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Laser Cleaning for Aerospace Manufacturing

Summary of the impact

Research at the University of Manchester on laser cleaning of Ti alloys has resulted in practical implementation of the technology at Rolls-Royce for the automatic preparation of surfaces prior to electron beam welding. This has been applied to 24 different aero-engine component types including compressor drums across most current engine families. This has resulted in close to 100% `first time right' aero-engine component welds. The technology is also being adopted by BAE Systems to replace chemical cleaning during airframe manufacture. The elimination of manual and chemical cleaning processes results in savings of several million pounds per annum.

Submitting Institution

University of Manchester

Unit of Assessment

Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Other Physical Sciences
Chemical Sciences: Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural)

Economic benefit from improved processes and sales of new products in diamond photonics market

Summary of the impact

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]

Submitting Institution

University of Strathclyde

Unit of Assessment

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics, Optical Physics, Other Physical Sciences

Ultrashort-pulsed lasers as the underpinning technology for ultrafast technology

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institutions

University of St Andrews,University of Edinburgh

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Optical Physics, Other Physical Sciences
Technology: Communications Technologies

Development of compact and efficient laser systems

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

University of Dundee

Unit of Assessment

General Engineering

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Optical Physics, Other Physical Sciences
Chemical Sciences: Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural)

Transfer of laser research and development to spin-out companies, Lynton Lasers Ltd and Laser Quantum Ltd.

Summary of the impact

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.

Submitting Institution

University of Manchester

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics, Other Physical Sciences
Engineering: Biomedical Engineering

Development of ultra-stable lasers for metrology, spectroscopy and imaging

Summary of the impact

Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) locking, developed into a practical technique by researchers at the University of Glasgow, is the ubiquitous method for the precise frequency control of stable laser systems. This control is central to laser products from companies such as Toptica and Newport, and has an estimated global annual market in excess of £5M. The PDH stabilisation technique is essential for the operation of the time standards maintained in all of the world's Governmental Metrological Standards Laboratories (e.g. NPL, NIST, BIPM) and finds applications in inspection tools in the semiconductor industry and deep UV lasers for UV-Raman spectroscopy.

Submitting Institution

University of Glasgow

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics, Other Physical Sciences
Technology: Communications Technologies

P7 - Micro-Slab Laser Technology – Midaz Lasers Ltd

Summary of the impact

Midaz Lasers Ltd is a spin-out laser company formed by academic founders, Professor Michael Damzen (Director and Chief Technology Officer, CTO) and Dr Ara Minassian (Chief Scientific Officer, CSO), in 2006 as the vehicle for commercial exploitation of patented laser technology [4] arising from Prof Damzen's research group in the Physics Department at Imperial College London.

Midaz has designed and assembled multiple engineered laser and amplifier products, incorporating this patented technology, and has sold units to industrial customers in Europe, N. America and Asia since 2010. The primary market and beneficiary for Midaz laser technology is the industrial laser manufacturing sector and the benefit of the technology is to create laser industrial tools for higher throughput and lower cost manufacturing, including in the semiconductor industry for production of consumer electronics. In July 2012, Midaz was successfully sold to world-leading laser company, Coherent Lasers Ltd, for $3.8 Million.

Midaz A70-W unit. World's highest gain solid-state Laser Amplifier.
Midaz A70-W unit. World's highest gain solid-state Laser Amplifier.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics, Optical Physics
Technology: Communications Technologies

Laser cleaning leads to the preservation and restoration of world heritage and art

Summary of the impact

Laser cleaning is now a standard technique of great value in the conservation process to which research conducted at Loughborough University made a significant contribution. This work played a major part in introducing laser cleaning to conservators across Europe and further afield and was instrumental to the preservation and restoration of world heritage sites such as the Acropolis at Athens and important works of art including pieces by Henry Moore and Jacob Epstein. In addition to the cultural impact, the availability of laser cleaning techniques has: improved public services and understanding of, and engagement with, the conservation process (live restoration of artefacts); improved health (of restoration workers); influenced conservation practitioners (through an enhanced skill-set).

Partially cleaned gargoyle of Lincoln Cathedral<br>
    (source: PhD Thesis M.I. Cooper, 1994)
Partially cleaned gargoyle of Lincoln Cathedral
(source: PhD Thesis M.I. Cooper, 1994)

Submitting Institution

Loughborough University

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Chemical Sciences: Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural)
Engineering: Materials Engineering

P1 - The commercial applications and economic success of fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM)

Summary of the impact

Imperial researchers in Prof Paul French's photonics group demonstrated one of the first practical FLIM instruments in 1997 using a prototype gated optical intensifier (GOI) developed by Kentech Instruments Ltd and a home-built solid-state ultrafast laser. They subsequently pioneered the use of ultrafast supercontinuum sources (USS) for FLIM. Today wide-field time-gated FLIM is a commercial success and is being widely applied for biomedicine, including for imaging of diseased tissue [e.g. 5] and for FRET (Fluorescence resonance energy transfer) microscopy to assay protein interactions [e.g. 3, 4]. This research thus helped translate FLIM to a wider community, highlighting the potential for tissue imaging, cell biology and drug discovery. It stimulated about £5M of GOI sales for Kentech [section 5, source A], with whom they developed time-gated FLIM technology and applications, and millions of pounds worth of sales of supercontinuum sources for Fianium Ltd [B].

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Other Physical Sciences
Chemical Sciences: Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural)
Engineering: Biomedical Engineering

PHYS04 - Contributions to the Orion project

Summary of the impact

The development by Tallents et al of a new plasma opacity measurement technique contributed to the decision by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to construct the £150 million Orion laser at the Atomic Weapons Laboratory (AWE) for the measurement of material properties at high energy density. Orion will enable AWE to measure e.g. opacities important in nuclear weapons design without underground tests and at much lower cost than would have been the case if it had followed the French and US programmes with lasers costing over £1 billion.

Submitting Institution

University of York

Unit of Assessment

Physics

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Physical Sciences: Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics, Other Physical Sciences

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