Light Times

Issue 1 | 2014

Light Times News from the Optoelectronics Research Centre.

Open for business: making multidisciplinary research more accessible Largest Photonics Institute opens in Southampton | page 4 Optical sensing research leads to earlier cancer detection | Page 10 Interview: ORC Deputy Director David Richardson | page 16

In this issue Welcome to Light Times, the magazine for the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton.

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It has perhaps never been easier to collaborate with world-class researchers and to access capability across the UK photonics sector. The launch of two new initiatives; the UK’s largest photonics and electronics institute here in Southampton and the new national photonics portal at UKPhotonics.org is enabling UK firms to discover the solutions to technology challenges faced by society today. Find out more on pages 4 and 6 respectively.

This issue features the first in a series of interviews with directors and leading programme investigators at the ORC. We talk to Deputy Director David Richardson about his work and get the latest on his team’s research into fibres for high speed data transmission.

We also bring you up to date with our research highlights, events, student successes, awards and published research.

To keep abreast of our latest news please visit www.orc.southampton.ac.uk We welcome your feedback, so please get in touch and let us know what you would like to see in future editions of Light Times.

Deanna Standen | Editor, Light Times light@orc.southampton.ac.uk

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1. Zepler Institute launch This multidisciplinary research centre brings together worldleading expertise in photonics, advanced materials, quantum technologies and nanoscience Page 4 2. Biosensor breakthrough New optical sensing research could lead to faster detection of cancer biomarkers Page 10

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3. Interview Light Times speaks to ORC Deputy Director, Professor David Richardson about his work as a director and researcher at the cutting edge Page 16 4. Lifetime data storage enters a new dimension Using Nanostructured glass, ORC scientists have experimentally demonstrated ďŹ ve dimensional digital data by femtosecond laser writing Page 20

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5. Speed of light Researchers at Southampton’s ORC are bringing data transmission rates to within touching distance of the speed of light Page 22

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Open for business UK’s largest photonics and electronics institute launches in Southampton

Professor Sir David Payne heads up the new Zepler Institute.

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The new Zepler Institute (ZI), launched in September, is a unique multidisciplinary research centre that brings together world-leading expertise in photonics, advanced materials, quantum technologies and nanoscience.

Led by Professor Sir David Payne, one of the world’s most referenced and influential researchers, the Institute builds on the University’s pioneering discoveries in photonics and electronics that form the backbone of today’s global communications infrastructure.

information superhighway and high-speed telecommunication networks.

Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of Physical Sciences and Engineering at Southampton, commented: “The formation of the Zepler Institute ensures that the University of Southampton continues to make pioneering For decades, researchers at Southampton breakthroughs and discoveries that will meet have developed the fibre optic technology that society’s global communication challenges. It lays the foundations of the Internet, while also puts us in a leading position to develop also being at the global forefront of quantum the future of the Internet, which is the technologies and even energy harvesting; infrastructure for the World Wide Web. pioneering devices that use motion to power wireless sensors and mobile electronics. High “For 60 years Southampton researchers have been at the forefront of the global revolution power fibre lasers for cutting and welding in digital communications, leading the world are another widely recognised Southampton in web and Internet science, technology and development, as well as special fibres that applications,” Professor Hall continued. navigate airliners.

The ZI builds on that reputation, using its multidisciplinary approach to unlock new research domains and develop cutting edge technologies that enable numerous market sectors vital to economic growth, including aerospace, telecommunications, energy, healthcare, manufacturing and the environment.

Global access to the Internet relies almost entirely on David Payne’s invention of the fibre amplifier. David explained: “EDFAs have fuelled the explosive growth of the internet due to their ability to amplify huge amounts of data. More than one billion Internet users now exchange over 2,000 Petabytes of data every month. Our lives today would be unimaginable without it”

To mark the occasion and in celebration of his recently-awarded Knighthood for services to The ZI is named after Professor Eric Ernest photonics, Professor Payne delivered a special Zepler who founded the Department of Electronics and Computer Science at lecture entitled ‘50 Years of Photonics at the University College Southampton (now University of Southampton.’ He was joined University of Southampton) in 1947: the

by Guest of Honour, Vint Cerf, considered first university Electronics Department one of the ‘fathers’ of the Internet. Uniting in this country. Professor Zepler made an these two eminent speakers was especially outstanding and pioneering contribution to fitting, as global access to the internet radio receiver development as well as to the relies almost entirely on Professor Payne’s teaching of electronics. His family attended invention, the erbium-doped fibre amplifier the launch.

(EDFA) which made possible the worldwide

From glass to Google Vint Cerf, Google’s Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist joined researchers from the ZI and Director Professor Sir David Payne as a VIP speaker in the day’s special programme of talks and lectures.

Opening the event, leading academics from the Institute’s core research groups showcased highlights from the entire spectrum of ZI research; from fundamental physics to providing solutions to real world problems in healthcare, manufacturing, communications, defence, renewable energy and the environment.

Vint, who is considered one of the ‘fathers’ of the Internet, was introduced by web pioneer Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of Physical Sciences and Engineering. His lecture, ‘The Unfolding of the Internet’ documented the rapid evolution of telecommunications infrastructure and was followed by Professor Payne who presented ‘50 Years of Photonics at the University of Southampton’ to mark the launch and his recent knighthood for services to photonics.

To download presentations from the day and to find out more, visit www.zeplerinstitute.com/launch.

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New national photonics portal launches A new national web portal for photonics has been launched in December with a key aim of mapping the UK’s activity in the sector so that industry and academia can discover resources and collaborators more easily than ever before.

Hosted by the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Photonics at the University of Southampton, the site was launched to coincide with Horizon 2020 where the EU Commission is announcing calls for photonics research projects.

UK Photonics.org is a knowledge-driven portal that makes use of semantic web technologies to draw together the breadth of UK photonics research capability including: organisations, techniques, people and equipment, to facilitate collaboration in this growing industry.

this by making the search and selection of the UK’s world-class photonics sector much more accessible.

The site details a vast array of state-of-theart equipment and expertise within the UK that organisations can exploit to help them design, develop and test technologies that will keep the UK at the vanguard of the global photonics industry.

Dr Gilberto Brambilla, Director for the EPSRC Centre based in Southampton, said: “This national photonics gateway is the first port of call for anyone who has a question concerning photonics in the UK.

The site works by collating information from a host of sources including universities and “The site will enable users to match their industry sites such as the European Photonics requirements to expertise or capabilities Industry Consortium (EPIC). Data on the offered by UK photonics organisations: site is dynamic and is automatically refreshed we’ve drawn together the best sources and from source. The flexible nature of the made this information accessible. It’s the underlying technology allows for the easy perfect starting point to finding your next integration of additional data sources and collaboration opportunity.” portal content will be continually enriched with on-going collaboration.

Susan Peacock, EPSRC Information and Communications Technologies ICT Portfolio The UK’s photonics industrial sector is Manager, said: “This site is important as it will worth £10.5bn to the UK economy and give UK companies and research prominence employs some 70,000 people in over 1500 across Europe. Photonics is central to many companies. Comprising a majority of SME’s, modern day technologies and is a sector that many companies have neither the financial is continuing to grow, with new applications resources nor knowledge about how to emerging that offer solutions to many global access the incredible capability and facilities societal challenges, including medical available in, among other places, many UK technologies for health, and security.” universities. The new portal aims to address Visit the portal at www.ukphotonics.org.

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Finding collaborative partners and specialist capability in the UK’s photonics sector just got easier

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Student success Celebrating the achievements of ORC students

ORC student awarded Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship Amol is a third year PhD student in the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton (UK) working on the development of multi-GHz modelocked waveguide lasers for applications in optical frequency metrology and biophotonics.

In 2008, he received an Erasmus Mundus scholarship to pursue MSc in Photonics from Gent University and Vrije University in Belgium and University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He completed his B.Eng in Electronics and Communications from the Delhi College of Engineering, University of Delhi, India where he was also the president of the SPIE student chapter in 2007.

ORC student, Amol Choudhary, has been awarded a 2013 Scholarship by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics for his potential contributions to the field of optics, photonics, or related field.

“This SPIE scholarship is a great honour and will be beneficial for my current research at the Optoelectronics Research Centre” says Amol.

Amol is one of 139 outstanding individuals awarded a total of $351,000 in scholarships this year. Each scholarship is awarded based on its potential contribution to optics and

Young Scientist award for ORC research fellow ORC post-doctoral research fellow Limin Xiao has been recognised for his outstanding research with an international award.

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photonics, or a related discipline.

Professor David Shepherd, Director of Physical Sciences and Engineering’s Graduate School, adds: “I am very pleased to see Amol’s hard work and undoubted potential recognised in this way and I’m sure that this award will be of great benefit to his future research career.”

Award-winning applicants were evaluated, selected and approved by the SPIE Scholarship Committee, chaired by SPIE volunteer Kevin Leonard.

To date SPIE has distributed over $3.5 million dollars in individual scholarships.

This ambitious effort reflects the Society’s commitment to education and to the next generation of optical scientists and engineers around the world. SPIE scholarships are open to full- and part-time students studying anywhere in the world.

All scholarship applications are judged on their own merit based on the experience and education level of the individual student.

Limin received the Young Scientist Award at the 3rd International Conference on Optofluidics 2013, in Hong Kong, for his invited presentation Optofluidics in Photonics Crystal Fibres. The award is sponsored by scientific publisher Springer and online scientific community Labon-a-Chip.

Limin’s supervisor Dr Anna Peacock said: “The simplicity and flexibility of the all-fibre microcells that Limin has developed will open up new explorations in nonlinear optofluidic interactions. I am thrilled to see his hard work being rewarded and we hope to see continued success in this emerging research area.”

Limin’s work builds on the ORC’s long successful history in fibre optics. He said: “The first successful optofluidic optical fibre experiment was carried out by ORC Director Professor Sir David Payne at Southampton in 1972. We hope our work will continue to make the ORC a pioneer in optofluidic fibre optics.”

Global science summit student participants selected.

PhD students, Bruce Ou and Milos Nedeljkovic from the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton, have been selected to attend the prestigious Global Young Scientists Summit organised by the Singapore National Research Foundation.

Taking place on the 19th-24th January Bruce and Milos are among five students selected from across the University to attend 2014, the multi-disciplinary summit will discuss the latest advances in science and the conference. technology – specifically; chemistry, physics “We’re proud to have them representing the and medicine to mathematics, computer Optoelectronics Research Centre, and to science and engineering, and how research have their work recognised by this selection” may be harnessed to address major global said Goran Mashanovich, Milos’ supervisor. challenges.

Milos said: “I’m greatly looking forward to Invited speakers are globally recognised learning from such eminent scientists from scientific leaders, who are recipients a wide array of fields, and I’m excited to have of awards such as; the Fields Medal, the chance to visit some of Singapore’s world Millennium Technology Prize, Nobel Prize, class research centres.” and Turing Award.

Bruce added: “It is my great honour to attend “It is fantastic that two of our PhD students this world class summit and I am grateful to have been selected to attend such a my supervisor Professor Nikolay Zheludev prestigious event and is a reflection of the for nominating me.” high quality of research produced by our students at the ORC. The Global Young Scientists Summit is a gathering of young researchers (primarily “We look forward to sharing their knowledge PhD students and post-docs) from all over and discoveries with them on their return the world, with internationally eminent from the conference.” science and technology leaders (‘speakers’) in Singapore.

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PhD student Ioannis Katis applies the dye to the paper-based sensor

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New optical sensing research could lead to faster detection of cancer markers Pioneering research by the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) that could transform the care of cancer patients or people with infections in their own homes has received a significant grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

enable diagnosis at an early stage, from a Senior Research Fellow Dr Collin Sones patient’s bedside in the comfort of their own and Professor Rob Eason are working with home, without the need for either specialised colleagues from Medicine and the Institute equipment or trained medical personnel. of Life Sciences – Dr Spiros Garbis, Professor Peter Smith and Professor Saul Faust - to “This research is a very important step for develop laser-printed paper-based sensors the ORC. It is a completely new area for us that can be used to detect biomarkers and is the beginning of our collaborative in cancer patients and see how they are cross-disciplinary work with our colleagues responding to their chemotherapy treatment. in Medicine and the Institute of Life Sciences.

Once we prove that laser printing works, and The team has been awarded over £230,000 we can develop a paper-based sensor, then EPSRC funding to explore whether Laserthis has the potential to revolutionise medical Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT) printing of biological materials can be used to develop treatment as the technology can be used to make devices for a whole range of other the sensor device on paper. conditions.”

The research aims to develop paper-based The biomarkers for breast cancer have already sensors that are robust, inexpensive, userbeen identified and validated in a pilot study friendly, disposable, and easy to deliver by academics in Medicine and the Institute wherever the patient might be. of Life Sciences. These are now being used These sensors would be telemedicineto study the response of patients receiving enabled allowing transfer of valuable clinical chemotherapy. diagnostic information between patients and If successful, these paper-based sensors their care team through the use of mobile would prove invaluable in rapidly testing phones. These personalised tests will be for detection and diagnosis of conditions possible while maintaining security and including cancer and infectious diseases anonymity of their results through lasersuch as influenza, HIV and tuberculosis. printed 2D bar codes of biological material They would allow the rapid testing for these that change colour depending on the result. conditions in a safe, inexpensive and flexible Collin said: “The funding is recognition of the way that would have enormous benefits in impact laser-printed, paper-based biosensors time, cost and improvement of patient care. will be able to make towards saving human The team are now looking for industry lives by making possible rapid, remote partners to commercialise this innovative and real-time diagnosis of many targeted new technology. diseases. The paper-based sensors would

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News in brief Latest developments - people places events

ORC staff recognised for outstanding contribution

Dr Ben Mills receives his award from Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering

The awards recognise an outstanding level of achievement, commitment and dedication within the categories of scientific publication, public engagement, managing staff, teaching, proposal writing and knowledge transfer and commercialisation.

Dr Ben Mills from the Optoelectronics Research Centre was recognised in the category of managing staff, for his research output and lab management skills. Ben is the manager of the Femtosecond Applications of Science and Technology (FAST) lab, a multi-user facility where a variety of ultrafast laser experiments are performed: “I am really pleased to receive this award in recognition of my achievements as the manager of the FAST lab facility,” says Ben. “It has involved striking a careful balance between running the facility, seeking out and partaking in cross-disciplinary projects, and conducting my own independent research. I would like to thank the Faculty and my line manager, Professor Rob Eason, for giving me the opportunity to work at the forefront of ultrafast laser science, and more specifically, laser machining using digital multi-mirror device technology.”

Dr Senthil Ganapathy won his award for teaching and for his major contribution to the new course on Photonic Materials in the ORC’s new MSc in Photonic Technologies.

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Six academic members from the ORC at Southampton have been recognised at the Physical Sciences and Engineering Dean’s Awards for Early Career Researchers reception.

The full list of winners from the ORC is: Scientific research and publication – Dr Alexander Heidt (ORC) – Dr David Thomson (ORC) Managing staff – Dr Ben Mills (ORC) Teaching – Dr Senthil Ganapathy (ORC) Knowledge transfer and commercialisation – Dr Corin Gawith (ORC) This is the first Dean’s Awards to take place in the University and it will now become an annual event.

The award categories and the idea for the awards themselves resulted from the University becoming a signatory of the Concordat, which supports the careers of early career researchers.

The awards were presented by the Dean of FPSE, Professor Dame Wendy Hall.

Post ECOC Workshop Success Professor David Richardson and Dr Radan Slavik along with collaborative partners, Dr Shu Namiki, Research Director at AIST, Japan’s National Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and Professor Toshihiko Hirooka of Tohoku University, were congratulated on co-organising this year’s Post European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) workshop in September.

Hosted jointly by the EPSRC Funded Photonics Hyperhighway programme and Japanese Programme, Victories, the workshop brought together world-leading researchers in the field of optical communications. Key speakers included: Professor Nakazawa from the Research Institute of Electrical Communication at Tohoku University, Japan and Professor Leuthold, head of the Institute of Electromagnetic Fields (IFH) at ETH, Switzerland.

The workshop was opened by Professor Sir David Payne and Dr Shu Namiki and attended by some 60 delegates.

Dave Richardson said: “Our Japanese colleagues organise a similar workshop every year following the ECOC conference, which is one of the most significant events of the year in the field of Optical Communications. ECOC was held in London in 2013 and we were honoured that our Japanese colleagues selected Southampton out of the many possible options within the UK for their meeting – highlighting the international reputation of the ORC and our longstanding friendly relations with the Japanese photonics community.”

“We received very positive feedback from the attendees and our staff and students very much enjoyed the opportunity to talk with our visitors and to showcase their research and facilities. We hope that this may lead to future opportunities to collaborate and work together”, concluded Radan Slavik.

Electrical signals dictate optical properties Electromechanically reconfigurable photonic metamaterial

ORC have created a metamaterial with optical properties that can be controlled by electric signals.

Photonic metamaterials are artificial materials created by precise and extremely fine structuring of conventional media using nanotechnology. They offer numerous new applications from cloaking to radically improved solar cells. However, the properties of metamaterials are usually fi xed.

Dr Eric Plum, Research Lecturer at the ORC, explained: “We have found a fast and reliable way of coordinating the motion of

thousands of metamaterial building blocks. We shift them by distances a thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. These minute rearrangements are sufficient to radically change the transmission and reflection characteristics of the metamaterial.

We do this by engaging the same force that sticks a small piece of paper to a comb after brushing. In essence we dictate the movement of metamaterial building blocks with electrical signals, and we can do this very fast.”

Southampton’s Centre for Photonic Metamaterials is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and is at the forefront of this development. Director, Professor Nikolay Zheludev said: “Thanks to nanotechnology we need not depend only on natural materials; we can now engineer optical properties and change them at will. Light-enabled technologies are vital to the twenty-first century, and photonic metamaterials will have a broad impact”.

This work is now published in Nature Nanotechnology. To read the full article visit: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NNANO.2013.25 ORC database number 5741 J. Y. Ou, E. Plum, J. Zhang and N. I. Zheludev An electromechanically reconfigurable plasmonic metamaterial operating in the near-infrared Nature Nanotechnology (2013) Light Times | issue 1 2014

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News in brief Latest developments - people places events

Silicon first for Southampton

Professor Graham Reed and his team at the ORC have hosted the first Silicon Photonics conference at the University of Southampton by the group since their move to Southampton in 2012.

The conference, held November 12th, was associated with a large EPSRC grant entitled “UK Silicon Photonics” (UKSP), led by Graham at Southampton and based around a consortium including the Universities of St Andrews, Leeds, Warwick, Heriot Watt and McMaster (Canada), as well as industry partner PLX. Key speakers included Professor Lionel Kimerling from MIT, Professor Roel Baets from Gent, Professor Mike Wale from Oclaro, Mark Thomson from Bristol and Professor David Richardson of the ORC, as well as consortium speakers. The conference was attended by some 120 delegates from high profile academic and industry partners and hailed a great success.

Graham said: “I have been inundated by positive comments about the event. We had an excellent set of presentations from renowned international experts, as well as an opportunity to showcase some of the results of the UKSP project, and to show the delegates working silicon photonics devices and a high speed silicon photonics transmission link in our laboratories.

“Moving my group to Southampton has enabled us to be extremely productive because we have excellent fabrication facilities on site, and this was key in enabling us to achieve so much within the project.”

Graham Reed was recently awarded the Crompton Medal for Energy at this year’s IET Achievement Awards. His pioneering research spans over a 25 year period and he is responsible for initiating research in the field of Silicon Photonics within the UK.

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Metamaterials outreach goes with a bang ORC researchers from the Nanophotonics and Metamaterials group have been introducing school children, teachers and parents to their cutting edge research in the area of photonic metamaterials at the Big Bang Fair and the Cheltenham Science Festival.

Over several days at two of the UK’s largest public science, engineering and technology fairs, Kevin MacDonald, Eric Plum, Jianfa Zhang, Tapashree Roy, Oleksandr Buchnev, João Valente and Tim Raybould shared their excitement about novel artificial materials and science in general with hundreds of children - the UK’s prospective scientists and engineers of the future.

Part of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s (EPSRC) Advanced Materials exhibit, our metamaterials research shared the spotlight with work on graphene and gallium nitride (presented by colleagues from the Universities of Manchester and Cambridge).

The recent surge in interest in science nationally, has seen an increase in applications to physics courses of more than 17%.

Events such as the Big Bang Fair and Cheltenham Science Festival – combined with outreach activity at schools and increased media

interest in the advances that science and engineering bring, are fuelling the demand.

Similarly, metamaterials research has grown very rapidly over the past decade. Seen as an enabling technology of the future, Southampton’s Centre for Photonic Metamaterials is at the forefront of this development, with thanks to continued support from the EPSRC. Research Manager Dr Kevin MacDonald said: “With the control and application of light central to so many current and emerging technologies, metamaterials providing optical properties beyond those of natural media will have a broad impact in the 21st century.

The Big Bang Fair and Cheltenham Festival have been fantastic opportunities to engage with the general public and in particular with the next generation of scientists and engineers.”

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Leadership perspectives.

The interview

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Light Times speaks with Professor David Richardson, Deputy Director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) about his role and how he became interested in photonics.

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You joined the Optoelectronics Research Centre in 1989 – what drew you specifically into photonics?

I was previously working in the field of fundamental physics; on precise tests of time reversal symmetry with neutrons and on topological phase in quantum mechanics - fascinating science but a little far removed from the everyday day life of most of us.

Around the same time measurements of topological phase were also being undertaken in optical fibres. This piqued my interest in photonics and after deliberation I decided on a change in field and took a postdoctoral position here at Southampton.

I was either the first or second recruit to the ORC and I have remained here ever since.

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have made the switch as it has allowed me freedom to evolve my research and has enabled me to engage with a very wide range of application areas, which always keep life interesting.

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Tell us a little about your role in the ORC.

I am a Deputy Director of the ORC, a role I have held for the past 14 years. Managing the ORC has not been without its challenges, not least due to the Mountbatten Building fire in 2005 and the changing funding landscape. Despite these challenges it is very pleasing to see the ORC setting the photonics research agenda on so many fronts. In terms of my own immediate research activities, I run groups working on optical fibre communications, high power fibre lasers and microstructured fibre technology. Given these diverse activities my attention might turn on a given day from understanding glass flow and properties on the nanoscale, through the design and fabrication of radically new fibre types, to the realisation of ever more powerful and functional lasers for industrial materials processing - life is certainly never short of problems to work on! A lot of my effort at

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present is focussed on developing novel optical communications devices and networks capable of transporting and processing unprecedented volumes of data traffic.

latest advances in Optical Communications.

Getting papers accepted for presentation in these sessions is hugely competitive, with the bulk of papers presented by the largest and bestfunded industrial labs (e.g. Alcatel Lucent Bell You are technical coordinator for a major EU Labs (USA), NTT (Japan), NEC (USA) etc.). We funded project, Mode-Gap, what is the aim of have done exceptionally well for a University the project? in these sessions over the years, but probably Mode-Gap is a hugely ambitious project never quite as well as in the last couple of years focussed on developing radically new forms due to our work in Mode-Gap. For example, at of fibre technology capable of supporting ECOC 2012 we authored/co-authored 3 papers 100x the data carrying capacity of current (~10% of the presentations). These included single-mode fibre systems, which have now a world record data capacity (73Tbit/s) over been optimised in the laboratory to operate at an amplified multimode transmission line close to the fundamental information theory (with Coriant), the first demonstration of limit (nonlinear Shannon limit) of around amplified data transmission at 2000nm in a 100 Terabit/s (1014 bit/s). The highest capacity HC-PBGF, and the first demonstration of a commercial systems now being installed Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM) can operate at 10 Terabit/s and the ~30-40% transmission system at 2000nm (a potential growth in annual data traffic is such that there new broadband, low-loss transmission window is fear of a so called “capacity crunch” in ~5-10 for optical communications). At OFC 2013 we years that will constrain future growth of the had 2 further post deadline papers - the first internet. In the face of this concern, Mode-Gap demonstrating multimode transmission in a proposes to develop multimode transmission PBGF and the second a new method to generate techniques for long-haul communications high spectral efficiency coded signals. These that allow multiple simultaneous independent papers all represented key milestones in the data pathways through the fibre rather than realisation of the ultimate Mode-Gap project the single path used to date. Moreover, in the goal of demonstrating a route to x100 the data ultimate embodiment, it proposes to use hollow carrying capacity of single mode fibre systems. core, photonic bandgap fibre (HC-PBGF) rather What’s next? than solid silica fibres to transmit the signals, since propagating the signal in air eliminates the nonlinearity which limits data transfer in In the short term, we will be concentrating solid fibres, and offers the potential for lower on developing new technologies for ultrahigh signal attenuation. Fortunately the EU bought capacity optical communication systems into our vision despite it being so radical at operating at the Petabit/s level and working the time of submission, and we have been closely with various partners both within hard at work with our partners to realise the industry and academia to maximise the reach project goals for the past three years. We have and impact of our work. Coinciding with this, made excellent progress with many of the key principles and objectives already demonstrated. we will be looking to advance our high power Twelve months of the project remain to reduce laser research both in terms of performance the fibre losses and to demonstrate the ultimate and the range of applications that we apply it to – especially to the medical/health care sectors. scalability of the approach.

We are also part of a growing and increasingly You’ve had recent success at both the strong consortium (ICAN), looking to combine Optical Fibre Communications (OFC) the output of up to a million pulsed fibre lasers and European Conference on Optical into a single beam as a means to build a new Communications (ECOC) Post-deadline generation of particle accelerators beyond the Sessions – what papers did you present?

Large Hadron Collider. As far as ambitious projects are concerned this makes Mode-Gap In our field, the Post-deadline Sessions at OFC and ECOC provide the focus for presenting the look like a stroll in the park.

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Vision of the future.

The Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) is part of an international consortium investigating the development of two micron fibre lasers.

– The maximum permissible exposure The Integrated Disruptive Components for the human eye is many times greater for two micron Fibre Lasers (ISLA) project for two micron compared to one micron has received €2.9m funding from the laser radiation reducing the need for European Commission’s Seventh Framework expensive safety measures in the industrial Programme to develop the fibre and environment. component technology for high power twomicron fibre lasers opening up the prospect of – Cutting and processing transparent plastics whole new areas of laser applications. is greatly improved as they absorb two micron radiation better than one micron.

Currently state-of-the-art one micron fibre lasers have had a tremendous impact on many – Many bio-medical applications including areas of laser technology from cutting steel to laser scalpels, glaucoma treatment and skin medical and sensing applications. However, wrinkle reduction are being investigated. the upper limits of one micron lasers are fast being reached as the extreme optical intensity The ORC is working with Trinity College, in the fibre core approaches the fundamental Dublin; Oclaro, in Switzerland; Rofinlimits of the glass.

Sinar Laser, in Germany; Time-Bandwidth Products, in Switzerland; and Vivid The ISLA project will develop high power Components, in Germany. The project is led fibre lasers operating in the two micron

by Gooch and Housego, in Torquay, UK and is wavelength band allowing the fibre core size due to run until the end of September 2014. to be increased leading to the possibility of a huge increase in laser power before the The project has also set up an ISLA Advisory fundamental limits are reached.

Group (IAG) that aims to build relations between organisations with an interest in They believe that two micron fibre lasers two micron lasers. Already the IAG has will offer a clear route to higher power with attracted significant attention from more excellent beam quality. Moreover, these lasers than 50 organisations showing the growing can be built using established silica fibre commercial and academic interest in the technology. development of two micron “There are many potential advantages to two micron radiation,” said Professor Andy Clarkson, of the ORC.

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Entering a new dimension.

5Data storage in glass Using nanostructured glass, scientists at the Southampton’s ORC have, for the first time, experimentally demonstrated the recording and retrieval processes of five dimensional digital data by femtosecond laser writing. The storage allows unprecedented parameters including 360 TB/disc data capacity, thermal stability up to 1000°C and practically unlimited lifetime.

Coined as the ‘Superman’ memory crystal’, as the glass memory has been compared to the “memory crystals” used in the Superman films, the data is recorded via self-assembled nanostructures created in fused quartz, which is able to store vast quantities of data for over a million years. The information encoding is realised in five dimensions: the size and orientation in addition to the three dimensional position of these nanostructures.

A 300 kb digital copy of a text file was successfully recorded in 5D using an ultrafast laser, producing extremely short and intense pulses of light. The file is written in three layers of nanostructured dots separated by five micrometres (one millionth of a metre).

The self-assembled nanostructures change the way light travels through glass, modifying polarisation of light that can then be read by the combination of an optical microscope and a polariser, similar to that found in Polaroid sunglasses. The research is led by Jingyu Zhang from the University’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) and conducted under a joint project with Eindhoven University of Technology.

“We are developing a very stable and safe form of portable memory using glass, which could be highly useful for organisations with big

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archives. At the moment companies have to back up their archives every five to ten years because hard-drive memory has a relatively short lifespan,” says Jingyu.

“Museums who want to preserve information or places like the national archives where they have huge numbers of documents, would really benefit.”

The Physical Optics group from the ORC presented their ground-breaking paper at the photonics industry’s renowned Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO’13) in San Jose. The paper, ‘5D Data Storage

by Ultrafast Laser Nano structuring in Glass’ was presented by the during CLEO’s prestigious post deadline session.

This work was done in the framework of EU project, Femtoprint.

Professor Peter Kazansky, the ORC’s group supervisor, adds: “It is thrilling to think that we have created the first document which will likely survive any cataclysm that mankind might face. This technology can secure the last evidence of civilisation: all we’ve learnt will not be forgotten.”

The team are now looking for industry partners to commercialise this groundbreaking new technology.

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ORC researchers create high-capacity ‘speed of light’ optical fibre By exploiting a characteristic of hollow-core optical fibres, researchers at the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronic Research Centre claim to have brought data transmission rates within touching distance of the speed of light.

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In recent years, fibre optic cables have transformed the delivery of internet services due to their ability to transmit data over greater distances and at faster speeds than traditional copper wire.

In a new research paper published in the Journal ‘Nature Photonics’, researchers at the ORC reported that they have developed a hollow, air-filled fibre that transmits light far quicker in the absence of material that previously slowed it down.

A hollow-core fibre replaces the core and cladding with a single surround made of a fine mesh of struts made of silica glass, which confines the light in a hollow air-carrying region in the centre of the fibre. This allows light to propagate 31 per cent faster than in a conventional fibre, the researchers showed, and shortens the time it takes to travel from one end to another, known as latency.

“One way to increase the speed of the light in the fibre is to ensure that it is propagating A conventional fibre is made from two types in air rather than glass,” explains Professor of glass. At its centre lies a thin silica glass core David Richardson, Deputy Director of the that carries the light and is surrounded by a ORC. thicker layer of glass cladding, which is coated “We’ve developed a fibre where the light is in polymer and then cabled for protection. confined by another guidance mechanism Because the cladding has a lower refractive that results from light reflection at the index than the core, light is continually reflected back and forth in one direction down multiple air:glass interfaces within the fibre cladding. This more complex mechanism, the core. This guidance mechanism, referred referred to as bandgap guidance, allows the to as total internal reflection, slows the light light to be guided in an air rather than glassdown and means it propagates at roughly 70 per cent of its full potential speed in a vacuum. core.”

The ORC is not the first to have produced hollow-core fibres. However, Professor Richardson says its researchers improved the characteristics of the fibre allowing it to carry light over a range of wavelengths using multiple spatial patterns of light vibration known as modes.

“The structure of conventional fibres typically only supports one fibre mode.

Hollow structures generally support multiple modes, and in our research we managed to demonstrate that by controlling the injection of the data signals into the fibre, we could excite just a single mode, thereby readily allowing for high-fidelity data transmission.”

The researchers successfully demonstrated the first high-capacity, low-latency data transmission experiment performed using a hollow-core fibre. In this, they found that light propagated 31 per cent quicker than in a solid core fibre, increasing from 70 per cent of its full speed in a vacuum to 99.7 per cent.

To put this in context, this means that data

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“We are optimistic that those loss limits can be reduced to values comparable with conventional fibre,” propagating in this fibre would arrive 1.54 microseconds/per km earlier that it would in an equivalent length of conventional solid fibre. Not only did the light almost travel at its fastest possible speed, but it did so with a very low loss of 3.5 dB per kilometre.

conventional fibre,” Professor Richardson adds. “If theory is believable, then we should be able to get them even lower than that, which would be significant.” Eventually, the technology could see commercial adoption in a range of sectors.

Exploiting more modes in a single fibre strand, each a separate information channel, yielded even better results. Professor Richardson adds: “We have now launched independent data signals onto several modes of the fibre.

By using three modes we were able to increase the capacity threefold,” he says.

For traders, the low latency afforded by the hollow-core fibre would prove valuable in the race to get information first. Next-generation number-crunching super computers in data centres, too, could benefit from the combination of low latency and faster data transmission rates, which Richardson says reached up to 73.7 Terabits per second during tests carried out with Nokia Siemens in a German test lab earlier this year.

“We felt and feared that the hollow core structures wouldn’t support more modes without degrading signal quality, but by exploiting a few tricks borrowed from wireless “For the technology to be adopted commercially, many issues still need communications this proved not to be the resolving, such as how you reliably splice the case.” fibres together and terminate the ends of the Researchers at the ORC, who were supported fibres to stop moisture getting into the holes with funding both from the European Union and producing such fibres in high volume,” MODEGAP project and the UK Government’s explains Professor Richardson. “At this stage, Photonics HyperHighway project to carry out it’s still very early in the research phase and the work, will now continue to push loss limits we’ve just proven that the cables can work down further. over kilometre scale distances, not hundreds of kilometres.”

“We are optimistic that those loss limits can be reduced to values comparable with

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ORC director receives Wolfson Merit Award Professor David Richardson, Deputy Director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC), has been awarded a prestigious Wolfson Research Merit Award by the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science.

Awarded in recognition of his research breakthrough: “realising Petabit/s communications using multiple spatial modes in optical fibres”, David and his team hope the research will lead to a better understanding of the fundamental data carrying capacity of optical fibres in order to create faster, cheaper and more power efficient internet services.

innovation is now required to develop a new generation of optical fibre technology capable of keeping pace with the ever-increasing bandwidth demands. Southampton has played a major role in all previous key phases of fibre communications development and I intend to ensure that we play a central role this time around as well.”

“I am delighted to receive this award in recognition of my on-going research activities, David says, “This is an exciting period of time in optical fibre communications: the growth of internet traffic is such that there are fears that our global communication networks will begin to get congested in future years. Consequently,

Jointly funded by the Wolfson Foundation and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the scheme aims to provide universities with additional support to enable them to attract science talent from overseas and retain respected UK scientists of outstanding achievement and potential.

Image: Optical microscope image of a fabricated aircore fibre similar to those employed to transmit high capacity data at the speed of light in a vacuum.

Courtesy of R. Sandoghchi

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Journal papers published from January 2013- December 2013 “The ORC has a spectacular history of innovation our researchers publish about 200 journal papers per year and enjoy tremendous academic success” Professor David Payne B.Gholipour, J.Zhang, K.F.MacDonald, D.W.Hewak, N.I.Zheludev An all-optical non-volatile bi-directional phase-change meta-switch Advanced Materials 2013 Vol.25(22) pp.3050-3054 M.Feinäugle, C.L.Sones, E.Koukharenko, B.Gholipour, D.W.Hewak, R.W.Eason Laser-induced forward transfer of intact chalcogenide thin films: resultant morphology and thermoelectric properties Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing 2013 Vol.112(4) pp.1073-1079 N.M.Bulgakova, V.P.Zhukov, Y.P.Meshcheryakov Theoretical treatments of ultrashort pulse laser processing of transparent materials: toward understanding the volume nanograting formation and ‘quill’ writing effect Applied Physics B 2013 pp.13 P.Wang, M.Ding, T.Lee, G.S.Murugan, L.Bo, Y.Semenova, Q.Wu, D.W.Hewak, G.Brambilla, G.Farrell Packaged chalcogenide microsphere resonator with high Q-factor Applied Physics Letters 2013 Vol.102 pp.131110 M.Ding, M.N.Zervas, G.Brambilla Transverse excitation of plasmonic slot nanoresonators embedded in metal-coated plasmonic microfiber tips Applied Physics Letters 2013 Vol.102 pp.141110 M.A.Gouveia, T.Lee, R.Ismaeel, M.Ding, N.G.R.Broderick, C.M.B.Cordeiro, G.Brambilla Second harmonic generation and enhancement in microfibers and loop resonators Applied Physics Letters 2013 Vol.102 pp.201120 P.Wang, C.C.O’Mahony, T.Lee, R.Ismaeel, T.Hawkins, Y.Semenova, L.Bo, Q.Wu, C.McDonagh, G.Farrell, J.Ballato, G.Brambilla Mid-infrared Raman sources using spontaneous Raman scattering in germanium core optical fibers Applied Physics Letters 2013 Vol.102(1) pp.011111

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D.Traviss, R.Bruck, B.Mills, M.Abb, O.L.Muskens Ultrafast plasmonics using transparent conductive oxide hybrids in the epsilon near-zero regime Applied Physics Letters 2013 Vol.102(12) pp.121112 K.Debnath, F.Y.Gardes, A.P.Knights, G.T.Reed, T.F.Krauss, L.O’Faolain Dielectric waveguide vertically coupled to all-silicon photodiodes operating at telecommunication wavelengths Applied Physics Letters 2013 Vol.102(17) pp.171106 Y.Hu, F.Y.Gardes, D.J.Thomson, G.Z.Mashanovich, G.T.Reed Coarse wavelength division (de)multiplexer using an interleaved angled multimode interferometer structure Applied Physics Letters 2013 Vol.102(25) pp.251116 E.T.F.Rogers, S.Savo, J.Lindberg, T.Roy, M.R.Dennis, N.I.Zheludev Super-oscillatory optical needle Applied Physics Letters 2013 Vol.102(3) pp.031108 O.Buchnev, J.Wallauer, M.Walther, M.Kaczmarek, N.I.Zheludev Controlling intensity and phase of terahertz radiation with an optically thin liquid crystalloaded metamaterial Applied Physics Letters 2013 Vol.103 pp.141904

G.Y.Chen, G.Brambilla, T.P.Newson Birefringence treatment of non-ideal optical microfibre coils for continuous Faraday rotation Electronics Letters 2013 Vol.49(11) pp.714-715 C.Sima, J.C.Gates, M.N.Zervas, P.G.R.Smith Review of photonic Hilbert transformers Frontiers of Optoelectronics 2013 C.R.Head, H.Y.Chan, J.S.Feehan, D.P.Shepherd, S.U.Alam, A.C.Tropper, J.H.V.Price, K.G.Wilcox Supercontinuum generation with gigahertz repetition rate femtosecond-pulse fiber-amplified VECSELs IEEE Photonic Technology Letters 2013 Vol.25(5) pp.464-467 X.Yang, D.J.Richardson, P.Petropoulos A broadband flat frequency comb generated using pulse shaping-assisted nonlinear spectral broadening IEEE Photonic Technology Letters 2013 Vol.25(6) pp.543-545 E.Jaberansary, T.M.Ben Masaud, M.Nedeljkovic, M.Milosevic, G.Z.Mashanovich, H.M.H.Chong Scattering loss estimation using 2D Fourier analysis and modelling of sidewall roughness on optical waveguides IEEE Photonics Journal 2013 Vol.5(3) pp.6601010

D.Hillerkuss, T.Schellinger, M.Jordan, C.Weimann, F.Parmigiani, B.Resan, K.Weingarten, S.Ben-Ezra, B.Nebendahl, J.McCarthy, H.Bookey, S.Beecher, C.Koos, W.Freude, J.Leuthold R.Lamb, I.Elder, A.K.Kar Specially tailored mid-infrared super-continuum High-quality optical frequency comb by spectral generation in a buried waveguide spanning 1750 slicing of spectra broadened by SPM IEEE Photonics Journal 2013 Vol.5(5) nm to 5000 nm for atmospheric transmission Applied Physics Letters 2013 Vol.103 pp.151103 pp.7201011 G.Lepert, E.A.Hinds, H.L.Rogers, J.C.Gates, P.G.R.Smith Elementary array of Fabry-Perot waveguide resonators with tunable coupling Applied Physics Letters 2013 Vol.103(11) pp.111112

P.Wang, G.Brambilla, M.Ding, T.Lee, L.Bo, Y.Semenova, Q.Wu, G.Farell Enhanced refractometer based on periodically tapered small core singlemode fiber IEEE Sensors Journal 2013 Vol.13(1) pp.180-185

D.J.Rowe, A.Porch, D.A.Barrow, C.J.Allender Microfluidic Microwave Sensor for Simultaneous Dielectric and Magnetic Characterization IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 2013 Vol.61(1) pp.234-243 H.N.Rutt, J.Szelc Near-Field THz Imaging and Spectroscopy Using a Multiple Subwavelength Aperture Modulator IEEE Transactions on Terahertz science and technology 2013 Vol.3(2) pp.165-171 D.S.Wu, R.Slavík, G.Marra, D.J.Richardson Direct selection and amplification of individual narrowly spaced optical comb modes via injection locking: design and characterization IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology 2013 Vol.31(14) pp.2287-2295 C.Baskiotis, Y.Quiquempois, M.Douay, P.Sillard Leakage loss analytical formulas for large-core low-refractive-index-contrast Bragg fibers JOSA B 2013 Vol.30(7) pp.1945-1953 K.Pradeesh, K.N.Rao, G.V.Prakash Synthesis, structural, thermal and optical studies of inorganic-organic hybrid semiconductors, R-PbI4 Journal of Applied Physics 2013 Vol.113(8) pp.83523 C.Y.J.Ying, G.J.Daniell, H.Steigerwald, E.Soergel, S.Mailis Pyroelectric field assisted ion migration induced by ultraviolet laser irradiation and its impact on ferroelectric domain inversion in lithium niobate crystals Journal of Applied Physics 2013 Vol.114 pp.083101 Y.Liao, E.Austin, P.J.Nash, S.A.Kingsley, D.J.Richardson Phase sensitivity characterization in fiber-optic sensor systems using amplifiers and TDM Journal of Lightwave Technology 2013 Vol.31(10) pp.1645-1653

A.Choudhary, J.Cugat, K.Pradeesh, R.Solé, F.Díaz, M.Aguiló, H.M.H.Chong, D.P.Shepherd Single-mode rib waveguides in (Yb,Nb):RbTiOPO4 by reactive ion etching Y.Liao, E.A.Austin, P.J.Nash, S.A.Kingsley, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 2013 Vol.46(145108) D.J.Richardson M.Ding, G.Brambilla, M.N.Zervas Plasmonic slot nano-resonators embedded in metal-coated plasmonic microfibers Journal of Lightwave Technology 2013 Vol.31(18) pp.3093-3103

Highly scalable amplified hybrid TDM/DWDM array architecture for interferometric fiber-optic sensor systems Journal of Lightwave Technology 2013 Vol.31(6) pp.882-888 B.Mills, M.Feinäugle, N.Rizvi, R.W.Eason Sub-micron-scale femtosecond laser ablation using a digital micromirror device Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering 2013 Vol.23 pp.035005 Online at: stacks.iop.org/JMM/23/035005 S.-J.Qiu, F.Zhou, X.Feng, F.Xu, Y-Q.Lu Lead silicate fiber-based refractive indexindependent temperature sensor Journal of Modern Optics 2013 Vol.60(10) pp.851-853 A.D.Parsons, R.T.Chapman, P.Baksh, B.Mills, S.Bajt, W.S.Brocklesby, J.G.Frey Ultra-broadband support determination for extreme ultraviolet coherent diffractive imaging from a high harmonic source Journal of Optics 2013 Vol.15 pp.094009 K.Hammani, S.Boscolo, C.Finot Pulse transition to similaritons in normally dispersive fibre amplifiers Journal of Optics 2013 Vol.15(2) pp.25202 T.Roy, A.E.Nikolaenko, E.T.F.Rogers A meta-diffraction-grating for visible light Journal of Optics 2013 Vol.15(8) pp.085101 E.T.F.Rogers, N.I.Zheludev Optical super-oscillations: Sub-wavelength light focusing and super-resolution imaging Journal of Optics 2013 Vol.15(9) pp.094008 L.G.Carpenter, H.L.Rogers, P.A.Cooper, C.Holmes, J.C.Gates, P.G.R.Smith Low optical-loss facet preparation for silica-onsilicon photonics using the ductile dicing regime Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 2013 Vol.46 pp.475103

A.A.Reddy, A.Goel, D.U.Tulyaganov, S.Kapoor, K.Pradeesh, M.J.Pascual, J.M.F.Ferreira Study of calcium-magnesium-aluminum-silicate (CMAS) glass and glass-ceramic sealant for solid oxide fuel cells Journal of Power Sources 2013 Vol.231 pp.203-212 M.Schlösser, T.M.James, S.Fischer, R.J.Lewis, B.Bornschein, H.H.Telle Evaluation method for Raman depolarization measurements including geometrical effects and polarization aberrations Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 2013 Vol.44(3) pp.453-462 M.Feinäugle, C.L.Sones, E.Koukharenko, R.W.Eason Fabrication of a thermoelectric generator on a polymer-coated substrate via laser-induced forward transfer of chalcogenide thin films Journal of Smart Materials and Structures 2013 Vol.22(11) pp.115023 T.Lee, N.G.R.Broderick, G.Brambilla Resonantly enhanced third harmonic generation in microfiber loop resonators Journal of the Optical Society of America B Optical Physics 2013 Vol.30(3) pp.505-511 D.J.Thomson, F.Y.Gardes, D.C.Cox, J-M.Fedeli, G.Z.Mashanovich, G.T.Reed Self-aligned silicon ring resonator optical modulator with focused ion beam error correction Journal of the Optical Society of America B 2013 Vol.30(2) pp.445-449 S.Lee, L.A.Vazquez-Zuniga, D.Lee, H.Kim, J.K.Sahu, Y.Jeong Comparative experimental analysis of thermal characteristics of ytterbium-doped phosphosilicate and aluminosilicate fibers Journal of the Optical Society of Korea 2013 Vol.17(2) pp.182-187 Light Times | issue 1 2014

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A.C.Peacock, J.R.Sparks, N.Healy Semiconductor optical fibres: progress and opportunities (Review) Laser & Photonics Reviews 2013 Wiley Online Library (Invited) A.Choudhary, A.A.Lagatsky, Z.Y.Zhang, K.J.Zhou, Q.Wang, R.A.Hogg, K.Pradeesh, E.U.Rafailov, W.Sibbett, C.T.A.Brown, D.P.Shepherd Diode-pumped 1.5 micron waveguide laser modelocked at 6.8GHz by a quantum dot SESAM Laser Physics Letters 2013 Vol.10 pp.105803 J.Zhang, K.F.MacDonald, N.I.Zheludev Nonlinear dielectric optomechanical metamaterials Light: Science and Applications 2013 Vol.2 pp.e96 A.Masoudi, M.Belal, T.P.Newson A distributed optical fibre dynamic strain sensor based on phase-OTDR Measurement Science and Technology 2013 Vol.24(8) pp.085204 M.Liu, R.Chen, G.Adamo, K.F.MacDonald, E.J.Sie, T.C.Sum, N.I.Zheludev, H.Sun, H.J.Fan Tuning the influence of metal nanoparticles on ZnO photoluminescence by atomic-layerdeposited dielectric spacer Nanophotonics 2013 Vol.2(2) pp.153-160 F.Poletti, M.N.Petrovich, D.J.R.Richardson Hollow-core photonic bandgap fibers: technology and applications Nanophotonics 2013 Vol.2(5-6) pp.315-340 (Invited) C.Grivas, C.Li, P.Andreakou, P.Wang, M.Ding, G.Brambilla, L.Manna, P.Lagoudakis Single-mode tunable laser emission in the singleexciton regime from colloidal nanocrystals Nature Communications 2013 Vol.4 pp.2376

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M.Muneeb, X.Chen, P.Verheyen, G.Lepage, S.Pathak, E.Ryckeboer, A.Malik, B.Kuyken, M.Nedeljkovic, J.Van Campenhout, G.Z.Mashanovich, G.Roelkens Demonstration of silicon-on-insulator midinfrared spectrometers operating at 3.8μm Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(10) pp.11659-11669 J.W.Szela, K.A.Sloyan, T.L.Parsonage, J.I.Mackenzie, R.W.Eason Laser operation of a Tm:Y2O3 planar waveguide Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(10) pp.12460-12468 L.Shen, N.Healy, P.Mehta, T.D.Day, J.R.Sparks, J.V.Badding, A.C.Peacock Nonlinear transmission properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon core fibers towards the mid-infrared regime Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(11) pp.13075-13082 B.Mills, J.A.Grant-Jacob, M.Feinäugle, R.W.Eason Single-pulse multiphoton polymerisation of complex structures using a digital multimirror device Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(12) pp.14853-14858 C.Sima, J.C.Gates, H.L.Rogers, P.L.Mennea, C.Holmes, M.N.Zervas, P.G.R.Smith Ultra-wide detuning planar Bragg grating fabrication technique based on direct UV grating writing with electro-optic phase modulation Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(13) pp.15747-15754 C.Guan, J.Shi, M.Ding, P.Wang, P.Hua, L.Yuan, G.Brambilla In-line rainbow trapping based on plasmonic gratings in optical microfibers Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(14) pp.16552 K.Hammani, M.A.Ettabib, A.Bogris, A.Kapsalis, D.Syvridis, M.Brun, P.Labeye, S.Nicoletti, D.J.Richardson, P.Petropoulos Optical properties of silicon germanium waveguides at telecommunication wavelengths Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(14) pp.16690-16701 X.Feng, J.Shi, M.Segura, N.M.White, K.Pradeesh, W.H.Loh, L.Calvez, X.Zhang, L.Brilland Halo-tellurite glass fiber with low OH content for 2-5μm mid-infrared nonlinear applications Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(16) pp.18949-18954

A.A.Lagatsky, A.Choudhary, K.Pradeesh, D.P.Shepherd, W.Sibbett, C.T.A.Brown Fundamentally mode-locked femtosecond waveguide oscillators with multi-gigahertz repetition frequencies up to 15 GHz Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(17) pp.19608-19614 B.Calkins, P.L.Mennea, A.E.Lita, B.J.Metcalf, W.S.Kolthammer, A.LamasLinares, J.B.Spring, P.C.Humphreys, R.P.Mirin, J.C.Gates, P.G.R.Smith, I.A.Walmsley, T.Gerrits, S.W.Nam High quantum-efficiency photon-numberresolving detector for photonic on-chip information processing Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(19) pp.22657-22670 D.Jain, C.Baskiotis, J.K.Sahu Mode-area scaling with multi-trench rod type fiber Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(2) pp.1448-1455 G.B.G.Stenning, G.J.Bowden, L.C.Maple, S.A.Gregory, A.Sposito, R.W.Eason, N.I.Zheludev, P.A.J.de Groot Magnetic control of a meta-molecule Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(2) pp.1456-1464 O.Buchnev, J.Y.Ou, M.Kaczmarek, N.I.Zheludev, V.A.Fedotov Electro-optical control in a plasmonic metamaterial hybridised with a liquidcrystal cell Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(2) pp.1633-1638 A.M.Heidt, J.H.V.Price, C.Baskiotis, J.S.Feehan, Z.Li, S.-U.Alam, D.J.Richardson Mid-infrared ZBLAN fiber supercontinuum source using picosecond diode-pumping at 2 microns Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(20) pp.24281-24287 Y.Jung, R.Chen, R.Ismaeel, G.Brambilla, S.-U.Alam, I.P.Giles, D.J.Richardson Dual mode fused optical fiber couplers suitable for mode division multiplexed transmission Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(20) pp.2432624331 P.S.Teh, R.J.Lewis, S.-U.Alam, D.J.Richardson 200W Diffraction limited single-polarization all-fiber picosecond MOPA Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(22) pp.25883-25889 Z.Li, A.M.Heidt, N.Simakov, Y.Jung, J.M.O.Daniel, S.-U.Alam, D.J.Richardson Diode-pumped wideband thulium-doped fiber amplifiers for optical communications in the 1800-2050 nm window Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(22) pp.2645026455 D.Jain, C.Baskiotis, J.K.Sahu Bending performance of large mode area multi-trench fibers Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(22) pp.26663-26670

T.Huang, X.Shao, Z.Wu, T.Lee, Y.Sun, H.Q.Lam, J.Zhang, G.Brambilla, S.Ping Efficient one-third harmonic generation in highly Germania-doped fibers enhanced by pump attenuation Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(23) pp.28403-28413 M.N.Petrovich, F.Poletti, J.P.Wooler, A.M.Heidt, N.K.Baddela, Z.Li, D.R.Gray, R.Slavík, F.Parmigiani, N.V.Wheeler, J.R.Hayes, E.Numkam, L.GrünerNielsen, B.Pálsdóttir, R.Phelan, B.Kelly, J.O’Carroll, P.Petropoulos, S.-U.Alam, D.J.Richardson Demonstration of amplified data transmission at 2 microns in a low-loss wide bandwidth hollow core photonic bandgap fiber Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(23) pp.28559-28569

Z.Li, A.M.Heidt, J.M.O.Daniel, Y.Jung, S.-U.Alam, D.J.Richardson Thulium-doped fiber amplifier for optical communications at 2 microns Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(7) pp.9289-9297 Y.Jung, Q.Kang, V.A.J.M.Sleiffer, B.Inan, M.Kuschnerov, V.Veljanovski, B.Corbett, R.Winfield, Z.Li, P.S.Teh, A.Dhar, J.K.Sahu, F.Poletti, S.-U.Alam, D.J.Richardson Three mode Er3+ ring-doped fiber amplifier for mode-division multiplexed transmission Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(8) pp.10383-10392 M.Kulishov, B.Kress, R.Slavík Resonant cavities based on Parity-Timesymmetric diffractive gratings Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(8) pp.9473-9483

L.Xiao, N.V.Wheeler, N.Healy, A.C.Peacock Integrated hollow-core fibers for nonlinear optofluidic applications Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(23) pp.28751-28757

A.M.Heidt, Z.Li, J.K.Sahu, P.C.Shardlow, M.Becker, M.Rothhardt, M.Ibsen, R.Phelan, B.Kelly, S.-U.Alam, D.J.Richardson 100 kW peak power picosecond thulium-doped fiber amplifier system seeded by a gain-switched diode laser at 2 microns Optics Letters 2013 Vol.38(10) pp.1615-1617

J.M.O.Daniel, W.A.Clarkson Rapid electronically controllable transverse mode selection in a multimode fiber laser Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(24) pp.2944229448

A.Masoudi, M.Belal, T.P.Newson Distributed dynamic large strain optical fiber sensor based on the detection of spontaneous Brillouin scattering Optics Letters 2013 Vol.38(17) pp.3312-3315

V.A.J.M.Sleiffer, H.Chen, Y.Jung, P.Leoni, M.Kuschnerov, A.Simperler, H.Fabian, H.Schuh, F.Kub, D.J.R.Richardson, S.U.Alam, L.Grüner-Nielsen, Y.Sun, A.M.J.Koonen, H.de Waardt Field demonstration of mode-division multiplexing upgrade scenarios on commercial networks Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(25) pp.31036-31046

C.Sima, J.C.Gates, C.Holmes, P.L.Mennea, M.N.Zervas, P.G.R.Smith Terahertz bandwidth photonic Hilbert transformers based on synthesized planar Bragg grating fabrication Optics Letters 2013 Vol.38(17) pp.3448-3451

C.Corbari, A.Champion, M.Gecevicius, M.Beresna, Y.Bellouard, P.G.Kazansky Femtosecond versus picosecond laser machining of nano-gratings and micro-channels in silica glass Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(4) pp.3946-3958 M.Gecevicius, M.Beresna, J.Zhang, W.Yang, H.Takebe, P.G.Kazansky Extraordinary anisotropy of ultrafast laser writing in glass Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(4) pp.3959-3968 X.M.Bendaña, G.Lozano, G.Pirruccio, J.G.Rivas, F.J.García de Abajo Excitation of confined modes on particle arrays Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(5) pp.5636-5642 T.Roy, E.T.F.Rogers, N.I.Zheludev sub-wavelength focusing meta-lens Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(6) pp.7577-7582 M.A.Hughes, R.M.Gwilliam, K.Homewood, B.Gholipour, D.W.Hewak, T.H.Lee, S.R.Elliott, T.Suzuki, Y.Ohishi, T.Kohoutek, R.J.Curry On the analogy between photoluminescence and carrier-type reversal in Bi- and Pb-doped glasses Optics Express 2013 Vol.21(7) pp.8101-8115

P.Wang, L.Bo, C.Guan, Y.Semenova, Q.Wu, G.Brambilla, G.Farell Low-temperature sensitivity periodically tapered photonic crystal-fiber-based refractometer Optics Letters 2013 Vol.38(19) pp.3795-3798 G.Hesketh, P.Horak Reducing bit-error rate with optical phase regeneration in multilevel modulation formats Optics Letters 2013 Vol.38(24) pp.5357-5360 V.Shahraam Afshar, M.A.Lohe, T.Lee, T.M.Monro, N.G.R.Broderick Efficient third and one-third harmonic generation in nonlinear waveguides Optics Letters 2013 Vol.38(3) pp.329-331 S.Jain, T.C.May-Smith, A.Dhar, A.S.Webb, M.Belal, D.J.Richardson, J.K.Sahu, D.N.Payne Erbium-doped multi-element fiber amplifier for space-division multiplexing operations Optics Letters 2013 Vol.38(4) pp.582-584 C.Sima, J.C.Gates, H.L.Rogers, P.L.Mennea, C.Holmes, M.N.Zervas, P.G.R.Smith Phase controlled integrated interferometric single-sideband filter based on planar Bragg gratings implementing photonic Hilbert transform Optics Letters 2013 Vol.38(5) pp.727-729 Light Times | issue 1 2014

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Dr Eric Plum (Photographer Andy Vowels)

“Our world-leading research teams are shaping the future, working with a wide range of industries to develop new technologies for communication, healthcare, transport, energy and the environment.”

Work with us There is a long history of discovery and innovation at the ORC and we are well aware that collaborations with other organisations have been fundamental to our success.

We are always open to new and interesting collaborations where a combination of expertise is mutually beneficial.

If you are part of an academic or industrial research organisation with a national or international reputation, then we would be very interested in hearing from you.

The areas that we are currently working on can be fully explored through the research section of our website. However, we are also interested in exploring new areas, and not all of our most recent directions will have made it onto our website.

If you are interested in joining the vibrant and friendly team at the ORC please contact us at light@orc.southampton.ac.uk

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PhD student Tapashree Roy (Photographer Andy Vowels)

Study with us

The Mountbatten building (Photographer Andy Vowels)

About the ORC

Photonics has helped to change the world in extraordinary ways; powering the internet, navigating airliners, correcting vision and protecting the environment.

The Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton is one of the largest university-based research groups entirely devoted to optoelectronics in the world and has maintained a position at the Our world-leading research teams are shaping forefront of photonics research for over the future, working with a wide range of four decades. industries to develop new technologies for communications, healthcare, transport Its long and well-established track record in and energy. the fields of optical fibres, lasers, waveguides, devices and optoelectronic materials has We are looking for the photonics pioneers fostered innovation, enterprise, crossof the future to join our vibrant research boundary and multi-disciplinary activities. community. Our postgraduate students are an integral and vital part of the research Please visit our website for more news, staff at the ORC. Some of the world’s leading technological breakthroughs, research scientists are based at the ORC and as a PhD updates and people profiles student, or as a new MSc student, you’ll have www.orc.southampton.ac.uk the opportunity to work with them in our For further information and enquiries please state-of-the-art facilities and make some email light@orc.southampton.ac.uk history.

For further details please visit: www.orc.southampton.ac.uk/ phdprogram.html www.orc.southampton.ac.uk/ mscprogramme.html

Visit us Our open days provide the opportunity to find out more about the PhD and MSc programmes and funding, tour our state-of-the-art laboratories and clean rooms and meet some of our vibrant team of research staff and students. www.orc.southampton.ac.uk/visitus.html

Keep in touch Many of our alumni move around a lot and it is difficult to keep a record of where everybody is. If you have recently moved, or are about to, we would be grateful if you could email alumni@orc.southampton.ac.uk with your new contact details or register online at www.orc.southampton.ac.uk/alumni.html Join us on LinkedIn to receive details of forthcoming reunions and ORC events.

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