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I am a postgraduate researcher in Physics at the University of Bath. At sixth form, I studied English, Art, Physics and Maths at A-level. At the point of choosing my A-level subjects, I was sure that I wanted to study some kind of English Literature based topic at University… Until I found I really liked Physics! More specifically, I liked being able to describe things with Mathematics.

After sixth form, I did a four year undergraduate course in Physics at the University of Bath. I really enjoyed my time studying Physics with lots of interesting new people! I decided to stay and become a postgraduate, so I could keep learning.

When I’m not working, I enjoy rollerskating!

When I’m not hiding in a dark lab, I also love rollerskating, making crafts and gaming.

Three optical fibres that are transmitting red light. (Image: James Stone)

I design, make and test optical fibres. These are thin, long strands of very pure glass, typically about the size of human hair, that guide light across extremely long distances.

I work within a team at the University of Bath to provide the optical fibres needed for the Proteus research project. The fibres for Proteus need to be able to image and sense problems within the lungs, so as well as performing their functions, they need to be able to fit into the small airways of the lungs.

There are three very different types of day I can have, depending on what type of work I need to do:

• Making optical fibre
• Testing optical fibre
• Modifying optical fibres

If I am making an optical fibre, I will spend all of my day in a clean room. This is a room that is just as it sounds – very clean! This is to stop our glass from getting dirty. Dust, water or dirt in our fibres will mean they will not keep light inside very well, making a lossy fibre. In the morning, I will put on a special suit, shoe protectors and gloves, and I will prepare my structure to make into optical fibre. This is usually made of carefully stacked glass rods that are built into the shape I would like them to be inside the optical fibre. In the afternoon, I will heat this glass structure in a furnace. When the glass is soft, it is stretched to create long and thin optical fibres.

Glass rods, each 1 metre long, have been stacked into a hexagonal shape.

When this process is finished, I need to test the optical fibre to make sure it is working correctly. On these days, I will spend my morning setting up the necessary equipment to do this – it can take time to look for all of the tools that I need, as expensive equipment is often shared!

Once I have the equipment I need, I will launch laser light into the fibre. This can be very fiddly, because the laser light needs to fall on the end of the very thin fibre to get inside. I have to get the most light I can into my fibre in order to test it. I use a detector or a camera to see how well the fibre carries the light.

A powerful laser beam is sent through the optical fibre in a dark lab.

If I want to modify optical fibres, I will use a “taper rig”. The optical fibre is held and pulled on in opposite directions, whilst a flame is heating it; this stretches the fibre. Lots of cool structures can be made with this method!

A flame heats an optical fibre, so that it can be stretched.

Optical fibres are beautiful and very visually interesting to look at! We really love showing them off, but due to their small size the can be difficult. We have carefully created demonstrations, pre-recorded videos, image galleries, or very rigid models.

An example of our current equipment that we use with the general public.

While these are all exciting to look at and have a conversation around, my favourite activity that I have done with the public is making a mini spectroscope to take home. Spectroscopes are tools for inspecting the different colours that make up a beam of light, which look very beautiful and are also very scientifically informative. It is important for me that the audience gets to connect with, handle, and build their own science experiments. Spectroscopes are perfect for this, but there is no reason that optical fibres can’t be real hands-on experiments for general audiences too!

One of our scientists shows her audience how to use their freshly made spectroscopes (Image: William Wadsworth).

However, to make real imaging fibre experiments a public engagement activity, I would need to buy some equipment. I need fibre inspection tools that we use in research, that could be modified specially for imaging fibres. I would buy a fibre inspector and a camera, so that we can show our real fibres in our public engagement activities. This would allow people to see, use and handle the real fibres themselves, rather than just images and demonstrations.

Onion cells through an imaging fibre. With some equipment, people could use the imaging fibre to do this themselves in our public engagement!