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Impact: Economic gains / altered business practices.
Research on ultrafast lasers has led to the development of new products and services and has been pivotal in the development of a whole field of new technology.
Significance: The research underpins the product development of a range of world leading companies including Femtolasers, Newport Spectra-Physics and Menlo Systems.
Reach: The companies that use the technology represent all of the leading players in the solid-state femtosecond laser field, a marketplace worth more than $250M annually.
Beneficiaries: The impact presents economic gains to the companies involved and underlies many applications in e.g. biology and medicine, providing significant benefits to the public at large.
Attribution: The research was performed by Professor Sibbett's group.
Impact: Economic Based on research carried out within PHYESTA, a range of novel laser devices have been produced and sold under licence by M Squared Lasers Ltd Glasgow.
Significance: The products have significantly expanded the M Squared product range and have led to increased sales and new customer relationships.
Reach: M-Squared have marketed these lasers worldwide and has had major sales from customers in the defence and oil and gas sectors. New collaborations have been enabled with international partners including the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics (Glasgow).
Beneficiaries: M-Squared Lasers
Attribution: The devices were developed by PHYESTA Researcher Professor Malcolm Dunn's research group
This is an example of early economic impact where research on various aspects of laser engineering has resulted in the development of inexpensive, compact, efficient and user-friendly laser sources. An example is the incorporation of quantum dot structures into semiconductor laser architectures, with these replacing much larger and more expensive systems, with a range of applications in areas such as microscopy, biomedical diagnosis and therapy. This work has led to the generation of key know-how and patents that have been subsequently licensed as well as resulting in a variety of laser-related products being brought to market. Additionally, it has resulted in extra staff being employed at one of our partner companies.
Commercialisation of high optical quality diamond by Element Six Ltd (2010 on) and of diamond- enabled lasers by M Squared Lasers Ltd (2012 on) has been made possible by underpinning research on laser engineering and optical characterisation at the University of Strathclyde. [text removed for publication] Markets for this material include thermal management of lasers to enable higher powers and high-performance laser output windows. [text removed for publication]
Cascade Technologies is a rapidly expanding technology company that contributes significantly to the UK economy. The company, a spin out from the Physics Department, manufactures gas sensors based on Strathclyde research that are used for environmental monitoring, security monitoring and process monitoring. From 2008 to 2013 the company has expanded to employ 50 people and sales have increased from £0.9 million to £6.4 million. From 2008 the company's products are used on a number of commercial shipping fleets to monitor emissions, and from 2010 until 2011 have been used to increase traveller safety at Glasgow airport
High-power lasers developed at the University of Glasgow now lie at the heart of state-of-the-art technologies in the commercial printing, medical and defence markets. University of Glasgow spin-out company Intense has introduced more than 10 new diode laser products with superior brightness, longer lifetimes and increased reliability to these markets since 2008. [text removed for publication.] In 2011 Intense was bought by ORIX USA Corporate Finance Group for an undisclosed sum.
The commercialisation of Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCL) and the associated novel fabrication processes developed at the University of Glasgow has provided Compound Semiconductor Technologies Global Ltd (CSTG) with a new foundry product supplying quantum cascade lasers for gas sensing, safety and security, and military applications. This resulted in 40% turnover growth from 2010-2012 and the company is now recognised as a global leader in QCLs and their fabrication. Based on University of Glasgow research, the company has created a manufacturing toolbox for the production of a wide variety of QCL chip designs. CSTG has also achieved a world first, manufacturing QCLs for systems that detect explosives at a safe distance and can counter heat-seeking missile attacks on aircraft.
Research in solid state lasers and non-linear optics in the Department of Physics has led to the creation of innovative laser companies in Glasgow serving global scientific and industrial markets. World-leading products have opened up applications in biomedical imaging, security, defence, pollution monitoring, material processing and fundamental spectroscopy. The companies Coherent Scotland Ltd and M Squared Lasers Ltd can trace a direct link to the research in the Department of Physics and are the central theme of this case study. Since 2008, these two companies have created an estimated 600 person years of employment and £135M of sales from products underpinned by research undertaken at Strathclyde. The wider cluster of companies, researching, designing and developing laser products, including Thales Optronics and more recently the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics, which has a close working relationship with the University, has made Glasgow one of the leading European centres for innovative laser manufacture.
Research in the laser photonics area has led to the formation and continuing development of two spin-out companies, Lynton Lasers Ltd and Laser Quantum Ltd, with annual turnover of £5.3m and >£12m respectively, and direct economic impact of [text removed for publication] over the REF period. Laser Quantum Ltd manufacture and market OEM diode pumped solid state lasers and Ti:sapphire lasers, which are incorporated in the products of major international companies in the scientific and entertainment sectors. Lynton Lasers Ltd manufacture and market medical devices for the cosmetic and aesthetic surgery market. Their products and services have underpinned the business of [text removed for publication] over the REF period. With an average cost of between [text removed for publication] over the REF period.
High power fibre laser research undertaken at the University of Southampton has led to the creation of a new business sector in the generation of highly efficient and highly practical fibre laser technology. This has revolutionised areas of industrial material processing and enabled the development of specialist components for high-end industries (such as aviation and defence) as well as an array of new medical devices, procedures and manufacturing technologies. The research is also directly responsible for the commercial success and sustained growth of a spin-out company, SPI Lasers Ltd, which has an annual turnover of over £40 million and employs more than 250 people in the Southampton area.