Institute of PhotonicsOur facilities

We're located in the Technology & Innovation Centre on the University of Strathclyde John Anderson campus in central Glasgow. All our laboratories are custom-designed and reflect modern best practice.

Key facilities

  • ten general purpose laser laboratories, which also support electronics assembly and optoelectronic device characterisation
  • two laser laboratories equipped for processing of soft-matter photonic materials and for biophotonics
  • preparation laboratory with fume cupboard and laminar downflow hood
  • wide range of laser sources (continuous, Q-switched and mode-locked)
  • high-resolution optical spectrometers (300-3000nm), from ultraviolet to infra-red
  • specialist software for optical modelling, design and finite-element analysis
  • equipment for semiconductor microfabrication housed within a 500-m2 cleanroom suite

Laser sources

A wide range of different laser sources (continuous wave, Q-switched and mode-locked) is available within the 12 laboratories of the Institute of Photonics. There are commercial and self‑build units that are tunable or operate at fixed wavelength in the the near-UV (334 nm) to the near-IR (2-3 μm) range. Here's some of the commercial laser sources:

  • Elforlight HPG laser: 5W Green (532nm) laser
  • Minilite laser: Q-Switched Nd:YAG laser generating up to 50mJ at 15Hz 1064, 532, 355 & 266nm
  • Spectra Physics MaiTai laser: ~100 fs tunable (710-920nm) Ti:sapphire laser
  • Agilent 8167B: Tunable 1255-1365nm fibre-coupled laser source
  • Agilent 8164B and 81640B: Tunable 1480-1580nm fibre-coupled laser source
  • a selection of fibre coupled laser diode array sources in the near IR range

Additional facilities

In addition to the resources located within the Institute, we also have facilities and access to facilities off campus:

  • the Institute has access to the facilities of the Centre for Biophotonics.
  • the Institute has access to a range of facilities in the Department of Physics, also located on the University's John Anderson campus
  • as a partner in SUPA, we can arrange access to facilities in other SUPA institutions