The Light Fantastic: An evening with Alf Adams

The Inaugural Alf Adams Lecture

When?

Monday 27 February 2012, 19:00 (free drink* available from 18:00)

Where?

Royal Society, London (for directions - www.royalsociety.org/visit-us/)

Open to:

Public, Staff, Students

Speaker:

Alf Adams

Admission price:

Full price £7.50; Concessions £5 *Ticket price includes one glass of wine or soft drink per ticket, available from 6pm. (Lecture begins at 7pm)

Tickets:

Tickets are available from the University Box Office: T: 01483 686876, E: boxoffice@surrey.ac.uk

Buy tickets

The series is named in honour of Surrey’s distinguished Professor of Physics, Professor Alfred “Alf” Adams whose work on strained quantum well lasers was recently named as one of the Top Ten greatest UK scientific breakthroughs of all time. These laser diodes play a crucial role in our everyday lives. For example they are used in telecommunications, DVD players, medical technology, supermarket check-outs and they underpin the new ultrafast broadband

During the lecture, Alf will briefly explain how lasers work and why the introduction of strain into semiconductors crystals enhances their ability to produce light. He will present examples and a demonstration showing why they are now such key components in modern technology.

The Lecture will be hosted by Surrey’s own Professor Jim Al-Khalili, well known for his television and radio documentaries and for his role in the public understanding of science – as well as being a quantum physicist himself.

Background information:

Alf was born in England in 1939. He received the following degrees in physics from the University of Leicester: BSc,1961; PhD, 1964; DSc,1986. After completing his PhD research into the electrical and optical properties of orthorhombic sulphur he spent two years at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany studying the thermal and thermoelectric properties of selenium and tellurium. In 1967 he joined the University of Surrey where he is now Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Physics. Semiconductor lasers have been one of his major interests since 1980 when he spent sabbatical leave at Tokyo Institute of Technology. In Surrey he founded the Optoelectronics group and helped establish the Advanced Technology Institute where he has developed unique techniques to study semiconductor optoelectronic devices using hydrostatic pressure. He held the Hitachi Visiting Chair at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1992 and was CNRS Visiting Researcher at the University of Montpellier in 1993. In 1995 he was awarded the Duddell Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics. He is a Life Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers in the UK. In 1996 he was Elected Fellow of the Royal Society.

In 1986 Alf proposed that the electronic band structure of quantum well lasers could be significantly improved by deliberately growing the active layer in a state of strain. It was found that this greatly improved almost all the lasers properties and presently strained quantum-well devices dominate the semiconductor laser market. They are used for the internet both to generate the initial signals and to supply power to the fibre amplifiers that help the data on its way.  Shorter wavelength devices are used in DVDs, computer memories and mice, for printing and for bar-code readers, and even to provide the power for metal cutting and welding. At longer wavelengths they are used for chemical sensing, for pollution monitoring and in medicine. Because of their high wall-plug efficiency and high output power, strained quantum-well lasers are likely to play a key role in the future for displays and solid-state lighting.