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Founded and organised by Scottish Innovation, the John
Logie Baird Awards have been running for eleven years, recognising and
rewarding innovation in three categories: Established Firms, Inventors
and Small Firms, and University Spin Outs.
For his work in optical filters which can protect the
eye from powerful laser beams but still allow high visibility, Dr
Placido won the University Spin Out category and was also awarded the
overall title of Innovator of the Year. He was presented with his awards
at a ceremony in Paisley Town Hall by Prof Malcolm Baird (son of John
Logie Baird) and Lord MacDonald the Scottish Industry Minister. The
awards are the result of over six years of work in the department into
novel methods of designing and producing thin film optical filters.
Three PhD students have worked with Dr Placido on this
project; John Russell who now works in thin film research at the Defence
Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) at Malvern; Zhenhui Gou who came
from Beijing, China to work at Paisley, now at Photonic Materials, and
Mack Gibson who continues as a part-time PhD student while lecturing in
Physics at Stow College.
The techniques which have been developed by Dr Placido
and his team allow the simple production of complex ‘graded-index’
coatings on glass and other substrates. Such coatings can be designed to
reflect light from laser sources while still allowing normal vision
through the coating for the user. In addition to eye protection these
thin films can be used in head-up displays, laser mirrors and as
pigments in security printing. |
