Professor David Neil Payne of the University of Southampton in the UK has been knighted in Queen Elizabeth II’s 2013 New Year Honours List for services to photonics research and applications. Prof. Payne, who is director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) at the University of Southampton, is being recognised as a Knight Bachelor for his extensive contributions to harnessing light in telecommunications, sensing and lasers for manufacturing.
Prof. Payne has to his credit a number of key discoveries, including pioneering research developing a practical optical fibre amplifier, the erbium-doped fibre amplifier (EDFA), and its use in optical fibre transmission systems. This crucial component forms the backbone of the Internet and made its explosive growth possible through the ability to transmit and amplify vast amounts of data. The EDFA, developed in 1987, is regarded as one of the most significant developments in modern telecommunications. Every time you use the Internet, your mobile phone or an automated teller machine (ATM), you are using technology developed at Southampton.
An international researcher who has spent his entire career spanning four decades with the University of Southampton, Prof. Payne is a highly recognised scientist in the UK, as evidenced by numerous international honours and awards. He has made many influential discoveries in diverse areas of photonics, from telecommunications and optical sensors, to nanophotonics and optical materials.
His pioneering work in fibre fabrication in the 1970s resulted in many of the special fibres used today. He also led the team that developed the single-mode silica fibre laser and broke the kilowatt (kW) barrier for output power. Some of the highest power fibre lasers in the world were designed by Prof. Payne and his team.
Fibres invented and made in Southampton are on the Moon and Mars, while Prof. Payne’s ideas navigate airliners, cut steel, mark smart phones, manufacture life-saving medical devices, help defend the UK and power the Internet. His activities have led to a photonics cluster of nine companies surrounding the ORC, creating jobs and wealth in the Southampton region. With colleagues, he founded SPI Lasers plc, a supplier of high power fibre lasers located in Hedge End, Hampshire (UK).
Professor Don Nutbeam, vice-chancellor of the University of Southampton, comments, “The EDFA is a crucial invention that has made possible the global information superhighway and high-speed telecommunications networks, which are so important to us all in the 21st century.”
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