David Neil Payne (born 13 August 1944) is a British professor of photonics who is director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton.
He has made several contributions in areas of optical fibre communications over the last fifty years and his work has affected telecommunications and laser technology.
[3][4] The idea was adopted at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, USA [5] and the two teams between them developed much of the EDFA technology we know today.
The EDFA was a crucial component that fuelled the rapid growth in the internet through its ability to transmit and amplify large amounts of data.
He also directs the Photonics Hyperhighway research project, aimed at making internet connections 100 times faster.