Research Centre for Photonics and Instrumentation
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Photonics and Instrumentation

Research activities

Areas of research activity within both the Sensors and the Photonics areas, and our industrial and academic research partners.

The research activity of the centre builds upon the foundation of research applied to practical and industrial problems in measurement and instrumentation in 1970 by Professor Ludwik Finkelstein FREng and since then the centre has fostered close links with industry, the professional bodies and groups internationally to support its mission.

In the sensors area, important contributions are being made in the development of a range of novel optical fibre sensors for various applications such as:

  • operation under very high temperatures and under extreme conditions;
  • condition monitoring of various structures, ranging from concrete, composite, limestone, through pantograph, electrical motors to marine propellers;
  • early fire and gas detection using novel tuneable fibre lasers;
  • drug/explosive detection using molecular recognition techniques;
  • agri-food and environmental monitoring using both molecular recognition and surface-plasmon-resonance based sensing methods.

In the photonics area, a wide spectrum of research is being undertaken to

  • create new time-domain electro-magnetic and acoustic models for the characterisation of light-matter interactions;
  • design and optimise novel guided-wave structures in both optical and THz regimes using finite element methods;
  • Design optimisation of photonic crystal fibres, SOI-based waveguides, nonlinear photonics, and polarisation diversity PIC;
  • Design of integrated low-loss hybrid plasmonic waveguides and resonators for detection of temperature, liquid concentration, gas and vapour sensing applications;
  • Water quality monitoring and detection of heavy metal ions (mercury, cadmium, chromium, lead etc.) and pathogens by low-cost special type optical waveguides and fibre sensors.

View a gallery of related photographs and diagrams


Industrial/Academic Research Partners

BAE SystemsBrecknell WillisCleanskyCRRCDynexFraunhofer ICTHighways EnglandIndian Institute of ScienceIndustrial Microwave SystemsMacreteMeggerNERCNetworkRailPollinsRailway Industry AssociationRSSBSengeniaSerco logoShanghai Jiao Tong UniversitySydney WaterTeignbridgeThe Concrete SocietyTongji HospitalUniversity of MalayaWabtec CorporationWartsila