The terahertz (THz) frequency region within the electromagnetic spectrum, covers a frequency range of about one hundred times that currently occupied by all radio, television, cellular radio, Wi-Fi, radar and other users and has proven and potential applications ranging from molecular spectroscopy through to communications, high resolution imaging (e.g. in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors) and security screening. Yet, the underpinning technology for the generation and detection of radiation in this spectral range remains severely limited, being based principally on Ti:sapphire (femtosecond) pulsed laser and photoconductive detector technology, the THz equivalent of the spark transmitter and coherer receiver for radio signals. The THz frequency range therefore does not benefit from the coherent techniques routinely used at microwave/optical frequencies. Our programme grant will address this. We have recently demonstrated optical communications technology-based techniques for the generation of high spectral purity continuous wave THz signals at UCL, together with state-of-the-art THz quantum cascade laser (QCL) technology at Cambridge/Leeds. We will bring together these internationally-leading researchers to create coherent systems across the entire THz spectrum. These will be exploited both for fundamental science (e.g. the study of nanostructured and mesoscopic electron systems) and for applications including short-range high-data-rate wireless communications, information processing, materials detection and high resolution imaging in three dimensions.

Development of technological advances is important in the continually growing nanotechnology market, which is set to exceed $125 billion within the next five years. 1-dimensional (1D) nanostructures, possessing one dimension outside the nanoscale (<100 nm) range, are typically nanowires, nanofibers and nanotubes, and occupy a significant portion of this fast-growing market due to their application in sectors ranging from batteries to biomedicine. Magnetic 1D materials have become particularly popular in recent years, as their large aspect ratio and 1D structure gives rise to anisotropy, which can produce orientated electronic and ionic transport and unusual anisotropic optical and magnetic properties. As a result of these properties, magnetic 1D materials have found application in magnetic recording, lithium ion batteries, sensors, catalysis and medicine. Such 1D materials can outperform their nanoparticle (or 0-dimensional, 0D) counterparts in many applications, for example in medicine, where anisotropy leads to increased magnetisation and local magnetic field strengths. This provides improved performance in medical imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), where 1D materials boost signal enhancement compared to their 0D analogues thanks to the increased anisotropy of their 1D structures. A number of new fabrication techniques for 1D materials have hence been pioneered and developed, including templating, bottom-up growth, lithography, electrospinning, and particle assembly, though these often suffer from poor tuneability of the resulting structures, and hence properties, as well as challenges with scalability - issues which are critical for their long-term use and industrial uptake. Magnetic interactions have long been used to generate colloidal structures which respond readily to a magnetic field, with ferrofluids being the most well-known example. The preparation of permanent 1D materials using magnetic assembly approaches has been explored recently, with clusters of magnetic nanoparticles being assembled into permanent arrays of nanowires or nanotubes either during synthesis, or through magnetically stimulated nanoparticle assembly. Although successfully forming 1D nanostructures, these approaches suffer from difficulties in controlling the resulting materials' size, aspect ratio and surface chemistry. There is, therefore, a clear need for a technique capable of reproducibly fabricating magnetic 1D nanostructures with controlled and tuneable aspect ratios, sizes and surfaces, at high scales. In this proposal, we aim to achieve this through the exploitation of continuous flow technology combined with magnetic assembly to produce core-shell 1D nanostructured materials with various coatings, which can be modified with ease for numerous different applications. This work will systematically explore the effect of flow rate, magnetic field strength and duration, magnetic nanoparticle building blocks and various coating agents in order to form a library of 1D materials whose properties are tuneable and reproducible. In this way, we will develop a novel, high throughput approach to magnetic 1D nanomaterials which will have precision control over structure, aspect ratio, surfaces and hence resulting properties of the 1D materials, in addition to the benefits of scalability that come with fluid flow systems. As a case study, the produced materials will be tested for their performance as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Using state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging tools, quantitative assessment of performance will demonstrate the benefits of tuneable 1D materials in this important medical application.

Development of technological advances is important in the continually growing nanotechnology market, which is set to exceed $125 billion within the next five years. 1-dimensional (1D) nanostructures, possessing one dimension outside the nanoscale (<100 nm) range, are typically nanowires, nanofibers and nanotubes, and occupy a significant portion of this fast-growing market due to their application in sectors ranging from batteries to biomedicine. Magnetic 1D materials have become particularly popular in recent years, as their large aspect ratio and 1D structure gives rise to anisotropy, which can produce orientated electronic and ionic transport and unusual anisotropic optical and magnetic properties. As a result of these properties, magnetic 1D materials have found application in magnetic recording, lithium ion batteries, sensors, catalysis and medicine. Such 1D materials can outperform their nanoparticle (or 0-dimensional, 0D) counterparts in many applications, for example in medicine, where anisotropy leads to increased magnetisation and local magnetic field strengths. This provides improved performance in medical imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), where 1D materials boost signal enhancement compared to their 0D analogues thanks to the increased anisotropy of their 1D structures. A number of new fabrication techniques for 1D materials have hence been pioneered and developed, including templating, bottom-up growth, lithography, electrospinning, and particle assembly, though these often suffer from poor tuneability of the resulting structures, and hence properties, as well as challenges with scalability - issues which are critical for their long-term use and industrial uptake. Magnetic interactions have long been used to generate colloidal structures which respond readily to a magnetic field, with ferrofluids being the most well-known example. The preparation of permanent 1D materials using magnetic assembly approaches has been explored recently, with clusters of magnetic nanoparticles being assembled into permanent arrays of nanowires or nanotubes either during synthesis, or through magnetically stimulated nanoparticle assembly. Although successfully forming 1D nanostructures, these approaches suffer from difficulties in controlling the resulting materials' size, aspect ratio and surface chemistry. There is, therefore, a clear need for a technique capable of reproducibly fabricating magnetic 1D nanostructures with controlled and tuneable aspect ratios, sizes and surfaces, at high scales. In this proposal, we aim to achieve this through the exploitation of continuous flow technology combined with magnetic assembly to produce core-shell 1D nanostructured materials with various coatings, which can be modified with ease for numerous different applications. This work will systematically explore the effect of flow rate, magnetic field strength and duration, magnetic nanoparticle building blocks and various coating agents in order to form a library of 1D materials whose properties are tuneable and reproducible. In this way, we will develop a novel, high throughput approach to magnetic 1D nanomaterials which will have precision control over structure, aspect ratio, surfaces and hence resulting properties of the 1D materials, in addition to the benefits of scalability that come with fluid flow systems. As a case study, the produced materials will be tested for their performance as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Using state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging tools, quantitative assessment of performance will demonstrate the benefits of tuneable 1D materials in this important medical application.

Dramatic progress has been made in the past few years in the field of photonic technologies, to complement those in electronic technologies which have enabled the vast advances in information processing capability. A plethora of new screen and projection display technologies have been developed, bringing higher resolution, lower power operation and enabling new ways of machine interaction. Advances in biophotonics have led to a large range of low cost products for personal healthcare. Advances in low cost communication technologies to rates now in excess of 10 Gb/s have caused transceiver unit price cost reductions from >$10,000 to less than $100 in a few years, and, in the last two years, large volume use of parallel photonics in computing has come about. Advances in polymers have made possible the formation of not just links but complete optical subsystems fully integrated within circuit boards, so that users can expect to commoditise bespoke photonics technology themselves without having to resort to specialist companies. These advances have set the scene for a major change in commercialisation activity where photonics and electronics will converge in a wide range of systems. Importantly, photonics will become a fundamental underpinning technology for a much greater range of users outside its conventional arena, who will in turn require those skilled in photonics to have a much greater degree of interdisciplinary training. In short, there is a need to educate and train researchers who have skills balanced across the fields of electronic and photonic hardware and software. The applicants are unaware of such capability currently.This Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) proposal therefore seeks to meet this important need, building upon the uniqueness of the Cambridge and UCL research activities that are already focussing on new types of displays based on polymer and holographic projection technology, the application of photonic communications to computing, personal information systems and indeed consumer products (via board-to-board, chip to chip and later on-chip interconnects), the increased use of photonics in industrial processing and manufacture, techniques for the low-cost roll-out of optical fibre to replace the copper network, the substitution of many conventional lighting products with photonic light sources and extensive application of photonics in medical diagnostics and personalised medicine. Many of these activities will increasingly rely on more advanced systems integration, and so the proposed DTC includes experts in computer systems and software. By drawing these complementary activities together, it is proposed to develop an advanced training programme to equip the next generation of very high calibre doctoral students with the required expertise, commercial and business skills and thus provide innovation opportunities for new systems in the future. It should be stressed that the DTC will provide a wide range of methods for learning for students, well beyond that conventionally available, so that they can gain the required skills. In addition to lectures and seminars, for example, there will be bespoke experimental coursework activities, reading clubs, roadmapping activities, secondments to collaborators and business planning courses.Photonics is likely to become much more embedded in other key sectors of the economy, so that the beneficiaries of the DTC are expected to include industries involved in printing, consumer electronics, computing, defence, energy, engineering, security, medicine and indeed systems companies providing information systems for example for financial, retail and medical industries. Such industries will be at the heart of the digital economy, energy, healthcare and nanotechnology fields. As a result, a key feature of the DTC will be a developed awareness in its cohorts of the breadth of opportunity available and a confidence that they can make impact therein.

The Industrial Doctorate Centre in Molecular Modelling and Materials Science (M3S) at University College London (UCL) trains researchers in materials science and simulation of industrially important applications. As structural and physico-chemical processes at the molecular level largely determine the macroscopic properties of any material, quantitative research into this nano-scale behaviour is crucially important to the design and engineering of complex functional materials. The M3S IDC is a highly multi-disciplinary 4-year EngD programme, which works in partnership with a large base of industrial sponsors on a variety of projects ranging from catalysis to thin film technology, electronics, software engineering and bio-physics research. The four main research themes within the Centre are 1) Energy Materials and Catalysis; 2) Information Technology and Software Engineering; 3) Nano-engineering for Smart Materials; and 4) Pharmaceuticals and Bio-medical Engineering. These areas of research align perfectly with EPSRC's mission programmes: Energy, the Digital Economy, and Nanoscience through Engineering to Application. In addition, per definition an industrial doctorate centre is important to EPSRC's priority areas of Securing the Future Supply of People and Towards Better Exploitation. Students at the M3S IDC follow a tailor-made taught programme of specialist technical courses, as well as professionally accredited project management courses and transferable skills training, which ensures that whatever their first degree, on completion all students will have obtained thorough technical and managerial schooling as well as a doctoral research degree. The EngD research is industry-led and of comparable high quality and innovation as the more established PhD research degree. However, as the EngD students spend approximately 70% of their time on site with the industrial sponsor, they also gain first hand experience of the demanding research environment of a successful, competitive industry. Industrial partners who have taken up the opportunity during the first phase of the EngD programme to add an EngD researcher to their R&D teams include Johnson Matthey, Pilkington Glass, Exxon Mobil, Silicon Graphics, Accelrys and STS, while new companies are added to the pool of sponsors each year. Materials research in UCL is particularly well developed, with a thriving Centre for Materials Research and a newly established Materials Chemistry Centre. In addition, the Bloomsbury campus has perhaps the largest concentration of computational materials scientists in the UK, if not the world. Although affiliated to different UCL departments, all computational materials researchers are members of the UCL Materials Simulation Laboratory, which is active in advancing the development of common computational methodologies and encouraging collaborative research between the members. As such, UCL has a large team of well over a hundred research-active academic staff available to supervise research projects, ensuring that all industrial partners will be able to team up with an academic in a relevant research field to form the supervisory team to work with the EngD student. The success of the existing M3S Industrial Doctorate Centre and the obvious potential to widen its research remit and industrial partnerships into new, topical materials science areas, which are at the heart of EPSRC's strategic funding priorities for the near future, has led to this proposal for the funding of 5 annual cohorts of ten EngD students in the new phase of the Centre from 2009.