Cambridge Centre for Advanced Photonics

Cambridge Centre for Advanced Photonics
Name	Cambridge Centre for Advanced Photonics
Established	2009
Location	Cambridge, England
Affiliation	University of Cambridge
Director	Prof. Jane Smith
Focus	Photonics, Optoelectronics, Quantum Technologies

Cambridge Centre for Advanced Photonics is an interdisciplinary research institute in Cambridge, England, focused on photonics and optoelectronic technologies. It brings together faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and industry partners from the University of Cambridge, the Cavendish Laboratory, and regional technology enterprises to advance applied and fundamental studies. The centre serves as a hub linking academic groups with organisations in the United Kingdom and internationally to accelerate translation of photonics into optical communications, sensing, and quantum systems.

Overview

The centre integrates expertise across physics and engineering with ties to the University of Cambridge, the Cavendish Laboratory, the Department of Engineering, and the Cambridge Graphene Centre. It operates in proximity to institutions such as Trinity College, Corpus Christi College, St John's College, and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, enabling interaction with units like the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, and the National Health Service. Strategic connections extend to corporate partners including ARM Holdings, Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, and ARM, while policy engagement has involved the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Innovate UK. The centre's leadership has participated in events at the Royal Society, the Alan Turing Institute, and the Institute of Physics.

History and Development

Founded in the late 2000s with seed support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and philanthropic contributions from alumni linked to King's College, the centre emerged during a period of expansion for the Cambridge technology cluster. Early milestones included collaborative projects with Toshiba Research Europe, Microsoft Research Cambridge, and Nokia Bell Labs, and joint programmes with the Cambridge Enterprise technology transfer arm and the Cambridge Innovation Capital investment firm. The centre expanded its facilities following grants associated with the Research Councils UK capital calls, and received recognition from national award bodies such as the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society Wolfson Merit Awards. Notable alumni have gone on to roles at Imperial College London, the University of Oxford, Stanford University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Research Areas and Programs

Research themes span integrated photonics, silicon photonics, nonlinear optics, laser physics, and quantum photonics, with active groups studying superconducting detectors, photonic crystals, and plasmonics. Programmes include applied projects in optical communications with partners like BT Group and Cisco Systems, sensing initiatives for environmental monitoring linked to the Environment Agency and Shell, and quantum information efforts with collaboration from the National Physical Laboratory and the UK Atomic Energy Authority. Interdisciplinary work connects to the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, the Babraham Institute, and the Sainsbury Laboratory for biosensing applications. Funding sources have included the European Research Council, Horizon 2020 consortia, the Royal Society, and the Wellcome Trust, while outcomes have informed standards bodies including the International Telecommunication Union and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Facilities and Resources

Facilities include cleanrooms and nanofabrication suites adjacent to the James Dyson Building and the West Cambridge site, equipped for electron-beam lithography, focused ion beam machining, and optical characterisation laboratories. The centre shares access to the Cambridge Graphene Centre's atomically precise fabrication tools, the Hitachi High-Tech electron microscopy facilities at the Department of Materials, and cryogenic instrumentation co-located with groups from the Cavendish Laboratory and the Maxwell Centre. Computational resources leverage infrastructure from the University of Cambridge High Performance Computing Service and collaborations with the Alan Turing Institute for data analytics. Prototype development has been supported through the Cambridge Enterprise prototyping workshops and the Cambridge Network's maker spaces.

Collaborations and Partnerships

The centre maintains formal partnerships with multinational corporations such as Intel, Huawei, and Lockheed Martin, research organisations including the European Space Agency and CERN, and academic partnerships with University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University College London, and ETH Zurich. It participates in European consortia alongside Max Planck Institutes, CNRS laboratories, and TU Delft, and has engaged with venture capital firms including Cambridge Innovation Capital and Octopus Ventures for spin‑out creation. Public sector collaborations have involved the National Physical Laboratory, the Met Office, and Defra on sensing and standards projects, while cultural and outreach partnerships have included the Cambridge Science Centre and the Fitzwilliam Museum for public engagement events.

Education and Outreach

Educational activities include postgraduate training linked to the Department of Physics and the Department of Engineering, doctoral programmes through the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training model, and short courses for industry delivered with the Institute of Physics and the Royal Academy of Engineering. Outreach efforts feature public lectures at the Cambridge Union Society, hands-on workshops with the Cambridge Science Festival, and secondary-school engagement with the Ogden Trust and STEM Learning initiatives. The centre supports entrepreneurship through links to Cambridge Judge Business School's entrepreneurship centre and prescribes mentorship from alumni active in spin‑outs that have attracted investment from Balderton Capital and Sequoia Capital.

Category:Research institutes in Cambridge Category:Photonics research institutes Category:University of Cambridge