National Hub in High Value Photonic Manufacturing

光子学是欧盟六大“关键使能技术”之一。美国最近宣布了一项2亿美元的集成光子学制造计划，以提高其竞争力。作为英国的回应，这里提出的研究将推进英国制造业未来展望报告中确定的未来制造业普遍技术，提高光学传感器、功能材料的可制造性，以及数据传输、操作和存储方面的节能增长。集成是低成本组件和系统的关键。该中心将解决优化多个跨学科光子平台技术的重大挑战，通过开发低成本制造工艺实现集成。这一主导主题结合了英国光子学（和光子学支持）行业的要求，正如我们与40多家公司，弹射器和现有cim的咨询所证实的那样。独特的是，继英国在光子学方面的强劲投资之后，我们将目前可用的大多数核心光子平台包括在我们的Hub提案中，该提案利用了价值2亿英镑的洁净室设施。研究将集中在对工业具有最大潜在影响的新兴技术，以及现有光子技术中存在的长期挑战，目前的制造工艺阻碍了工业应用。平台将包括：超材料：超材料面临的挑战之一是开发低成本和高通量制造工艺。在实验室中生产的先进超材料依赖于缓慢而昂贵的生产过程，如电子束写入，并且难以大规模或大量生产。为了确保工业在各种各样的实际应用中占有一席之地，制造方法需要允许纳米结构在大范围内形成图案。南安普顿大学拥有一个由Zheludev教授领导的领先的超材料小组，并且能够很好地利用EPSRC当前/未来的研究投资，以及其在超材料方面的领先知识产权地位。高性能特殊光纤：虽然已经制造出了紫外和中红外光谱范围内的光纤，但由于可靠性、性能、集成和可制造性等问题，目前商业化的光纤很少。该平台将根据当前工业合作伙伴的要求，解决用于紫外线、中红外和超高功率源的特殊纤维的制造可扩展性问题。根据在激光应用中开发特殊纤维的公司的要求，还将解决与III-V源的集成和包装问题。在更传统的近红外波长范围内，我们将专注于设计和工艺，使激光器和系统更便宜、更高效、更可靠。集成硅光子学：在功能方面取得了重大进展，已经在芯片水平上得到了证明。可以说，它是唯一有可能以低成本全面集成光电路功能所需的所有关键组件的平台，这无疑是制造业巨头英特尔（Intel）投资如此之多的原因。关键的挑战仍然是将硅与光纤器件、III-V光源和晶圆级制造的关键组件（如在线测试和测量）集成在一起。该中心包括由格雷厄姆·里德教授领导的英国硅光子学领先团队。III-V设备：在将III-V光源的范围扩展到中红外波长区域方面取得了重大进展，但最大限度地发挥其影响的关键是通过同时优化III-V和周围技术，使其与光纤和其他光子学平台集成。工业需求的初步映射表明，与针对中红外优化的超材料组件的集成将是非常可取的。谢菲尔德拥有EPSRC III-V中心，并为中心增加了一个强大的发光尺寸。

Photonics is one of six EU "Key Enabling Technologies. The US recently announced a $200M programme for Integrated Photonics Manufacturing to improve its competiveness. As a UK response, the research proposed here will advance the pervasive technologies for future manufacturing identified in the UK Foresight report on the Future of Manufacturing, improving the manufacturability of optical sensors, functional materials, and energy-efficient growth in the transmission, manipulation and storage of data. Integration is the key to low-cost components and systems. The Hub will address the grand challenge of optimising multiple cross-disciplinary photonic platform technologies to enable integration through developing low-cost fabrication processes. This dominant theme unites the requirements of the UK photonics (and photonics enabled) industry, as confirmed by our consultation with over 40 companies, Catapults, and existing CIMs.Uniquely, following strong UK investment in photonics, we include most of the core photonic platforms available today in our Hub proposal that exploits clean room facilities valued at £200M. Research will focus on both emerging technologies having greatest potential impact on industry, and long-standing challenges in existing photonics technology where current manufacturing processes have hindered industrial uptake. Platforms will include:Metamaterials: One of the challenges in metamaterials is to develop processes for low-cost and high-throughput manufacturing. Advanced metamaterials produced in laboratories depend on slow, expensive production processes such as electron beam writing and are difficult to produce in large sizes or quantities. To secure industrial take up across a wide variety of practical applications, manufacturing methods that allow nanostructure patterning across large areas are required. Southampton hosts a leading metamaterials group led by Prof Zheludev and is well positioned to leverage current/future EPSRC research investments, as well as its leading intellectual property position in metamaterials.High-performance special optical fibres: Although fibres in the UV and mid-IR spectral range have been made, few are currently commercial owing to issues with reliability, performance, integration and manufacturability. This platform will address the manufacturing scalability of special fibres for UV, mid-IR and for ultrahigh power sources, as requested by current industrial partners. Integration with III-V sources and packaging issues will also be addressed, as requested by companies exploiting special fibres in laser-based applications. In the more conventional near-infrared wavelength regime, we will focus on designs and processes to make lasers and systems cheaper, more efficient and more reliable.Integrated Silicon Photonics: has made major advances in the functionality that has been demonstrated at the chip level. Arguably, it is the only platform that potentially offers full integration of all the key components required for optical circuit functionality at low cost, which is no doubt why the manufacturing giant, Intel, has invested so much. The key challenge remains to integrate silicon with optical fibre devices, III-V light sources and the key components of wafer-level manufacture such as on line test and measurement. The Hub includes the leading UK group in silicon photonics led by Prof Graham Reed.III-V devices: Significant advances have been made in extending the range of III-V light sources to the mid-IR wavelength region, but key to maximise their impact is to enable their integration with optical fibres and other photonics platforms, by simultaneous optimisation of the III-V and surrounding technologies. A preliminary mapping of industrial needs has shown that integration with metamaterial components optimised for mid-IR would be highly desirable. Sheffield hosts the EPSRC III-V Centre and adds a powerful light emitting dimension to the Hub.