EPSRC awards grant for faster, cheaper integrated photonics developments

Southampton, England--The University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) has garnered a £1.4 million platform grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to develop cheaper, faster, and greener integrated photonics devices. Such devices include new kilowatt lasers, compact on-chip amplifiers, and biosensor arrays for infectious diseases.

The four-year period of the grant hopes to bring to fruition high-power lasers for machining and laser processing applications, pollution sensors to monitor climate change, early threat detection security devices, and fast, universally accessible disease screening.

Professor Rob Eason leads the investigating team as principal investigator, with co-investigators Professor James Wilkinson, Dave Shepherd, Peter Smith, and Dr. Jacob Mackenzie, who are working with seven external partner organizations: Covestion Ltd., Stratophase Ltd., Gooch and Housego, Element Six Limited, Ocean Optics, the U.S. Air Force, and the Defense Science and Technology Lab. During the course of the grant, the investigators will develop new technologies to then test with the partner organizations.

The platform grant will make it possible for the ORC to carry out feasibility studies for industry and provide a rapid response. It will make it possible for a targeted end application to be designed, developed, and demonstrated in a matter of weeks to months, compared to months to years under current funding, says Professor Eason.

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