TEAM-A: The tailored electromagnetic and acoustic materials accelerator
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Exeter
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
This five-year Prosperity Partnership programme will build upon and deepen the successful relationship that exists between the University of Exeter and QinetiQ. We will develop advanced materials that can be used to control and manipulate the propagation of electromagnetic and acoustic energy in a highly tailored, bespoke fashion, and develop innovative techniques for their cost-effective manufacture.
Materials that have the ability to fully control and manipulate the flow of electromagnetic (e.g. radiated heat, light, radiowaves) and acoustic (e.g. sound, vibration, shock) energy have the potential to transform, and enable, a large and diverse range of technologies. Exeter and QinetiQ have long been at the forefront of the science and engineering of such materials, with recent examples being: the modification of wind turbines to reduce their interference with meteorological and aviation radar systems, where half of the viable wind-farm sites in the UK are currently blocked for this reason, and the development of new optoelectronic materials for the realisation of beyond ultra-high definition displays.
However, there are still significant challenges prohibiting the widespread take up of these new materials in applications. In particular, concepts developed in the laboratory are often incompatible with commercial manufacture, due to their complexity and the nature of the constituent parts. Instead, the basic science that describes the behaviour of these new materials needs to be combined with a detailed understanding of how such materials could be manufactured, so that new materials can be designed and engineered to tackle specific technological challenges using commercially viable approaches. The objective of this Partnership is to bring together leading advanced materials and manufacturing research at Exeter and QinetiQ to address real technology and innovation challenges.
Through the exchange of staff, the shared used of facilities and an emphasis on the training of a new generation of entrepreneurial researchers, we will work across conventional discipline and institutional boundaries to accelerate the impact of academic research. The outcome of the programme will be a sustainable, long term partnership, underpinned by revenue created through the creation of products, or the licensing of intellectual property. The resulting research and technology pipeline will underpin future innovation, leading to the creation of additional high tech UK jobs and economic impact through spin-outs and joint ventures.
Materials that have the ability to fully control and manipulate the flow of electromagnetic (e.g. radiated heat, light, radiowaves) and acoustic (e.g. sound, vibration, shock) energy have the potential to transform, and enable, a large and diverse range of technologies. Exeter and QinetiQ have long been at the forefront of the science and engineering of such materials, with recent examples being: the modification of wind turbines to reduce their interference with meteorological and aviation radar systems, where half of the viable wind-farm sites in the UK are currently blocked for this reason, and the development of new optoelectronic materials for the realisation of beyond ultra-high definition displays.
However, there are still significant challenges prohibiting the widespread take up of these new materials in applications. In particular, concepts developed in the laboratory are often incompatible with commercial manufacture, due to their complexity and the nature of the constituent parts. Instead, the basic science that describes the behaviour of these new materials needs to be combined with a detailed understanding of how such materials could be manufactured, so that new materials can be designed and engineered to tackle specific technological challenges using commercially viable approaches. The objective of this Partnership is to bring together leading advanced materials and manufacturing research at Exeter and QinetiQ to address real technology and innovation challenges.
Through the exchange of staff, the shared used of facilities and an emphasis on the training of a new generation of entrepreneurial researchers, we will work across conventional discipline and institutional boundaries to accelerate the impact of academic research. The outcome of the programme will be a sustainable, long term partnership, underpinned by revenue created through the creation of products, or the licensing of intellectual property. The resulting research and technology pipeline will underpin future innovation, leading to the creation of additional high tech UK jobs and economic impact through spin-outs and joint ventures.
Planned Impact
The TEAM-A Prosperity Partnership will positively impact UK economic success. The research and technology pipeline created by the Partnership will not only support QinetiQ in its core defence and security business, but will allow further diversification into new non-defence markets, such as renewable energy, via dual-use technologies. QinetiQ is one of the largest UK science and technology based companies, and a top 50 UK employer of science, research, engineering & technology professionals. The potential within TEAM-A is exemplified by project 2.1 on Tailored Infra-red sources. There is a quantified opportunity to develop a versatile and secure market leading solution for an IR beacon, which will enable an aircraft to identify a vehicle as friendly with eight times the capability of its nearest rival. The first round of supply to the market for this technology is estimated to be worth £250m and commercialising a solution would deliver £200million of international sales into UK Plc. However, versions of the same sources could be used for infrared gas sensing, which accounts for 20% of the ~£1billion market for industrial gas sensors.
The Partnership will help support a wide range of high tech UK SMEs, who often play a critical part in the exploitation of UK science and technology. Companies such as; LabGenius, APL, Tiflex, Imerys, Innovia and The Quartz Corp have given commitment to TEAM-A and the SME network and broader industry engagement will accelerate as the projects progress. Specifically, SME's will have access to targeted academic research and development at an early stage in its evolution, often addressing specific questions raised by the SME's themselves. At a later stage new applications will be developed that will be licensed to SME's for exploitation and business growth
The UK economy will further benefit by a strengthening of the South and South West region's international position in advanced engineering, as highlighted in the recent government science and innovation audit. Key unique capabilities in advanced engineering, including aerospace, composites, renewable energy and automotive all stand to benefit from focussed research into advanced materials. Within the South West & South Wales 98,000 people are currently employed in aerospace and advanced engineering and this rapidly expanding area has generated growth of 29% over the last five years, more than twice the average regional growth rate. These sectors provide significant Gross Value Added to the UK economy and TEAM-A will add to this by enabling an optimisation of manufacturing and take up of these new materials.
The focus on outreach and education at all levels within TEAM-A will address urgent capability gaps including the requirement for an additional 2,500 employees (within the South West) in advanced engineering over the next ten years. By delivering high value jobs, skills and innovation within these fields TEAM-A will also deliver productivity growth and the programme will link in with the Local Enterprise Partnership plans to address the productivity gap; productivity in the South West is 86% of the UK average. Increasing productivity to the national average would add £11,000 per head to local salaries, significantly improving quality of life and inward investment within the region. The Partnership will train a new generation of leading researchers equipped with the entrepreneurial skills to take science from the laboratory to the market.
Engagement with schools and community groups will have impact beyond those directly aiming to pursue careers in this sector. A wider public will benefit by gaining increased scientific understanding in tangible and meaningful ways, through exposure to accessible advanced engineering concepts and prototypes. Outreach and engagement work will increase public engagement and enthusiasm alongside knowledge in this area, a long term benefit in an increasingly advanced employment market.
The Partnership will help support a wide range of high tech UK SMEs, who often play a critical part in the exploitation of UK science and technology. Companies such as; LabGenius, APL, Tiflex, Imerys, Innovia and The Quartz Corp have given commitment to TEAM-A and the SME network and broader industry engagement will accelerate as the projects progress. Specifically, SME's will have access to targeted academic research and development at an early stage in its evolution, often addressing specific questions raised by the SME's themselves. At a later stage new applications will be developed that will be licensed to SME's for exploitation and business growth
The UK economy will further benefit by a strengthening of the South and South West region's international position in advanced engineering, as highlighted in the recent government science and innovation audit. Key unique capabilities in advanced engineering, including aerospace, composites, renewable energy and automotive all stand to benefit from focussed research into advanced materials. Within the South West & South Wales 98,000 people are currently employed in aerospace and advanced engineering and this rapidly expanding area has generated growth of 29% over the last five years, more than twice the average regional growth rate. These sectors provide significant Gross Value Added to the UK economy and TEAM-A will add to this by enabling an optimisation of manufacturing and take up of these new materials.
The focus on outreach and education at all levels within TEAM-A will address urgent capability gaps including the requirement for an additional 2,500 employees (within the South West) in advanced engineering over the next ten years. By delivering high value jobs, skills and innovation within these fields TEAM-A will also deliver productivity growth and the programme will link in with the Local Enterprise Partnership plans to address the productivity gap; productivity in the South West is 86% of the UK average. Increasing productivity to the national average would add £11,000 per head to local salaries, significantly improving quality of life and inward investment within the region. The Partnership will train a new generation of leading researchers equipped with the entrepreneurial skills to take science from the laboratory to the market.
Engagement with schools and community groups will have impact beyond those directly aiming to pursue careers in this sector. A wider public will benefit by gaining increased scientific understanding in tangible and meaningful ways, through exposure to accessible advanced engineering concepts and prototypes. Outreach and engagement work will increase public engagement and enthusiasm alongside knowledge in this area, a long term benefit in an increasingly advanced employment market.
Organisations
- University of Exeter (Lead Research Organisation)
- PepsiCo (Collaboration)
- Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (Collaboration)
- Theta Technologies Limited (Collaboration)
- Technical Composite Systems Ltd (Collaboration)
- Qinetiq (United Kingdom) (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- University of Warwick (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF EXETER (Collaboration)
Publications
Baraclough M
(2021)
Metamaterial Analogues of Strongly Coupled Molecular Ensembles.
in ACS photonics
Baraclough M
(2020)
Direct observation of defect modes in molecular aggregate analogs
in Physical Review B
Baraclough M
(2018)
Investigation of the coupling between tunable split-ring resonators
in Physical Review B
Baraclough M
(2019)
Metamaterial Analogues of Molecular Aggregates.
in ACS photonics
Barr L
(2021)
Super-resolution imaging for sub-IR frequencies based on total internal reflection
in Optica
Barr L
(2021)
Efficient mm-wave photomodulation via coupled Fabry-Perot cavities
in Journal of Applied Physics
Barr LE
(2022)
Slow waves on long helices.
in Scientific reports
Beadle JG
(2019)
Broadband, slow sound on a glide-symmetric meander-channel surface.
in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Chaplain G
(2023)
Reconfigurable Elastic Metamaterials: Engineering Dispersion with Beyond Nearest Neighbors
in Physical Review Applied
Chaplain GJ
(2022)
Multi-scale bullseye antennas.
in Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences
Corbett A
(2024)
Simulating spectral images of natural waters and submerged objects from a bird's-eye view
in Mathematics and Computers in Simulation
Gallagher CP
(2023)
Multi-resonant tessellated anchor-based metasurfaces.
in Scientific reports
Gowda P
(2022)
Toward efficient and tailorable mid-infrared emitters utilizing multilayer graphene
in Applied Physics Letters
Hamilton J
(2020)
Three-dimensional profiling of collimated radio-frequency orbital angular momentum beams
in IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation
Hamilton J
(2021)
Effective-periodicity effects in Fibonacci slot arrays
in Physical Review B
Hamilton J
(2021)
Exploring microwave absorption by non-periodic metasurfaces
in Advanced Electromagnetics
Hamilton JK
(2021)
Absorption modes of Möbius strip resonators.
in Scientific reports
Hooper I
(2022)
Waveguide-Mode-Enhanced Millimeter-Wave Photomodulators
in Physical Review Applied
Hooper I
(2022)
Engineering the carrier lifetime and switching speed in Si-based mm-wave photomodulators
in Journal of Applied Physics
Hooper IR
(2019)
High efficiency photomodulators for millimeter wave and THz radiation.
in Scientific reports
Humphreys E
(2023)
Filtering and Modulation from the Infrared to the Terahertz using Phase-Change Extraordinary Optical Transmission Metasurfaces
in physica status solidi (RRL) - Rapid Research Letters
J. G. Beadle
(2019)
Broadband, slow sound on a glide-symmetric meander-channel surface
in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Keatley P
(2019)
A Ferrite-Filled Cavity Resonator for Electronic Article Surveillance on Metallic Packaging
in IEEE Transactions on Magnetics
Matsunaga D
(2019)
Controlling collective rotational patterns of magnetic rotors.
in Nature communications
Mrnka M
(2022)
Space squeezing optics: Performance limits and implementation at microwave frequencies
in APL Photonics
Powell A
(2020)
Strong, omnidirectional radar backscatter from subwavelength, 3D printed metacubes
in IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation
Seetharaman S
(2018)
Realizing an ultra-wideband backward-wave metamaterial waveguide
in Physical Review B
Shelley SR
(2021)
Slow acoustic surface modes through the use of hidden geometry.
in Scientific reports
Tatnell DM
(2020)
Coupling and confinement of current in thermoacoustic phased arrays.
in Science advances
Trimby L
(2018)
Phase-change band-pass filters for multispectral imaging
in SPIE West
Zou H
(2022)
Efficient mid-infrared linear-to-circular polarization conversion using a nanorod-based metasurface
in Optical Materials Express
| Description | The innovations emerging from this project are expected to benefit the local SME community, lead to wider health benefits (from a tool minimising the removal of healthy tissue during cancer surgeries) and improve security (from developing a new generation of finger printing methods and gas sensing technologies for the accurate detection of dangerous atmospheric chemicals). The objective of this project is to build a new generation of materials that can control the propagation of electromagnetic (e.g., radiated heat, light, radio waves) and acoustic energy (e.g., sound, vibration, shock) to enable the development of various technologies. The different techniques and know-how developed as part of this project will find applications in a wide range of sectors, including healthcare and defence. The project includes a portfolio of work packages, focusing on five key research challenges: • New materials that control the propagation of microwave and radiofrequency radiation • Terahertz and infrared radiation for identification, signalling and imaging • New materials that control the propagation of acoustic radiation • Predictive modelling of the propagation of electromagnetic and acoustic radiation • Novel manufacturing of advanced materials (i.e., 3-D printing) The successful commercialisation of such materials currently faces many obstacles due to the weight of components and the high cost of design and manufacturing. The main challenge this project aims to address is to identify ways of translating scientific knowledge on how materials behave into commercial products that can be manufactured at scale. Participants and the nature of pre-existing partnership The industry lead on this project is QinetiQ, an international company with headquarters based in Farnborough, England who offer technology-based products with applications in various industries, including defence and security as a predominant market. One of QinetiQ's capabilities is in advanced materials and manufacturing processes, providing clients with fundamental research and testing and measurement services for advanced material solutions. The PI from QinetiQ learned about the Prosperity Partnership through the EPSRC Business Engagement Forum, and he invited the academic PI from the University of Exeter to join the team and develop the proposal. The University of Exeter contributes to this project by exploring the scientific processes that explain the behaviour of new materials. They work together with the industry partner to ensure that these scientific concepts meet commercial manufacturing and exploitation needs. QinetiQ brings in-depth understanding of industry challenges and their main role within this project is to utilise academic research to develop new advanced materials, create prototypes that give companies confidence to adopt these new materials in new applications, and establish routes to manufacture these materials cost-effectively and at scale. Due to their unique facilities and expertise, in addition to fundamental research work, QinetiQ also contributes to the project by evaluating materials to prove that products work. This Prosperity Partnership collaboration between the University of Exeter and QinetiQ builds upon a long-standing partnership between the two organisations that spans across several decades. In the past, QinetiQ has funded PhD programmes at the university and supported multiple grant applications for EPSRC funding. This relationship was predominantly with the physics department and focused on microwave and radiofrequency radiation. Part of the motivation for applying for this project was to broaden and deepen the relationship between the two partners and reach other academic groups within the university (such as the engineering, maths, and computer science departments). The programme also appealed to the partners due to the opportunity to share expertise in scientific / technology domains and benefit from access to each other's valuable facilities. The partnership has allowed the partners to make significant progress in achieving the desired project objectives. All research activities began as observations of basic scientific principles and properties (i.e. TRL 1), and there are examples of areas that have progressed to the experimental proof of concept stage, where laboratory experiments are undertaken to validate analytical predictions (i.e. TRL 3). By the end of the project, participants expect that some R&D activities will have progressed one level up the scale to TRL4. Moreover, the programme has also helped to learn new skills in the area of advanced materials, as well as to strengthen the existing relationship between the partners and build new working relationships with other University of Exeter departments and external organisations. 26 scientific publications (+4 more publications expected to be published in the future) and 25 engagements to raise awareness of these outputs (presentations, expert panels, workshops, and social media posts). 3 secondments from the University of Exeter into QinetiQ and 1 secondment from industry into academia. 2 opportunities for new products identified (+1 more expected by the end of the project). 1 patent application called 'Method and apparatus for imaging a biological sample by total internal reflection of light in the GHz range', with another in preparation. 9 collaborations which have resulted in cash and in-kind contributions. Partners include PepsiCo, The Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, and academic organisations. Economic and productivity outputs Through the partnership, the project participants have identified scientific areas of research that will potentially lead to opportunities for new products/services. The project portfolio encompasses different work packages running simultaneously, but at different levels of maturity in terms of their industrial application. Examples of scientific research performed in collaboration between the academic and industry partners include: • Terahertz imaging: developing terahertz imaging to identify the precise location of tumours and measuring the size of healthy tissue around tumours that have been surgically removed. • Computer modelling: developing a mathematical model that predicts the location visibility of objects under water surfaces as if they were seen from above . • Fingerprinting: improving the accuracy of finger printing on difficult surfaces (such as glass or shiny objects) using similar computer modelling as described above. Building novel ways of illuminating surfaces and using mathematical models to bring out fingerprints more clearly and quickly. • Gas sensing: developing a new type of cost-effective gas sensor that emits light in the infrared part of the spectrum and detects gases which are characterised by their strong absorption of infrared light . Collaboration and investment The Partnership has enabled QinetiQ to enhance their existing relationship with the physics department at the University of Exeter and to develop new partnerships with other departments within the university, including mathematics and computer science departments, as well as the business school who ran an innovation audit within QinetiQ. Both partners have benefited from access to facilities and potential customers from their network of contacts, including SMEs based in South-West England. The partners have also developed new collaborations with external organisations such as the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital who supported the research on terahertz imaging and helped to develop practical tools that can assist in cancer surgeries. Knowledge and skills The project has helped to improve understanding of how science from the laboratory can be successfully applied by industry. To date, the project funding has supported the development of 26 journal article publications and 25 engagements to raise awareness of the project findings (e.g., presentations at Applied Science Tec Talks, Warwick University THz Network Workshop). The partners have also increased the visibility of the project outputs through internal talks/seminars and expect that the outputs achieved as part of this project will be utilised elsewhere in QinetiQ (e.g., publications cited in literature reviews). This scientific knowledge has already contributed to the publication of one patent application related to terahertz imaging , with another in preparation regarding the design of ultra-thin acoustic emitters. The partnership has also played a key role in training PhD students. The partners have benefited from sharing expertise in scientific domains and techniques on how to use equipment more effectively. QinetiQ has hired three researchers who were seconded at the company and were already provided with relevant training on how to perform rigorous scientific measurements of complicated materials. All three researchers are now embedded in the organisation and will continue to work with the University of Exeter. Outcomes and emerging/future impacts Although the commercial potential of innovations will become visible in the years after the programme finishes, the programme has been instrumental in helping the partners develop important capabilities to keep them on the right track to success. New in-house capabilities with commercial potential include terahertz imaging for medical surgeries, mathematical model that predicts the location of objects under water, and a finger printing tool. The programme funding has also provided a framework for continued collaboration between the two partners and a positive example to build a case for a long-term relationship. Potential indicators for impacts that have or are expected to accrue to the industrial partners are: • New in-house capability with commercial potential • 3 new FTE jobs created at QinetiQ due to the partnership • R&D investment from commercial partners and governmental schemes (e.g. DASA), plus additional EPSRC funding (e.g. the A-META UK-US collaboration). 1 fellowship and 6 research grants worth ~£5.5m. • Training a new pipeline of researchers who are gaining valuable insights into research on advanced materials and industry needs. Potential indicators for further impacts likely to accrue in the future: • Wider economic benefits (e.g., supporting businesses in South-West England through access to new licensed applications if patents are granted). • Health benefits (e.g., reducing the need for cancer surgeries by helping to identify the location of tumours and how much tissue should be to remove). • Safety benefits (e.g., improving the accuracy of finger printing to support criminal investigations). Economic, productivity, and social benefits This EPSRC Prosperity Partnership project has played a key role in helping develop the research capabilities needed to accelerate innovations to market in the future. The work packages are at different stages of development, but many have progressed the TRL scale and have identified wider applications to other industries. For example, researchers have developed a mathematical model that underpins a full working version of a computer modelling programme for identifying objects under water and QinetiQ have started a process of developing a user-friendly interface. This new mathematical tool is useful for making predictions on where pollution is concentrated in oceans or where pipelines are located under water. The applications can also be extended to model particles floating in the air, increasing the distances that camera can view objects in foggy conditions and creating practical solutions for vehicle radar systems. Compared to the more complex outputs from the other work packages, the computer modelling tool faces fewer barriers to commercialisation and a higher chance of approaching a commercial offering in the next 12 months. QinetiQ have developed ideas for commercial applications using satellite imagery and have been in contact with the Hydrographic Office to make use of their data. This mathematical modelling has also translated into new research on finger printing, with the goal of turning this into a commercial product made available to the police to perform forensic analysis. Crime agencies and the Metropolitan police in the UK, together with agencies from abroad, have already expressed interest in having this type of product, but the commercial potential of this work will be realised beyond the programme's timeframe as this research is still at TRL1. QinetiQ have tasked a product designer to look at ways of making the product more user-friendly (e.g., weight, features, convenient shape, practicality etc) to increase the chances of the research leading to a commercially viable product. They have considered the needs of end-users at an early stage to guide the research toward the most useful application. Another example of how scientific research supported by the programme is feeding into the development of potential commercial products is the work on Terahertz imaging. This research has made significant progress and the commercial potential will become clearer in the next three-to-four years. If successful, it is likely to benefit a large group of companies across the supply chain for sensors and robotics. In the shorter term, the project outputs may generate revenue through licencing agreements if QinetiQ's patent application is successfully approved. Participants have also started exploring additional applications of the research findings, including using terahertz imaging to detect cracks and/or moisture ingress in materials such as polymer composites, used in the production of items such as aircraft and wind turbine blades. The advanced academic research and capabilities developed as part of this project will benefit the industry partner, as well as the wider SME community. The advanced engineering sector in South-West England is rapidly expanding and this project is expected to deliver wider economic benefits to the region. For example, the scientific publications supported by the EPSRC funding provide insights to scientific questions relevant to other businesses in the wider industry. Similarly, when the new patents developed under the project are granted, they will be licenced and made available to others for exploitation. QinetiQ has also set up an Innovation fund worth £400k to facilitate collaborations between TEAM-A and SMEs in the industry, helping to build relationships and knowledge exchange. The project will also deliver wider benefit to society which will materialise beyond the duration of the project funding. For example, the Terahertz imaging is expected to lead to wider health benefits by helping patients heal faster after cancer surgeries as the tool aims to enable surgeons to minimise the removal of healthy tissue during tumour surgery. Similarly, the finger printing tool is expected to help the police to tackle crime and improve forensic accuracy and the gas sensing technology is expected to improve safety and security in various industries by enabling the fast and accurate detection of dangerous atmospheric chemicals. Collaboration and investment The research undertaken as part of this programme has supported the development of new collaborations with external partners, some of which have led to additional investments and new connections across sectors and disciplines, as well as the identification of new lines of research with commercial potential. For example: • The research on terahertz imaging technology supported by the programme has fed into a new EPSRC funded project on Terabotics worth £8m . As part of this new project, QinetiQ and the University of Exeter have partnered with the Universities of Warwick and Leeds, as well as surgeons and other academic and industry partners involved in the production of sensors and robotics. The Tearabotics project has helped to bring a highly Interdisciplinary team from academia and industry under one roof and consolidate research that was previously conducted separately. The project aims to explore ways of combining terahertz imagery and robots to improve the scanning efficiency and help understand the precise position of tumours in the body. • The research on electromagnetic interference supported by the programme has aided the development of a new collaboration with PepsiCo which explores meta-surfaces for the food industry. This new collaboration has created a new commercially viable line of research, looking at ways of developing microwave food packaging using metamaterials that interact with the microwave oven to cook food more efficiently and help to sterilize food on production lines. The end goal is to improve the consumer experience by creating new food packaging for cooking food at different heat intensities in microwaves. This new collaboration was born when the academic partner attended a conference on the physics of food manufacturing and engaged in casual conversations with other attendees. Within this project, academics from the University of Exeter contribute to the design of the materials and researchers from QinetiQ contribute to the optimisation and testing of the microwave products. • The research on finger printing has secured further funding from the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA). As part of this project, the QinetiQ and academics from the mathematics department at the University of Exeter have also developed a new partnership with forensic experts from the London South bBank University. • The University of Exeter has received £1.8 million in EPSRC funding for a new project, A-Meta, which aims to develop new metamaterials that will advance wireless communication networks, remote imaging, and artificial intelligence type computing . One of the research challenges in this project is entirely based on the TEAM-A research. The Partnership has influenced QinetiQ's academic engagement strategy and their intentions to collaborate with academia in the future by highlighting the value such partnerships bring to the organisation. Developing a long-term relationship with the University of Exeter has helped to promote further collaborations with a wider academic community by demonstrating that undertaking riskier fundamental research can be highly beneficial. The project has also attracted inward investment to the region of South-West England, contributing the Local Enterprise Partnership's objective to close the productivity gap with the rest of the country. Knowledge and skills The project funding has aided the development of knowledge and skills in the field of advanced materials and engineering, increasing the pool of capabilities available to the wider economy and attracting talent into UK-based research. The project activities have improved participant's understanding of how the research and development conducted in laboratories can be successfully applied to multiscale manufacturing. The partnership has also aided the mobility between the academic and industry sectors and helped to train researchers in scientific areas experiencing talent shortages. As part of a post-project plan, QinetiQ have a member of staff who has won a research fellowship, enabling them to be seconded to the University to spend half their time on research and the other half continuing the collaborative aims of the TEAM-A project. |
| Exploitation Route | Continued research & collaboration |
| Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Agriculture, Food and Drink,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Energy,Environment,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| Description | A-Meta: A UK-US Collaboration for Active Metamaterials Research |
| Amount | £1,529,762 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/W003341/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2021 |
| End | 09/2024 |
| Description | Automatic, contact-less latent fingerprint imaging from difficult surfaces |
| Amount | £129,693 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ACC2028518 |
| Organisation | Ministry of Defence (MOD) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2023 |
| End | 03/2024 |
| Description | Composite Baseplates for Aerospace Antennas - NATEP, TCS, TEAM-A |
| Amount | £40,404 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Aerospace Technology Institute |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2018 |
| End | 02/2020 |
| Description | Computational spectral imaging in the THz band |
| Amount | £234,311 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/S036261/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2019 |
| End | 03/2023 |
| Description | EPSRC IAA Impact and Knowledge Exchange Award: New Analytical Tools for Future Food Manufacturing |
| Amount | £3,470,100 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2021 |
| End | 01/2022 |
| Description | High functionality, low cost, small composite antennas - NATEP, TCS, TEAM-A |
| Amount | £22,220 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Aerospace Technology Institute |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2020 |
| End | 03/2022 |
| Description | PepsiCo - TEAM-A - University of Exeter: R&D Project, Digitalization of Snacking |
| Amount | £156,492 (GBP) |
| Organisation | PepsiCo |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United States |
| Start | 02/2019 |
| End | 04/2021 |
| Description | Research Fellow Secondment to QQ for 8-weeks - JH |
| Amount | £31,132 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Qinetiq |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2020 |
| End | 12/2020 |
| Description | Alignment with The Centre for Metamaterial Research and Innovation (CMRI) |
| Organisation | University of Exeter |
| Department | College of Engineering, Mathematics & Physical Sciences |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | On going. People, equipment, intellectual property The TEAM-A programme and its KPIs are aligned with The Centre for Metamaterial Research and Innovation (CMRI). Meaning I formation and where appropriate partners are shared to support mutually beneficial outcomes. Website: http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/metamaterial-cmri/ |
| Collaborator Contribution | On going. People, equipment, intellectual property The TEAM-A programme and its KPIs are aligned with The Centre for Metamaterial Research and Innovation (CMRI). Meaning I formation and where appropriate partners are shared to support mutually beneficial outcomes. Website: http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/metamaterial-cmri/ |
| Impact | This alignment is multidisciplinary, multi-institution and global. As an on-going alignment much of the benefits are currently being actioned, for instance, further publications, customer focused problem solving, grant applications etc |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Composite Baseplates for Aerospace Antennas - NATEP, TCS & TEAM-A |
| Organisation | Technical Composite Systems Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Time, facilities & expertise, in research and further funding applications. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Time, facilities & expertise, in research and further funding applications. |
| Impact | TEAM-A (Physics, Prof. Alastair Hibbins & Fellows) engaged with Technical Composite Systems Ltd (TCS), a South-West-based SME that specializes in the design and manufacture bespoke composite components. TEAM-A now support TCS in the development of two new concepts, funded by NATEP (www.natep.org.uk) to the value of £40,404.00 titled Composite Baseplates for Aerospace Antennas, details confidential. And a sister project, also funded by NATEP to the value of £22,220.00, titled High functionality, low cost, small composite antennas, details confidential. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | PepsiCo - TEAM-A - University of Exeter: R&D Project, Digitalization of Snacking |
| Organisation | PepsiCo |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | This project was brought about by the TEAM-A PI Prof. Geoff Nash. It is anticipated that this project is likely to result further funding and partnership opportunities with PepsiCo throughout the duration of TEAM-A. TEAM-A are funding through its Innovation Fund- the staff time of Prof. Alastair Hibbins & Prof. Roy Sambles, they are committing 1 hour each per week for 12 months on this project (Mar 2019 - Mar 2020), to support the £119,312.00 investment put in by PepsiCo for the initial 12 months committed. Beyond March 2020 - Dec 2020, Exeter continue to offer their expertise and TEAM-A's Innovation Fund fund the PepsiCo Research Fellow to continue work. QinetiQ continue to offer their UK unique facilities to test resources and theories put forward by PepsiCo. Dec 2020 - End of April 2021: Exeter continue to offer their expertise, and QinetiQ continue to offer their UK unique facilities to test resources and theories put forward by PepsiCo. |
| Collaborator Contribution | March 2019 - March 2020: PepsiCo funded £119,312.00 for a fully time Research Fellow, based at the University of Exeter. Beyond March 2020 - Dec 2020, PepsiCo continue to offer their expert input and collaborate. No financial investment here however time and facilities were continually available to support the continuation of the research. Dec 2020 - End of April 2021: PepsiCo fund the full time Research Fellow to the value of £37,180.00. |
| Impact | - Research outputs are pending and will be confidential until further notice. - The University of Exeter has been able to forge a link with this multinational company, potentially leading to future projects and funding for the university as a whole, as well as the TEAM-A programme. - QinetiQ has also been able to forge a link with PepsiCo. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | PepsiCo - TEAM-A - University of Exeter: R&D Project, Digitalization of Snacking |
| Organisation | Qinetiq |
| Department | QinetiQ (Farnborough) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | This project was brought about by the TEAM-A PI Prof. Geoff Nash. It is anticipated that this project is likely to result further funding and partnership opportunities with PepsiCo throughout the duration of TEAM-A. TEAM-A are funding through its Innovation Fund- the staff time of Prof. Alastair Hibbins & Prof. Roy Sambles, they are committing 1 hour each per week for 12 months on this project (Mar 2019 - Mar 2020), to support the £119,312.00 investment put in by PepsiCo for the initial 12 months committed. Beyond March 2020 - Dec 2020, Exeter continue to offer their expertise and TEAM-A's Innovation Fund fund the PepsiCo Research Fellow to continue work. QinetiQ continue to offer their UK unique facilities to test resources and theories put forward by PepsiCo. Dec 2020 - End of April 2021: Exeter continue to offer their expertise, and QinetiQ continue to offer their UK unique facilities to test resources and theories put forward by PepsiCo. |
| Collaborator Contribution | March 2019 - March 2020: PepsiCo funded £119,312.00 for a fully time Research Fellow, based at the University of Exeter. Beyond March 2020 - Dec 2020, PepsiCo continue to offer their expert input and collaborate. No financial investment here however time and facilities were continually available to support the continuation of the research. Dec 2020 - End of April 2021: PepsiCo fund the full time Research Fellow to the value of £37,180.00. |
| Impact | - Research outputs are pending and will be confidential until further notice. - The University of Exeter has been able to forge a link with this multinational company, potentially leading to future projects and funding for the university as a whole, as well as the TEAM-A programme. - QinetiQ has also been able to forge a link with PepsiCo. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | TEAM - A - Collaborator Award, The University of Warwick & TEAM-A - Feasibility study: Spatial and temporal carrier lifetime engineering in Si |
| Organisation | Qinetiq |
| Department | QinetiQ (Farnborough) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | 2018: This project is focusing on exploring strategies to overcome, or at least mitigate, the trade-offs currently inherent in modulator designs based on the photo-excitation of Si wafers. If successful TEAM-A research will be strengthened (particularly Research Challenge one). The range of applications that could result from RP 1.1 will increase from simple dynamically controlled shutters and windows, to complex metasurfaces that could be used as switchable absorbers, beam-steerers, tunable antennas and diffusers across the technologically important frequency bands from the THz down through the microwave and RF bands. We input our background IP, facilities and TEAM-A innovation funding. 2019 This project was invested in to the amount of £14,935.31 by the programme's Innovation Fund in 2018. It then developed into a full grant proposal, bring in later £234,311 of further investment in 2019. |
| Collaborator Contribution | 2018: The collaboration started in June of 2018, when a TEAM-A PDRF approached Dr. John Murphy of the University of Warwick (UoW), who is a world-leading expert in the surface passivation of silicon for use in photovoltaics. Since then Warwick have supplied us with specially treated Si wafers with very high effective carrier lifetimes (at no cost). The initial results have been exceptional with the required illumination power needed to achieve a given modulation depth reduced by more than 2 orders of magnitude. They have also helped develop ideas for engineering the carrier lifetime, both spatially and dynamically, which could be crucial if RPs 1.1 and 2.2 are to reach their full potential. Testing the feasibility of these ideas is the focus of this project. 2019 This project was invested in to the amount of £14,935.31 by the programme's Innovation Fund in 2018. It then developed into a full grant proposal, bring in later £234,311 of further investment in 2019. |
| Impact | The facilities and knowledge of our colleagues at UoW are already essential for progress in RP 1.1 within the TEAM-A programme. This project is strengthening the nascent collaboration between UoE, UoW and QinetiQ. If the project goals are successful follow-on external funding (from the academic side) by means of grant proposals and / or fellowship applications will be sought. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | TEAM - A - Collaborator Award, The University of Warwick & TEAM-A - Feasibility study: Spatial and temporal carrier lifetime engineering in Si |
| Organisation | University of Exeter |
| Department | Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | 2018: This project is focusing on exploring strategies to overcome, or at least mitigate, the trade-offs currently inherent in modulator designs based on the photo-excitation of Si wafers. If successful TEAM-A research will be strengthened (particularly Research Challenge one). The range of applications that could result from RP 1.1 will increase from simple dynamically controlled shutters and windows, to complex metasurfaces that could be used as switchable absorbers, beam-steerers, tunable antennas and diffusers across the technologically important frequency bands from the THz down through the microwave and RF bands. We input our background IP, facilities and TEAM-A innovation funding. 2019 This project was invested in to the amount of £14,935.31 by the programme's Innovation Fund in 2018. It then developed into a full grant proposal, bring in later £234,311 of further investment in 2019. |
| Collaborator Contribution | 2018: The collaboration started in June of 2018, when a TEAM-A PDRF approached Dr. John Murphy of the University of Warwick (UoW), who is a world-leading expert in the surface passivation of silicon for use in photovoltaics. Since then Warwick have supplied us with specially treated Si wafers with very high effective carrier lifetimes (at no cost). The initial results have been exceptional with the required illumination power needed to achieve a given modulation depth reduced by more than 2 orders of magnitude. They have also helped develop ideas for engineering the carrier lifetime, both spatially and dynamically, which could be crucial if RPs 1.1 and 2.2 are to reach their full potential. Testing the feasibility of these ideas is the focus of this project. 2019 This project was invested in to the amount of £14,935.31 by the programme's Innovation Fund in 2018. It then developed into a full grant proposal, bring in later £234,311 of further investment in 2019. |
| Impact | The facilities and knowledge of our colleagues at UoW are already essential for progress in RP 1.1 within the TEAM-A programme. This project is strengthening the nascent collaboration between UoE, UoW and QinetiQ. If the project goals are successful follow-on external funding (from the academic side) by means of grant proposals and / or fellowship applications will be sought. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | TEAM - A - Collaborator Award, The University of Warwick & TEAM-A - Feasibility study: Spatial and temporal carrier lifetime engineering in Si |
| Organisation | University of Warwick |
| Department | School of Engineering |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | 2018: This project is focusing on exploring strategies to overcome, or at least mitigate, the trade-offs currently inherent in modulator designs based on the photo-excitation of Si wafers. If successful TEAM-A research will be strengthened (particularly Research Challenge one). The range of applications that could result from RP 1.1 will increase from simple dynamically controlled shutters and windows, to complex metasurfaces that could be used as switchable absorbers, beam-steerers, tunable antennas and diffusers across the technologically important frequency bands from the THz down through the microwave and RF bands. We input our background IP, facilities and TEAM-A innovation funding. 2019 This project was invested in to the amount of £14,935.31 by the programme's Innovation Fund in 2018. It then developed into a full grant proposal, bring in later £234,311 of further investment in 2019. |
| Collaborator Contribution | 2018: The collaboration started in June of 2018, when a TEAM-A PDRF approached Dr. John Murphy of the University of Warwick (UoW), who is a world-leading expert in the surface passivation of silicon for use in photovoltaics. Since then Warwick have supplied us with specially treated Si wafers with very high effective carrier lifetimes (at no cost). The initial results have been exceptional with the required illumination power needed to achieve a given modulation depth reduced by more than 2 orders of magnitude. They have also helped develop ideas for engineering the carrier lifetime, both spatially and dynamically, which could be crucial if RPs 1.1 and 2.2 are to reach their full potential. Testing the feasibility of these ideas is the focus of this project. 2019 This project was invested in to the amount of £14,935.31 by the programme's Innovation Fund in 2018. It then developed into a full grant proposal, bring in later £234,311 of further investment in 2019. |
| Impact | The facilities and knowledge of our colleagues at UoW are already essential for progress in RP 1.1 within the TEAM-A programme. This project is strengthening the nascent collaboration between UoE, UoW and QinetiQ. If the project goals are successful follow-on external funding (from the academic side) by means of grant proposals and / or fellowship applications will be sought. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | TEAM - A - Collaborator Award, Theta Technologies Ltd (SME) & TEAM-A: Non-Destructive Evaluation - Collaborative working and technology exploration |
| Organisation | Theta Technologies Limited |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | TEAM-A (The University of Exeter/ QinetiQ) has contributed the intellectual input of Dr David Horsell (TEAM-A CO-I) and Professor Chris Lawrence (TEAM-A QinetiQ PI). Dr David Horsell and Professor Chris Lawrence have worked together with Theta technologies to explore non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of composite materials and to work with them to explore the scope and market attractiveness of their technologies. TEAM-A has supported Theta throughout the testing process, to provide advice, guidance and input into initial results and to undertake evaluation of the results; this has been an in-kind contribution via QinetiQ and their membership with the National Composites Centre. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Theta Technologies have developed a non-linear NDE technique which differs from some of the imaging techniques usually employed to provide a screening method for metals & composites that may contain flaws. It is this knowledge and the know how to do so, which Theta have contributed. This project may likely be picked back up in 2021 as Theta's work may apply to solving QinetiQ customer problems. |
| Impact | The purpose of this idea and incubation funded innovation project is to explore the potential for a new collaboration with a local SME, Theta Technologies Limited, to test non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of composite materials and to work with them to assess the scope and market attractiveness of their technologies. A successful outcome will demonstrate the potential to collaborate with Theta Technologies to trial this project's outputs with some of QinetiQ's existing customer base. The scientific outputs of this collaboration are yet to be confirmed however we anticipate that at the very least this collaboration would have boosted a local SME. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | TEAM - A - Knowledge Transfer Award: Complex Poisson's ratio and bulk modulus estimation |
| Organisation | Qinetiq |
| Department | QinetiQ (Farnborough) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | 2018 - 2021: Access to QinetiQ Farnborough facilities & staff. |
| Collaborator Contribution | 2018 - 2021: Expertise to support the consideration and the solving of key theoretical and application problems faced by QinetiQ and TEAM-A. Supported on an on-going basis through funding provided by the TEAM-A Innovation Fund. |
| Impact | Outputs and outcomes are still to be seen. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | TEAM - A - Knowledge Transfer Award: Complex Poisson's ratio and bulk modulus estimation |
| Organisation | University of Exeter |
| Department | Physics and Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | 2018 - 2021: Access to QinetiQ Farnborough facilities & staff. |
| Collaborator Contribution | 2018 - 2021: Expertise to support the consideration and the solving of key theoretical and application problems faced by QinetiQ and TEAM-A. Supported on an on-going basis through funding provided by the TEAM-A Innovation Fund. |
| Impact | Outputs and outcomes are still to be seen. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | TEAM-A & University of Exeter & Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital |
| Organisation | Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Hospitals |
| PI Contribution | 2019 - 2020: Expertise, time, facilities. Prof. Euan Hendy, Chris Lawrence, Nick Stone. Dr Lauren Barr 2021: Expertise, time, facilities. Prof. Euan Hendy, Chris Lawrence, Mr Douglas Ferguson. New PhD, Mr Lee Wogan beginning work early 2021. £53k 50% Studentship funding from the TEAM-A programme Innovation Fund. £53k 50% Studentship funding from The University of Exeter, College of Engineering, Mathematics & Physical Sciences. |
| Collaborator Contribution | 2019 - 2020: Expertise, time, facilities. Mr Douglas Ferguson. Prof Hendry has links to Mr Ferguson due to his interest in the cancer cell margin imaging technology that forms the basis of the proposed PhD studies. Mr Ferguson is hence a named partner on a new EPSRC and/or MRC research proposal that aims to explore the potential of the technology and produce a demonstrator by drawing upon facilities and expertise at the Nuffield Health Exeter Hospital and the Exeter NHS Foundation. |
| Impact | Too soon to speak of outputs and outcomes. 2019 - 2020: Professor of biomedical imaging at the University of Exeter, Prof. Stone is involved in a biomedical THz imaging project which has spun out of TEAM-A. Prof. Stone is lending his expertise on imaging cancer margins and his contacts at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. With his guidance and a joint spin-out PhD studentship we are building a THz imaging system to determine the thickness of a layer of healthy fat tissue around a surgically removed breast tumour - a parameter of great importance in reducing the local recurrence of cancer. In previous publications, Prof Hendry's team have demonstrated how photoconductive materials (specifically, surface-treated silicon wafers) can be used to create bespoke patterns of conductive material in a dynamic fashion, via the use of illumination through filters. In particular, they have shown how such materials can enable the terahertz-frequency imaging of materials via the use of multiple sequential patterns, making the use of a lens unnecessary. In a recent TEAM-A patent application (QinetiQ reference: P7974/GBF1) this work was extended so as to address a specific problem: the measurements of cancer cell margins in order to minimise the amount of healthy tissue that must be removed from a patient during cancer surgery. This involves: a shift to lower (GHz) frequencies; the use of an ATR (attenuated total reflection) arrangement by employing a prism; and the use of the aforementioned photoconductive element to control the GHz radiation. There is now an urgent need to build and demonstrate the technology, partly to derive more data to strengthen our patent application, and partly to enable us to consider how best to develop the technology into an affordable and efficient commercial product. As such this collaboration has developed into the full time funding of one PhD studentship, to build on this technology. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | TEAM-A & University of Exeter & Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital |
| Organisation | University of Exeter |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | 2019 - 2020: Expertise, time, facilities. Prof. Euan Hendy, Chris Lawrence, Nick Stone. Dr Lauren Barr 2021: Expertise, time, facilities. Prof. Euan Hendy, Chris Lawrence, Mr Douglas Ferguson. New PhD, Mr Lee Wogan beginning work early 2021. £53k 50% Studentship funding from the TEAM-A programme Innovation Fund. £53k 50% Studentship funding from The University of Exeter, College of Engineering, Mathematics & Physical Sciences. |
| Collaborator Contribution | 2019 - 2020: Expertise, time, facilities. Mr Douglas Ferguson. Prof Hendry has links to Mr Ferguson due to his interest in the cancer cell margin imaging technology that forms the basis of the proposed PhD studies. Mr Ferguson is hence a named partner on a new EPSRC and/or MRC research proposal that aims to explore the potential of the technology and produce a demonstrator by drawing upon facilities and expertise at the Nuffield Health Exeter Hospital and the Exeter NHS Foundation. |
| Impact | Too soon to speak of outputs and outcomes. 2019 - 2020: Professor of biomedical imaging at the University of Exeter, Prof. Stone is involved in a biomedical THz imaging project which has spun out of TEAM-A. Prof. Stone is lending his expertise on imaging cancer margins and his contacts at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. With his guidance and a joint spin-out PhD studentship we are building a THz imaging system to determine the thickness of a layer of healthy fat tissue around a surgically removed breast tumour - a parameter of great importance in reducing the local recurrence of cancer. In previous publications, Prof Hendry's team have demonstrated how photoconductive materials (specifically, surface-treated silicon wafers) can be used to create bespoke patterns of conductive material in a dynamic fashion, via the use of illumination through filters. In particular, they have shown how such materials can enable the terahertz-frequency imaging of materials via the use of multiple sequential patterns, making the use of a lens unnecessary. In a recent TEAM-A patent application (QinetiQ reference: P7974/GBF1) this work was extended so as to address a specific problem: the measurements of cancer cell margins in order to minimise the amount of healthy tissue that must be removed from a patient during cancer surgery. This involves: a shift to lower (GHz) frequencies; the use of an ATR (attenuated total reflection) arrangement by employing a prism; and the use of the aforementioned photoconductive element to control the GHz radiation. There is now an urgent need to build and demonstrate the technology, partly to derive more data to strengthen our patent application, and partly to enable us to consider how best to develop the technology into an affordable and efficient commercial product. As such this collaboration has developed into the full time funding of one PhD studentship, to build on this technology. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | TEAM-A & University of Warwick - THz |
| Organisation | University of Warwick |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Joint partnership on spin out grant: EP/S036261/1. Expertise, facilities and funding. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Joint partnership on spin out grant: EP/S036261/1. Expertise, facilities and funding. |
| Impact | Too early in the grant's life-cycle to pin-point outputs & outcomes. Prof. Murphy and Dr. Grant have undertaken specialized surface treatments for us, leading to further publications and supporting the successful EPSRC grant proposal mentioned above. This collaboration will continue to develop the next generation of photomodulators, using their knowledge of semiconductor charge carrier dynamics (as per solar cells) in all our THz imaging systems. More efficient modulators are allowing us to overcome the need for high intensity laser sources so that we can create smaller, cheaper, faster THz imaging systems that can be easily implemented outside the lab. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Title | Method and apparatus for imaging a biological sample by total internal reflection of light in the GHz range |
| Description | It is possible to create a device that uses total internal reflection of GHz/THz radiation within a prism to probe a biological sample, with the attenuation of that signal being dependent upon the water content of the regions under scrutiny. By using a photosensitive material, it is then possible to create an imaging element, resulting in 3D 'contrast map' images that delineate (for example) fatty and muscular regions. This is important because it can also be used to determine the exact sizes of tumours due to their contrast against healthy tissue, potentially enabling surgeons to excise unhealthy tissue with a minimum of damage to the healthy surrounding material. |
| IP Reference | GB1908140.5 & GB2003820.4 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | 1. The existence of this technology has inspired a collaboration with The Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, to assist in the development of a realistic tool that can assist in cancer surgery, aforementioned in the collaborations & partnerships section. 2. Several scientific papers and conference papers have been published. 3. Other possible applications (e.g. non-destructive evaluation; contaminant detection on food production lines) are being considered and investigated as a background task, but the main focus is currently on medical applications |
| Title | Thermoacoustic system |
| Description | This specification concerns thermoacoustic systems, specifically systems and methods of generating and/or detecting acoustic waves using thermoelectric and thermoacoustic effects. Acoustic emitters such as loudspeakers typically work by converting electrical energy into mechanical energy. The mechanical energy drives a membrane to move in a manner that compresses air to generate acoustic waves. The acoustic waves are primarily first harmonic and reciprocal with an electronic driving signal which drives the mechanical motion, which makes such emitters suitable for accurate audio generation and reproduction. Mechanical-based acoustic systems are difficult and/or expensive to fabricate at small scale, owing to their complex arrangement of moving parts and their lack robustness in mechanically or thermally hostile environments. Such systems are also limited in that they have resonant properties that could negatively impact their ability to generate sound output for a given driving signal. It is known that acoustic waves can be generated via other transduction mechanisms, including the thermoacoustic effect. The thermoacoustic effect is the conversion of heat energy to acoustic energy (or vice versa). For example, where a changing temperature gradient is present across a solid, the heat energy can drive local pressure oscillations in a surrounding medium, e.g. a gas, to generate acoustic waves. Many different heat sources can be used to supply the heat energy. One example is to utilise Joule-based heating, where an alternating current (AC) electronic driving signal is passed through an electrical conductor to induce Joule-based resistive heating, where the Joule heat varies with time and is exchanged with the surrounding medium (e.g. air) to produce acoustic waves. While thermoacoustic systems may be able to generate a single frequency tone, they are not suitable for creation of complex acoustic waves, such as spoken voice, instrumental music, or other sound effects. This is because, for Joulebased thermoacoustics, the acoustic waves generated by the system are not reciprocal with the driving signal. That is, there is not a mutual correspondence between the waveforms of the driving signal and the acoustic waves; the frequency component(s) of the acoustic waves generated by the system is not the same as that of the input driving signal. Further, the acoustic waves occur at the second harmonic of the driving signal and therefore suffer from harmonic distortions, i.e. where the waveform is distorted and altered as a result of harmonics. Further, such systems suffer from low efficiency because they produce large amounts of waste heat. An object of the present invention is to provide an improved thermoacoustic system that does not suffer from the above mentioned disadvantages. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermoacoustic system comprising: a pair of electrical conductors comprising a first electrical conductor and a second electrical conductor formed of dissimilar materials, wherein the first and second electrical conductors connect at an interface to form an electrical (thermocouple) junction; and an electronic signal generator for generating an alternating current driving signal across the electrical junction, thereby causing the system to generate an acoustic wave that is emitted from the interface. The present invention harnesses Peltier thermoelectric effects for thermoacoustic wave generation, which is in contrast to conventional acoustic emitters that use other transduction mechanisms, such as electro-mechanically driven motion or Joule-based thermoacoustic effects. |
| IP Reference | 2218761.1 |
| Protection | Patent / Patent application |
| Year Protection Granted | 2022 |
| Licensed | Commercial In Confidence |
| Impact | A springboard for academic development |
| Description | Applications and Manufacturing Workshop for Metamaterials - KTN Commercialising Metamaterials Innovation |
| 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 | Poster held at KTN and connection made with Prof. Ian Reaney at The University of Sheffield (Composites). Supporting a later spin out NATEP 71772 High Functionality Small Composite Antennas research grant. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://ktn-uk.org/events/applications-and-manufacturing-workshop-for-metamaterials/ |
| Description | Applied Science Tech Talk: Quartz is one of the most abundant minerals in the world; but not all quartz is created equal (QinetiQ Farnborough) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | About the talk Dr Benny Hallam, from The Quartz Corp, gave an introduction to ultra-high purity quartz. Quartz is one of the most abundant minerals in the world; but not all quartz is created equal. Indeed, the industry for ultra-high purity quartz is a rather unique one, but without it there would be no semiconductor chips, smart phones or tablets. Due to its inherent inertness to chemicals, temperature and radiation, ultra-high purity quartz has become an essential part of the semiconductor, photo-voltaic and optical fibre manufacturing process. In this talk 'the lid was lifted' a little on this secretive and conservative industry and consider how to mass manufacture while maintaining contamination to parts-per-billion levels. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Applied Science Tech Talk: High Performance Polymers and Composites for Additive Manufacturing (QinetiQ Farnborough) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | High Performance Polymers and Composites for Additive Manufacturing Due to the small range of polymeric materials available and their low intrinsic properties, polymer additive manufacturing (AM) received less attention and industrial investment in comparison with the current metallic AM technologies. The AM industry is currently using a handful of polyamide (PA) grades for powder bed processes and polyetherimide (PEI) and polyphenylsulphone (PPSU) for extrusion deposition. However the landscape is rapidly changing, with an increased interest from petrochemical industry (raw material providers) and end users (in the aerospace, automotive and defence sectors) in taking advantage of the unique characteristics offered by the high performance polymers in combination with AM technologies. This presentation will discuss the achievements and challenges in expanding the range of polymers used in powder bed laser sintering and extrusion deposition focusing on the high performance, high temperature polyaryletherketone (PAEK) polymer family. Part of the PAEK family, PEEK, PEKK and PEK polymers are known to compete in performance with metals, being known for their exceptional properties: stress-fatigue, toughness, resistant to corrosion, flame resistance, abrasion, ionising radiation and low toxicity. The talk will consider ways of incorporating nanomaterials into AM processes and discuss results obtained so far. About the presenter Oana Ghita holds a chair in Materials Science and Manufacturing within the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences at the University of Exeter. She is also the Deputy Director of Exeter Technology Group - the industry focused research group of the College. She started her career as a PhD and Research Fellow at Cranfield University, Defence Academy (formerly known as Royal Military College of Science RMCS) in the area of thermoset composites, cure monitoring of epoxy resins and sensors. At Exeter, her work expanded towards a wider range of manufacturing technologies and materials (thermoplastics and nano-composites). Her research is focused on the development of new and alternative high performance polymers using cost effective manufacturing with emphasis on understanding the relationship between molecular structure, morphology, manufacturing and re-manufacturing processes and desired final properties. In recent years, she concentrated on Additive Manufacturing of high performance, high temperature polymers (such as PEK, PEEK, PEI) as well as composites with reinforcements of different morphologies and sizes (Cf, glass, graphite, graphene, CNTs, inorganic fullerenes and boron nitride) suitable for aerospace, defence and automotive applications where lightweight materials resistant to harsh environments (highly corrosive, increased friction, excessive operating temperatures) are often required. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Applied Science Tech Talk: Mid-infrared Graphene Optoelectronics (QinetiQ Farnborough) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Principle Investigator spoke at an event hosted by QinetiQ to exchange ideas and share experience. 15 professional practitioners and industry focused researchers that work within QinetiQ, from varying disciplines attended a presentation which sparked questions and discussion afterwards. The host reported expressed interest in the work of TEAM-A' as a result of this engagement. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Applied Science Tech Talk: Single-pixel THz imaging using near-field photomodulation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Activity description: Prof. Euan Hendry is an Associate Professor and EPSRC Research Fellow at the University of Exeter. He is a particular expert in Terahertz electromagnetic radiation. Lying between the infrared and radio frequency regimes (0.1 to 3.0 mm wavelength), this is one of the last remaining unexplored regions of the electromagnetic spectrum due to a lack of efficient laboratory emitters, detectors and control components compared to neighboring microwave and optical bands. Euan's work explores the potential for developing new THz components and sensors to fill this "gap", utilizing novel materials and effects (e.g. graphene, plasmonics etc. Euan's tech talk was the second TEAM-A talk of its kind designed to share knowledge, provoke conversation and enhance the partnership. Impact & Outcome: Most attendees were not experts in THz imaging apart from a few who were skyping in from Malvern who were experts in THz security imaging. There were plenty of questions and people interested in talking to Euan afterwards. Post presentation Euan sat down with QinetiQ TEAM-A colleagues to discuss some specifics of possible applications and implementations for his work. In summary the outcome was increased visibility and idea exchange between the University of Exeter and QinetiQ Farnborough. Increased intrest in Euan's/ TEAM-A's work was reported by QinetiQ colleagues. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Applied Science Tech Talk: THz Imagery at UoE |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Dr Lauren Barr presented on Exeter's leading work in the THz field. Detailing TEAM-A's present focus to the wider QinetiQ community and answering questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Cafe Scientifique lecture in 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 | TEAM-A's Research Fellow. Dr Lauren Barr, gives public evening lecture with interactive demos several hours long, to share the physics behind light and optical illusions. Further plans were made with Cafe Scientifique to continue presenting for their national events, however COVID-19 delayed these plans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Customer focused problem solving to generate further income - On-going |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | One of TEAM-A's primary focuses is to generate further income and increased industry engagement, through interacting with QinetiQ and their customer driven problem solving initiatives. QinetiQ's customers will reach out with a problem or issue they need technical expertise solving and said problem will be proposed to TEAM-A's programme members for solving. From there, routes to exploitation, further working & funding are explored. This is an on-going initiative. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| Description | Engagement focused website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The TEAM-A website has been constructed with a view to dispersing information, supporting outreach and attracting interaction from a wide variety of groups. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/team-a/ |
| Description | External Consultancy for PA Consulting Ltd |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Details are confidential. Said activity secured TEAM-A further funding and supported a team researcher to gain additional experience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | General Public - Popular Science Articles, Publishing On-going |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Regular popular science articles are released for the general public's interest. This is to support the accessibility of science and to also support interest in our research programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019,2020 |
| URL | http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/team-a/ |
| Description | IRMMW-THz 2020, Virtual Conference, Presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dr Lauren Barr presented TEAM-A's research on THz imaging at specialist international conference IRMMW-THz 2020, this year hosted by University of Buffalo, USA (www.irmmw-thz.org/current-conference/home). Also including attending online talks and poster sessions and networking. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | IRMMW-THz Meeting, with presentation to committee |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | TEAM-A Research Fellow Dr Lauren Barr, accompanied by PhD Student present a talk on current research and network with others in the mm-wave and THz technologies field. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Inspire lecture at Exeter Maths School |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | A TEAM-A Research Fellow Dr Lauren Barr presents two 1 hour long lectures. To engage with local school age students, to inspire and inform on the topic of higher education and to explain how mathematics relates to imaging. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Key organisation of SAMs with YRAM |
| 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 | For the 3rd year running TEAM-A's researcher Joseph Beadle will be organising SAMs (Symposium on Acoustic Metamaterials). This is with a group called YRAM (Young Researchers in Acoustic Metamaterials). This Symposium on Acoustic Metamaterials is targeted to PhD candidates, Early Career Investigators (i.e. researcher whose career spun less than 8 years since the date of the PhD) and aims at sharing new advances and breakthroughs as well as fostering the community of young researchers in the field of acoustic metamaterials. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020,2021,2022 |
| URL | https://sam-2021.sciencesconf.org/ |
| Description | Material Research Exchange 2020 |
| 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 | Combining resources with Exeter's Metamaterials Centre for Doctoral Training, TEAM-A attended the Material Research Exchange 2020 for two days of sharing our research with fellow industry/ educational practitioners. Attending said event provided the programme with an opportunity to network, learn, pitch and develop our PDRF's engagement skills. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://ktn-uk.co.uk/events/live-materials-research-exchange-2020 |
| Description | Regular Applied Science Tech Talks |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | As an ongoing practice to support intra-agency communication and collaboration, QinetiQ, supported by TEAM-A holds applied science tech talks. Attendance is national and spans across disciplines as well as teams. All TEAM-A University of Exeter academics have presented and most postdoctoral researchers have also. Questions, pointers and investigating potential collaboration has been the main focus of this work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019,2020,2021,2022 |
| Description | Showcasing Emerging Technologies - Metamaterials, KNT |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | TEAM-A Research Fellow Lauren Barr presents a poster and demonstration of THz modulation with light, to industry professionals at UK national Knowledge Transfer Network (KNT) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Special interest Discussion Group - Wireless and Microwave Metamaterials |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Intended to gain up to date insight into present day research progress in the field, make contact with relevant professionals and academics; with a view to collaboration and learning. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://metamaterials.network/category/sigs-forums/ |
| Description | TEAM-A Post-docs attend QinetiQ's International Women in Engineering Day |
| 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 | To inspire and celebrate all that women in engineering continue to and will achieve, our Post-docs attended QinetiQ's much loved activity day for young girls. Shring in the activities participated in, meeting the young scientists and networking with QinetiQ's wider collective. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.qinetiq.com/Blogs/2019/06/International-Women-in-Engineering-Day-2019 |
| Description | TEAM-A Sponsor's Student Event in Aid of International Women's Day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In aid of international women's day TEAM-A sponsored a local student led initiative to support and engage women in the sciences. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | TEAM-A Sponsors IONS Exeter Conference (International OSA Network of Students) |
| 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 | On 9th of July 2019, 81 researchers from 10 different countries arrived at the University of Exeter for the very first Exeter IONS conference. Over the next 4 days, the group of researchers would hear talks from physicists and engineers from as far away as Japan - the excitement was palpable! IONS Exeter (International OSA Network of Students) was led by the Exeter University Optics and Photonics Society (EUOPS), and supported by the Optical Society of America (OSA), the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Metamaterials (XM2), the Tailored Electromagnetic and Acoustic Materials Accelerator (TEAM-A), the Alumni Annual Funds of the University of Exeter, and with prizes sponsored by the Nanoscale Physics and Technology Group of the Institute of Physics. Over the first three days, technical sessions on a range of topics were held, including nanophotonics, optoelectronics, biological imaging, metamaterials, ultrafast and quantum technologies. Keynote speakers Prof. Sile Nic Chormaic, Prof. Francesca Palombo and OSA Ambassador Dr Gabrielle Thomas started off each day with a talk on their area of expertise. These were followed by talks from invited speakers from across the UK, with students and postdoctoral researchers sharing some of their cutting-edge work throughout the rest of each day. A poster session on the second day was followed by a top-notch dinner in a local restaurant. Prizes were awarded on the third day of the conference, after/just before a session where the committee gave advice on applying and running the next IONS conference - we hope to have inspired many of you! First prize for presentation went to Ekaterina Zossimova (University of Exeter), and the runner up was Gavrielle Untracht (University of Surrey). The first poster prize was awarded to Emmanuele Gemo (University of Exeter), and runner up went to Dominic Sulway (University of Bristol). A special recognition prize went to V. Kaarthic Raja (Anna University, Chennai) for presenting work from his undergraduate degree. The final day was set aside for a combined social trip and outreach activity, which went down a treat with the locals and attendees alike. The challenge was to collect items from the beach that could be used to explain some light-based physics ideas, then work in teams to explain these concepts to members of the public. The videos were shared on Instagram, and points awarded along the way. The event was rounded off with a steam-train ride through the beautiful Devon countryside. To learn more about how Exeter's PGRs made such a successful event: http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/xm2news/254-2/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Trade-show and congress, Laser World of Photonics |
| 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 | TEAM-A Research Fellow Dr Lauren Barr hosts & presents at a stand funded by grant from Department of International Trade (on behalf of recipient) and showcases TEAM-A's research; talks on THz technologies at coinciding conferences were also attended. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | UK Metamaterials Meetings |
| 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 | A programme Researcher attended several UK Metamaterials meetings: Flexible and Conformable Metasurfaces Showcase Micrometer to millimeter scale - Metamaterials Manufacturing Metamaterials for RF Low Observability Tuneable metasurfaces in the Microwave to THz domain In the final one of these there was discussion about using photoconductivity for tuning metasurfaces. Dr Ian Hooper shared the work we have published as those present seemed to have little idea of the underlying physics of the carrier dynamics and how this effects things. Dr. Chinthana Panagamuwa was particularly interested and contacted me to get the link to the paper as he'd lost access to it. He has previously published (many years ago) on tunable antennas using photoexcited Si embedded into the antennas (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1589414), something that Our partner QinetiQ are interested in. But they stopped the work as they no longer had suitable long lifetime Si. Some further interaction might follow from this if he wants to get back into the research area as we (University of Warwick) can supply appropriate Si wafers. Prof. Martin Cryan also presented work on the linearity of photoconductive switches, and the fact that they don't understand the processes or why it is linear. I think we could help him with this, but I'm yet to decide whether to approach him as the benefits to TEAM-A / UoE of a new collaboration needs to be considered carefully. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Warwick University THz Network Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | TEAM-A Research Fellow Dr Lauren Barr attends and presents TEAM-A THz work via poster presentation and meeting with academics in UK THz network. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |