Bangor, Wales, January 23, 2003. Researchers at the School of Informatics at the University of Wales at Bangor have received a $600,000 grant to continue exploring how opto-electronics can be used to create faster telecommunications networks, aid cancer research, build safer automobiles and combat terrorism.
The four-year award to the Optoelectronics Group at UWB by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council of the United Kingdom supports existing research in nanoscale and nonlinear optical design and measurement, and allows expansion into bio-photonics and micro-system optics. Prof. K. Alan Shore, chairman of the Electronic Engineering Department, Dr. Paul Spencer and Dr. Paul Rees will lead the project.
EPSRC's funding will support UWB's ability to make significant advances in nanoscale dynamics in optoelectronic devices, intersubband nonlinear optoelectronics, semiconductor quantum computer interconnects, organic optoelectronics and biochip optical interconnects, and nanoscale material processing and optical micro-machine fabrication.
Further research into the operation of semiconductor lasers, such as Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), will make possible development of devices that can be used in fields such as environmental and medical sensing.
Telecommunications networks with data rates in the terahertz range are the goal of research into inter-subband "quantum cascade" lasers. "The successful development of this new generation of lasers will enable telecommunication companies to increase the capacity of existing optical fiber networks without installing additional fibers," Professor Shore said.
New quantum technology will make possible faster and smaller computers. The Opto-electronics Group will focus on the challenges associated with interconnecting the building blocks of the first quantum computers.
Medical diagnoses and anti-terrorism measures depend on characterization and identification of biological cells. Bangor has done groundbreaking work in "biological" lab-on-a-chip technology (biochip or biofactory-on-a-chip). Researchers will draw on those achievements and use this award to develop sophisticated optical sensing technology within biochips to improve bio-particle identification.
Micro-machines are a major research and development area motivated primarily by the need for low cost miniature machines with very specific functionality, including automation in automobiles. Most micro-machines run on electricity. The Group will investigate using light to "power" a new generation of micro-machines.
The Optoelectronics Group has made seminal contributions in quantum computer, quantum lithography and semiconductor laser design. UWB has an international reputation for research in chaotic laser diode, nonlinear optics of laser diodes, and VCSEL dynamics.
Laser Focus World