Supervised by Dr Patricia Scully of the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science
The project will study femtosecond, subablation threshold photonmodification of polymers such as poly(methyl methacrylate) )PMMA) at a range of different fs laser wavelengths and pulse lengths, to generate refractive index structures in polymeric materials
A range of suitable laser systems is available at the Photon Science Institute.
Complex refractive index structures will be written into transparent polymer media using femtosecond lasers, to form miniaturised integrated 3-D optical circuits. Embedded, integrated polymer sensor devices based on waveguides, injection moulded devices and polymer optical fibres, will be investigated for a variety of sensing and measurement applications.
The project is multidisciplinary and combines expertise in optical waveguide/fibre instrumentation, polymer and analytical chemistry with laser physics and materials.
A range of other projects are also available involving chemically sensitive and functional optical materials for laser interrogation, sensing and measurement. For example,
- Biosensors, microfluidics, lab on a chip;
- Coatings for distributed optical fibre sensing;
- Imaging 2 and 3-D pressure and chemical distributions using optical fibre arrays combined with tomography;
- Gratings and refractive index structuring of optical waveguides and devices;
- Optical coatings for gas and liquid sensing, e.g. hydrogen;
- Measuring scaling, fouling, pH etc. in closed loop water and process systems;
- On-line monitoring of laser material processing parameters.
Polymer Sensors & Devices@Galway 