A Heriot-Watt University researcher has been awarded almost £1 million in funding to develop a mass manufacturing process for a type of hyper-fast optical fibre that could replace conventional telecoms networks.

Dr Calum Ross secured the funding award of £970,000 through the Future Leaders Fellowships programme of UKRI, the UK’s national funding agency for research and innovation.

Dr Ross has spent two years developing an automated process that would allow the mass production of hollow-core fibre — a type of optical fibre that carries light in air about 50% faster than conventional solid glass optical fibre.

“Hollow-core fibre is currently made using a manual process that involves stacking fibre systems by hand – so it can’t be manufactured at scale,” he explained. “I’ve developed a laser-based fabrication approach that is automated and allows me to make a fibre that can be mass manufactured and can also have any internal structure.”

This “freeform” hollow-core fibre offers much higher data transmission speeds than conventional optical fibre, and has many applications in industries including telecoms, manufacturing, and healthcare.

Dr Ross believes the system he is developing could supersede the conventional method of making optical fibre in the future, and that hollow-core fibre could eventually replace all conventional telecoms networks used around the world.

The funding from UKRI allows Dr Ross to recruit a professional postdoctoral researcher and a team of PhD students. Over the four-year project, the team will aim to develop their manufacturing process and establish a group of researchers who are pioneering the field of freeform fibre optics. The Future Leaders Fellows scheme also has an optional three-year extension.

Industry partners in the project include telecoms company BT, as well as laser company Chromacity, a spin-out from Heriot-Watt University in 2013.

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Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, chief executive of UKRI, commented on the funding award: “UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships provide researchers and innovators with long-term support and training, giving them the freedom to explore adventurous new ideas, and to build dynamic careers that break down the boundaries between sectors and disciplines.

“The fellows announced today illustrate how this scheme empowers talented researchers and innovators to build the diverse and connected research and innovation system we need to shorten the distance between discovery and prosperity across the UK.”