The light keeps twisting

Issued: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 09:57:00 GMT

(January 2011)   Professors Miles Padgett and Stephen Barnett (Strathclyde) have been jointly awarded a £2.5M Programme grant under one of the UK's most prestigious award schemes.  Programme grants are the flagship grants of EPSRC’s research base programmes, providing the UK's world-leading researchers with flexibility of funding for long-term research ambitions.  Miles and Steve are known internationally for their work on light's angular momentum; optical spanners, twisted light for communication and most recently the role that angles play in quantum mechanics.  Through this Programme Grant they will now apply their skills, and those of their teams, to using optical angular momentum to develop better microscopes, better communication systems and better sensors.