International Conference Award for Engineering Team Led by Julian Fells

Lecturer in Engineering Science Julian Fells is part of a group whose work on optical fibers has won an international conference award.

Researchers from the Department of Engineering Science won the Best Paper Award at the 28th  International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors in Hamamatsu, Japan. The conference on Optical Fiber Sensors is the leading conference in the field and covers the many different ways in which optical fibers can be used to remotely sense equipment in order to enhance safety, security, and performance.

Using optical fibers for remote sensing has many advantages since the fibers are very thin (the thickness of human hair) and there is no electrical current in the sensing region – instead light is sent down the fiber. Optical fibers can withstand high temperatures and pressures as well as corrosive environments. Importantly, they are unaffected by electrical interference and can be used in environments with ignitable gases.

The conference was attended by around 450 academics and industrialists from around the world. The papers presented at the conference were selected following ‘double-blind’ review of submitted manuscripts by a committee of 50 leading experts in the field. The Oxford Engineering Optical Fiber Sensors team presented four papers which all generated significant interest.

Dr Julian Fells is Lecturer in Engineering at Trinity and research leader whose doctoral students received the Best Paper award and who presented multiple papers at the conference. His doctoral student Zipei Song received the Best Paper Award for his work on making optical fiber sensors that are either temperature-insensitive or alternatively extremely temperature sensitive. The paper reports significant developments that enable optical fiber sensors to be able to adequately distinguish between strain (stretching) and temperature – a major problem which has existed for 45 years.

Dr Fells says: ‘It is fantastic to have our work recognised at such a leading conference. We have also recently been awarded funding to translate our research in this field into commercial products.’