Ben Mills

Dr. Ben Mills is a Principal Research Fellow at the University of Southampton. His research focuses on the integration of deep learning with laser technologies, including applications in environmental monitoring, materials science, and biomedical imaging. He is a core member of the Smart Lasers and Special Fibres research group and leads projects such as Hearing Light and Lasers that Learn, funded by the EPSRC. His work spans laser beam shaping, material transfer, and diagnostic techniques using AI-driven photonics.

Research Interests:

• Laser-material interactions
• Deep learning for optical systems
• Environmental sensing via lasers
• Biophotonics applications
• Additive/subtractive manufacturing

Publications (2023–2025) highlight innovations in laser cleaning, beam optimization, and pollen imaging using low-cost hardware. His work bridges fundamental optics with applied machine learning solutions.

External Contributions:

• Speaker at international conferences on AI in photonics (2019–2021)
• Keynote on predictive laser materials processing (2019)
• Presenter at invited sessions on particle sensing via deep learning (2020)

Current Supervision: PhD students Luke Burke (Physics), Fedor Chernikov (ORC), and Yuchen Liu (ORC) work on laser beam control and environmental applications.