The Centre for Advanced Photonics & Process Analysis (CAPPA)

The Centre for Advanced Photonics & Process Analysis (CAPPA) is a research group of Munster Technological University. CAPPA works in the area of photonics, the generation and manipulation of light, and is an important enabling technology for a wide range of applications. CAPPA is at the forefront of photonics research in Ireland, conducting both applied and fundamental research on photonics for applications in areas as diverse as telecommunications, medical devices, food and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Technology solutions provided include spectroscopy, imaging, microscopy, sensing & detection, process monitoring and nanophotonics/semiconductor device design and fabrication.

CAPPA’s activities focus on bringing the benefits of photonics technology to a diverse range of industry partners. The collaboration with industry is driven through the Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateway, with a specific remit to provide photonics solutions to regional industry, and hence CAPPA have a strong track record of engagement with companies. This higher-TRL activity is backed up by world-leading academic research in areas such as silicon photonics and materials characterisation, as well as international collaboration in EU H2020 and Horizon Europe projects.

While early collaborations with industry centred on our core background strengths in photonic materials and devices, and consequently were primarily in the photonics sector, these have since expanded. CAPPA’s work with industry now focuses on a wide variety of sectors including medical devices, pharmaceuticals, electronics and food technology, while consolidating our interaction with the photonics sector. With photonics now positioned as a key enabling technology, there is scope for CAPPA to bring value to a wide range of manufacturing and product design sectors outside of those identified above.