Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160101585
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$388,463.00
Summary
Harnessing Astrophotonics and Adaptive Optics to Discover Habitable Planets. This project aims to improve spectrographic design in order to increase precision in astronomical research. The discovery of Earth's twin, a habitable world in another stellar system, is one of the most remarkable scientific endeavours of our time. The gravitational tug of the planet on its host star causes a periodic Doppler shift of the star’s spectrum which is recorded using spectrographs. The instrumental precision ....Harnessing Astrophotonics and Adaptive Optics to Discover Habitable Planets. This project aims to improve spectrographic design in order to increase precision in astronomical research. The discovery of Earth's twin, a habitable world in another stellar system, is one of the most remarkable scientific endeavours of our time. The gravitational tug of the planet on its host star causes a periodic Doppler shift of the star’s spectrum which is recorded using spectrographs. The instrumental precision required to detect an Earth-like planet is a few centimetres per second, significantly better than the best current spectrographs can provide. This project plans to combine novel technologies from adaptive optics and astrophotonics into an innovative spectrograph design that will improve Doppler precision by a factor of ten, sufficient to find planets.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100142
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$727,900.00
Summary
Australian quantum gas microscope. This project aims to create a quantum gas microscope for ultra-cold dysprosium atoms, realising a versatile system for quantum emulation, tests of fundamental, atom interferometry, and precision measurement. Quantum gas microscopy is a frontier area allowing atom-by-atom synthesis and probing of tailored quantum materials such as topological insulators. Using the lanthanide element dysprosium, which is highly magnetic and possesses both bosonic and fermionic is ....Australian quantum gas microscope. This project aims to create a quantum gas microscope for ultra-cold dysprosium atoms, realising a versatile system for quantum emulation, tests of fundamental, atom interferometry, and precision measurement. Quantum gas microscopy is a frontier area allowing atom-by-atom synthesis and probing of tailored quantum materials such as topological insulators. Using the lanthanide element dysprosium, which is highly magnetic and possesses both bosonic and fermionic isotopes, this facility will serve the needs of multiple research groups with diverse scientific interests.Read moreRead less
ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics. The CNBP brings together physicists, chemists and biologists focused on a grand challenge controlling nanoscale interactions between light and matter to probe the complex and dynamic nanoenvironments within living organisms. The emerging convergence of nanoscience and photonics offers the opportunity of using light to interrogate nanoscale domains, providing unprecedentedly localised measurements. This will allow biological scientists to unde ....ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics. The CNBP brings together physicists, chemists and biologists focused on a grand challenge controlling nanoscale interactions between light and matter to probe the complex and dynamic nanoenvironments within living organisms. The emerging convergence of nanoscience and photonics offers the opportunity of using light to interrogate nanoscale domains, providing unprecedentedly localised measurements. This will allow biological scientists to understand how single cells react to and communicate with their surroundings. This science will underpin a new generation of devices capable of probing the response of cells within individuals to environmental conditions or treatment, creating innovative and powerful new sensing platforms.Read moreRead less
In vivo mechano-microscopy: a discovery platform for cell mechanics. This project aims to develop a platform for quantitative 3-D imaging of cell elasticity in tissue which may make possible new discoveries in cell mechanics. Mechanical properties, in concert with chemical properties, act to determine the function and behaviour of cells, and play a vital role in diseases such as cancer. Measurement of the mechanical properties of the cell in its native tissue environment, currently not possible, ....In vivo mechano-microscopy: a discovery platform for cell mechanics. This project aims to develop a platform for quantitative 3-D imaging of cell elasticity in tissue which may make possible new discoveries in cell mechanics. Mechanical properties, in concert with chemical properties, act to determine the function and behaviour of cells, and play a vital role in diseases such as cancer. Measurement of the mechanical properties of the cell in its native tissue environment, currently not possible, could accelerate the understanding of cell mechanics. This project plans to develop in vivo mechano-microscopy by combining innovations in optical microscopy, micro-mechanical loading, and computational methods. It then plans to demonstrate its capability by producing the first 3-D elasticity maps of skeletal muscle cells in living animals.Read moreRead less
Nanodiamond in glass: a new approach to nanosensing. This work will develop optical materials enriched with diamond nanoparticles. This will enable the magnetic field sensitivity of diamond nanoparticles to be combined with the capacity of micro/nanostructured optical fibres to enhance the interaction of light with matter. The outcome will be tools for probing biological processes on the nanoscale.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE110100099
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$290,000.00
Summary
A complete near-field scanning optical microscope for advanced characterisation of novel and functional materials. This near-field optical scanning microscope will be unique in Australia and will substantially enhance national research capabilities in functional materials, nanotechnology, biotechnology and chemistry. It will create a platform to advance Australian research to new levels in pharmaceuticals, nanomaterials and energy storage materials.
Ultrafast molecular imaging with intense few-cycle laser pulses. The goal of this project is to record a series of frame-by-frame images of molecules undergoing transformations on ultra-fast (femtosecond) time-scale making a molecular movie. This project will employ intense, ultra-short laser pulses to illuminate the evolving molecules, while detecting resulting photons, electrons and ions to reconstruct the changing molecular structure.
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL130100044
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,965,000.00
Summary
Controlling light to understand and drive nanoscale processes. This project aims to develop a suite of light-based sensing technologies capable of quantifying the dynamic environment within a living cell. These technologies will extend our capacity to harness light-matter interactions at the nanoscale, providing new insights in fields ranging from plant biology to medicine.
Metal dielectric microstructures: Tuneable metamaterials to medical devices. This project aims to demonstrate tuneable metamaterials fabricated economically and in volume. Tuneability is sought after and difficult to realise. This project will switch a metamaterial from metallic to dielectric behaviour, and dynamically vary the magnification of a hyperlens. To do this, it will create a micro/nanofabrication technology platform with potential widespread uses in high technology manufacturing. It e ....Metal dielectric microstructures: Tuneable metamaterials to medical devices. This project aims to demonstrate tuneable metamaterials fabricated economically and in volume. Tuneability is sought after and difficult to realise. This project will switch a metamaterial from metallic to dielectric behaviour, and dynamically vary the magnification of a hyperlens. To do this, it will create a micro/nanofabrication technology platform with potential widespread uses in high technology manufacturing. It expects to improve multi-modal neural interfaces for optogenetic research and implantable biomedical devices such as cochlear implants.Read moreRead less
Dynamic Mechano-Microscopy for use in Mechanobiology . We will develop an innovative microscope that will enable new discoveries in biology. Most microscopes form images of a sample's optical properties, instead we will image a sample's mechanical properties. The reason our novel approach is needed is that cell behaviour depends on the stiffness of it's environment, but current microscopes are unable to image this. Our microscope will provide insights in biology that can improve our understandi ....Dynamic Mechano-Microscopy for use in Mechanobiology . We will develop an innovative microscope that will enable new discoveries in biology. Most microscopes form images of a sample's optical properties, instead we will image a sample's mechanical properties. The reason our novel approach is needed is that cell behaviour depends on the stiffness of it's environment, but current microscopes are unable to image this. Our microscope will provide insights in biology that can improve our understanding of cells, the building blocks of life. We will achieve this by: 1. Developing a microscope that combines microscopic resolution with rapid imaging; 2: Developing the capability to image both within the cell and its surrounding environment; and 3. Using our microscope to make discoveries in biology.Read moreRead less