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Viva Success
December 2004
Following a successful Viva examination, the examiners recommended that Richard Odic should be awarded a PhD for his work on the development and implementation of a distributed temperature sensor system for detecting and locating fires on aircraft. In addition to developing the hardware and software to achieve target specifications, the system was trialled successfully on an aircraft fuselage.
Tom Charrett at the House of Commons
December 2004
Tom Charrett attended “Britain’s Younger Engineers 2004”, organised by SET for Britain , to present his work on Planar Doppler Velocimetry. The event was aimed to allow aspiring and lively younger scientists, engineers and technologists to present posters on their recent discoveries and ideas at a special reception in the House of Commons.
- Single Camera 3D Planar Velocity Measurement Using Imaging Fibre Bundles
T O Charrett, H D Ford, and R P Tatam
Presented at SET 2004, House of Commons, London, December 2004.
Presentation
December 2004
Dr Jane Hodgkinson presented deatils of her work at Avantica at the 34th GASG Colloquium held by the Gas Analysis and Sensing Group (GAS Group) at the Institute of Physics, London. The GAS Group is a technology club, intended to bring together manufacturers, users, laboratories and academic departments having technical interests in gas sensors and their applications, including environmental monitoring and health and safety.
Some results from the three-year EC funded “Vogue” project on gas leak visualisation,
Russ Pride and Jane Hodgkinson
Presented at the 34th GASG Colloquium, Insitute of Physics, London (2004).
OSG and Nanomaterials group win prestigious award
November 2004
Steve James (far left), Ralph Tatam and Geoff Ashwell (far right) receiving their award at the ceremony held at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington London.
The OSG and the Nanomaterials group were awarded first prize in Category 1, Frontier Science and Measurement, of the National Measurements Awards at a ceremony held at the National Physical Laboratory in London on Monday 22 November. The award was made for work undertaken under a long-standing and on-going collaboration between the two groups, concerning the development of optical fibre devices in which nano-structured coatings, deposited onto the fibre using the Langmuir-Blodgett technique, influence the properties of light propagating in the fibre. By depositing functional materials, sensors for parameters such as temperature, pressure and species specific chemical concentration may be formed. The National Measurement Awards recognise outstanding achievement in the field of measurement and testing and acknowledge the application of best practice and innovation in all aspects of measurement from shop floor solutions to leading edge technologies.
Doctor Doctor… (well, Doctor Professor really, or is it Professor Doctor…?… anyway….)
November 2004
Prof Ralph Tatam has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) by Exeter University. A DSc is conferred upon candidates whose record of published work and research shows conspicuous ability and originality and constitutes a distinguished and sustained achievement.
Royal Society Funding
November 2004
Dr Steve James and Prof Ralph Tatam have secured funding from the Royal Society’s Paul Instrument fund to develop a pressure sensor for geological applications.
Invited Participant
October 2004
Prof Ralph Tatam was an invited participant at the Photonics in Biotechnology and Healthcare workshop, organised under the DTI LINK Optical Systems in the Digital Age programme. The meeting, held in the Lake District, brought leading academics, representatives of companies, medical practitioners and researchers together to review the state of the art in photonics research applied to biotechnology and healthcare, to explore opportunities for exploitation and to discuss future challenges and directions. Ralph gave a presentation that reviewed the principles and applications of Optical Coherence Tomography, and outlined work underway at Cranfield.
New PhD Students
October 2004
The OSG welcomes 5 new PhD students. Dan Francis will concentrate on speckle interferometry. Richard Murphy will characterise fibre optic long period gratings with nano-structured coatings. Richard Reeves will develop volume holographic filters for fibre Bragg grating sensor demodulation and multiplexing. Georgios Sarantavgas will develop medical imaging systems based upon Optical Coherence Tomography and Lu Zenghai will focus on the development of Planar Doppler Velocimetry (PDV) for flow measurement.
EPSRC Advanced Research Felllow
October 2004
The EPG welcomes Dr Jane Hodgkinson to Cranfield. As holder of a highly prestigious EPSRC Advanced Fellowship, Jane brings complimentary expertise to the group, and will develop and exploit optical techniques for gas sensing.
Engineering Photonics Group exhibit their wares at stand TX09
October 2004
The OSG exhibited and demonstrated a range of instrumentation that has been developed by the group, including a Hi-Bi fibre Bragg grating demodulation unit and a multi-component shearography system. Prof Ralph Tatam and Dr Steve James were on hand to discuss all of the group’s activities.
Helen Ford educates MPs about OCT
September 2004
Helen Ford attended SET for Britain 2004, to present her work on Optical Coherence Tomography. The event was aimed to allow aspiring and lively younger scientists, engineers and technologists to present posters on their recent discoveries and ideas at a special reception in the House of Commons.
- New Optical Fibre Configurations for Optical Coherence Tomography
H. D. Ford, P. Casaubieilh and R. P. Tatam
Presented at SET 2004, House of Commons, London, September 2004.
– 2 submissions shortlisted
September 2004
Two collaborative instrumentation development projects involving the EPG have been shortlisted for this years National Measurements Awards. The National Measurement Awards recognise outstanding achievement in the field of measurement and testing and acknowledge the application of best practice and innovation in all aspects of measurement from shop floor solutions to leading edge technologies.
Category One – Frontier Science and Measurement.
Fibre Optic Sensors with Nano-Structured Coatings
Stephen W. James, Geoffery J. Ashwell and Ralph P. Tatam
This submission describes the development of fibre optic sensor systems employing nanoscale films deposited upon single mode optical fibre, a collaboration between the EPG and the Nanomaterials Research Group lead by Prof. Geoff Ashwell.
Catagory Five – The NPL Materials Award.
Composite Material Process Monitoring Using Fibre Optic Sensors
Ralph P. Tatam, Stephen W. James, Edmon Chehura, Mihalis C. Kazilas and Ivana K. Partridge
The submission concerns the use of fibre Bragg grating sensors to monitor the cure of fibre reinforced polymer composites, which is the outcome of a long-standing collaboration between the EPG and the group lead by Prof. Ivana Partridge of the Advanced Materials Department.
Prof Ralph Tatam and Dr Steve James from the OSG and Prof Geoff Ashwell of the Nanomaterials group attended the Ministerial Networking event at the DTI in London on 20th September 2004. They had the opportunity to discuss the work with Lord Sainsbury, and with the award’s panel of judges.
Ralph and Steve with Lord Sainsbury, Minister for Science and Innovation.
Photon 04, Glasgow Caledonian University
September 2004
The Engineering Photonics Group was well represented at Photon 04, the Uk’s premier conference in optics and photonics. EPG work was presented in the Fibre Optic Sensors, Medicine and Life Sciences, Instrumentation and Measurement and Speckle Interferometry sessions, reflecting the breadth of activity within the group.
S W James, I K Partridge and R P Tatam
Composite cure monitoring using fibre Bragg grating sensors (invited)
Presented at Photon 04, Glasgow, September 2004
I M Ishaq, S W James and R P Tatam
Modified refractive index response of long period gratings with thin film overlays
Presented at Photon 04, Glasgow, September 2004
P Casaubieilh, H D Ford and R P Tatam
Optical coherence Tomography based on Fizeau interferometer configurations
Presented at Photon 04, Glasgow, September 2004
T Charret, H D Ford and R P Tatam
Two-frequency planar Doppler velocimetry
Presented at Photon 04, Glasgow, September 2004
R M Groves, S Fu,S W James and R P Tatam
Combined shearography and speckle pattern photography
Presented at Photon 04, Glasgow, September 2004
The Glasgow skyline
SPIE Conference
August 2004
The Colorado Convention Center and Downtown Denver
Prof Ralph Tatam participated fully in SPIE’s 49th International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology in Denver, Colorado, USA, acting as session chair, and presenting recent work on Planar Doppler Velocimetry.
R P Tatam
Planar Doppler velocimetry instrumentation using optical fibers
Presented at Interferometry XII: Applications, part of SPIE’s International Symposium on “Optical Science and Engineering”.
Viva Success
July 2004
Ruth Beddows was successful in her PhD Viva, and will graduate in June 2005.
Further EPSRC Success
July 2004
Dr Steve James has been awarded a 3 year EPSRC grant entitled Optical Fibre Long Period Grating Devices Using Nano-structured Coatings. In collaboration with Prof Tatam and Prof Ashwell of the Nanomaterials Group, the properties of fibre optic long period gratings with nano-structured coatings deposited via the Langmuir-Blodgett will be characterised, and their application as sensors will be explored.
Royal Society Paul Instrument Fund
July 2004
Professor Tatam has been awarded a prestigious, 3 year, Royal Society Paul Instrument Fund grant to explore novel signal processing techniques for Planar Doppler Velocimetry systems.
International Visitor
July 2004
The Engineering Photonics Group is hosting a visit from Professor Weilai Li, from the Fiber Optic Sensing Research Center, Wuhan University of Technology. Professor Li will spend three months exploring the industrial applications of fibre Bragg grating sensors.
Prestigious Platform Grant Awarded
June 2004
Professor Ralph Tatam has been successful in gaining a prestigious EPSRC Platform Grant, entitled Development & Application of Photonic Instrumentation & Sensors . Platform grants aim to maintain and develop a strong UK science base by providing world-leading groups with continuity for key research staff (Research Associates) in order to undertake longer term and adventurous research with enhanced national and international networking. This five year award is aimed at providing a platform for interdisciplinary, collaborative research in state-of-the-art photonic instrumentation and sensors and their applications. The focus for this activity is the Engineering Photonics group, headed by Prof. Tatam, which has a large portfolio of interdisciplinary research programmes with other groups within the Centre for Photonics and Optical Engineering, other groups across the University, and with external organisations. The other groups involved are:
- Nanomaterials Group, lead by Prof. Ashwell, which designs and synthesises novel organic materials for incorporation into optical fibre based sensors and devices.
- The Image Processing Group, lead by Prof Thompson, which provides support to programmes with significant levels of image processing.
- The Turbomachinery and Gas Turbine Instrumentation, lead by Prof. Ivey, which investigates flow measurement instrumentation for gas turbine compressors.
- The Polymer Composites Group, lead by Dr Partridge, with interests in the curing and processing of composite materials.
- The Damage Tolerance Research group, lead by Prof Irving, with interests in damage and fatigue of advanced materials.
Conference Update
June 2004
A view of the Royal Palace at Santander
Dr Steve James attended the 2nd European Conference on Fibre Optic Sensors, held in Santander, Spain, from the 9th to 11th June 2004. The EPG presented two posters at the event, attended by more than 250 researchers.
Stephen W. James, Imran Ishaq, Geoffrey J. Ashwell and Ralph P. Tatam
Fibre-optic sensing using Langmuir Blodgett thin film overlays
Pierre Casaubieilh, Helen D. Ford and Ralph P. Tatam
Optical fibre Fizeau-based OCT
New PhD Student Starts
June 2004
Stephen Buggy has joined the OSG to undertake a PhD programme involving the use of fibre grating sensors to monitor the cure of composite materials.
Conference Update
May 2004
Dr Roger Groves represented the Engineering Photonics Group at the SPIE Photonics Europe conference, held at the Palais de la Musique et des Congrès, a short walk from the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France. Dr Groves gave one oral presentation on his research in shearography, and a second oral presentation on the Bragg grating sensors research performed by Dr Edmond Chehura in the OSG. Both papers are to be published in the proceedings, (Proceedings of SPIE 5457).
- E. Chehura, A. A. Skordos, C. Ye, S. W. James, I. K. Partridge, R. P. Tatam.
Multidimensional strain and temperature measurements using a novel high birefringent fibre Bragg grating interrogation system, - R. M. Groves, S. W. James, S. E. Barnes, S. Fu, D. Furfari, P. E. Irving, R. P. Tatam
Multicomponent laser shearography for the investigation of defects in rotating machinery
Viva success
February 2004
Simon Reilly successfully negotiated his PhD Viva, and will graduate in July 2004.