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Viewing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as very rigid polymer molecules led to research on turning them into useful materials. Strategic investments to develop different aspects of this research have been made by two separate companies. A process for the synthesis of CNTs was transferred to Thomas Swan Ltd who have made significant investment, and are now Europe's leading supplier of high-quality CNTs. In 2003 a process was invented to spin CNT fibres directly from a synthesis reactor. The process is intrinsically cheaper than the conventional process for carbon fibre and it produces a tougher and more versatile product. The University of Cambridge (UCAM) spin-out company Q-Flo Ltd (created in 2004 to achieve focus on transfer of this technology) and Plasan (multinational manufacturer of vehicle defensive armour) formed a joint venture in 2010 which has enabled the first-stage scale-up of manufacture.
This research has led to the creation of new business sectors in laser development for medical and healthcare applications, which has enabled the creation of a world-wide market worth US$96 million in 2011, and a local spin-out, Fianium Ltd, which now has more than 50 employees and an annual turnover of around £10 million. Exploiting a radically new optical component invented at the University of Southampton, the microstructured optical fibre (MOF), this research has led to economic benefit through the creation of hundreds of jobs worldwide, and enabled the development of new diagnostic and medical technologies.
Researchers at the University of Southampton were the first in the world to introduce ytterbium-doped silica fibre as an optical gain medium. The work led to the creation of a new business sector around efficient industrial fibre lasers, which enable new manufacturing processes in the automotive, aviation, defence and medical device industries, with a reduction in carbon footprint relative to earlier technologies. The economic impact of this work includes the UK foothold in the $2 billion global industrial laser market through the success of two spin out companies — Fianium and SPI Lasers — with a combined turnover of £50 million, employing close to 300 people
Ultra-precise Bragg grating writing-technology, invented in the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC), has led to impacts in the areas of security, safety, detection of bio-hazards and the underpinning laser technology currently being pursued for clean energy generation for future energy security. This case study highlights two aspects of the technology namely: planar-based for optical microchip sensors in areas such as portable detection of biohazards, which has resulted in the spin-out Stratophase, and fibre-based, inside the US National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world's largest laser system, based in California, built for fusion-energy research, which has ORC fabricated fibre Bragg gratings within its laser amplifier chains. These ultra-high precision laser-written engineered gratings have enabled important advances in biosecurity, management of environmental hazards and clean energy research.
The world's longest high capacity terrestrial commercial communications system, now deployed worldwide, was developed from Aston University's pioneering research on the concept of dispersion managed solitons. The concepts and expertise from this research were used to develop and implement the associated system design for high capacity (1Tb/s) WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) transmission over 1000s of kilometres. Commercial development was led by Prof Doran and the core team from Aston who left the University to found Marconi-Solstis, a part of Marconi plc. Prof Doran and other key members of this team have since returned to Aston The system, now owned by Ericsson, (but still called Marconi MHL3000) has current annual sales of order $100M, and employs hundreds of people worldwide.
Underpinned by research at the University of Nottingham, the development of automated discontinuous carbon fibre preforming (DCFP) technology has helped drive more than half a billion pounds in sales of Aston Martin's DBS sports car across 42 countries, boosting the company's brand worldwide. Recognising the potential of this process, Bentley Motors invested £1.3M directly to develop this technology for its next generation of models. The Royal Academy of Engineering acknowledged the body of research as an "outstanding" contribution to the reputation of British engineering through the award of a silver medal to Professor Warrior.
The A350-XWB is the first Airbus airliner to have composite wings, thereby reducing structural weight compared with the current generation of metallic wings. With over 700 orders for the aircraft, the company has placed great emphasis on the need to maximise performance benefits whilst mitigating risk associated with manufacture of the all-new wing. The Bath Composites Research Unit has supplied underpinning research to:
(1) Develop an algorithm that has been used to design the composite wing skins for optimised performance;
(2) Analyse the laminate consolidation process for the wing spars.
The impact of (1) is a direct saving of 1.0 tonne of fuel per typical flight compared with current metallic skins. This represents a total fuel saving of around 40,000 tonnes, over the design life of each aircraft. The impact of (2) is the achievement of satisfactory part quality for current production rates of spars valued at £1M each when equipped.
Photonic crystal fibres are a new form of optical fibre developed at the University of Bath from 1996 to the present. Our work has led to the creation of new companies, new business sectors for established companies and stock products for large component suppliers. Our key patents (now sold) continue to dominate technological developments. The estimated annual world market for photonic crystal fibre is between $35M and $70M. Users include industries and academic institutions involved in physical and biomedical imaging, microscopy, spectroscopy, sensing, metrology and laser gyroscopes.
Research by Bath physicists into non-linear effects in optical fibres has led directly to the development of a new technology: bright white light ("supercontinuum") lasers which remove the need for multiple single wavelength laser systems in low power applications. Based on a successful collaboration with Bath, these lasers are marketed by Fianium Ltd (est. 2003). Since 2008 Fianium has expanded greatly [text removed for publication]. In recognition of this success, Fianium received the Queen's Award for Enterprise in both 2009 and 2012. Bath physicists and Fianium continue to engage in knowledge exchange projects which has resulted in over £1M of DTI/TSB investment funding, [text removed for publication].
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.