CTO
Part of my role is to know our market, talk to academics, researchers, the industry to find out what they want, what they are working on and how we can help. It’s a case of saying we are going to do something and doing it, we don’t over-promise; we don’t under-promise either.
We are a great mix of people at Covesion, I’m the delivery guy, on the ground kind of nuts and bolts kind of this stuff ‘we have been asked for this which has to completed in this timeframe but how do you actually deliver it and be certain it will work?’
Main Areas of Expertise
I have been at Covesion and Stratophase, the original company spun out of Southampton University, my entire career. My Master’s degree was in Physics with Optoelectronics and I then moved to Southampton for my PhD researching Periodically Poled Lithium Niobate (PPLN) and adhesive free bonding.
In 2003, as part of Stratophase, we were the first to commercialise the manufacture of PPLN crystals. We standardised production, the look of the crystal, we had stock items while still offering a custom crystal solution to those customers that wanted it. I went back to Southampton University full-time for a year in 2008 focusing on making MgO: PPLN Crystals, which is now our core material. MgO: PPLN crystals are more stable at lower temperatures, more efficient and better at generating wavelengths. Covesion was founded in 2009 and I worked here for 5 years on secondment from the university.
In 2014 we started looking at the waveguides so I stepped back to university again researching waveguides while continuing as CTO of Covesion. 2014 was also the year where the interest and potential in the quantum technology field began. Research showed that there are other, very specific wavelengths that people needed, for example very specific blue wavelengths to be able to make light work with quantum systems.
With my joint roles at Southampton University and Covesion I have been fortunate in that I have been able to work from an original concept right through to manufacture. Normally, at university, you do the first stage: you have a concept, you make one or two of something, you show it and you publish it; that’s as far as you go. Some people might patent and occasionally do a technology transfer; but there’s not many people out there who go all the way through from concept, right through to commercial production. I feel very privileged to be one of the few.
Hobbies & Interests
I like reading comics. I read a lot of manga, Japanese comics and I also I watch a lot of Japanese cartoons. I enjoy also travelling and especially to Japan. Malaysia is also somewhere was have travelled to a few times as a family. My wife is half Malaysian, it really is a lovely, welcoming place to visit.
I also love the beach, especially in Cornwall we normally try and go two or three times a year. I’ve got a Volkswagen van, customised. It’s not a camper van yet but its big enough to travel around with the family.
I like to swim as well, swimming is one of the only opportunities that I ever switch my brain off I think that’s the reason why I enjoy it, I don’t think about anything else while I am in the pool.
Academic Achievements
Master of Physics, Physics with Optoelectronics. University of Kent
PhD in Periodically Poled Lithium Niobate (PPLN), adhesive free bonding, and Direct UV Writing. University of Southampton