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Research project

Airguide Photonics

Project overview

Optical fibres lie at the heart of our increasingly technological society. For example, they support the internet and mobile communications that we all now take for granted, they save lives through medical diagnosis and interventions using fibre-optic endoscopes, and they enable the mass production of a huge array of commercial products through fibre laser based materials processing.

Within our Airguide Photonics research programme we aim to translate Hollow Core Fibre (HCF) technology from the research lab to a deployable fibre technology, unleashing innovative applications across a broad range of science and engineering fields.

“The ORC has been pioneering the development of fibre optics and advancing communications technology for many years and has an impressive record of using research funding to collaborate with academic and industry partners. The AirGuide Photonics programme promises to push at the boundaries once more. We are confident that the research will uncover more discoveries and lead to world-leading innovations.”
Professor Tom Rodden - Deputy Chief Executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Staff

Lead researchers

Professor David Richardson FREng, FRS

Research interests

  • Hollow Core Optical Fibres
  • Optical Communications
  • High Power Fibre Lasers
Connect with David

Email: djr@orc.soton.ac.uk

Other researchers

Professor Sir David Payne KBE CBE FRS FREng

Professor of Photonics

Research interests

  • high-power fibre lasers
  • spun fibres for control of dispersion, now extensively used in undersea fibre cables
  • the Er/Yb cladding-pumped fibre amplifier used for cable television distribution
Connect with Sir David

Email: dnp@orc.soton.ac.uk

Professor Jayanta Sahu

Professorial Fellow-Research
Connect with Jayanta

Email: jks@orc.soton.ac.uk

Professor Periklis Petropoulos

Professor

Research interests

  • Optical communications,
  • All-optical signal processing,
  • Novel fibre and waveguide technologies
Connect with Periklis

Email: pp@orc.soton.ac.uk

Professor Radan Slavik

Professorial Fellow-Research

Research interests

  • In recent years, there have been significant developments in lightwave technologies enabling wide exploitation of optical phase, as exemplified in particular by the dawn of Coherent Optical Communications - the key enabler for the growth in the capacity of the Internet. This is due to many key breakthroughs in laser technology (low-noise low-cost and compact lasers), new revolutionary concepts that have recently  been introduced (e.g., the Optical Frequency Comb, the significance of which was demonstrated by the award of a Nobel Prize in 2005), and significant advances in electronics that, thanks to the increased speeds now possible, can accommodate the processing of very complicated coherent (amplitude + phase) signals.
  • Another exciting field is Hollow Core Optical fibres, which guides ligth in a central hole surrounded by a microstructure that prevents light escaping from the core. Although known for over 20 years, only very recently their fabrication enabled them to use their full potential. 
Connect with Radan

Email: R.Slavik@soton.ac.uk

Professor Francesco Poletti

Professorial Fellow-Research

Research interests

  • Hollow Core Optical Fibres: design and fabrication
  • Optical Communications: high capacity and low latency
  • Novel active and passive optical fibres
Connect with Francesco

Email: frap@orc.soton.ac.uk

Collaborating research institutes, centres and groups

Research outputs

4-level alternate-mark-inversion for reach extension in the O-band spectral region
Natsupa Taengnoi, Kyle R.H. Bottrill, Yang Hong, Naresh K. Thipparapu, Cosimo Lacava, Jayanta K. Sahu, David J. Richardson & Periklis Petropoulos, 2021, Journal of Lightwave Technology, 39(9), 2847-2853
DOI: 10.1109/JLT.2021.3062446
Type: article
In-line polarization controller for hollow core photonic bandgap fiber
Oliver Green, Xi Zhang, Eric Numkam Fokoua, Meng Ding, Zitong Feng, Yong Chen, Austin Taranta, Francesco Poletti, David J. Richardson & Radan Slavík, 2021, Optics Communications, 481
DOI: 10.1016/j.optcom.2020.126552
Type: article
Backscattering in antiresonant hollow-core fibers: over 40 dB lower than in standard optical fibers
Vincent Michaud-Belleau, Eric Numkam Fokoua, Thomas Bradley, John Richard Hayes, Yong Chen, Francesco Poletti, David J. Richardson, Jérôme Genest & Radan Slavík, 2021, Optica, 8(2), 216-219
DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.403087
Type: article
Transmission of 61 C-band channels over record distance of hollow-core-fiber with L-band interferers
Antonino Nespola, Stefano Strallu, Thomas Bradley, Kerrianne Harrington, Hesham Sakr, Gregory Jasion, Eric Numkam Fokoua, Yongmin Jung, Yong Chen, John Richard Hayes, Fabrizio Forghieri, David Richardson, Francesco Poletti, Gabriella Bosco & Pierluigi Poggiolini, 2021, IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology, 39(3), 813-820
DOI: 10.1109/JLT.2020.3047670
Type: article
High spatial density 6-mode 7-Core fibre amplifier for C-band operation
S. Jain, T. Sakamoto, Yongmin Jung, I. A. Davidson, P. Barua, J. R. Hayes, K. Shibahara, T. Mizuno, Y. Miyamoto, K. Nakajima & D. J. Richardson, 2020
DOI: 10.1109/ECOC48923.2020.9333247
Type: conference