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2nd July 2010 see the creation of the Institute's latest spin-out company. Building on the success of a Scottish Enterprise Proof of Concept award, a prestigious Basic Technology collaboration 'One Thousand Micro-Emitters per Square Centimetre' and outstanding demonstrations of microLED technology, the Institute is delighted to see this company created. Led by serial entrpreneur and Strathclyde alumnus, Dr Jim Bonar, mLED will be pursuing a variety of applications of these versatile pattern programmble light engines. The press release is available here. A significant step towards flexible, conformable, plastic photonics has been made with the Institute's colleagues in the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, including Prof's Pethrick and Skabara. A 100micron thick membrane, was formed by deposition on water, then UV curing. This substrateless membrane had shown stimulated emmission, with the ease of manufacture opening up the possibility of mass manufacture and even disposable optical devices. The Institute has already received enquiries from industry excited by the prospect after the original article was reported in the Highlights from Euorpean Journals section of Europhysics News. See J.Opt 12, 035503 (2010) for the full picture. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Buy the Book! A clear indication that VECSELs (aka Semiconductor Disk Lasers) are maturing is the recent publication by Wiley of this tutorial style book. With two chapters by Insitute of Photonics researchers, this is a notable milestone in the progression of this powerful and flexible technology. Tim Holt commented ‘The early vision of the Institute in the value of semiconductor disks as a useful laser medium is vindicated more each day. Our contribution to this book is an appropriate acknowledgment of our place among the vanguard in this exciting arena. With many world’s firsts and world records, the Institute continues to excel from ultraviolet to infrared.’ Available for purchase here. http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-3527409335.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Poster Win! Congratulations to Institute PhD student Yujie Chen for winning best poster award at the Quantum Dot June 2010 meeting. Well done! Yuije is pictured with his certificate and a well deserved pint. The poster prize issued by Nature Publishing Group also includes a cheque of £50 and a one-year-subscription to both Nature Physics and Nature Materials.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With semiconductor disk lasers having proven to be such a strong theme for the IoP in recent years, we felt the time was right to publish this review paper covering many of the innovative aspects. This paper considers applications, material and thermal considerations, structural design, cavity configurations and intra-cavity nonlinear conversion techniques. The latest developments, including the trend toards miniaturisation are also presented. Our co-authors are from the Optoelectronics Research Centre, Tampere University of Technology, Finland. Laser and Photonics Reviews, 1-28 (2009) / DOI 10.1002/lpor.200810042 http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/113511747/home -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (for more up to date news on SU2P, please see www.SU2P.com )
The innovative and commercial strengths of the photonics sector are to be harnessed in a major venture between universities in Scotland- led by Strathclyde- and California. Strathclyde, the Universities of St Andrews, Heriot-Watt and Glasgow, together with Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), are collaborating in a project which has won funding worth £1.6 million over three years from the Science Bridges awards, announced by Research Councils UK (RCUK). The project, the Stanford-Scotland Photonics Innovation Collaboration, is designed to capitalise on leading research in the photonics sector, in fields including life sciences and renewable energy, and the commercial opportunities the research offers. It also aims to bolster existing links between universities and businesses in Scotland and the US. The three-year venture between the six institutions will focus on: · Biophotonics, including stem cell imaging and neuroscience photonics · Solar cell devices · Integrated photonics · Solid-state laser engineering · Photonics sensors, including atom, quantum optic and environmental sensors. The project will give talented young researchers the opportunity to experience working in laboratories in California. It will also enable businesses in the US and the UK to share ideas and expertise with academics in both countries.
Professor Allister Ferguson, Deputy Principal of Strathclyde and Principal Investigator in the Collaboration, said: "This is an ambitious and inventive programme aimed at delivering huge social and economic benefits. We are pleased to have secured funding from RCUK Science Bridges to work towards this goal. "Photonics is a sector with vast capacity for innovation in research and for commercial opportunities. It is dominated in the UK by small companies, and we aim to build on that capacity through this venture, by broadening and strengthening the links in photonics between Scotland and California. "Through this project, we intend to build enduring relationships which will form the basis of a network with sustainable economic impact." The programme will be delivered through the creation of a series of inter-related activities: A number of 'proof of principle' pilot projects in areas with commercial potential A joint industrial affiliates scheme, giving access to knowledge exchange with academics in the other country to companies, large and small, in the UK and the US A staff exchange scheme between the universities, to develop joint projects with clear commercial potential An investor network, comprising individuals and businesses with an interest in investing in the technology covered by the programme A post-doctoral entrepreneurial fellowship programme, offering outstanding early-career researchers the chance to work for a year in a leading laboratory in California Dr Stephen Armstrong, Head of the Research Development Service in Strathclyde's Department of Research and Innovation, said: "This programme brings a unique international dimension to our knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship activities, underpinned by excellence in research. "It's about raising our ambitions and extracting value for economic and societal benefit through linking one of the most dynamic and entrepreneurial communities in the US with Scotland." The collaboration will involve Strathclyde's Department of Physics, Institute of Photonics and Centre for Biophotonics.
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