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Research project

Airguide Photonics

Project overview

Optical fibres lie at the heart of our increasingly technological society. For example, they support the internet and mobile communications that we all now take for granted, they save lives through medical diagnosis and interventions using fibre-optic endoscopes, and they enable the mass production of a huge array of commercial products through fibre laser based materials processing.

Within our Airguide Photonics research programme we aim to translate Hollow Core Fibre (HCF) technology from the research lab to a deployable fibre technology, unleashing innovative applications across a broad range of science and engineering fields.

“The ORC has been pioneering the development of fibre optics and advancing communications technology for many years and has an impressive record of using research funding to collaborate with academic and industry partners. The AirGuide Photonics programme promises to push at the boundaries once more. We are confident that the research will uncover more discoveries and lead to world-leading innovations.”
Professor Tom Rodden - Deputy Chief Executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Staff

Other researchers

Professor Sir David Payne KBE CBE FRS FREng

Professor of Photonics

Research interests

  • Many and varied across photonics, particularly in optical fibre design and fabrication, optical materials, optical sensing, and high-power fibre lasers.

Professor Jayanta Sahu

Professorial Fellow-Research

Professor Periklis Petropoulos

Professor

Research interests

  • Optical communications,
  • All-optical signal processing,
  • Novel fibre and waveguide technologies

Professor Radan Slavik

Professorial Fellow-Research

Research interests

  • Fibre optics
  • Ultrastable fibre interferometers
  • High-accuracy measurement

Professor Francesco Poletti

Professorial Fellow-Research

Research interests

  • Hollow Core Optical Fibres: design and fabrication
  • Optical Communications: high capacity and low latency
  • Novel active and passive optical fibres

Collaborating research institutes, centres and groups

Fibres and Communications

We develop new fibre technologies and explore their applications in areas including communications, sensing, lasers, materials processing and imaging.

Advanced Fibre Applications

We are dedicated to exploring advanced applications of cutting-edge optical fibres, with a special emphasis on hollow core fibres. These fibres are designed and fabricated by the Zepler Institute Microstructured Fibre group, while our group focuses on aspects of these newly-emerging fibres from the ‘user perspective’.

Hollow Core Fibre

We are world-leaders in Hollow Core Optical Fibre research. Our ground-breaking fibres guide light at vacuum speeds and unprecedented intensities, enabling advances in telecoms, manufacturing, and sensing.

Optical Fibre Communications

We find new ways to use and apply optical technologies in telecommunications.

Silica Fibre Fabrication

We conduct fundamental and applied research in the field of optical fibre technology.

Research outputs

Broadband mode scramblers for few-mode fibers based on 3D printed mechanically induced long-period fiber gratings
Xin Huang,
Yongmin Jung,
Yaping Liu,
Kerrianne Harrington,
& David J. Richardson
, 2022 , IEEE Photonics Technology Letters , 34 (3) , 169--172
DOI: 10.1109/LPT.2022.3144370
Type: article
Hollow-core fiber with stable propagation delay between −150°C and +60°C
Zitong Feng,
Hesham Sakr,
John R. Hayes,
Eric Numkam Fokoua,
Meng Ding,
Francesco Poletti,
David J. Richardson,
& Radan Slavík
, 2022 , Optics Letters
DOI: 10.1364/OL.478183
Type: letterEditorial
Sub-ppm gas phase Raman spectroscopy in an anti-resonant hollow core fiber
Thomas William Kelly,
Ian Davidson,
Charles Warren,
WIlliam Brooks,
Michael Foster,
Francesco Poletti,
David J. Richardson,
Peter Horak,
& Natalie Wheeler
, 2022 , Optics Express , 30 (24) , 43317--43329
DOI: 10.1364/OE.473887
Type: article
Photonic lanterns, 3-D waveguides, multiplane light conversion, and other components that enable space-division multiplexing
Nicolas K. Fontaine,
Joel Carpenter,
Simon Gross,
Sergio Leon-Saval,
Yongmin Jung,
David J. Richardson,
& Rodrigo Amezcua-Correa
, 2022 , Proceedings of the IEEE , 110 (11) , 1821--1834
DOI: 10.1109/JPROC.2022.3207046
Type: article
Controlled generation of picosecond-pulsed higher-order Poincaré sphere beams from an ytterbium-doped multicore fiber amplifier
Kunhao Ji,
Di Lin,
Ian A. Davidson,
Siyi Wang,
Joel Carpenter,
Yoshimichi Amma,
Yongmin Jung,
Massimiliano Guasoni,
& David J. Richardson
, 2022 , Photonics Research
DOI: 10.1364/PRJ.475287
Type: article
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