An international leader in use-inspired research

Our research activities are strategically focused to ensure academic excellence is combined with strong industrial engagement.

Our key objective is to bridge the gap between academic research and industrial applications and development in the area of photonics.

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News and announcements

IEEE Photonics Conference 2023

The IoP’s staff and students will present 8 papers at November’s IEEE Photonics Conference in Orlando, Florida, representing one of the largest overall contributions to the conference from any single research institute worldwide. This includes two invited papers, one by Dr Javier Porte Parera on ‘3D photonic interconnects for scalable neural networks’ and one by Michael Strain and Martin Dawson on ‘Transfer Printing Integration for Chip-Scale Photonic Devices’. The contributed talks are ‘High speed single pixel imaging with advanced microLED digital light projector’ given by Graeme Johnstone, ‘Micro-LED nanosecond pulsed structured light sources with 405nm – 510nm wavelength’ by Johnathan Gray, ‘Gigabit per second UV-C LEDs for communications’ by Hichem Zimi, ‘Photonic VCSEL-based RC for classification of RADAR signals’ by Joshua Robertson, ‘Enhancing the luminescence efficiency of colloidal quantum dots in compound supraparticles’ by Pedro Alves, and ‘Photocatalytic-ready supraparticle lasers’ by Charlotte Eling. Dr Nicolas Laurand will also attend the conference in his role as a member of the IEEE Photonics Society’s Conference Council.
Professor Martin Dawson receives the Sir Harold Hartley Award from the Institute of Measurement and Control

The IoP’s Director of Research, Professor Martin Dawson FRS, has been announced as this year’s recipient of the Sir Harold Hartley Award from InstMC. This prestigious Award recognises ‘Outstanding contribution to the technology of measurement and control’ and is awarded to Martin for his career-long contributions to the development and application of laser and semiconductor based optical devices and for his scientific leadership of the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics. The Award will be presented on 26th October in a ceremony at Prince Philip House, the headquarters of the Royal Academy of Engineering, during which Prof. Dawson will give a guest lecture.
Researchers develop approach that can enable inexpensive mass manufacturing of micro-LED displays

Researchers have demonstrated a continuous roller printing process that can pick up and transfer over 75,000 micrometer-scale semiconductor devices in a single roll with very high accuracy. The new method paves the way to creating large-scale arrays of optical components and could be used to rapidly manufacture micro-LED displays.
The Institute of Photonics is partner in an ambitious project to develop an optical communications system with a very low size, weight, and power (SWaP) footprint, optimised for use on high-altitude pseudo-satellites (HAPS) and other SWaP-limited platforms.

HAPS platforms are light-weight, unmanned aerial vehicles offering prolonged flight at altitudes into the stratosphere. They can be rapidly deployed and provide persistent coverage over large areas. HAPS platforms find applications in disaster relief, remote sensing and monitoring, and the provision of telecommunications to remote areas. With increasing congestion of the radio frequency spectrum, ever higher bandwidth requirements, and tight SWaP constraints optical communications are key to enabling such applications. The project – Micro-LED HAPS – is led by Fraunhofer UK with project partners TAO Tech UK Ltd, A2E Ltd, Wideblue Ltd, Kubos Semiconductors Ltd, and the University of Strathclyde. The collaborative project is co-funded by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK. Micro-LED HAPS will harness advances in micro-LED light sources and single-photon detectors to create an ultra-compact optical comms system, for links between HAPS and other platforms/ground stations. The project builds upon two decades of pioneering research at the University of Strathclyde’s Institute of Photonics in the design, fabrication, and applications of micro-LEDs. A press release can be found at https://optics.org/press/5687
Professor Martin Dawson FRS presented the 45th Edwards Lecture at City University on 15 February 2023

Professor Martin Dawson FRS presented the 45th Edwards Lecture at City University on 15th Feb. Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, President of City, said “The [Edwards] lecture has a distinguished history, having been given over the years by five Nobel Laureates, as well as many Fellows of the Royal Society and Fellows of the [Royal] Academy of Engineering”. Prof. Dawson’s lecture was on laser research and innovation at the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics and this year’s event marked the 50th anniversary of the lecture given by Nobel Laureate and inventor of holography Professor Dennis Gabor.
IoP Student wins first-ever Falling Walls Foundation Scotland Competition

Matěj Hedja, PhD student at Institute of Photonics, won the Scottish Falling Walls Lab competition, which was arranged by Glasgow Innovation District and INSPIRE and was held in the Technology and Innovation Centre. Matěj then travelled to Berlin to deliver his pitch "Breaking the Wall of Efficient AI Computing Using Light" at the Falling Walls Science Summit along with other 80 other National winners. Unfortunately he was not among the 3 Global winners but it was a fantastic experience and he done himself and his colleagues extremely proud.
A programmable optical device for high-speed beam steering has been developed in research involving the University of Strathclyde.

The paper is a collaboration led at MIT and also involving Flexcompute Inc, the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, Applied Nanotools Inc, the Rochester Institute of Technology and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. It has been published in the journal Nature Photonics.
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New technology — New technology to detect sight-threatening disease

Scientists at the University of Strathclyde are involved in research – boosted by new funding – into technology to detect early visual loss in people with long-term conditions.

We've 12 photonics laboratories and a clean room microfabrication facility, totalling over 1000m²

We're part of the Technology & Innovation Centre, working together on photonic solutions