Julian Fells

Julian is an EPSRC Research Fellow. He graduated from University College London in 1991 with a first class degree in Electronic Engineering with Optoelectronics. He went on to gain a Ph.D. in Quantum Well Optical Modulators from the School of Physics, University of Bath. He then moved into industry, first spending 3 years at GEC-Marconi Caswell researching optical devices, optical phased array radar systems and optical sensor systems.

He then spent 7 Years at Nortel Networks Harlow Laboratories undertaking research into high capacity optical transmission systems. Following this he became Research and Development Manager at Cambridge start-up Splashpower, pioneering wireless power for mobile devices. Subsequently he moved to QinetiQ spin-out company Stingray Geophysical as Optical Systems Manager. Here he was responsible for the development of a large scale optical sensor interrogation system for seismic imaging of oil and gas fields. Highlights of Julian’s research include inventing the twin fibre grating tunable dispersion compensator and devising the first negative chirp electroabsorption modulator. This latter device is now a key component in optical telecommunications systems. At Oxford, Julian is developing new sensor technology using laser-written Fibre Bragg gratings, for which he was awarded a prestigious 5-year EPSRC Fellowship in 2020.