Roger heads the Aerospace Non-Destructive Testing (ANDT) Laboratory in Aerospace Engineering and is particularly interested in wave-wave and wave-matter interaction and in using this knowledge to develop instrumentation to study material properties and structural integrity. He has a PhD in Optical Instrumentation from Cranfield University (2002) and previously worked as a senior scientist at the Institute for Applied Optics, University of Stuttgart.
One focus of Roger’s research is in developing imaging systems using interferometric and spectral properties. His shearography instrument is now in its 5th iteration (and 3rd university) and is able to measure the strain field of freeform shape engineering objects in both laboratory and industrial environments. He has also developed optical coherence tomography (OCT) for materials testing, which in its current iteration is being applied to multi-spectral through-thickness analysis of heritage objects.
A second research focus is to enhance the sensing properties of grating-based and interferometric fibre optic sensors. For grating-based sensors, Roger is developing algorithms with his team to exploit information in the side-bands and resonance modes to provide additional sensing functionality for applications in composite curing and materials degradation. Further applications are shape sensing of aerospace structures and variable sensitivity for structural health monitoring (SHM) systems.
Scientific interests
- Modelling wave-wave and wave matter interaction
- Interferometry, optical design, image processing
- Light scattering, absorption and mode conversion
Expertise:
- Conceptual design of beyond state of the art optical instrumentation
- Instrument development from principles of physics to (portable) demonstrator
- Instrument control and processing software
- Measurement applications in an engineering environment
- Aerospace applications
- Optical diagnostics for heritage objects
Models and equipment:
- 3D shape shearography, pulsed laser shearography for studying impact events
- Thermography and associated material models for heat transfer
- AI algorithms for automated defect detection in images/3D data
- NIR and visible light multi-spectral OCT for materials testing
- Visible light and NIR hyperspectral imaging, AI algorithms for classification and material aging
- FBG and interferometric fibre optic sensing interrogators, shape sensing algorithms
- Optical design software, Zemax
- Ultrasonic NDT inspection instrumentation: phased-array, guided wave and associated models