'Science of light' given boost by EU funding
A brand new project aiming to develop photonics research is about to get underway thanks to EUR 500,000 of EU funding. Researchers at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom will receive the support from the Marie Curie research grant mechanism as part of the pan-European project 'Postgraduate Research on Photonics as an Enabling Technology' (PROPHET) which is funded under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). PROPHET, which is supported by EUR 4.8 million of EU funding in total, brings together a consortium of research partners all working towards developing the latest technology in the photonics field. The term 'photonics' emerged in the 1960s to describe any research which aimed to use light in such a way that it would perform functions that were traditionally under the remit of electronics. Communication technology and information technology are two examples of areas where light is now widely used. Photonics is therefore the science of everything to do with light, across the whole spectrum from ultraviolet to infrared, from generation, emission, transmission, modulation and signal processing to switching, amplification, detection and sensing. The PROPHET consortium is made up of nine academic partners, four industry partners and two associated partners. The EU Marie Curie funding mechanism is a highly competitive and sought-after grant due to the boost it can give to young researchers at the beginning of their careers. Last year only 7% of applications from across the EU were successful. Professor Tony Krier from Lancaster University's Department of Physics said: 'This is an excellent opportunity for young researchers to undertake cutting edge research that will have an impact in a number of technologically important areas.' The different projects funded under PROPHET will focus on four application areas: mode-locked lasers for communications applications, solar cells for energy applications, gas sensing for environment applications and fast tuneable laser sources for optical coherence tomography (OCT) in life science applications. Lancaster University will lead one of the work packages on the development of diode lasers for environmental applications as well as contribute to another work package with research on quantum dot solar cells. Each researcher who has received a grant will also get to experience both academic and commercial environments thanks to the strong links to industry that the project has. The ethos behind PROPHET was to directly address the need for additional skilled photonics professionals, as identified by the European Technology Platform Photonics21. The photonics industry is worth EUR 49 billion annually and, due to the huge range of ways it can be applied, a key market for the EU that, as such, has been identified as a strategic priority. The value of the photonics industry is expected to soon exceed that of microelectronics. By building up a training network of early stage researchers and young experienced researchers, PROPHET ensures that the new generation of photonics experts are fully equipped with the skills they need for a career in the field. These include materials growth, device fabrication, characterisation, design, theory and commercialisation. As well as researchers from the United Kingdom, the consortium is made up of partners from France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Poland. All the partners have worldwide reputations as leaders in their field, and it is hoped they will form the core of a vibrant, European-wide network of photonics researchers with annual training workshops, a summer school and a final network conference.For more information, please visit:Lancaster University:http://www.lancs.ac.uk/
Countries
Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Poland, United Kingdom