John Travers, professor of physics at Heriot-Watt University and director of the Laboratory of Ultrafast Physics and Optics, has been awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies. The award aims to support ‘global research visionaries’ and provides ten years of funding for emerging technologies with high potential to deliver economic and social benefits to the UK.

Professor Travers’ research uses wave formations that were discovered in the Union Canal next to Heriot-Watt’s Edinburgh campus 200 years ago by Scottish civil engineer John Scott Russell. The team uses these waves – as light waves rather than water waves – to create ultrafast optical pulses that are only an attosecond in duration.

The process creates a high-performing form of bright ultraviolet light that has multiple transformational applications in sectors including manufacturing, electronics, AI, and drug discovery. “This can lead to advances like new materials, new drug discovery and more powerful computer chips – which underpin everything we do, from our mobile phones to artificial intelligence,” Prof Travers explained. “It will also mean materials can be processed to produce much smaller structures, so you'll be able to manufacture micromachines or microscopic mechanical devices with great precision.”

A key feature of the ultraviolet system Prof Travers has invented is its tabletop size. This is tiny compared to the building-sized, multibillion dollar machines currently used to generate ultraviolet and X-ray light sources. His system is already being used in 14 different labs around the world, including healthcare and semiconductor settings.

The funding that Prof Travers has been awarded focuses on developing ultrafast, bright ultraviolet X-ray and electron beams. “The Royal Academy of Engineering award is fantastic because it provides long-term funding to underpin our research,” Prof Travers said. “We will be able to recruit new academic staff at the assistant professor level and also build a center of excellence in this area.”

The Royal Academy of Engineering advances and promotes excellence in engineering. Its Chair in Emerging Technologies scheme is funded by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and has awarded more than 100 million pound to 43 Chairs since 2017. Prof Travers is one of four academics in this latest funding round.