Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/S71286/01
Title:	Basic Technology Proof of Concept: A Feasibility Study for a Centrer for Sculptured Thin Film Research
Principal Investigator:	McCall, Professor M
Other Investigators:	Weir, Dr K Paterson, Professor C
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:	East of England Development Agency Seos Displays Ltd
Department:	Physics
Organisation:	Imperial College London
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 February 2004	Ends:	31 January 2005	Value (£):	98,378
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Optical Communications
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Communications
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Sculptured thin films are a new kind of thin film in which the mechanical and optical properties of the film vary periodically along the growth direction. The key feature of such films is the specificity of their optical response to either linear or circular polarization. Typically the film will behave much like a uniform medium for one polarization, whilst like a Bragg filter for the orthogonal state. The flexibility of various methods of modulating the material morphology during growth allows a large number of variations on this basic response which will lead to a whole new class of passive, loss-less polarization selective devices. With a significant theoretical underpinning already completed, we feel the time is now ripe to consider an experimental facility to fabricate and test the novel sculptured thin films. However, we are currently in a state of flux in the UK with respect to photonics facilities, with, for example, the possibility that commercial thin film growth facilities will become available to the UK academic research community. In order to optimise resources we must therefore weigh options carefully as to the format that our proposed facility should take. The current feasibility study sets out to address this and related issues. At a more speculative level, we also wish to examine at a more general, theoretical level, the longer term possibilities of creating complex dielectric morphologies outside of thin film technology. Twisted birefringent fibre is one possibility, whilst direct recording of helical electromagnetic fields in photosensitive media will also be considered.
Key Findings
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Organisation Website:	http://www.imperial.ac.uk