Recognition for research

The University of Surrey has been awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in recognition of its work in the fields of ion beam applications and optoelectronic devices.

The University of Surrey has been awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in recognition of its work over three decades in the fields of ion beam applications and optoelectronic devices.

In collaboration with industry, the university's work has piloted leading-edge solutions in the development of many articles now regarded as commonplace in the modern world, such as: CD and DVD players; the Internet; printers; microwave circuits for satellite communications; and light-emitting devices for aircraft displays.

Prof Brian Sealy heads the University of Surrey's Ion Beam Centre and Professor Alf Adams leads the Optoelectronic Materials and Devices Research Group.

They have just joined forces in the new GBP 10 million Advanced Technology Institute opened at the university in October by Lord Sainsbury.

Over the past 30 years, the university's major research programmes in the two fields of ion beam applications and optoelectronics have generated research income running to tens of millions of pounds; hundreds of students at PhD level have been trained and have subsequently pursued industrial careers in these fields.

Speaking of the prize today Vice-Chancellor Professor Patrick Dowling said: "It is a great honour for the University of Surrey to be awarded a further Queen's Anniversary Prize particularly in this, the year of Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee.

I am very proud of the achievements of our world-class research teams".

The Surrey Ion Beam Centre, the only national facility of its kind, is acknowledged as a European centre of excellence.

It has been supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for over 20 years.

Much of this work is highly collaborative, with projects being undertaken with over 30 other university groups and the provision of high quality services to a large number of companies.

A major part of the University's optoelectronics activities have involved semiconductor laser devices.

Of the work, Prof Adams said: "I am delighted that our research has been recognised with this award.

Here at the University of Surrey we invented, explained and helped demonstrate strained-layer quantum-well lasers in the 1980s.

These devices now generate the signals in every long-haul optical fibre in the world.

As well as powering the Internet, they are used in memory devices and printers and in nearly all domestic appliances using lasers, such as CD and DVD players".

About one billion strained-layer lasers are made each year, forming a $10 billion annual global market.

New generation devices are being developed all the time, with current emphasis on blue light emitters and surface-emitting lasers, very high-speed modulation of light signals and attempts to get silicon to emit light efficiently.

Meanwhile, the Ion Beam Centre is forging ahead still further, having received a grant for a new continuously operating state-of-the-art ion beam accelerator to replace its current 47-year-old machine.

This accelerator makes the IBC one of the best-equipped laboratories of its kind in Europe.

Prof Sealy said: "It is gratifying that our work has been acknowledged with this prestigious prize.

Over many years we have carried out research at the cutting edge to make our work relevant to the needs of industry.

We have made and continue to make a major contribution to the UK electronics Industry".

A hugely diverse range of substances will be studied using the new machine including cement, plastics, ceramics, rubber, hair, teeth, skin, semiconductors used in electronic circuits, the materials that make up flat panel displays and materials used in the controlled release of drugs in the body.

The analysis of cements is an application for which the new machine will be of particular practical benefit.

Some GBP 20 billion are spent annually on the repair, refurbishment and maintenance of reinforced concrete buildings and structures damaged by chlorinated water seeping in.

One of the ion beam techniques will allow the accurate monitoring of chlorine and water atoms.

Combined with other techniques available at the University of Surrey, it will now be possible to develop methods to improve the long-term durability of concrete structures.

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