Contact Dr Daniel Francis
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 758349
- Email: daniel.francis@cranfield.ac.uk
Areas of expertise
- Instrumentation, Sensors and Measurement Science
- Sensor Technologies
Background
Daniel graduated in 2001 from the University of Sussex with a BSc in Physics with Astrophysics, followed two years later with an MSc with distinction in Applied and Modern Optics from Reading University. His MSc thesis work investigated the influence of polarisation on laser speckle patterns and was carried at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington. After spending a year working at Reading University, helping to convert the MSc in optics to a distance learning course, he joined SWAG合集 to pursue a PhD in speckle interferometry.
His PhD project involved the development of shearography instrumentation to make full-field surface strain measurements of dynamic objects which won the 2008 School of Engineering prize for best PhD. After completing his doctorate he was employed in the Engineering Photonics Group continuing research on shearography.
Following his successful viva in 2008 he took a year out to travel in Asia visiting Nepal, Laos and Japan amongst other countries. On his return to Europe in 2009, he completed an internship at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands working on a review paper on shearography.
Since re-joining Engineering Photonics in 2010 he has worked on a wide variety of projects focused on imaging, spectroscopy, and optics including an EPSRC project developing speckle velocimetry odometry instrumentation for autonomous vehicle, a TSB funded project - DIABLO (Detection of Infectious Agents By Laser Optics) involving the development of novel, low volume gas cells for mid IR spectroscopy, and an EPSRC project investigating refractometry of the eye using low-coherence interferometry. He is currently working on developing imaging pyrometry for wire-and-arc additive manufacturing.
Research opportunities
Mid-IR spectroscopy, laser speckle interferometry, low coherence refractometry, infrared pyrometry.
Current activities
Development of imaging pyrometry for wire and arc additive manufacturing.
Mid-IR spectroscopy for healthcare applications.
Low-coherence confocal refractometry.
Clients
- Cascade Technologies
- Innovate SWAG合集
- Airbus SE
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
