| Citation | Philip Russell has made many contributions to the subject of waves in periodic media, borrowing concepts from many other fields, including x-ray diffraction and electronic band structure. He pioneered the study of photonic Bloch waves in planar wave guides and worked on the early development of fibre Bragg gratings. However he is chiefly distinguished for his 1991 invention of photonic crystal fibre (PCF), a glass fibre that traps light within a array of hollow micro/nano-channels located at the core of the fibre. This revolutionary concept gives huge flexibility in tuning the properties of fibre, far beyond anything previously available. One dramatic example amongst many is hollow core PCF: by allowing tight confinement of light within a gas-filled core, it is creating a revolution in gas-laser physics. His group in Bath remain the leaders in the field and his work is acclaimed internationally both for its scientific innovation, and for the applications being developed. |