PLATFORM: PHOTONIC DEVICE AND SYSTEM RESEARCH

该提案旨在为经验丰富的研究人员提供职业连续性，以支持光子学研究小组的四个关键战略。利用fs脉冲进行激光加工：最近发展的激光源发射具有高峰值功率的极短脉冲，为材料加工创造了丰富的可能性。聚焦的激光束可用于对任何分辨率小于一微米的透明材料的特性进行可控修改，这使得波导和其他更复杂的结构能够直接铭刻。更高的功率可以用来去除基板上的材料，允许加工微米尺寸的特征。我们计划加强并结合我们在微加工和激光修饰方面的专业知识，以创造一系列具有独特性能的新型微小型化设备，用于光学传感和通信。先进的光栅传感器：光纤布拉格光栅和长周期光栅传感器是记录在单模硅纤维核心的周期性结构，通常使用紫外光。它们能衍射特定波长的光，波长受器件环境的影响，在光通信和传感系统中的应用越来越广泛。我们计划通过将我们的生产能力与更灵活的激光刻字方法与新型纤维几何形状和/或使用其他材料（例如聚合物）相结合，从而显著提高这类设备的能力，这些材料与用于传统纤维的二氧化硅具有完全不同的物理特性。系统和组件建模：理论和计算建模将在三个主要领域进行，以支持我们的实验工作。(i)我们将对高速、频谱高效的WDM传输中的先进调制格式性能和误差统计进行广泛的直接统计建模；（ii）我们将为电信和非电信应用设计先进的光子元件，以及（iii）我们将开发用于光纤刻字应用的高功率光纤激光器模型。光通信：我们在这方面的大部分工作与色散/光的速度对波长的依赖有关。光纤中的色散导致了当今超高带宽系统的一个严重问题，导致非常短的脉冲在光纤中传播时需要变宽，最终与相邻的脉冲重叠，从而导致无法恢复原始数据流。将研究减轻长途传输系统中色散影响的先进技术，并将在一系列领域寻求色散干涉测量装置/ Gires-Tournois标准子的全新应用。此外，还将开展支持实现全光通信网络的技术开发工作。

This proposal is for Platform funding to provide career continuity for highly experienced research staff working in support of four key strands of the Photonics Research Group's strategy.Laser processing using fs pulses: the recent development of laser sources emitting very shot pulses with high peak power has created a wealth of material processing possibilities. The focussed laser beams can be used to create controllable modifications to the properties of any transparent material with a resolution of less than a micron and this enables the direct inscription of waveguides and other more complicated structures. Higher powers can be used to remove material from the substrate, allowing the machining of micron sized features. We plan to enhance and combine our expertise in micro-machining and laser modification to create a range of novel micro-miniaturised devices with unique properties, for applications in optical sensing and communications.Advanced grating sensors: fibre Bragg grating and long period grating sensors are periodic structures recorded in the core of a single mode silica fibre, usually with ultraviolet light. They diffract light of a well defined wavelength, which is influenced by the device's environment, and have been finding increasing application in optical communications and sensing systems. We plan to significantly enhance the capability of these kinds of devices by combining our ability to produce them using the more flexible fs laser inscription approach with novel fibre geometries and/or the use of other materials, e.g. polymers, which possess radically different physical properties to the silica used for conventional fibres.Systems and component modelling: theoretical and computational modelling will be carried out in three main areas in support of our experimental work. (i) We will undertake extensive direct statistical modelling of advanced modulation formats performance and error statistics in high-speed, spectrally efficient WDM transmission; (ii) we will design advanced photonic components for telecom and non-telecom applications, and (iii) we will develop models of high-power fibre lasers for fs inscription applications.Optical communications: much of our effort here is related to dispersion / the dependence of the velocity of light on its wavelength. Dispersion in optical fibres leads to a serious problem for today's ultra-high bandwidth systems, causing the very short pulses required to broaden as they travel down the fibre, eventually overlapping with their neighbours and rendering it impossible to recover the original data stream. Advanced techniques will be studied for mitigating the effects of dispersion in long haul transmission systems and entirely novel applications of a dispersive interferometric device / the Gires-Tournois etalon / will be sought in a range of fields. In addition, work will be carried out developing technology underpinning the realization of the all-optical communications network.