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 Cranfield University 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.
In 2010, he rejoined the Department of Engineering Photonics employed on an EPSRC project developing speckle velocimetry odometry instrumentation for autonomous vehicles. In 2011 he began a TSB funded project - DIABLO (Detection of Infectious Agents By Laser Optics) and his contribution involves the development of novel, low volume gas cells for mid IR spectroscopy for biomedical applications.
Current activities
- Gas detection using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS).
- Autonomous vehicle odometry using laser speckle velocimetry.
- Displacement, shape and strain measurement using electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) and shearography
Clients
- Cascade Technologies
- Technology Strategy Board
- EADS Astrium
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Davis NM, Francis D, Hodgkinson J & Tatam RP (2023) Compact methane sensor using an integrating sphere and interband cascade laser at 3313 nm, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 389 (August) Article No. 133866. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.22700626
- Lourenço C, Bergin S, Hodgkinson J, Francis D, Staines SE, Saffell JR, Walton C & Tatam RP (2020) Instrumentation for quantitative analysis of volatile compounds emission at elevated temperatures. Part 1: Design and implementation, Scientific Reports, 10 (1) Article No. 8700.
- Lourenço C, Francis D, Fowler DP, Staines SE, Hodgkinson J, Walton C, Bergin S & Tatam RP (2020) Instrumentation for quantitative analysis of volatile compounds emission at elevated temperatures. Part 2: Analysis of carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composite, Scientific Reports, 10 (1) Article No. 8702.
- Bergin S, Hodgkinson J, Francis D & Tatam RP (2020) Ratiometric pathlength calibration of integrating sphere-based absorption cells, Optics Express, 28 (13) 19574-19592. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.8429051.v1
- Ford HD, Francis D, Hallam JM & Tatam RP (2019) Influence of aberrations on confocal-based remote refractive index measurements, Applied Optics, 58 (24) 6474-6485. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.7993745
- Francis D, Ford H & Tatam R (2018) Spectrometer-based refractive index and dispersion measurement using low-coherence interferometry with confocal scanning, Optics Express, 26 (3) 3604-3614. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.5519725
- Bergin S, Hodgkinson J, Francis D & Tatam RP (2016) Integrating cavity based gas cells: a multibeam compensation scheme for pathlength variation, Optics Express, 24 (12) 13647-13664. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.4004910.v1
- Francis D, Hodgkinson J, Livingstone B, Black P & Tatam RP (2016) Low-volume, fast response-time hollow silica waveguide gas cells for mid-IR spectroscopy, Applied Optics, 55 (25) 6797-6806. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.3492908.v1
- Chowdhury SA, Correia R, Francis D, Brooks SJ, Jones BJS, Thompson AWJ, Hodgkinson J & Tatam RP (2015) An Optical Fiber Hydrogen Sensor Using a Palladium-Coated Ball Lens, Journal of Lightwave Technology, 33 (12) 2535-2542.
- Francis D, Hodgkinson J, Livingstone B & Tatam RP (2015) Quantum cascade laser light propagation through hollow silica waveguides, Applied Physics B, 119 (1) 75-86.
- Francis D, Masiyano D, Hodgkinson J & Tatam RP (2015) A mechanically stable laser diode speckle interferometer for surface contouring and displacement measurement, Measurement Science and Technology, 26 (5- 055402) 1-7.
- Bledowski IA, Charrett TOH, Francis D, James SW & Tatam RP (2013) Frequency-division multiplexing for multicomponent shearography, Applied Optics, 52 (3) 350-358.
- Chowdhury S. A., Chehura E., Correia R., Francis D., Hodgkinson J. & Tatam R. P. (2013) Stability comparison between two optical refractometer techniques, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 450 (1).
- Francis D, Charrett TOH, Waugh L & Tatam RP (2012) Objective speckle velocimetry for autonomous vehicle odometry, Applied Optics, 51 (16) 3478-3490.
- Charrett TOH, Francis D & Tatam RP (2011) Quantitative shearography: error reduction by using more than three measurement channels, Applied Optics, 50 (2) 134-146.
- Francis D, Tatam RP & Groves RM (2010) Shearography technology and applications: A review, Measurement Science and Technology, 21 (10) 1-29.
- Francis D, James SW & Tatam RP (2008) Surface strain measurement of rotating objects using pulsed laser shearography with coherent fibre-optic imaging bundles, Measurement Science and Technology, 19 (10) 5301-5313.
- Francis D, James SW & Tatam RP (2007) Surface strain measurement using multi-component shearography with coherent fibre-optic imaging bundles, Measurement Science and Technology, 18 (11) 3583-3591.
Conference Papers
- Francis D, Ford HD, Hallam JM & Tatam RP (2019) The use of parabolic mirrors in combined low-coherence and confocal refractive index measurement. In: SPIE Optical Metrology 2019, Munich, 24-27 June 2019.
- Francis D, Ford H & Tatam R (2018) Refractive index and dispersion measurement using low-coherence interferometry with broadband confocal scanning. In: SPIE Photonics Europe 2018, Strasbourg, 22-26 April 2018.
- Francis D, Hodgkinson J, Walton C, Sizer J, Black P, Livingstone B, Fowler DP, Patel MK & Tatam RP (2017) Mid-IR spectroscopic instrumentation for point-of-care diagnosis using a hollow silica waveguide gas cell. In: Photonics West, San Francisco, CA, 27 January - 1 February 2017.
- Davis NM, Hodgkinson J, Francis D & Tatam RP (2016) Sensitive detection of methane at 3.3 μm using an integrating sphere and interband cascade laser. In: Optical Sensing and Detection IV, Brussels, 3-7 April 2016.
- Bergin S, Hodgkinson J, Francis D & Tatam RP (2015) A method for continuous in-situ pathlength calibration of integrating sphere based gas cells. In: Advanced environmental, chemical, and biological sensing technologies XII, Baltimore, Maryland, 20-21 April 2015.
- Chowdhury SA, Correia R, Francis D, Brooks SJ, Jones BJS, Thompson AWJ, Hodgkinson J & Tatam RP (2014) Palladium coated ball lens for optical fibre refractometry based hydrogen sensing. In: 23rd international conference on optical fibre sensors (OFS-23), 2014, Santander, 2-6 June 2014.
- Francis D, Charrett TOH, Waugh L & Tatam RP (2012) Speckle velocimetry for odometry measurements of autonomous vehicles. In: 5th International Conference on Optical Measurement Techniques, Antwerp, 4 April 2012.
- Charrett TOH, Francis D & Tatam RP (2009) Laser speckle metrology for high accuracy odometry and quantitative surface strain measurements. In: Photonex09, Optics in Non-Destructive Evaluation, Coventry, 14-15 October 2009.
- Francis D, James SW & Tatam RP (2008) Surface strain measurement of rotating objects using shearography instrumentation based on fibre-optic imaging bundles. In: 19th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors (OFS-19), Perth, 15-18 April 2008.
- Francis D, James SW & Tatam RP (2008) Development of a multi-component shearography instrument for surface strain measurement on dynamic objects. In: Interferometry XIV: Techniques and Analysis, 2008, San Diego, CA, 11-13 August 2008.
- Francis D, James SW & Tatam RP (2007) Measurement of surface strain using multi-component pulsed laser shearography with coherent fibre-optic bundles. In: Optical Measurement Systems for Industrial Inspection V, 2007, Munich, 18-22 June 2007.
