser efficiency has increased from ~25% to >35%, a significant improvement resulting in ~28% reduction the required pump diode power. 
 
Title Atomic Layer Deposition 
Description We have developed a novel ALD method for the deposition of 2D materials that offers independent control of the layer number, stoichiometry and crystallinity. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact New collaborations, publication 
 
Title Fabrication of suspended Ge photonic devices 
Description Fabrication of suspended Ge devices for implementation in the mid-IR wavelength range has been developed. The structures are based on a subwavelength metamaterial cladding. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The results led to a successful further funding and it will be made available to other researchers through the CORNERSTONE service. 
 
Title Growth of Quantum Dots by Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy 
Description The project has led to new techniques for the development of semiconductor quantum dots by MOVPE process 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2016 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The new techniques have been made available to the wider semiconductor community in the UK through their incorporation in the suite of tools and capabilities available in the National Epitaxy Facility, one of EPSRC's National Research Facilities based in the University of Sheffield. 
URL http://www.nationalepitaxyfacility.co.uk
 
Title Improvement to epitaxy of quantum dots 
Description The work led to improvements in the ability to grow telecoms wavelength single quantum dots for quantum information processing and quantum communications applications. The new knowledge on how to grow these dots by the MOVPE epitaxy process has been incorporated into the National Epitaxy Facility's expertise at the university of Sheffield and hence available to researchers across the UK. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The work led to improvements in the ability to grow telecoms wavelength single quantum dots for quantum information processing and quantum communications applications. The new knowledge on how to grow these dots by the MOVPE epitaxy process has been incorporated into the National Epitaxy Facility's expertise at the university of Sheffield and hence available to researchers across the UK. The work has also led to the development of new grants and to the inclusion of the University of Sheffield in the new Phase II Quantum Technology Hub at the University of York. 
 
Title Large Scale Depostion 
Description We have been building a new bespoke 8-inch 2D material deposition tool with Thermic Edge.We have built a new multi wafer 4-inch tool for 2D materials 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Grant applications, industrial collaboration 
 
Title New characterisation setup 
Description We have built a new characterisation photonics setup for measurements of Si and Ge chips at longer wavelengths. This setup is versatile and enables easy inclusion of new sources and detectors. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The setup is available to researchers in Southampton and UK for the characterisation of integrated photonic circuits at various wavelengths. 
 
Title New techniques for epitaxy of quantum dots 
Description Demonstration of InAs/InP quantum dots on a multi-wafer MOVPE reactor has added to the capability of the EPSRC National Epitaxy Facility, and will be use to support other UK researchers in the field through the Facilities access model. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact With the first demonstration of an entangled LED light source and further improvements to the epitaxy method, the work will lead to increased interest among industrial collaborators in the development of single photon sources for quantum telecommunications now that results have been demonstrated by a commercially viable epitaxy technique. 
URL http://www.nationalepitaxyfacility.co.uk
 
Title Preform Core and Pedestal Refractive Index characterisation apparatus 
Description Optical imaging set-up which provides high quality images of the optical preform core structure. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The apparatus provides high quality images of the core structure in addition to information of the refractive index distribution. This additional information is not available by commercial refractive index profilometers. The information is critical in identifying parts of the preform that can potentially be limiting severely the fibre laser performance at a very early stage, thus avoiding unnecessary production steps and saving manufacturing time and costs. 
 
Title Preform Dopant Distribution Research Tool 
Description This version of the research tool provides extremely useful information about the dopant distribution in fibre preforms. In contrast with traditional methods, this tool provides non-destructive measurements and enables the use of the preform after characterisation. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The first version of the tool has already been available to other fibre fabrication groups in the ORC and the supporting company (SPI Lasers) and has a positive impact on the active preform screening. This technique has now been extended to provide nondestructive information about the Refractive index and Dopant Profile as well as the absolute dopant concentration. The technique has been transferred to the supporting company. 
 
Title Sacrificial etch methods for semiconductor materials and devices 
Description New methods of etching semiconductor materials to create free-standing membranes were developed in different semiconductor materials including InP and GaSb. The work is directly applicable to the transfer methods being developed in Heteroprint, but is also more widely applicable to processing of semiconductor materials and will form part of the capabilities in the National Epitaxy Facility in Sheffield. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact New techniques available to users of the EPSRC National Epitaxy Facility. 
 
Title Tungsten Sulphide 
Description We have demonstrated the ferromagnetic in WS2 monolayer via low-dose of radiation exposure. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Grant proposal, publications, new international collaboration with Brazil 
 
Title apparatus and software to determine independently the actual level of dopant concentration in doped optical preforms in a non-destructive manner. 
Description This novel apparatus uses bi-directional dual pump illumination technique to measure the actual dopant concentration level inside the optical preform core. This is achieved by consecutively using one-sided pump illumination and using the asymmetric absorption profiles to extract unambiguously the actual dopant concentration level. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact This research tool is unique in providing the actual level of the laser dopant concentration inside the preform core, in addition to the relative dopant distribution profile. Currently there is no commercial apparatus providing this extremely useful information in situ and non-destructively. This unique apparatus saves substantial amount of preform optimisation time. 
 
Title Dataset for: 'Broadband Mode Scramblers for Few-Mode Fibers based on 3D Printed Mechanically Induced Long-Period Fiber Gratings' 
Description This dataset supports the publication:Broadband Mode Scramblers for Few-Mode Fibers based on 3D Printed Mechanically Induced Long-Period Fiber Gratings AUTHORS: Xin Huang, Yongmin Jung, Yaping Liu, Kerrianne Harrington, and David J. Richardson TITLE: Broadband Mode Scramblers for Few-Mode Fibers based on 3D Printed Mechanically Induced Long-Period Fiber Gratings JOURNAL: IEEE Photonics Technology Letters 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/472182
 
Title Dataset for: The Effect of Haematocrit on Measurement of the Mid-Infrared Refractive Index of Plasma in Whole Blood 
Description Dataset DOI: https://doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/D1621 Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11110417 This data is used in the article 'The effect of haematocrit on the mid-infrared refractive index of blood plasma,' published by Biosensors. The data contained in data.xlsx are those used to plot the figures in the article. Measurement data were collected by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy at the University of Southampton during December 2019. Full methodological details can be found in the article. The XY data for each figure are contained in separate worksheets within data.xlsx. Each dataset is labelled with its name and unit. For plots with several spectral traces with respect to wavenumber, each trace is sampled at identical wavenumbers so wavenumber is only listed once. Briefly, each figure shows: Figure 1: Absorbance spectra of (a) DI water, plasma and whole blood with haematocrit in the range 20-70%, (b) plasma and whole blood with haematocrit in the range 20-70% over a more limited frequency range (1370-1570 cm-1), and (c) absorbance at 1541 cm-1 with respect to haematocrit. Figure 2: Empirical effective penetration depth deff calculated from the measured absorbance and literature k values of water. The dashed trace at wavenumbers > 3700 cm^-1 show the region where deff has been calculated from a ratio where both quantities are approximately equal to zero so cannot be relied upon. Figure 3: Imaginary part of refractive index spectra k for water and whole blood with haematocrit in the range 20 - 70%. Figure 4: Real part of refractive index spectra n for water and whole blood with haematocrit in the range 20 - 70%. Figure 5: Error in (a) real and (c) imaginary parts of plasma refractive index due to haematocrit in the range 20 - 70%. (b) shows the maximum error in n, which occurs at 1560 cm^-1, with respect to haematocrit; (d) shows the corresponding behaviour for k, which occurs at 1541 cm^-1. The data may be reused under Creative Common Attribution v4.0. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/451978/
 
Title Design suite for suspended Ge and Si photonic devices 
Description We have developed a package for modelling of a range of suspended Si and Ge photonic devices 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The modelling tool is now available for Southampton and UK researchers to use for designing their suspended photonic devices and circuits. 
 
Description 2D International Collaboration 
Organisation Federal University of Pernambuco
Country Brazil 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution During 2020, our research has continued to focus on optimising the electrical properties of uniform, wafer scale, atomically thin 2D films for use in next generation transistor devices and large areas transition metal di-chalcogenide monolayers for a variety of emerging electronic and photonics applications.
Collaborator Contribution In collaborative work with Brazil, China and the University of Nottingham here in the UK, we have found that ionizing radiation (gamma ray) interacts strongly with two-dimensional WS2, which induces effective p-doping in the samples. As the radiation dose increases, the p-doping concentration increases substantially. We demonstrate ?-ray interaction with a WS2 monolayer verifying the generation of secondary ? photons (in the silicon substrate), electron/hole pairs, fast electrons, and creation of S and W vacancies in the monolayer.
Impact These results, published in May in the journal Nanoscale Horizons, have shown that a detector based on monolayer WS2 is an appealing candidate for sensing high-energy photons at small radiation doses.
Start Year 2019
 
Description 2D International Collaboration 
Organisation Shandong Normal University
Country China 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution During 2020, our research has continued to focus on optimising the electrical properties of uniform, wafer scale, atomically thin 2D films for use in next generation transistor devices and large areas transition metal di-chalcogenide monolayers for a variety of emerging electronic and photonics applications.
Collaborator Contribution In collaborative work with Brazil, China and the University of Nottingham here in the UK, we have found that ionizing radiation (gamma ray) interacts strongly with two-dimensional WS2, which induces effective p-doping in the samples. As the radiation dose increases, the p-doping concentration increases substantially. We demonstrate ?-ray interaction with a WS2 monolayer verifying the generation of secondary ? photons (in the silicon substrate), electron/hole pairs, fast electrons, and creation of S and W vacancies in the monolayer.
Impact These results, published in May in the journal Nanoscale Horizons, have shown that a detector based on monolayer WS2 is an appealing candidate for sensing high-energy photons at small radiation doses.
Start Year 2019
 
Description 2D International Collaboration 
Organisation University of Nottingham
Department School of Physics and Astronomy
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution During 2020, our research has continued to focus on optimising the electrical properties of uniform, wafer scale, atomically thin 2D films for use in next generation transistor devices and large areas transition metal di-chalcogenide monolayers for a variety of emerging electronic and photonics applications.
Collaborator Contribution In collaborative work with Brazil, China and the University of Nottingham here in the UK, we have found that ionizing radiation (gamma ray) interacts strongly with two-dimensional WS2, which induces effective p-doping in the samples. As the radiation dose increases, the p-doping concentration increases substantially. We demonstrate ?-ray interaction with a WS2 monolayer verifying the generation of secondary ? photons (in the silicon substrate), electron/hole pairs, fast electrons, and creation of S and W vacancies in the monolayer.
Impact These results, published in May in the journal Nanoscale Horizons, have shown that a detector based on monolayer WS2 is an appealing candidate for sensing high-energy photons at small radiation doses.
Start Year 2019
 
Description 2D Materials for Electronics 
Organisation VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd
Country Finland 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution 2D materials for electronic neuromorphic applications
Collaborator Contribution Provision of 2D Materials
Impact Grant Proposal
Start Year 2018
 
Description 4D STEM 
Organisation Julich Research Centre
Country Germany 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Provision of 2D Materials
Collaborator Contribution Imaging of 2D films using state of the art TEM microscopy
Impact HIgh quality images used for research and public dessmination of science
Start Year 2021
 
Description Advanced Materials 
Organisation Qinetiq
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Develop method for processing materials for security and defence applications
Collaborator Contribution Analysis of the materials supplied
Impact Better understanding of emerging materials for security and defence applications
Start Year 2016
 
Description Applied Materials 
Organisation Applied Materials
Country United States 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Advising UK representative of Applied Materials, Dr Jonathan England, on the research advanced made on chalcogenide devices.
Collaborator Contribution Enhanced understanding of the commerical requirement for semiconductor processing equipment related to this project.
Impact Preparation of materials used to present results of this project to high level management at Applied Instruments Head Office.
Start Year 2011
 
Description Bari 
Organisation Polytechnic University of Bari
Department Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica e dell'Informazione
Country Italy 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We have been working with the Bari team on Vernier configurations in silicon and germanium. We fabricated the devices and characterised them.
Collaborator Contribution The Bari team carried out the modelling part of the work.
Impact Several papers in high impact factor journals and at international and national conferences.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Ben Gurion University 
Organisation Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Country Israel 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution supply of 2D materials
Collaborator Contribution demonstration of 2D materials as alignment layers in liquid crystal displays
Impact Publication submitted
Start Year 2016
 
Description Coatings 
Organisation BAE Systems
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Application of antireflective and hard coatings on wideband glasses
Collaborator Contribution none
Impact Provision of samples for testing
Start Year 2020
 
Description Collaboration with Chemistry Department 
Organisation University of Southampton
Department Chemistry
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We have provided Si chips for PZT deposition. Various top layers have been used.
Collaborator Contribution Chemistry Department have done PZT growth on our photonic chips, changing the growth conditions, thicknesses and buffer layers.
Impact no outputs yet
Start Year 2020
 
Description Collaboration with Fujikura Ltd on multicore doped optical fibres 
Organisation Fujikura
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The development of rare earth doped multicore fibres and associated beam combined fibre laser demonstrations.
Collaborator Contribution Supply of high concentration ytterbium doped preforms with excellent length homogeneity.
Impact High profile academic papers anticipated.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Collaboration with LIG NEX1 on doped fibre characterisation 
Organisation LIG Nex1
Country Korea, Republic of 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Characterisation of doped fibre samples
Collaborator Contribution Consultancy with University/lead researcher.
Impact Confidential reports produced and provided to LIG Nex1
Start Year 2018
 
Description Collaboration with Materials Department University of Sheffield 
Organisation University of Sheffield
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Demonstration of high power CW operating Quantum Cascade Lasers in the mid-infrared under the Hub project has led to a collaborative feasibility study on the use of lasers for improving additive manufacturing processes with metals and plastic. An EPSRC grant proposal has been submitted.
Collaborator Contribution Sheffield researchers working with University of Southampton have developed high power QCLs for fibre coupling into an additive manufacturing instrument. The materials department at Sheffield has developed the additive manufacturing system and adapted it for laser monitoring of processes.
Impact EPSRC grant submission in late 2021.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Collaboration with Phoenix Photonics 
Organisation Phoenix Photonics Ltd.
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution developed sapce division multiplexing components and depolarizers
Collaborator Contribution provide expertise, product specifications, and guidelines for product development. Funding for parts of the project.
Impact Products.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Collaboration with the University of Cambridge 
Organisation University of Cambridge
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Silicon chips fabricated in our cleanroom
Collaborator Contribution Graphene deposited on silicon chips
Impact No outputs yet
Start Year 2020
 
Description Collaboration with the University of Sheffield 
Organisation University of Sheffield
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We have fabricated Ge-on-Si phonics circuits.
Collaborator Contribution Sheffield provided mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers.
Impact Several papers published. The collaboration is multi-disciplinary (material growth, lasers, nanofabrication, integration, electronics, photonics).
Start Year 2017
 
Description Component development with IQE 
Organisation IQE Europe Limited
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Joint development of optical components for 3D vision systems - my team developed microfabrication protocols, and fabricated customer demonstrator prototypes
Collaborator Contribution Supply of epitaxial wafers for Laser devices, day to day management of the project.
Impact Still under development
Start Year 2018
 
Description Component development with Phoenix Photonics 
Organisation Phoenix Photonics Ltd.
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The development of various components for commercialisation by Phoenix Photonics Ltd
Collaborator Contribution Assistance with packaging and device design. Consultancy arrangement with key team team member.
Impact Various joint papers between research team and company. Various new products developed for Phoenix Photonics.
Start Year 2014
 
Description Deepsky corporation 
Organisation Deepsky Corporation Ltd
Country Hong Kong 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Our team developing inkjet printing techniques to improve colour performance of commercial display boards using our patented technology. Quantum dot coating processes were developed suitable to coat provided commercial display test boards. Development of plastic pixel dam processes
Collaborator Contribution Provided advice on electronic drive circuitry. Provided access to ASIC chip designs. Provided technical expertise for PCB design utilising their driver chips. Expertise for monolithic display chip manufacture and design,
Impact N/A
Start Year 2016
 
Description Direct write 3D Photonic Crystal Structures 
Organisation University of Bristol
Department Bristol Centre for Surgical Research
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Provision of 2D and thick film materials for direct write 3D Photonic Crystal Structures
Collaborator Contribution integration of 2D material in all dielectric surface wave devices for light generation
Impact Publications Mike P.C. Taverne, Xu Zeng, Katrina A. Morgan, Ioannis Zeimpekis, Chung-Che Huang, Ying-Lung D. Ho, Mahmoud Mostafavi and Anton Shterenlikht, "Fabrication of micro-scale fracture specimens for nuclear applications by direct laser writing", MRS Advances, (https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2018.236) Lifeng Chen, Katrina A. Morgan, Ghadah Alzaidy, Chung-Che Huang, Y. -L. Daniel Ho, Mike P. C. Taverne, Xu Zheng, Zhong Ren, Daniel W. Hewak, John G. Rarity, "Observation of Complete Photonic Bandgap in Low Refractive Index Contrast Inversed Rod-Connected Diamond Structured Chalcogenides", ACS photonics, Under Review. Conference Lifeng Chen, X. Zheng Y-L D. Ho, C.C. Huang, Dan Hewak, J.G. Rarity, M. Lopez-Garcia, "Bloch Surface waves as a platform for single photon emitters in 2D materials", The Nanoscale Quantum Optics (NQO) Workshop - COST Action MP1403 Nanoscale Quantum Optics Meeting. February 13th-16th 2018 Prague, Czech Republic (Poster). Grant Proposal EP/T000600/1 3D Nanophononics in Chalcogenide Material
Start Year 2016
 
Description EU COST Action MP1401 
Organisation Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Country Israel 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Some glass samples have already been sent to Prof. A Ishaaya for assessing the laser damage threshold of the germanate glass material developed and discussion for further experiments are ongoing.
Collaborator Contribution Prof. Ishaaya's group shows interest in testing the germanate glass developed in our laboratories for demonstrating amplifier and laser operation in small diameter glass rod configuration.
Impact material exchange
Start Year 2017
 
Description Flexenable LTD, UK 
Organisation FlexEnable Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution NDA signed, ongoing
Collaborator Contribution NDA signed, ongoing
Impact collaboration towards commercialization
Start Year 2017
 
Description Georgia 
Organisation Georgia Institute of Technology
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Application of phase change metasurfaces
Collaborator Contribution Provision of phase change materials
Impact Grant proposal
Start Year 2020
 
Description Glasgow 
Organisation University of Glasgow
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Material provision
Collaborator Contribution A study of the growth of 2H MoTe2
Impact early stage
Start Year 2021
 
Description Glasgow 
Organisation University of Glasgow
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Material provision
Collaborator Contribution A study of the growth of 2H MoTe2
Impact early stage
Start Year 2021
 
Description Guangdong University of Technology 
Organisation Guangdong University of Technology
Country China 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution 2D materials exchange
Collaborator Contribution 2D materials testing
Impact 2D materials exchange
Start Year 2017
 
Description Heriot-Watt University 
Organisation Heriot-Watt University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Manufacture of Graphene
Collaborator Contribution Demonstration of laser mode locking using Graphene
Impact materila exchange
Start Year 2017
 
Description IMB-CNM 
Organisation Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Department Barcelona Institute of Microelectronics
Country Spain 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Provision of materials
Collaborator Contribution Use of emerging materials in neuromorphic material systems
Impact material characterization
Start Year 2021
 
Description IR Materials 
Organisation Qioptic
Country Germany 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Developed a process for modification of infrared materials
Collaborator Contribution Analysis of our results
Impact Report and provision of samples
Start Year 2016
 
Description IS instruments - Hollow Microstructured Fibres 
Organisation IS Instruments
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Manufactured Hollow Microstructured Fibres
Collaborator Contribution Contributed to CASE studentship and Innovate UK projects on Hollow Microstructured Fibres for Compact atomic clocks
Impact CASE studentship and Innovate UK project
Start Year 2016
 
Description Ilika technologies 
Organisation Ilika
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Exchange and characterization of 2D materials
Collaborator Contribution Exchange and characterization of 2D materials
Impact Innovate UK project with Seagate and Ilika Technologies, funded through EP/N510063/1 Nanomaterials for Smart Data Storage
Start Year 2015
 
Description KTN 
Organisation Materials KTN
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Participated in Flexible and Printed Electronics, Displays & Photonics demonstrator workshop 21 November 2017, Cambridge
Collaborator Contribution Organised Flexible and Printed Electronics, Displays & Photonics demonstrator workshop 21 November 2017, Cambridge
Impact Flexible and Printed Electronics, Displays & Photonics demonstrator workshop
Start Year 2017
 
Description Lancaster University 
Organisation Lancaster University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Provision of materials
Collaborator Contribution Model 2D materials and make transistors for low temperature applications
Impact grant proposal
Start Year 2021
 
Description Lueven 
Organisation University of Leuven
Department VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology
Country Belgium 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution lead the materials development
Collaborator Contribution Consultation and development of micromachined inertial sensors
Impact none
Start Year 2021
 
Description MIT 
Organisation Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Manufacture of chalcogenides and 2D materials
Collaborator Contribution testing and characterization
Impact Publication in Nature Photonics (doi:10.1038/s41566-017-0033-z)
Start Year 2016
 
Description McMaster 
Organisation McMaster University
Country Canada 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution My team modelled and characterised devices fabricated by McMaster University.
Collaborator Contribution McMaster University fabricated photodetectors. The results were outstanding and were published in Nature Photonics.
Impact J. J. Ackert, D. J. Thomson, L. Shen, A. C. Peacock, P. E. Jessop, G. T. Reed, G. Z. Mashanovich, and A. P. Knights, "High-speed detection above the telecommunication windows with monolithic silicon photodiodes," Nature Photonics, vol. 9, pp. 393-396, 2015. D. J. Thomson, L. Shen, J. J. Ackert, E. Huante-Ceron, A. P. Knights, M. Nedeljkovic, A. C. Peacock, and G. Z. Mashanovich, "Optical detection and modulation at 2µm - 2.5µm in silicon," Optics Express, vol. 22, pp. 10825-10830, 2014.
Start Year 2014
 
Description Merck Chemicals Ltd, UK 
Organisation Merck
Department Merck UK
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution NDA and MTA signed. Material transfered
Collaborator Contribution NDA and MTA signed, material testing
Impact testing
Start Year 2017
 
Description NPL - Hollow core fibres for atomic clocks 
Organisation National Physical Laboratory
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Provided Hollow Microstructured Fibres for Compact atomic clocks
Collaborator Contribution Used the Hollow Microstructured Fibres in Compact atomic clocks. A PhD studentship was funded through DSTL.
Impact Hollow Microstructured Fibres have been manufactured and tested at NPL for application in compact atomic clocks
Start Year 2016
 
Description NTU singapore 
Organisation Nanyang Technological University
Country Singapore 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution manufacture and characterization of atomically thin MoS2 and other 2D Materials; supervision of joint PhD student
Collaborator Contribution Observation of Enhanced light-matter interaction in atomically thin MoS2 and 2D Materials Fundamentals. Supervision of joint PhD student
Impact a) Contact: Qi Jie Wang Scope: Enhanced light-matter interaction in atomically thin MoS2 Output: publication Commenced: 2015 and ongoing http://research.ntu.edu.sg/expertise/academicprofile/Pages/StaffProfile.aspx?ST_EMAILID=QJWANG b) Contact: Prof Zexian Shen Scope: 2D Materials Fundamentals Output: publication Commenced: 2013 and ongoing http://research.ntu.edu.sg/expertise/academicprofile/Pages/StaffProfile.aspx?ST_EMAILID=ZEXIANG c) Joint PhD Studentship, Southampton-Singapore Student Name: Benliang Li Output: Publication, PhD thesis Commenced 2014, Completed 2017
Start Year 2013
 
Description National University of Malaysia 
Organisation National University of Malaysia
Country Malaysia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Material Transfer Agreement signed, Providing 2D graphene samples
Collaborator Contribution Material Transfer Agreement signed, test 2D graphene samples
Impact Material Transfer Agreement signed, exchange of 2D graphene samples
Start Year 2017
 
Description Partnership SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics, governance committees 
Organisation International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE)
Country United States 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Development of outreach and public engagement initiatives supported by funding has permitted access to SPIE governance committees in Education, Membership and Student and Early Career Professionals governance committees
Collaborator Contribution I have been a direct Committee member in these partnerships.
Impact Define models for Education and Membership engagement of the professional community
Start Year 2018
 
Description PhD student training 
Organisation University of Southampton
Department University of Southampton Clinical Trials Unit
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Training of PhD student to deposit 2D materials and provision of 2D materials
Collaborator Contribution Exploitation of 2D materials for photocatalyic water splitting Investigation of 2D MoS2 films for tribolelectrication studies Use of 2D materials for nonlinear devices
Impact Publication Junqiu Guo, Xin Liao, Ming-Hsien Lee, Geoff Hyett, Chung-Che Huang, Daniel Hewak, Sakellaris Mailis, Wei Zhou, Zheng Jiang, "Experimental and DFT insights of Zn-doping effects on the visible-light photocatalytic water splitting and dye decomposition over Zn-doped BiOBr photocatalysts", Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 243 (2019) 502-512. Internal He Wang, Tomas Polcar and Chung-Che Huang, "Nanoscale Triboelectrification of Chemical Vapor Deposited MoS2 Film", Scientific Reports, 9, 334, (2019). Haojie Zhang, Noel Healy, Antoine Runge, Chung-Che Huang, Daniel William Hewak, Anna C. Peacock, "Optical-resonance-enhanced nonlinearities in a MoS-coated single-mode fiber", Optics Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 13, pp. 3100-3103 (2018). (Editors' Pick) Liam P. McDonnell, Chung-Che Huang, Qingsong Cui, Dan W. Hewak, David C. Smith, "Probing Excitons, Trions and Dark Excitons in Monolayer WS2 using Resonance Raman Spectroscopy", Nano Lett., 2018, 18 (2), pp 1428-1434.
Start Year 2017
 
Description PhotonStarLED 
Organisation PhotonStar LED
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Development of new fabrication processes utilising equipment provided by the partner. Specifically: chip dye bonding processes, chip - ball bump attachment, ink jet printing processes for quantum dot inks.
Collaborator Contribution Provision of the manufacturing equipment to equip a new inkjet printing lab, and PCB prototyping line Expertise in installation. Provision of technical know-how in operating the equipment. Training our staff in using equipment.
Impact New partnerships with other commercial companies (Deepsky Corporation)
Start Year 2016
 
Description Politecnico di Torino 
Organisation Polytechnic University of Turin
Country Italy 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We are collaborating on the fabrication of active non-silica glasses by sharing recipes, glass samples, fabrication techniques and people, through 1 EU Marie Curie research fellowships and through the exchange of 2 visiting students (1 MSc and 1 PhD). Since 2016 discussions with Dr Paola Palmero have also taken place regarding the development of active glass materials for 2 um and 3 um wavelengths. It is now planned that Dr Fedia Ben Slimen, an ORC Hub researcher within the Compound Glass Group, will visit Dr Palmero's team to perform preliminary experiments for the development of active materials for 2 um and 3 um fibre based optical amplifiers. The visit will take place within the framework of the EU COST Action MP1401
Collaborator Contribution We are collaborating on the fabrication of active non-silica glasses by sharing recipes, glass samples, fabrication techniques and people, through 1 EU Marie Curie research fellowships and through the exchange of 2 visiting students (1 MSc and 1 PhD). Development of active materials for 2 um and 3 um fibre based optical amplifiers.
Impact Fabrication of novel fibres, glass samples, 1 EU Marie Curie research fellowships exchange of 2 visiting students (1 MSc and 1 PhD).
Start Year 2014
 
Description Seagate technologies 
Organisation Seagate Technology (Ireland)
Country Ireland 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Exchange and characterization of 2D materials
Collaborator Contribution Exchange and characterization of 2D materials
Impact Innovate UK project with Seagate and Ilika Technologies, funded through EP/N510063/1 Nanomaterials for Smart Data Storage
Start Year 2015
 
Description Sheffield University 
Organisation University of Sheffield
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Provision of unique custom samples of 2D antimonene, a state of the art emerging 2D material
Collaborator Contribution Syntheis and characterization
Impact Grant proposal
Start Year 2020
 
Description Singapore 
Organisation Singapore Institute of Technology
Country Singapore 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Provision of 2D materials including MoS2, WS2 on PI, VdWE-grown WS2
Collaborator Contribution characterization, device development
Impact Publication
Start Year 2021
 
Description Singapore University of Technology and Design 
Organisation Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)
Country Singapore 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Manufacture of 2D material
Collaborator Contribution 2D material characterization and application
Impact 2D material characterization and application
Start Year 2015
 
Description Strathclyde University - microtransfer printing 
Organisation Fraunhofer Society
Department Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics (CAP)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Through the Photonics Hub Innovation fund, we have awarded a new project contract to Strathclyde University to develop with Sheffield and Southampton the micro-tranfer printing of arrays of mid-infra red lasers onto silicon/Ge substrates.
Collaborator Contribution The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics granted access to their extensive characterisation facilities to all project members (Southampton, Sheffield, Strathclyde).
Impact The new project between Strathclyde University, Sheffield and Southampton aims to develop the micro-tranfer printing of arrays of mid-infra red lasers onto silicon/Ge substrates
Start Year 2017
 
Description Strathclyde-Sheffield collaboration on Transfer Print of lasers 
Organisation University of Strathclyde
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Ongoing development of transfer print processes through Photonics Hub spoke funding has led to a new EPSRC grant on Photonic Interconnects on CMOS between Sheffield and Strathclyde.
Collaborator Contribution Strathclyde have provided the advanced transfer print processes for transferring lasers onto new substrates as well as design concepts
Impact New EPSRC grant funded in 2021: EP/V005022/1 EP/V004859/1
Start Year 2019
 
Description Technical collaboration on optical modulators 
Organisation California Institute of Technology
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We have expertise in modulator design, so we provide details of the modulator characteristics.
Collaborator Contribution Caltech have expertise in modulator driver design, so together we can optimise the electronic-photonic interaction
Impact None yet. Very early days.
Start Year 2017
 
Description UCL 
Organisation University College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Fabrication
Collaborator Contribution design and testing
Impact Grant application leading to a programme grant
Start Year 2019
 
Description Ultra-low noise accelerometers 
Organisation Thales Group
Department Thales UK Limited
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Manage and lead the project, design sensors, consultation
Collaborator Contribution n/a
Impact none to date
Start Year 2021
 
Description Univeristy of Malaga 
Organisation University of Malaga
Country Spain 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Fabrication and characterisation of devices, as well as modelling
Collaborator Contribution Modelling of suspended Si photonic devices
Impact More than 20 papers published in journals and conference proceedings. We have been also awarded 3 grants (2 to Malaga, 1 to Southampton) and we have already submitted 2 grants that are under review.
Start Year 2016
 
Description University of Bristol 
Organisation University of Bristol
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Manufacture of 2D materials
Collaborator Contribution Incorporation of 2D materials into 3D Photonic Crystal structures
Impact Publications, Conference Presentation, Research Grants
Start Year 2016
 
Description University of Tennessee Knoxville 
Organisation University of Tennessee
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Fabricated multielement fibre for neutron imaging
Collaborator Contribution provided isotopically pure glasses
Impact Fibres for neutron imaging
Start Year 2014
 
Description Van de Waals epitaxy of 2D materials 
Organisation Federal University of Sao Carlos
Department Department of Physics
Country Brazil 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Provision of 2D materials
Collaborator Contribution Use of 2D materials for photoluminescence experiments
Impact Publications V. Orsi Gordo, M.A.G. Balanta, Y. Galvão Gobato, F. S. Covre, F. Iikawa, O. Couto Jr, Fanyao Qu, H. V. A. Galeti, M. Henini, D. W. Hewak and C. C. Huang, "Revealing the nature of low-temperature photoluminescence peaks by laser treatment in Van der Waals Epitaxially grown large-scale WS2 monolayers", Nanoscale, 2018, 10, 4807. Conference Y. Galvão Gobato, V. Orsi Gordo, M.A.G. Balanta, F.S. Covre, H.V.A. Galeti, F. Iikawa, O.D.D. Couto Jr., F. Qu, M. Henini, D.W. Hewak, C.C. Huang, "Identification of low-temperature photoluminescence peaks by laser treatment in van der Waals epitaxially grown WS2 monolayers", 34th International Conference on The Physics of Semiconductors (ICPS-2018), Montpellier, France, 29 July- 3 August, 2018. (poster_P1_108) Y. Galvao Gobato, G.A. Prando, A.D. Rodrigues, M. Henini, H. Wang, T. Polcar , D.W. Hewak, C.C. Huang, "Interlayer coupling in twisted MoS2/WS2 Van der Waals heterostructures", 34th International Conference on The Physics of Semiconductors (ICPS-2018), Montpellier, France, 29 July-3 August, 2018. (poster_P3_078)
Start Year 2017
 
Description iMEC, Belgium 
Organisation Interuniversity Micro-Electronics Centre
Country Belgium 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution NDA and MTA signed, material tranfered
Collaborator Contribution NDA and MTA signed, material testing
Impact material exchange
Start Year 2017
 
Description material provision for laser experiments 
Organisation University of Southampton
Department University of Southampton Clinical Trials Unit
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Provision of 2D graphene for saturable absorber
Collaborator Contribution Integration in laser to produce high frequency output
Impact Publication Christos Grivas, Ismaeel Rand, Costantino Corbari, Chung-Che Huang, Dan W. Hewak, Pavlos Lagoudakis, Gilberto Brambilla, "Generation of multi-gigahertz trains of phase coherent femtosecond laser pulses in Ti:sapphire waveguides", Laser & Photonics Reviews, 2018, 1800167.
Start Year 2017
 
Description preform testing 
Organisation SPI Lasers UK
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Extensive testing of specially made experimental preforms and data analysis. The collaboration was extended to measure relative distributions as well as absolute values of dopant concentration in experimental advanced preforms
Collaborator Contribution preparation of two special preforms in order to test the accuracy of the testing equipment. provision of additional preforms to test the accuracy of absolute dopant concentration measurements
Impact Valuable data regarding the refractive index distribution and active dopant distribution inside advanced optical preforms with very complex distributions. Measurement of absolute values of dopant concentration without destroying the preform
Start Year 2016
 
Title APPARATUS AND A METHOD FOR THE CONTINUOUS PRODUCTION OF GLASS INSULATED MICROWIRE 
Description APPARATUS AND A METHOD FOR THE CONTINUOUS PRODUCTION OF GLASS INSULATED MICROWIRE 
IP Reference GB1607842.0 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2016
Licensed No
Impact none yet
 
Title INTERFEROMETRIC OPTICAL FIBRE SENSORS 
Description An interferometric optical fibre sensor comprises optical fibre defining an optical circuit configured to propagate a first optical wave via an environment in which the optical fibre can be exposed to a stimulus that modifies the first optical wave, and a second optical wave, and to combine the first optical wave and the second optical wave to create an interference signal containing information about the stimulus, wherein optical fibre propagating either or both of the first optical wave and the second optical wave comprises hollow core optical fibre configured to propagate the optical wave or waves by an antiresonant optical guidance effect. 
IP Reference US2021311248 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2021
Licensed Commercial In Confidence
Impact None
 
Title Infrared Optical Material 
Description Infrared Optical Material 
IP Reference GB1615780.2 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2016
Licensed No
Impact None, yet
 
Title Novel Fibre Laser Azimuthal Beam Shaping apparatus 
Description Novel apparatus to provide variable beam profile/quality, and true single-mode delivery with adjustable output beams into higher-order azimuthal modes that form "quasi-ring" profiles through a single MM delivery fibre. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact Preliminary results have shown that the biggest advantage with the azimuthal beam has been reactive thick section mild steel cutting. A 1.6kW laser using an output high order ring-like beam (LP51) can cut 20mm mild steel. With a 2kW output laser with the same azimuthal beam we can cut 20mm mild steel with a good cut quality, decent speed at 0.5m/min, and a large process window. To explore also the welding potential of azimuthal beam, we performed keyhole welds for a 3mm thick mild steel sheet using Nitrogen shield gas, for a single mode beam M2 1.4 shape and an azimuthal beam with M2 ~6.8. The full penetration weld show distinct differences between a Gaussian- profiled weld and the new azimuthal beams. The azimuthal beam has a broader weld section with parallel hot affected zone boundaries which is advantageous. We also compared weld width and weld depth for three different beam profiles, namely standard singlemode, new azimuthal mode, and standard multimode. The beams were focused above and below a piece of mild steel with a 780µm surface spot size and 2kW of output power. The azimuthal mode beam proved to be much more tolerant to focus position while achieving good penetration depth and mininizing the weld width. 
 
Title Novel Fibre Laser Beam Shaping apparatus - variMODE 
Description This novel Fibre Laser Beam Shaping apparatus allows users to tailor their Fiber Laser system to optimise the beam characteristics (including spot size and beam profile), specific to their application, whether that be cutting, welding or piercing. It is based on an internal, all-in-fiber device that modifies the spatial modes in the delivery fiber. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact Based on an internal, all-in-fiber device that modifies the spatial modes in the delivery fiber, this innovative approach uniquely maintains the laser output totally through the central core of the delivery fiber, removing the need for complex and expensive additional optical components and ensuring maximum power is maintained across the beam profile, regardless of the chosen mode. Having both modes available means there is no need to compromise on the laser beam quality when configuring your laser. The switching time from low to high BPP is typically around 30ms, which is fast enough to easily change between piercing and cutting applications 'on the fly'. he two modes currently available have been carefully selected to address a wide range of materials processing applications: 1) A Low Beam Parameter Product (BPP) mode profile, excellent for fast cutting of thin metals, especially bright highly reflective ones, but also for producing high speed high quality pierces in thick sheets. 2) A High BPP mode giving excellent, smooth cut edges at good speeds when cutting thick metal sheets, especially mild steel. The technology has been transferred to SPI Lasers Ltd and it is marketed by the trade name variMODE. It is the most important USP in the 3-10kW fibre laser product range. 
URL https://www.spilasers.com/varimode/
 
Title Suspended Si 
Description In this project we have developed a new photonics material platform: suspended Si platform with metamaterial cladding. This new technology has several advantages compared to the previously reported approaches: it is more mechanically robust, easier to fabricate and have lower losses. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2016 
Impact It has attracted significant interest from the research community and several groups worldwide have adopted this approach. 
 
Company Name Lumenisity Ltd 
Description Lumenisity is a University spin out concerned with commercialising hollow core optical fibre technology for diverse applications. 
Year Established 2016 
Impact Company has secured funding, expanded to employ ~100 people and set up manufacturing facilities in Romsey. It was acquired by Microsoft at the end of 2022..
 
Company Name AEGIQ LTD 
Description Quantum Technology Start-up developing single photon sources for Quantum Communications and Imaging applications 
Year Established 2019 
Impact Early stage company with seed round investment and involvement in a number of Innovate UK quantum technology projects. The company is part of a growing supply chain development within the UK. Has approximately 4 full time scientific staff with post-investment recruitment underway.
Website https://www.aegiq.com/
 
Description "Science on Stage" EU Teachers 
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 "Science on Stage" EU Teachers, Queen Mary University London
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description 2016 University of Southampton Science and Engineering Day 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Engagement with 256 children and accompanying parents at the 2016 University of Southampton Science and Engineering day with the Lightwave Roadshow, an outreach education program based at the Optoelectronics Research Centre and supported by the EPSRC Future Photonics Manufacturing Hub. Significant participation by postgraduate students with research relevant to the Hub activities, with positive change of attitude and renewed engagement of the program following this activity.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.zeplerinstitute.ac.uk/news/4858
 
Description Advanced Engineering 2018, 31 Oct - 1 Nov, NEC Birmingham 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Celebrating its 10th edition this year, Advanced Engineering continues to build even further upon its position as the UK's largest annual gathering of OEMs and engineering supply chain professionals. No other event reacts so quickly every year to the dynamic changes that are happening right now within advanced engineering and manufacturing. With an expanded Connected Manufacturing show zone, and the launch of a new co located event, Nuclear Engineering, the 2018 show will certainly be no exception.

Across the show floor:

600+ exhibiting suppliers and partners
200+ presentations and case studies from OEMs, industry experts and government
Innovative and exciting feature exhibits showing the latest technologies in action
Enabling Innovation zone for SMEs and start-ups to present new inventions and ideas
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://compositesuk.co.uk/events/advanced-engineering-2018
 
Description BBC4 "Secret History of Stuff" broadcasted in November 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact The BBC 4 Programme 'Secret History of Stuff' contained interviews with Hub co-Is and outreach team members.
It was aired in November 2018 and had a potential audience of 3M viewers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Big Bang Science and Engineering Fair 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Big Bang Science and Engineering Fair,
NEC Birmingham, March 2014
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description British Science Festival : "Light shaping the future" 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Invited talk at the British Science Festival to inform current research fields of light for telecommunications aimed at the general public (>50 in attendance), which led to questions on my research and current consumer and technology trends.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Cheltenham Science Festival 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A stand at the Festival allowed to reach 1360 people.

The aims of the activity were as follows:
• to introduce the public to Photonics and Hub applications
• to train post graduate students; improving their science communication and practical problem solving skills in optics and photonics through operating the show and presenting to large audiences.

At the Cheltenham Festival 47 feedback forms were given out to visitors to the stand. During the event, 153 stickers, 167 postcards, 171 bookmarks, 189 pens and approximately 200 pairs diffraction glasses were distributed dependent on the degree of 'significance' of the interaction with an individual.

The 'Significance' of the interaction with a visitor to the stand was assigned based on the length of the interaction or the difficulty of topics discussed. For example, a pair of diffraction glasses was more expensive to source in comparison with a postcard, so these were only handed out once the demonstrators had spoken at some length about Hub research. It was interesting to note that greater numbers of visitors wanted in-depth discussions with the demonstrators rather than a brief interaction. This distribution was no doubt due to the fact that the fair was aimed at members of the public already interested in science.

The largest impact for demonstrators was engaging with new audiences and people from underserved communities as illustrated below:

"The best moment for me was seeing the happiness and joy the infinity mirror brought to six children with severe learning difficulties." Hub demonstrator.

100% of those surveyed stated that the demonstrators communicated at an appropriate level with them.
"Excellent"! Good - informed conversation." Adult, member of public.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Creating an Innovation Pipeline for Compound Semiconductors in the UK 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Under the auspices of the National Epitaxy Facility and supported by the Photonics Manufacturing Hub, a one day workshop on the infrastructure available to support innovation in compound semiconductors int he UK was held in February 2022. The meeting was online and attracted over 180 delegates from both academia, industry, government and research councils.
Outputs of the meeting are being actively fed into government consultations and will be followed up in summer 2022.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.nationalepitaxyfacility.co.uk/news-events/
 
Description Delegation member for India-UK Future Telecoms Programme with CSA Catapult return trip to University of Southampton, Optoelectronic Research Centre - 21/06/2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Delegation member for India-UK Future Telecoms Programme with CSA Catapult return trip to University of Southampton, Optoelectronic Research Centre - 21/06/2022 to promote collaboration. The visit to University of Southampton, Optoelectronics Research Centre allowed delegates to discuss the Future Telecom Programme with Government, industry and academia. They demonstrated the value of the UK's innovation ecosystem, and its ability to work collectively to translate disruptive technologies and innovation into commercial products and services. The purpose of the visit was to create closer links with India and to see what joint opportunities there are for areas including business, security, telecoms and healthcare, all of which are underway at the Optoelectronics Research Centre. Meetings, presentations and discussions from ORC members of staff on India-UK Future Telecoms Programme for Indian delegation plus tour of facilities and Cleanrooms
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Delegation member for India-UK Future Telecoms Programme with CSA Catapult to Bangalore - 06-14/05/2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Delegation member of India-UK Future Telecoms Programme led by CSA Catapult to Bangalore - 06-14/05/2022 to promote collaboration. The visit to Bangalore allowed delegates to discuss the Future Telecom Programme with Government, industry and academia. They demonstrated the value of the UK's innovation ecosystem, and its ability to work collectively to translate disruptive technologies and innovation into commercial products and services.
The purpose of the trip was to create closer links with India and to see what joint opportunities there are for areas including business, security, telecoms and healthcare, all of which are underway at the Optoelectronics Research Centre.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.orc.soton.ac.uk/news/7072
 
Description Discussion Forum 
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 • February 2020: Reed contributed to a panel discussion, Photonics West, San Francisco 2020.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Exhibited with Display Table at SPIE Security + Defence and Remote Sensing 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Exhibited with Display Table at SPIE Security + Defence and Remote Sensing Edinburgh 26-29 Sep 2016. Over 60 contacts were made in the area of novel IR glasses through this 2 day event. One of these contacts has led to USA-UK-Germany industrial collaboration to develop IR lenses for medical applications. A second defense related collaborative group has been established between the ORC and five industrial partners to develop multispectral IR cameras and an Innovate UK proposal is in progress.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Family Science and Engineering Day 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Family Science and Engineering Day
3 separate events, UoS campus
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description From heliographs to the Internet: celebrating Light - Cafe Sci Salisbury 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact 70 members of the general public attended a 45 minute presentation on the International Year of Light and my current research being carried out at the university of Southampton. Many questions were raised by the audience after the presentation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://cafescientifiquesalisbury.org.uk/2015/09/light/
 
Description Future Photonics Hub, 20 Sept 2018 Southampton 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The Future Photonics Hub Industry Day, taking place on 20 September 2018 at the University of Southampton, aims to unite the UK's excellent science base with companies, R&D organisations and funding agencies; and showcase the latest research in new, practical and commercial photonics manufacturing technologies.

A highlight of the event is the keynote speaker, Dr Benn Thomsen of Microsoft Research, who joins the programme of invited speakers and expert scientists presenting in a series of five sessions on key photonics technology platforms.

In his opening keynote speech, 'Opportunities and challenges for photonics in the cloud', Benn will address how cloud computing is driving a phenomenal growth in data centre computing and network infrastructure, and the openings that this creates for photonics-based solutions:

"At Microsoft we are inventing future, non-legacy-based technologies to empower the next generation of the cloud; by creating new types of storage, network and compute resources that exploit optics. In this talk I will try to put some of these challenges into context and give a glimpse into some of the things we are currently working on in the photonics space."

'Opportunities for UK photonics' is a major theme for the day and the focus an afternoon session in which invited speakers Ben Whitaker, Innovation Partner at the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) Georgios Papadakis, Innovate UK's Innovation Lead for Electronics, Sensors and Photonics Dr John Lincoln, CEO of the Photonics Leadership Group present their inputs on the topic.

Further sessions will cover progress in silicon photonics, advanced materials, optical fibres and lasers from leading researchers including Professors David Richardson and Graham Reed, discussing solutions for next-generation data communications; and Professors Nikolay Zheludev and Dan Hewak discussing the volume manufacturing of 2D and metamaterials.

The opening and closing of the programme will be given by Professor Sir David Payne, Director of the Hub and Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC).

The Industry Day is aimed at those working in research, the photonics industry or in one of the many industries enabled by photonics, and offers plenty of opportunities for networking in the welcome brunch and packed exhibition which runs throughout the event. Attendees also have the chance for one-to-one meetings with key investigators and to tour Southampton's £120M cleanroom complex.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.zeplerinstitute.ac.uk/news/6369
 
Description Harrow School, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Middlesex - 24 Sept 2019 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Invited by Harrow School to speak to the Da Vinci Society as part of their seminar series which focuses on topics in physics and engineering. Presentation titled "From glass to google". It encouraged the students to think about the future: where technology will be in just a few decades, and where they themselves will be. The ORC has already been approached by an outstanding student requesting work experience as wanting to learn more about how research is conducted in a professional laboratory and interviewed Prof Sir David Payne for an article for the school newspaper and/or the Young Scientists' Journal.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description International Day of Light Event on campus - 16.05.18 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact A day of hands-on and interactive activities was arranged on campus for the following schools: Redbridge Community School; Oasis Academy Mayfield; The Hamble School; Toynbee School and Priory School. These local schools are targeted as 'underserved' and are part of the Learn with Us widening participation programme.

80 Year 9 students and 9 teachers took part.

The aims of the activity were as follows:
• to introduce pupils to Photonics and Hub applications
• to encourage students from underrepresented groups to attend university
• to train post graduate students; improving their science communication and practical problem solving skills in optics and photonics through operating the show and presenting to large audiences.

The learning outcomes for the activity were that students would be able to do the following at the end of the event:

• Define the word 'photonics' as being the science of light
• To know what a spectroscope is, and does
• To know what the acronym 'LASER' stands for
• To explain how a Pepper's Ghost demonstration works. (The optical illusion can be described in terms of simple ray optics and reflection).
• List three applications of photonics
• To increase the likelihood that students would want to study physics at University.

During the day students made spectroscopes and identified gases with them, made pepper's ghost demonstrations with their smart phones, attended the interactive Light Express laser show based on photonics, and did hands-on optics experiments with post graduate students.

The participants were surveyed at the beginning and end of the event to determine the following:
• their enjoyment of the event
• what they had learned
• their favourite activity of the day
• How likely they were to want to study physics at University.

Enjoyment:
The 67 pupils who returned surveys gave the event an average rating of 7.95/10 when asked about their enjoyment which we considered a very good result.

Change in knowledge:
There was a measurable change in the student's knowledge of optics and photonics as a result of the intervention:
• Before the event only 15% of the participants were able to define photonics as relating to light, after the event 50% of the pupils gave definitions of photonics as relating to the science of light or the study of light.
• At the beginning of the event 12% of pupils were able to describe a spectroscope as something that observed a spectrum of colours, after the event 62% were able to describe a spectroscope as something that identified gases using light.
• Before the event none of the students were able to explain what 'LASER' meant, after the event 45% were able to answer 'light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation'.
• At the start of the day none of the students knew what a Pepper's ghost was, or how it worked, after the event 100% of the students had made a demonstration to take how with them and 56% identified that reflection was responsible for the image. A common misconception amongst students was that refraction caused the optical illusion.
• Before the event 16% of pupils were able to give three applications of light; most referred to energy, and seeing things, after the event 59% of pupils were able to give three applications of light and included a much greater variety of applications such as lasers, fibre optics and telecommunications.

Change of attitude:
We acknowledge that a single one-off intervention was unlikely to alter student's long-term behaviour and at the end of the event:
• 44% of students declared no change in their intentions to study physics at University describing it as 'unlikely' both before and after the event that they would study physics.
• 11% of students maintained a positive attitude toward coming to University to study Physics; 3% described it as being 'Fairly likely' they would apply to University to study Physics both before and after the intervention
4.5% described it as being 'likely' that they would apply to study physics,
3% described it as being 'very likely' that they would apply.

The event though did result in some declared change in behaviour, some positive, some negative:
• 4.5% students described the event has having increased the likelihood that they would apply to study physics.
• One student changed their attitude from being 'very likely' to 'fairly likely' to study physics at University - a drop in two categories.
• 2 students dropped from 'fairly likely' to 'not likely'.
• 10% of students did not respond to the question.

10 students presumably arrived late from one school and were unable to complete the 'before' questions; their responses at the end of the event were that 2 were unlikely to want to study physics and 8 of whom were more positive in their response either declaring themselves; fairly likely, likely, or 1 very likely they were going to study physics.

From the statistics it could be determined that approximately 28% of pupils could be described as considering studying Physics at University. We will use this data in the future as a benchmark to determine whether interventions have been successful with this age group and WP schools.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.orc.soton.ac.uk/news/5594
 
Description International Women's Day 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact • March 2019: Supporting International Women's Day. Supported by a grant from SPIE for International Women's Day, and also by the Royal Academy of Engineering
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Invited Guest - 10th Anniversary Fraunhofer UK and Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics - London - 14/06/2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Invited Guest - 10th Anniversary Fraunhofer UK and Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics - London - 14/06/2022 with technology demonstrations, networking and talks on science, innovation and policy
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Invited Guest - Rank Prize 50th Anniversary Prize giving - London - 04/07/2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Invited Guest - Rank Prize 50th Anniversary Prize giving - London - 04/07/2022 - presentation of 28th Rank Prize Awards "Rank Prize for Optoelectronics"
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Invited Key stakeholder - EPSRC Manufacturing and the Circular Economy Theme Workshop - Swindon - 31/01/2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Invited as a Key stakeholder to EPSRC's Manufacturing and the Circular Economy theme Workshop in Swindon on 31/01/2023 who were inviting expressions of interest to attend one of two 1-day, in-person community and stakeholder workshop to inform understanding of the priorities and opportunities for research and innovation in driving a sustainable, resilient, thriving, and productive UK manufacturing sector and a truly circular economy.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Invited member of Expert Sift Panel - EPSRC Digital Manufacturing outline panel - 26-27/04/2022 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Invited member of Expert Sift Panel - EPSRC Digital Manufacturing outline panel - 26-27/04/2022 - panel members to asses and score in advance of meeting against Outline assessment criteria and introduce at panel meeting.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/digital-manufacturing/
 
Description Itchen Sixth Form College, Southampton - 9 Dec 2019 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Invited by the Sixth Form College, an inspirational lecture by Sir Professor David Payne titled "From Glass to Google" was supported by the Light Express show performance for Yr 12/13 Science, Computing Maths, and Business students.

The presentation gave the students a brief history of the optical internet and how we communicate using light, as well as how all of the research carried out can be used for business purposes. It also encouraged the students to think about the future: where technology will be in just a few decades, and where they themselves will be.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://www.itchen.ac.uk/uk/learning-areas/maths-computing-science/news/glass-google-visit-professor-...
 
Description Key stage 3 school visits 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact 175 pupils in key stage 3 attended 2 events visiting the research organisation and taking practical classes on telecommunications and applications to photonics and manufacturing research. Positive change of attitude noted from both youths and accompanying teachers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description LGBT STEM day 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact • July 2019: A talk from a scientist on "Diversity and Gender equality", and a discussion panel on Diversity issues, held in an LGBT friendly venue in Southampton City Centre. Funded by a grant from the OSA Foundation for Diversity and Inclusion as part of LGBT STEM day.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Lauren Reid was involved in the following outreach events: 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact 1. Women into Technology event for International Women's Day, Sparsholt College, Winchester,
UK, 8th March 2018.
2. Bringing Research to Life Roadshow at The Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester, UK, 16th April
2018.
3. Lightwave workshop with St Monica Primary School at University of Southampton, UK, 22nd
May, 2018.
4. Lightwave workshop at Wicor Primary School, Fareham, UK, 24th May, 2018.
5. Cheltenham Science Festival, Cheltenham, UK, 7th-8th June 2018.
6. Access to Southampton workshop, University of Southampton, 10th July 2018.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017,2018
 
Description Materials Research Exchange, 12 March 2018, London 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The 2018 Materials Research Exchange and Investor Showcase, organised by the Knowledge Transfer Network and Innovate UK and supported by EPSRC and Dstl provides an excellent platform to help develop commercial success of UK-generated materials research and innovation.

Taking place on 12 and 13 March, 2018 at the Business Design Centre, London it will provide an ideal opportunity to absorb current trends and take a glimpse of future innovations. The UK is an acknowledged global hub of excellence in materials research and know-how. This event will demonstrate the groundbreaking new materials and processes to industry to accelerate the process of taking these through to commercialisation.

From metals, powders and textiles to graphene and polymers - innovations in advanced materials research have numerous applications across a wide range of sectors. MRE2018 will be the largest and finest materials innovation event of the year... designed by those working in materials for the materials sector to engage with key application sectors in the UK and beyond.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.rsc.org/events/detail/30124/materials-research-exchange-and-investor-showcase-2018
 
Description National Epitaxy Facility Statement of Need consultation 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The EPSRC National Epitaxy Facility held a statement of need consultation meeting in October 2020 to assess the need and demand for epitaxy services in the UK among researchers and industry. The need for heterogenous integration, which is the subject of Heteroprint, formed a major element of the consultation meeting and the work of Hetero-print was referenced in the discussions and informed this community statement of need for a National Facility
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description National Silicon Photonics Fabrication Facility, Statement of Need consultation 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact In summer of 2020 a statement of need consultation meeting was organises to assess the need and demand for a silicon photonics fabrication services to be operated as an EPSRC National Research Facility. The need for heterogenous integration in silicon photonics, which is the subject of Heteroprint, was an element of the consultation meeting and the work of Heteroprint was referenced in the discussions and informed this community statement of need for a National Facility
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Participation in a outreach and public engagement national conference - INTERACT - An Engagement Symposium for the Physical Sciences 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Attendance and participation at the first 2017 INTERACT conference hosted at the University of Birmingham. 127 people in total attended the conference. A University of Southampton comprised of 10 PhD students, 3 Post docs, 2 outreach staff and 1 professor attended. 13 members of the delegation presented a total of 9 talks ( out of 31 in total, so 29% of the schedule ). Excellent networking, a good number of new contacts were made as well as our strong presence of Southampton people definitely left a mark on the entire event. Further participation in the conference is expected. The organisation of the transport for the delegation was funded through grants obtained from the IEEE Photonics Society and the University of Southampton's Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.events.iop.org/e/interact---an-engagement-symposium-for-the-physical-sciences-123538990/...
 
Description Participation in an activity, workshop or similar - Widening Participation Outreach Programme 
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 Outreach education workshops with 582 school students in key stages 2 & 3 from schools the South of England across 11 days in June 2017. School visits organised in collaboration with the University of Southampton Outreach Office's Widening Participation (WP) program, targeting schools that do not traditionally engage with higher education. Classes on optical sciences and applications to photonics research carried out on varied subjects, including mirrors and lenses, telecommunications, electromagnetic spectrum. 20 postgraduate research students were trained and involved in the delivery and evaluation of these classes. Further activity organised with the Outreach Office WP program for increased training and activities in 2018 resulted from activity.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Participation in an activity, workshop or similar - Women in Optics and Photonics activities 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact A 1 day workshop at a public event in Southampton West Quay shopping centre and 1 classroom workshop and tour of cleanroom facilities, engaging with 191 members of the public and female students. ----- 40 pupils from schools around the UK attended a workshop and visit of the research facilities of the Optoelectronics Research Centre as part of a residential course for girls in July 2017. ---- 151 members of the public visited research showcase and engagement stand at West Quay shopping centre as part of city wide celebration of the 2017 International Women's Day. ---- In both events, change of attitude towards the subject area recorded and assimilation of knowledge and application of photonics research. Renewed interest to participate in the residential course in 2018. settings organised to present the science and research at the University of Southampton in Photonics and Optoelectronics. Activities supported by SPIE Women in Optics grant.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Participation in fairs for the general public 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Participation in 2017 University of Southampton Science and Engineering Day (18 March) and 2017 Winchester Science Festival (29-30 July), engaging with 586 children and an estimated 300 parents and members of the public. Activities featured photonics hands-on activities and applications to scientific research. Events organised in collaboration with the University of Southampton Public Engagement Roadshow, resulting in renewed interest to participate in the Roadshow and attend more festivals in 2018. Further networking possible with other workshop organisers resulting in more opportunities for events and identifying funding through regional partners (IOP for instance)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Participation in school fairs and visits 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Visits organised to attend 2 school festivals and 1 school day, engaging with 521 school students from 6 schools in the South of England. Activities include showcase of research in optoelectronics and photonics and educational activities to enrich the national curriculum in science for students in key stages 2 and 3 (aged 8-14 years). Events organised in collaboration with Public Engagement Roadshow, Cantell School and Winchester Cathedral Science Centre. Renewed interest for collaboration in 2018, in particular with Cantell School for first ever celebration of the 2018 UNESCO International Day of Light.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Photonics Horizon Scanning workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact A meeting of senior academic researchers in photonics in the UK was convened in March 2020. This group of internationally leading researchers identified a vision and strategy for forward looking Photonics research of high potential impact on a 10 year timescale. The subsequent report was widely distributed through the UK Photonics leadership group and was used to influence policy makers, politicians and the broad base of academic and industrial researchers working in this area. Several aspects of transfer print for heterogenous integration were used to inform discussions and was represented by Professor Heffernan.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://photonicsuk.org/future-horizons-for-photonics-research-2030-and-beyond
 
Description Photonics West 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact the Photonics Hub, Southampton and Sheffield were represented with staff and presentations at the Photonics West conference in San Francisco in Feb 2017. This is one the major international conference for Photonics and has led to new industrial contacts.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Photonics21 working group meeting on Quantum Integrated Photonics Circuits (QPICs) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Professor Heffernan attended a meeting of the Photonics21 working group of the European Commission to discuss the current status and future potential for QPICs. The meeting was primarily held to review the European position in this growing field and to further the development and inclusion of this area in the future EU R&D funding plans.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the EU commission and a large number of academic and industrial researchers from across Europe, with strong representation from the UK. Professor Heffernan attended and contributed to discussions, particularly on heterogenous integration strategies including transfer print processes being developed under Heteroprint.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Photonix, 10-11 October, 2018 Coventry 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact PHOTONEX EUROPE LIVE! is a key event for photonics, an enabling technology: a vast diversity of applications are enabled by photonics and light technologies.

Photonex brings the whole supply chain together under one roof: supplier companies, consultants, industrial users, researchers, science groups and innovative new-comers
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.photonex.org/photonex/18/index.php
 
Description Pint of Science, Southampton 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact 150 members of the general public attended the Southampton's Pint of Science "From Atoms to Galaxies" in May 2015. Many questions were addressed to researchers involved in the event on their presentations and in discussion afterwards. Assimilation of knowledge documented, positive feedback asking for a similar event to be held in 2016.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://pintofscience.co.uk/event/light-the-future-of-the-internet/
 
Description Portsmouth Grammar School, Portsmouth - 26.09.18 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact A Light Express show performance for KS4 students supporting an inspirational lecture by Sir Professor David Payne.

170 GCSE students and 9 teachers attended.

The aims of the activity were as follows:
• to introduce teachers to Photonics and Hub applications
• to train post graduate students; improving their science communication and practical problem solving skills in optics and photonics through operating the show and presenting to large audiences.

Participants were asked to give the show a rating out of 10 for enjoyment, a brief description of what they had learned, as well as feedback for future shows.

Overall Event Ratings: The event scored an average of 8.2/10.

The attendees were asked to write down what they learned from the Light Express Show. 54% of people completed an evaluation. Answers revealed that the show communicated a broad range of science concepts: optical fibres; lasers and the internet. Key aspects of science learned by the audience were: total internal reflection; the absorption of light by different coloured materials; and the introduction of the word 'photonics'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Primary school workshops 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Work with university of southampton Outreach Office Widening Participation program. 3 events carried out to engage with 300 pupils from local schools.

The activity has resulted in the participation of a high-profile Primary Science Festival in Winchester Cathedral.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Public Engagement Training 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Public Engagement Training for Postgraduate Students
3 sessions
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Royal Horticultural Society Flower Show Tatton Park 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Reflecting Photonics - Scientists in the Garden.
Conversations with approx 1200 visitors about research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description SPIE Exhibition 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Attendence at SPIE Exhibition as as part of SPIE Security + Defence and Remote Sensing Edinburgh 26-29 Sep 2016
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description School visit (Inspire course) Key stage 5 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact 30 pupils from schools around the UK attended a workshop and visit of the research facilities of the Optoelectronics Research Centre as part of a residential course for girls. Change of attitude towards the subject area recorded and assimilation of knowledge and application of photonics research. Renewed interest to participate in the residential course in 2017.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description School visits (Key stage 2) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact 344 students attended a workshop on fibre optics and telecommunications developed based on the research areas of the postgraduate students involved in running the activity. The workshop is in high demand for 2016 from schools.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description School visits (Key stage 3) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact A series of workshops on telecommuniations was delivered to 763 students in key stage 3. The postgraduate demonstrators were asked questions about their research and studies, which has fed back into developing the structure of the workshop and PGRs improving their ability to communicate with school students and non-specialist audiences.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015
 
Description School visits, 6th form 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact 126 6th form students visited the university in 4 events in 2015 to take part in workshops on fibre optics, quantum computing and telecommuniations research and to visit the university's cleanroom facilities. Comments are positive and further activities have been requested as a result.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015,2016
URL http://www.orc.soton.ac.uk/q-wow.html
 
Description School visits, external (Key stage 1) 
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 Visits to 4 schools and reached 180 students at key stage 1. This activity has required further demand from schools and further visits are in preparation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015,2016
 
Description Science Museum 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact London Science Museum
2 x Shows.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Science and Engineering Day 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Science and Engineering Day
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Southampton Physicist of the Year 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact A Light Express show performance was organised for award-winning Physics students, their teachers and parents.

40 pupils, 40 parents and 40 teachers attended.

The aims of the activity were as follows:
• to entertain and inform students, parents and teachers about Photonics and Hub applications
• to train post graduate students; improving their science communication and practical problem solving skills in optics and photonics through operating the show and presenting to large audiences.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description The Institute of Physics Stimulating Physics Network Meeting, Charter House School. - 07.07.18 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact A Light Express show performance to teachers, presenting the audience with the research of the hub and photonics in general.

95 science teachers attended.

The aims of the activity were as follows:
• to introduce teachers to Photonics and Hub applications
• to train post graduate students; improving their science communication and practical problem solving skills in optics and photonics through operating the show and presenting to large audiences.

Feedback from the audience was obtained via the Maths and Science Learning Centre's evaluations which were mainly positive. There were a range of teachers there with a range of Physics backgrounds (many new teachers, technicians and those with backgrounds in biology, so finding the right level to pitch at wasn't easy). Responses ranged from 'interesting' and 'Fascinating' and 'informative'. Criticisms were that the content was too easy, or two difficult. The audience appreciated learning about the research which was mostly tailored towards the curriculum and telecommunications, but did describe the hub's research into new fibres for manufacturing purposes.

• Amazing!/ Loved the lightshow! - very interesting/ Fascinating lecture thank you/ Loved it, really interesting!/ Interesting and thought provoking/ Lightshow was fun and informative, very enjoyable. Great presentation. I know what I'm studying next!
• The Light Show was great inspiration for upcoming physicists. Gave a broader idea to why we need to keep researching to improve the current technology/ interesting to see cutting edge research in action/ The lightshow was really interesting and showed some insight into the world of lasers and optical communication/ Lightshow brilliant and very thought provoking for the future of the internet/smartphone and energy./Excellent overview of various fibre optics/ Very informative and will help with teaching properties and uses of lasers in industry and information/ Very interesting and informative
• Too basic for science teachers/ Nice + fun but remember most of the audience already has a physics degree (no I take it back, I think it was new to quite a few people). Love the TIR in water!/Very interesting, pitched at a level too high for KS4. Could be scaled down?/ Fabulous - a great eye opener. Could be more technical with this audience!
• great idea, excellent way to end the day. Prefer to keynote talk which isn't always relevant.
• Very interesting - would be interested to know if available for school visits and if can be tailored down to KS3/GCSE level (Nikita Ramsey from Mayville High School)
• Excellent - better than previous lectures (Pearl - this teacher has attended nearly all the Charterhouse conference over the last 7/8 years)

We had 55 teachers tick that they considered themselves to be a specialist physics teacher, out of 85 completed feedback forms. We had 95 attend overall.
Most are secondary and/or post 16 teachers and some technicians too.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Thin Films in Hard Drive Technology 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Visit of industrial partners Seagate Inc and Ilika Technologies Ltd and their staff to the Zepler Institute Clean Room facility followed by discussions on the use of 2D materials in products made by Seagate
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description UK Israel Research Delegation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact British Embassy sponsored research visit to five Universities in Israel to develop new new collaborative links.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description UK Semiconductors Conference, 4-5 July 2018, Sheffield 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact he conference was attended by 290 delegates from more than 35 academic institutions and including industry representatives from 30 companies. The conference includes the TMD-UK 2018 meeting on 2D materials beyond graphene. Plenary speakers were Eric Tournié (Montpellier) on antimonide semiconductors for mid-infrared optoelectronics, Arne Ludwig (Bochum) on growth of low noise quantum dots for quantum information, Anna Barnett (Sussex) on wide band gap semiconductors for radiation detection and Amalia Patanè (Nottingham) on epitaxy, science and processing technologies for van der Waals crystals. We also hosted the prize talk from the winner of the inaugural IOP Semiconductor Physics group thesis prize: James Dimmock (Sharp Laboratories) on hot carrier solar cells.

As part of the scientific programme there were 136 other presentations, with symposia on Physics in Semiconductors, Optical Devices, Electronic Devices, Semiconductor Materials & Nanostructures, Mid-infrared and THz Devices, Organic & Hybrid Semiconductors, Wide Band-Gap Semiconductors and 2D Materials. Invited talks in these sessions were given by Diana Huffaker (Cardiff) on semiconductor nanowires, Stephan Hofmann (Cambridge) on chemical vapour deposition of 2D materials, and Andres Castellanos-Gomez (Madrid) on strain tuneable optoelectronic devices based on 2D materials. There was also an Industry & Innovation session, with speakers from a range of institutes and companies giving perspectives on the current research environment and showcasing facilities that promote interactions between industry and academia to advance the technology readiness of research.

The conference also featured a Research Communication Competition for PhD students, sponsored by the IOP Semiconductor Physics Group, with the judging panel chaired by group committee member Daniel Wolverson (Bath). In the competition, entrants gave a three minute presentation about their research suitable for a non-specialist audience. This was the third year running the competition and attracted 20 initial entrants with 9 finalists. The winners were both from the University of Sheffield: 1st prize went to Tom Lyons for "The world's thinnest magnet: could it be used in computers of the future?" and runner up was George Gillard for "Controlling quantum bits: A step towards quantum computing".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.nationalepitaxyfacility.co.uk/news-and-events/summary-uk-semiconductors-conference-2018/
 
Description University of Southampton Science and Engineering Day 
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 Other audiences
Results and Impact I have been involved in Science and Engineering Day at the University of Southampton since 2014, where each year 400-500 members of the general public (out of an audience of >2000) visited a workshop that I have organised on the fundamentals of optics and photonics.

As a result of this workshop, myself and the postgraduates taking part in the event wished to develop new workshops to engage the same audience on but more specifically on our research areas. The experience of communicating fundamental science facilitated the process and gave us confidence to do this.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014,2015,2016
 
Description Vinita Mittal contributed to the Southampton University open day. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact Vinita Mittal contributed to the Southampton University open day.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017,2018
 
Description Visit to Applemore College, Roman Road, Dibden Purlieu, Southampton SO45 4RQ. Secondary School. 20-04-18 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Light Express show performance to pupils and teachers, presenting the audience with the research of the hub and photonics in general, to accompany an inspirational lecture by Sir Professor David Payne. 120 GCSE pupils and 8 teachers attended.

The aims of the activity were as follows:
• to introduce pupils to Photonics and Hub applications
• to train post graduate students; improving their science communication and practical problem solving skills in optics and photonics through operating the show and presenting to large audiences.

A show of hands at the beginning of the show confirmed that no one in the audience was familiar with the term 'photonics' before the talk began.

The Light Express Roadshow was organised by a third party and it was not possible to get feedback directly from the audience, we relied on feedback from teachers. A sample testimonial is shown below:

I am emailing as a follow up from the light show and presentation that you delivered to our students at Applemore College last half term. Thank you for bringing this opportunity to us, the afternoon was brilliant and certainly inspired many of our students, the questions from the students continued into the following week and has generated some excellent Science. Thank you for organising this and thank you to everyone that took the time to visit us.
Head Teacher, Applemore College.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.lightexpress.soton.ac.uk
 
Description Visit to Ferndown Upper School, Cherry Grove, Ferndown BH22 9EY. (Comprehensive School). 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact It consisted of two Light Express show performances to pupils and teachers, presenting the audience with the research of the hub and photonics in general. It reached 240 GCSE pupils, 40 A Level students and 8 teachers.

The aims of the activity were as follows:
• to introduce pupils to Photonics and Hub applications
• to train post graduate students; improving their science communication and practical problem solving skills in optics and photonics through operating the show and presenting to large audiences.

A show of hands at the beginning of the show confirmed that no one in the audience was familiar with the term 'photonics' before the talk began.

The two audiences received the shows with enthusiasm. No formal feedback was obtained but a testimonial from the school was received below:

Dear Dr Gow, Just a short note to thank you for the Light Express show that you did at Ferndown Upper School. Both staff and students were thrilled and amazed by the impressive delivery and your presenters were excellent - engaging, knowledgeable and very communicative with the students.
Our Year 11 and 13 students especially found the shows useful in terms of consolidation and application of ideas and knowledge for their upcoming exams.
We would love to have you back again to deliver to our new cohort and our feeder schools too! Thanks again. Mrs Kimi Bothamley - Head of Physics, Ferndown Upper School,

The greatest impact of the activity may have been on the staff and postgraduate students working on the Light Express show: Paul Gow; Alex Jantzen and Senta Scholl. Paul Gow was the 'Post Doc' staff member who arranged the visit in response to a request from the school teaching staff. He gained practical experience with managing an event with an external organisation, and on the post graduate students who presented the show. This show gave them the confidence they needed to present the laser show on television later in the year.

Over my university career the Light Express has impacted me in many ways. The show helped me to develop many skills over the years, from planning and execution of activities, to presentation and communication as well as laser safety and public speaking. The main skill I developed during this time was engagement. I learned to engage with a wide range of audiences on science and technology, using this to communicate my own research through my PhD. The skills I developed as a laserist on the Light Express helped me in other areas as well, such as during my time as a demonstrator in undergraduate labs teaching students and troubleshooting experiments. The communication and engagement skills I learned are still helping me with my current employment, through conferences, networking, public engagement and research proposals. Dr Paul Gow, Post Doc. ORC.

The Light Express has been a huge contributor in increasing; my skills in science communication, my ability to confidently speak to the public about science and my understanding of what makes educational science experiments. As a demonstrator and seeing the first hand impact that showing science rather than talking about it can have, it has really changed how I look to communicate complex topics. Before I started working on the Light Express and doing shows, I was incredibly nervous about standing in front of large audiences. It has since given me the opportunity to slowly evolve through the different stages of being part of the show to the point today where I will happily stand in the centre of a large public or even conference audience. It has truly been an activity that has given me the confidence to be confident. You don't have to take my word for it I won 1st place prize at the SPIE Optics Outreach Games in San Diego, hosted by SPIE. It also goes without saying that in opening someone's eyes to the awesome world of science, it is almost like a therapy for the soul. Alex Jantzen, Light Express Laserist.

My friends used to take little interest in my studies and research because they felt like they were not smart enough to understand what I am doing. In hindsight, this is not because they were genuinely not interested, but because I did not pitch my research very well. Being part of the Light Express team and learning from the experienced and encouraging team taught me how to communicate science in an accessible and interesting way, so that a non-technical audience can understand it and can be drawn into the excitement that I feel for it. This has a huge impact on my personal life: Knowing how to explain my research in an understandable way made me become more confident in sharing my research with my family and friends as well as with complete strangers rather than trying to hide what forms a big part of my life and my interest.

I also want to point out that I came from a very theoretical electrical engineering background and Light Express gave me the opportunity to gain some hands-on experience and to learn about setting up experiments, aligning lasers, handling fibre and solving problems in a very friendly, fun and supportive environment. I also learned a lot from the way the set up and experiments has been explained to me during the training sessions and I am trying to use similar ways when I explain experiments and answer questions to other PhD students back in my labs.
Light Express also reduced my fear of speaking in front of a large audience. I am usually quite happy to talk to a large group, but English is not my first language, so I always have to think twice and double check that I am using the right words, which made me a bit nervous. Light Express gave me the practice and the confidence of speaking in my second language. I realise the impact of this on a daily basis, when I am in meetings and have the courage to speak up and participate in group discussions rather than just sit there in silent because I may not use the right word.

Light Express also taught me a lot about leadership skills. The Light Express crew is an experienced and very well organised team. The team lead has full trust in the whole team and happily gives newer members (such as myself) responsibilities which help me personally grow. I see a fantastic example of good leadership and great team play in the way the Light Express team is lead and organised and I am very pleased to be part of this crew. Senta Scholl, PhD Student, Laserist in training.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.lightexpress.soton.ac.uk
 
Description Winchester Cathedral Primary Science Festival 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Participation in 2016 Winchester Cathedral Primary Science Festival. Working with 2 regional schools and 130 students in UK year 5-6.

The work has resulted in presentation of activity at an international conference, as well as a change of attitude and assimilation of knowledge from the youths participating in the activity.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://blogs.unionsouthampton.org/blog/2016/11/25/opsoc-pgr-students-sheds-light-on-science-at-winc...
 
Description Women in Science 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact • February 2018: Soapbox: Women in Science at Bournemouth University
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Women into Technology 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact • March 2018: Women into Technology event for International Women's Day, Sparsholt College, Winchester
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Workshop (Wuhan) 
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 Workshop "Optics Technology for Sensing Applications (OTSA)", ACP 2016, Nov. 2-5, 2016, Shangri-La Hotel, Wuhan, China co-organized and co-hosted by Dr M Petrovich
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016