Parker Technology specialises in Scientific Consultancy to Industry, custom photography including high-speed photography, high-definition video recording, and offers Due Diligence services to Investors.
Greg Parker is Professor of Photonics at the University of Southampton U.K., and the Managing Director of Parker Technology. He has acted as a Consultant to Industry for over 23 years specialising in photonics, and semiconductor processes and devices.
Parker Technology is able to tackle problems in a very broad range of Science & Engineering disciplines, but does not address the Biosciences. Professor Greg Parker is an expert in the fields of scientific photography, UHV vacuum deposition processes, micro/nano photonics, semiconductor devices, and high-power Xenon flash systems. He created the first fully-portable (safe!) high-powered flash systems for nature photograpers over 25 years ago. In July 2001 he formed the University spin-out company Mesophotonics Ltd. which developed photonic crystal circuits and devices for commercial applications. He sold the IP of his company Mobius Ltd. to Vacuum Generators Ltd. (VG Ltd.) almost at the same time as founding Mesophotonics. VG acquired all the know-how and IP from Mobius Ltd. on how to build UHV compatible low-pressure epitaxial deposition systems for Silicon-based materials.
Custom photographic assignments are also part of the Parker Technology portfolio. Deep-sky imaging, macrophotography, microphotography and high-speed still photography are all areas where Parker Technology excels. Whether you require unique images for advertising literature, for fault-finding/metrology work, or simply for corporate motivational framed prints – contact Parker Technology to see what we are able to offer.
Parker Technology also offers high-definition video recording services for your events! Using state of the art high-definition video recording equipment with accompanying high-resolution stills photography if required, Parker Technology is fully-equipped to record and store to DVD – family occasions, corporate events, advertising material, news events and new product launches.
Greg’s undergraduate textbook on “Introductory Semiconductor Device Physics” was reprinted by the Institute of Physics Publishing Group (IOPP) in September 2004, and is now published by Taylor & Francis [CRC] Ltd. A book on CCD astrophotography describing how to take deep-sky images was published by Springer [Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series] in September 2007. A third book, this time a large-format coffee-table book of deep-sky images created with Noel Carboni [Florida, U.S.A.] was published by Springer in March 2009. As an extra incentive to look out for this book, the Forewords are written by Sir Arthur C Clarke, Sir Patrick Moore and Dr. Brian May.
On-going projects for 2010 include:
1) Biomimetically-Inspired Optical Nanomaterials – not a book, but a Review Article for Nanotechnology.
2) New Forest Panoramas – breathtaking panoramic and macro shots of the New Forest area.
3) Cassiopeia – a large-format, full-colour, “coffee-table” book detailing the constellation Cassiopeia and all the interesting deep-sky objects found within its boundaries. “Cassiopeia” includes a massive 24 x 80 inch high-quality high-resolution full colour poster of the whole of the Cassiopeia region.
4) Star Vistas II – the sequel to Star Vistas with a completely new set of high-resolution full-colour deep-sky images!
5) Through the Looking Glass - a large-format coffee-table book of photomicrographs (high resolution images taken through a microscope).
6) Microsecond Magic - another large-format coffee-table book, this time using high-power high-speed Xenon flashguns to freeze moments in time.
4th December 2009:
The Golden Solid Angle – first written for publication 14th June 2007:
I like certain aspects of pure mathematics as much as I like deep-sky imaging. I think most people will have heard of the Golden-Section, or the Golden-Ratio, and how it can be obtained by dividing a straight line up into two sections one of length unity, and the other of length tau or 1.61803398… What is less well-known is that if you wrap the line round into a circle, so the circle perimeter is divided into lengths of unity and 1.618, then then angle subtended by the unity length of the perimeter at the centre of the circle is 137.507 degrees – or the Golden Angle.
That’s where the story seems to have been left, for a very long time, but I have to wonder, why? We started with a line (one-dimension), then moved to a circle (two-dimensions), where’s the spherical case (3-dimensions)? I did a long search a couple of years back and couldn’t find anything on this. So I wrote a paper on “The Golden Solid Angle” for the Mathematical Gazette, which was in fact turned down as “although the result was new, just having a new result is not necessarily having something worthy of publication” – well that’s a new one for me! So wishing to stake my claim as the discoverer of the Golden Solid Angle (sent to the Mathematical Gazette on Thursday 14th June 2007) here’s the thing explained for the first time below.
Divide the surface of a sphere into two regions, one of surface area unity, and the other of surface area 1.618… The surface area of unity will subtend a solid angle gamma at the centre of the sphere. By noting the total solid angle about a point is 4Pi Steradians, we can derive the following equation for gamma:
(4Pi - gamma)/gamma = 4Pi/(4Pi - gamma)
Giving a quadratic in gamma which can be solved in the usual way to give:
gamma = 1.52786Pi Steradians or 15757.2 square degrees.
Question is, does anyone out there know where the Golden Solid Angle, gamma, makes an appearance in the Natural world (or basically, anywhere)? If you do then please let me know ASAP 
Also, “The Golden Ratio and Living Systems”:
The Golden Ratio (and the closely associated Fibonacci series) makes many appearances in the “living world” – here’s my question – not including Mathematics and man-made objects, does the Golden Ratio appear naturally in any inorganic systems? There is a link between quasicrystals and the Golden Ratio, but I’m looking for a more direct link than these. Once again, does anyone out there know of a clear example of the Golden Ratio making an appearance in a non-organic system? If you do – please let me know ASAP
Contact Greg by e-mailing greg@concept2innovation.com if you require any more information.