News Release from: University Of Surrey
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 30 May 2005
More funds for carbon nanotube research
Researchers from the University of Surrey and University of Southampton have been awarded grants of GBP 373,000 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
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Researchers from the University of Surrey and University of Southampton have been awarded grants of GBP 373,000 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under the Next Generation Electrophotonics programme. The interdisciplinary team of physicists, engineers, material scientists and biological chemists will study optical nonlinearity in carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) - carbon atoms arranged in tubes with diameters of a few nanometres - exhibit remarkable mechanical and electrical properties that have been used to produce ultra-strong fibres and electron sources for displays amongst many other applications.
Very recently, they have been shown to have interesting optical properties as well.
In particular, they show strong nonlinearity when exposed to high-intensity light, meaning that there are applications in wavelength conversion, optical switching, and mode-locking.
The combination of high nonlinearity with high damage threshold and potentially low cost is attractive, and in 2004 the first application (mode-locking in an ultrafast pulsed laser) was reported by Alnair Labs in Japan.
The aim of the research is to develop a new generation of electrophotonic devices by embedding these carbon nanotubes in planar waveguide devices.
The research draws on the expertise at Surrey on the production of carbon nanotubes, nonlinear optical measurements using femtosecond lasers pulses, and the theory and supercomputer simulation of light-matter interactions in nanoscale structures.
The researchers are based at the Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) and will make use of the advanced femtosecond laser facility, carbon nanotube growth capability and the new supercomputing laboratory at the ATI.
The team from Southampton are based at the optoelectronics Research Centre, which has world-leading activities in nonlinear glasses for photonic devices.
Researchers at Southampton, led by Dr Wei H Loh, will tackle the encapsulation of carbon nanotubes into chalcogenide glasses, for integrated photonic and electronic devices.
'This is a very exciting project that could lead to a new generation of smaller, faster and cheaper optical devices'.
'These nonlinear nanotubes are an example of the new class of nanoscale and composite photonic materials which will challenge more traditional materials', said Prof Jeremy Allam, the project leader at Surrey.
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