| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/H67287/01 |
| Title: |
SCOTTISH COLLABORATIVE INITIATIVE ON OPTOELECTRONIC SCIENCES (SCIOS) |
| Principal Investigator: |
Smith, Professor SD |
| Other Investigators: |
|
| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
|
| Project Partners: |
|
| Department: |
Physics |
| Organisation: |
Heriot-Watt University |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 August 1992 |
Ends: |
31 October 1994 |
Value (£): |
863,359
|
| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Optical Communications |
Optoelect. Devices & Circuits |
|
| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
|
| Related Grants: |
|
| Panel History: |
|
|
Summary on Grant Application Form |
|
A collaboration with Glasgow, Edinburgh and St. Andrews Universities co-ordinated from Heriot-Watt University. To research a range of optoelectronic technologies and apply these results to the development of free-space parallel optical information processing systems.Progress:Partners in the Scottish Collaborative Initiative in Optoelectronic Sciences (SCIOS) have succeeded in developing a new generation of SEED arrays capable of operating at the wavelengths 1.047-m and 1.064-m, for which compact high-power laser sources can be produced. In a collaboration between Glasgow and Heriot-Watt Universities strained-InGaAs quantum-well wafers have been designed, grown by MBE and fabricated into arrays of symmetric-SEEDs containing up to 256 devices (16 x 16). The narrow exciton absorption peak achieved in this material (6 meV HWHM) - a critical parameter for effective performance - is a significant improvement over results obtained elsewhere with InGaAs/GaAs modulators (8-10 meV). Edinburgh University, who have been developing liquid-crystal arrays with silicon VLSI control, are adapting their technology to interface with new SEED arrays to create novel 'smart pixel' devices for parallel optical processing. At the same time, within the SCIOS programme, St. Andrews University has developed compact diode-pumped Nd:YLF and Nd:YAG lasers with multi-watt continuous-wave outputs at the operating wavelengths of the above SEED arrays. These sources have a number of applications and, under an agreement, the laser and electro-optics company Edinburgh Instruments Ltd. has started manufacturing them for the commercial market. Recent work of the Heriot-Watt group has been directed at the development of an optoelectronic processor, exploiting smart-pixel arrays based on the InGaAs modulators 'flip-chip' assembled with CMOS circuitry. This system is designed to carry out sorting operations on a 32 x 32 2-D array of words and uses an optical perfect-shuffle interconnect and a bitonic-solt algorithm. This optical parallel processor is in an advanced state of design with test chips (4 x 4) already delivered. Further information can be obtained from the SCIOS Co-ordinator, Professor A.C. Walker, Heriot-Watt University.
|
|
Key Findings |
|
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
|
|
Potential use in non-academic contexts |
|
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
|
|
Impacts |
|
| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
|
| Date Materialised |
|
|
|
|
Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
|
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
|
| Project URL: |
|
| Further Information: |
|
| Organisation Website: |
http://www.hw.ac.uk |