Trade.Information

Company Name: University of Southampton

Company Type: Research Centre

Company Profile

The ORC was formed in 1989, but the history of this group extends even further. After the invention of the Laser in 1960, Southampton started work on this new device in 1961. In 1966, work on optical fibres began at the University to try to make long-distance light communication a practical reality. 

The 'fibre tower' was created, that allowed fine control of how optical fibres were drawn, and fibres were created with losses of 1000db/km. At the time, this was an amazing result, but more was to come. While some of the pioneering communications labs across the world had dismissed silica optical fibres as impractical, losses had been reduced to a few db/km. 

The paper Zero material dispersion in optical fibres, Electronics Letters 1975 Vol.11 pp.176-178, D.N.Payne, W.A.Gambling marked a new era in communications. For this paper, new fabrication techniques were developed, and new ways to characterise the resulting fibres was required to optimise the process. The result was the explosive growth in optical communications, a truly world-changing phenomenon. 

However, there were still more pieces of the puzzle required for the world-spanning bandwidth we have today. The paper Low-noise erbium-doped fibre amplifier operating at 1.54µm, Electronics Letters 1987 Vol.23(19) pp.1026-1028, R.J.Mears, L.Reekie, I.M.Jauncey, D.N.Payne announced to the world the invention of the first practical optical amplifier. This made long-distance optical communications practical, as many signals could be easily sent hundreds of miles without requiring electronic conversion. The effect was to make huge amounts of bandwidth available at low cost over very long distances. This was a major pre-requisite for the formation of the Internet as it is today. 

This history of discovery and innovation by the Optical Fibre Group in the Electronics Department and the Laser Physics Group in the Physics Department led to the formation of the Optoelectronics Research Centre. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) established the ORC in 1989 as an Interdisciplinary Research Centre. Today the ORC still has close links with the Schools of Physics and Electronics & Computer Science, with staff seconded from both.

About Company

The Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) is one of the schools in the Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics at the University of Southampton, focusing on Photonics; the study of light. The ORC was formed in 1989 as an Interdisciplinary Research Centre, merging groups from the School of Physics & Astronomy and School of Electronics & Computer Science. 

The ORC and its predecessors have played a leading role in optics over the last 40 years, and continues to be at the forefront of photonics advances today. The ORC provided key components that enabled the communications revolution of the late 20th century.

A brief guide to the ORC
The ORC is a research-only school, with around 20 groups covering a wide range of areas, all to do with the study and manipulation of light (photonics), and photonic devices. There are around 70 PhD students at any time working in the ORC, but there are no undergraduate or postgraduate taught courses. However, many undergraduates from the faculty go on to study a PhD at the ORC. 

The ORC has very strong links to local, national and international industries, and collaborates with many other university groups as well as other schools within the University of Southampton. 

The ORC is a vibrant community of researchers, led by some of the leading figures in the field of photonics.