News Article
European recognition for Leeds terahertz expertise
Research into terahertz technology at the University of Leeds has received a major boost with a -2.5 million European grant.
The award - an Advanced Investigator Grant from the European Research Council - is in recognition of outstanding work in the field by Professor of Terahertz Electronics, Edmund Linfield. It is one of only 105 projects selected across Europe out of 736 applicants in physical sciences and engineering.
Professor Linfield will use the funding to study both the fundamental science and the potential applications of terahertz quantum cascade lasers. Quantum cascade lasers are small, and potentially portable, sources of radiation in the terahertz frequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
"The potential uses for terahertz technology are wide-ranging, but are currently limited to niche applications in fields such as pharmaceutical analysis and astronomy, as most systems on the market are both expensive and physically large," explained Professor Linfield. "The availability of cheap, compact systems would open up a wide range of opportunities in fields including industrial process monitoring, security screening, atmospheric science, and medicine."
The prestigious Advanced Investigator Grant award scheme is aimed at supporting the very best established research leaders to carry out pioneering work in their field. Leeds has had increasing success in the scheme, now in its second year. Professor Linfield's grant follows an award in 2009 to Professor Giles Davies - also from the School of Electronic & Electrical Engineering - and is one of two made to the University in 2010.
The School has one of the world's leading research groups in terahertz technology and one of the largest university facilities for terahertz research internationally. It is also one of only a very small number of laboratories in the world to grow terahertz quantum cascade lasers, using a technique known as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The School's MBE system (costing around £1M), and Professor Linfield's team's expertise in using it, will underpin the research funded through this European grant.
Further information from:
Abigail Chard, Campuspr: tel 0113 258 9880, mob: 07960 448532, email: abigail@campuspr.co.uk
Guy Dixon, University of Leeds Press Office: tel 0113 343 8299, email: g.dixon@leeds.ac.uk
Notes
- Professor Linfield is Director of the Institute of Microwaves and Photonics, one of two research institutes within the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. The School was the top-rated electronic and electrical engineering department in the UK in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), with an overwhelming 80% of activity rated as internationally excellent or world leading.
- Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is a technique which allows single crystals to be grown in which the layer composition is changed atomic monolayer by atomic monolayer. This Advanced Investigator Grant will use MBE to grow layers of the semiconductors GaAs and AlGaAs (doped with Si) at a typical rate of one atomic layer per second. To achieve this, the constituent atoms (e.g. Ga, Al) are evaporated from heated furnaces, and land on a hot, rotating, substrate, with shutters being used to block the furnace from the substrate when a specific material is not required. To avoid any contamination of the growing material, it is essential that ultra-high vacuum conditions are used - typical background pressures are ~10-11 mbar. Terahertz quantum cascade lasers are typically made up of over 1000 individual GaAs/AlGaAs layers, the thickness of each being controlled to atomic monolayer accuracy by MBE.
- The School of Electronic Engineering at the University of Leeds is the top electronic and electrical engineering department in the UK (2008 Research Assessment Exercise), with 80% of research activity rated as 'internationally excellent' or 'world leading'. The school has 50 academic and research staff and some 400 students. It has long-established expertise in the area of microwave engineering which the School has built upon to lead the world in terahertz technology and the semiconductor, bio- and quantum electronic aspects of nanotechnology. The School is also an international player in the areas of communications and signal processing. www.engineering.leeds.ac.uk/elec/
- The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise showed the University of Leeds to be the UK's eighth biggest research powerhouse. The University is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. The University's vision is to secure a place among the world's top 50 by 2015. www.leeds.ac.uk
- The European Research Council (ERC) is in charge of the newest, pioneering component of the EU's Seventh Research Framework Programme (the "Ideas" specific programme) and has a total budget of € 7.5 billion (2007-2013). Set up in 2007, the ERC aims to stimulate scientific excellence in Europe by supporting and encouraging the best creative scientists, scholars and engineers of any nationality in any field of research, to work in European host institutions. http://erc.europa.eu/
