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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.
Research into distributed optical fibre sensing undertaken at the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) at the University of Southampton has had profound economic and environmental impact within the oil and gas industries in both extraction efficiency from existing reservoirs and improved safety performance and operation of three companies: Optasense, Stingray Geophysical and Schlumberger. Each of these companies have established highly competitive positions in the worldwide optical sensor market and collectively employ more than 160 people in the south of England, in their distributed sensing programmes having benefitted from the adoption of this new technology that contributes to the management of environmental risks and hazards.
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].
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.
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
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.
Implementation of photonic quasi-crystals on light emitting diodes (LEDs) can produce more light using less energy. This technology was brought to the global market via the successful commercialisation of laboratory devices derived from research in nanophotonics and the subsequent development of photonic quasi-crystals by a multi-disciplinary team from the University of Southampton. The intellectual property of the technology was acquired and adopted in 2008 by Luxtaltek Corporation, a global manufacturer of LEDs. In the period 2008-2012 Luxtaltek Corporation, made total profits of £35 million utilising the photonic quasi-crystal LED technology, employing more than 300 people in its production facilities.
Covesion, a company that was spun out of the University of Southampton, focuses on research and development of high-value engineered nonlinear crystal materials, that find widespread use in the laser, defence and display sectors. The impacts of their work fall under the headings of economic, via job creation and investment, health, through application of their products in medical imaging, and the environment, via detection of airborne pollutants and remote sensing. The company is now a multi-million pound business that has attracted more than £1m in US investment and won UK export orders around the world. The global value of Covesion-enabled commerce since the company's inception in 2009 is estimated to be in excess of US$100m.
Covesion, the company spun out of the University of Southampton's research into materials for use in high-powered lasers, has grown into a multi-million pound business that has created high-technology jobs, attracted more than £1 million in US investment and won UK export orders around the world. Covesion's nonlinear crystals are used by the world's leading companies and research institutes in cutting edge applications that include fibre lasers, medical imaging, aircraft anti-missile defences, display projectors and the remote sensing of airborne hazardous materials. The global value of Covesion-enabled operations since the company's inception in 2009 is estimated to be in excess of US$100 million.
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.