Smart Bungs for wine monitoring. 'Smart Bung' sensors will use optical fibres to monitor wine production using only nano- to microlitre-scale volumes, significantly reducing wastage and improving quality. They will serve as 'early warning devices' and will ensure that Australia's wine industry maintains its outstanding international reputation for excellence and innovation.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0346888
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$288,000.00
Summary
3-D Optical Surface Profiler. Establishing a state-of-the-science 3-D optical surface profiler will enable macroscopic, microscopic and nanoscopic profiling of surfaces over a very broad range of research programs including, laser cleaning and surface modification, laser precision microfabrication, surface, materials and device characterisation and optical physics applications. The importance and significance of these projects has already been established by the projects having competitive fundi ....3-D Optical Surface Profiler. Establishing a state-of-the-science 3-D optical surface profiler will enable macroscopic, microscopic and nanoscopic profiling of surfaces over a very broad range of research programs including, laser cleaning and surface modification, laser precision microfabrication, surface, materials and device characterisation and optical physics applications. The importance and significance of these projects has already been established by the projects having competitive funding. The instrument will undoubtedly support many additional research programs. It is similar to an Atomic-Force-Microscope or stylus profilometer but has significant additional capabilites. These include profiling much larger areas at sub-nanometre resolution and the non-contact nature of the technique. These features will enable surface characterisation that can not be achieved by other means.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100250
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,000.00
Summary
Opto-acoustic metasurfaces. This project aims to develop efficient nanoscale light and sound sources and merge them on an extra-thin surface. Interactions between light and sound waves at the macroscopic scale are used every day, such as in non-destructive testing and contact-less imaging. However, research into nanoscale light-sound interactions is new and has not realised its full potential. This project intends to develop ultra-compact sources of light and sound, tune them effectively, harnes ....Opto-acoustic metasurfaces. This project aims to develop efficient nanoscale light and sound sources and merge them on an extra-thin surface. Interactions between light and sound waves at the macroscopic scale are used every day, such as in non-destructive testing and contact-less imaging. However, research into nanoscale light-sound interactions is new and has not realised its full potential. This project intends to develop ultra-compact sources of light and sound, tune them effectively, harness them simultaneously, and convert one to another efficiently, all crucial for real-world applications. This research is expected to improve technologies that use light and sound, including microscopy and spectroscopy.Read moreRead less
Nanoparticle-enabled photorefractive digital holography: toward the next generation ultrafast and multi-colour three dimensional display technology. The cutting-edge knowledge in nanoparticle-enabled photorefractive polymers will provide an innovative material for green-photonics industry. The new generation ultrafast and multi-colour digital holographic three dimensional display technology will be potentially beneficial to entertainment sectors, remote education and medical diagnosis and photov ....Nanoparticle-enabled photorefractive digital holography: toward the next generation ultrafast and multi-colour three dimensional display technology. The cutting-edge knowledge in nanoparticle-enabled photorefractive polymers will provide an innovative material for green-photonics industry. The new generation ultrafast and multi-colour digital holographic three dimensional display technology will be potentially beneficial to entertainment sectors, remote education and medical diagnosis and photovoltaics.Read moreRead less
Optomechanical refrigeration of electronic circuits. The project aims to apply laser light to reduce the temperature of electronic circuits. This aims to greatly suppress electronic noise, and enable a new class of technologies for future telecommunication systems. By developing new techniques to confine light, electric fields and vibrations at sub-micron scale on a silicon chip, devices such as ultralow noise amplifiers, clocks and radio frequency receivers will be realised, along with ultra-ef ....Optomechanical refrigeration of electronic circuits. The project aims to apply laser light to reduce the temperature of electronic circuits. This aims to greatly suppress electronic noise, and enable a new class of technologies for future telecommunication systems. By developing new techniques to confine light, electric fields and vibrations at sub-micron scale on a silicon chip, devices such as ultralow noise amplifiers, clocks and radio frequency receivers will be realised, along with ultra-efficient optical modulators. In future, these technologies could reduce energy consumption and improve reliability in telecommunication networks. They could improve the range of satellite communication, robustness of GPS against cosmic radiation, and performance of surveillance systems such as radar and sonar.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989648
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$350,000.00
Summary
Optical test-bed facility for mid infrared components for sensing, imaging and astrophotonics. This test facility will enable Australian researchers to validate optical components and technologies at wavelengths from 2.5 to 20 microns, that are crucial for a wide range of applications including biophotonics, sensing, imaging, defense, and astro-photonics. Technologies related to the Mid IR are
expected to have a significant impact on quality of life and global economy. It will enable Australi ....Optical test-bed facility for mid infrared components for sensing, imaging and astrophotonics. This test facility will enable Australian researchers to validate optical components and technologies at wavelengths from 2.5 to 20 microns, that are crucial for a wide range of applications including biophotonics, sensing, imaging, defense, and astro-photonics. Technologies related to the Mid IR are
expected to have a significant impact on quality of life and global economy. It will enable Australian researchers to achieve a major impact in many areas of Mid IR fundamental and applied science as well as industry sectors such as sensing, biophotonics, defence, health, bio-security and imaging. Read moreRead less
Early-Stage Medical Diagnostics by Plasmon-Mediated Gas Sensing. This project will investigate the use plasmonic absorption of light in metal nanostructures to activate the selective oxidation/reduction of a gas molecule on a semiconductor nanoparticle. This concept will be used with the aim of developing a sensing technique capable of measuring ultra-low concentrations (ppb) of breath markers for lung cancer detection. It is expected that porous sensing films of semiconductor and metal nanopart ....Early-Stage Medical Diagnostics by Plasmon-Mediated Gas Sensing. This project will investigate the use plasmonic absorption of light in metal nanostructures to activate the selective oxidation/reduction of a gas molecule on a semiconductor nanoparticle. This concept will be used with the aim of developing a sensing technique capable of measuring ultra-low concentrations (ppb) of breath markers for lung cancer detection. It is expected that porous sensing films of semiconductor and metal nanoparticles with well-defined light absorption properties will be fabricated. Superior selectivity will be achieved by matching the wavelength of the absorbed light with the required activation energy for oxidation/reduction. Successful outcomes will enable multi-analyte fingerprint identification by on-chip devices with applications ranging from portable medical diagnostics to national security.Read moreRead less
Ultraprecise sensing with microcavity optomechanics. New technologies will be developed to observe nanoscale motion with light confined on a silicon chip. Based on advances in integrated photonics and nanofabrication, these technologies will enable microscale magnetic field, mass, and gas sensing with precision surpassing today’s state-of-the-art. Important proof-of-principle applications will be realised, including ultrasensitive monitoring of greenhouse emissions, hydrogen absorption into fuel ....Ultraprecise sensing with microcavity optomechanics. New technologies will be developed to observe nanoscale motion with light confined on a silicon chip. Based on advances in integrated photonics and nanofabrication, these technologies will enable microscale magnetic field, mass, and gas sensing with precision surpassing today’s state-of-the-art. Important proof-of-principle applications will be realised, including ultrasensitive monitoring of greenhouse emissions, hydrogen absorption into fuel cell materials, space communication technologies, and magnetic resonance techniques for diagnosis of disease and airport security. The capacity to observe microscopic processes with record precision will further enable fundamental studies in areas such as condensed matter physics and photosynthesis.Read moreRead less
Creation of New Precision Optical and Microwave Technologies and their Application to Testing the Fundamental of Physics. Clocks and oscillators are crucial for the highest precision scientific and industrial measurements and are the foundation of modern communications technology. Recent developments in laser-cooled optical clocks promise a wave of revolutionary changes to global navigation, timekeeping and precision measurement. Our group has already achieved world's-best performance in this f ....Creation of New Precision Optical and Microwave Technologies and their Application to Testing the Fundamental of Physics. Clocks and oscillators are crucial for the highest precision scientific and industrial measurements and are the foundation of modern communications technology. Recent developments in laser-cooled optical clocks promise a wave of revolutionary changes to global navigation, timekeeping and precision measurement. Our group has already achieved world's-best performance in this field. To stay at the forefront of this wave we propose a broad-ranging program of research aimed at:
- new clocks of 100 times higher performance than any existing clock,
- development of extremely low noise photonic oscillators,
- the application of these new technologies to test the foundations of Physics, including involvement in a space-based experiment.
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Functional nonlinear nanophotonics. This project will uncover novel ways of controlling ultra-short optical pulses through the special structuring of materials at the nanoscale. New functionalities based on enhanced nonlinear light-matter interactions will underpin advances in future optical communication networks and computing systems, laser radars and sensing applications.