John C. Travers wins IET Engineering Research Prize

He has been recognised for his work on creating new sources of ultraviolet light using ultrafast optical pulses that are a million billionth of a second in duration.

Used in ultrafast laser systems, these new light sources could unlock far-reaching advances in science, healthcare and industry; for example, investigating new materials, developing new healthcare applications and innovating the manufacture of semiconductors used in computers and phones.

Travers hopes to use the £350,000 prize to shrink down the scale of his technology from tabletop-sized to pocket-sized systems. This would open up many new applications for the technology.

“We can generate ultraviolet light pulses in a way that's totally unique and hasn't been done before, and we’re seeing enormous demand globally in developing this technology,” Travers explained.

“These short pulses of light let us do lots of things. They let us observe fundamental physics and chemistry at very fast time scales, which is useful for very basic science – like understanding chemical reactions and physical processes in medicine and biology. They also let you modify material for machining and precision processing. And they can then be used to generate new sources, for example X-rays and electron pulses, which are useful in themselves for further applications.”

The technique Travers has pioneered involves converting infrared light into a high-performing form of bright ultraviolet light. This is achieved by pulsing the infrared light into glass tubes filled with gases.

The process allows Travers and his team to customise the properties of the ultraviolet light beams – for example, their shape or duration – for use in different applications, such as laser machining.

IET President, Professor Bob Cryan, said: “The IET’s A F Harvey Engineering Research Prize supports the world’s best scientists and engineers to advance their research. I’d like to congratulate John on receiving this prestigious prize – we are excited to support his pioneering work in creating new ultraviolet light sources with tailored properties, making significant contributions to ultrafast nonlinear optics, and enabling new applications.”