Adaptive aberration compensation in high refractive index materials for next-generation active microphotonic devices. The method proposed in this project is a very promising and versatile method to compensate the strong aberration in a high refractive index material. The successful compensation of such aberration will allow people to fabricate microdevices directly inside high refractive index materials. This project will greatly advance optical fabrication techniques and expand the national kno ....Adaptive aberration compensation in high refractive index materials for next-generation active microphotonic devices. The method proposed in this project is a very promising and versatile method to compensate the strong aberration in a high refractive index material. The successful compensation of such aberration will allow people to fabricate microdevices directly inside high refractive index materials. This project will greatly advance optical fabrication techniques and expand the national knowledge in the area of nonlinear PhCs (photonic crystals) and related applications. It is expected that the project will provide many chances for postgraduate students to be involved. In future, nonlinear PhCs and related devices may be widely used in daily life and this project may provide some opportunities for industry.Read moreRead less
The creation and opimisation of new optical fibres and novel diode-pumped fibre lasers for applications in medicine, defence and the environment. The project will widen Australian laser research and contains the important steps required to progress beyond the recent demonstrations of super high power and ultra-compact mode-locked operation. The proposed fibre lasers are internationally significant, will address many applications and will keep Australia at the leading edge of laser and optical fi ....The creation and opimisation of new optical fibres and novel diode-pumped fibre lasers for applications in medicine, defence and the environment. The project will widen Australian laser research and contains the important steps required to progress beyond the recent demonstrations of super high power and ultra-compact mode-locked operation. The proposed fibre lasers are internationally significant, will address many applications and will keep Australia at the leading edge of laser and optical fibre research. The array of new technologies necessary for the development of the proposed lasers will be vitally important to Australia's high technology industries.Read moreRead less
Ultra-sensitivity through resonances in photonic bandgap fibres. The project will develop innovative biochemical sensors with extreme sensitivity using recently discovered physical processes in novel holey optical fibres. These sensors will be able to detect biological molecules, toxins or dangerous chemicals in minute concentrations, in very small sample sizes. The sensors can be mass-produced cheaply with current fabrication facilities within Australia, enabling their widespread use for water ....Ultra-sensitivity through resonances in photonic bandgap fibres. The project will develop innovative biochemical sensors with extreme sensitivity using recently discovered physical processes in novel holey optical fibres. These sensors will be able to detect biological molecules, toxins or dangerous chemicals in minute concentrations, in very small sample sizes. The sensors can be mass-produced cheaply with current fabrication facilities within Australia, enabling their widespread use for water quality monitoring, environmental monitoring, threat detection, and rapid and reliable diagnosis in medicine.Read moreRead less
Imaging of properties of coherent elastic light scattering from turbid biological media. Imaging with coherent, elastically-scattered light for visualisation of thick-tissue morphology in vivo, or of cells buried deep in a turbid medium, remains a major challenge. We adopt an alternative approach of imaging of properties of light scattering based on regarding cellular tissue as a spatially-varying refractive-index continuum which encodes scattered light. We propose new methodologies to infer t ....Imaging of properties of coherent elastic light scattering from turbid biological media. Imaging with coherent, elastically-scattered light for visualisation of thick-tissue morphology in vivo, or of cells buried deep in a turbid medium, remains a major challenge. We adopt an alternative approach of imaging of properties of light scattering based on regarding cellular tissue as a spatially-varying refractive-index continuum which encodes scattered light. We propose new methodologies to infer tissue state and morphology indirectly based on phase delay, speckle, and angle-resolved scattering. We will break new ground in correlating the structure and function of in situ epithelial tissue and cells to light scattering enabling, e.g., the detection of mitosis and apoptosis in cells buried in thick, turbid media, and of cancers and precancers in vivo.Read moreRead less
Advances in optical coherence tomography. We propose to continue our research into the biomedical imaging technique of optical coherence tomography by making substantial new advances in the key areas of ultra-broad bandwidth operation, coincident confocal gate scanning, and dispersion compensation. These advances are aimed at improving resolution to the 1-5 micron range, which should allow a breakthrough to sub-cellular in vivo imaging, making visible sample histology in situ, which is currentl ....Advances in optical coherence tomography. We propose to continue our research into the biomedical imaging technique of optical coherence tomography by making substantial new advances in the key areas of ultra-broad bandwidth operation, coincident confocal gate scanning, and dispersion compensation. These advances are aimed at improving resolution to the 1-5 micron range, which should allow a breakthrough to sub-cellular in vivo imaging, making visible sample histology in situ, which is currently not possible. We also plan to make advances in the key area of scanning delay line technology by employing acousto-optics in OCT for the first time. Acousto-optics conveys advantages in no-moving-parts, scan-speed and accuracy.Read moreRead less
Frozen linear and nonlinear light. Frozen light refers to the observation that light inside particular media can be much brighter than outside it, essentially because it bounced around many times before leaving. Such light has many advantages which have applications in optical signal processing, lasers, and in other optical devices. Until now frozen light has only been studied in a small range of geometries and only at low intensities. In this fundamental research project we will investigate fr ....Frozen linear and nonlinear light. Frozen light refers to the observation that light inside particular media can be much brighter than outside it, essentially because it bounced around many times before leaving. Such light has many advantages which have applications in optical signal processing, lasers, and in other optical devices. Until now frozen light has only been studied in a small range of geometries and only at low intensities. In this fundamental research project we will investigate frozen light, its generation and its properties at low and high intensities, systematically, and we will assess how it can be harnessed for potential applications.Read moreRead less
Thulium doped silica-based optical fibres - towards the realisation of an optical amplifier. In the last decade the data capacity of a single optical fibre has grown way beyond all expectations. However, our ability to utilise the available capacity continues to keep pace with any advance. This project has the potential to add substantially to the transmission capacity by developing an optical amplifier at wavelengths which, although available within the fibre, can not currently be utilised. The ....Thulium doped silica-based optical fibres - towards the realisation of an optical amplifier. In the last decade the data capacity of a single optical fibre has grown way beyond all expectations. However, our ability to utilise the available capacity continues to keep pace with any advance. This project has the potential to add substantially to the transmission capacity by developing an optical amplifier at wavelengths which, although available within the fibre, can not currently be utilised. The focus of the project is the study of thulium doped silica-based fibres for amplification in the 1460 to 1530 nm wavelength region. Read moreRead less
Photonic Crystals and Microstructured Optical Fibres for Device Applications. Photonic crystals and microstructured optical fibres, which are amongst the most exciting fields of modern optics and photonics, are set to underpin developments in the next generation of ultrahigh-bandwidth communications systems, the functionalities of which will be truly all-optical. This project will bring together of two leading research groups in these areas, enhancing their collaboration, complementing their ex ....Photonic Crystals and Microstructured Optical Fibres for Device Applications. Photonic crystals and microstructured optical fibres, which are amongst the most exciting fields of modern optics and photonics, are set to underpin developments in the next generation of ultrahigh-bandwidth communications systems, the functionalities of which will be truly all-optical. This project will bring together of two leading research groups in these areas, enhancing their collaboration, complementing their expertise, and enabling them to develop new theoretical and computational tools to facilitate device applications. The program will coordinate research over a broad front and bring real benefits to young researchers in both France and Australia.Read moreRead less
Functional micro-multiplexers based on nonlinear three-dimensional photonic crystal superprisms. The development of functional nonlinear micro-multiplexers is vital to on-chip applications in optical information processing, telecom and bio-sensing. The proposed project will enable both enormous improvements of device performance and the significant reduction in the cost and size of the associated infrastructures and eventually facilitate the next generation miniaturised all-optical networks. The ....Functional micro-multiplexers based on nonlinear three-dimensional photonic crystal superprisms. The development of functional nonlinear micro-multiplexers is vital to on-chip applications in optical information processing, telecom and bio-sensing. The proposed project will enable both enormous improvements of device performance and the significant reduction in the cost and size of the associated infrastructures and eventually facilitate the next generation miniaturised all-optical networks. The success of the project will make essential contributions to the emerging photonics and nanotechnology, and strengthen Australia's international leading role in these fields. The improvement of device performance, the development of new IP, and the commercialisation of novel products will deliver major social and economic benefits to Australia.Read moreRead less
Multi-dimensional optical data storage based on nanophotonics - the third generation optical data storage technology. The key-sector in high tech markets has been the photonics industry over the last decade, and it will continue to revolutionise our ways of information storage, processing and transfer for the next 10 to 20 years. The current project of high-capacity Petabyte optical data storage, i.e the third generation optical data storage, will prove to be the key technological innovation in ....Multi-dimensional optical data storage based on nanophotonics - the third generation optical data storage technology. The key-sector in high tech markets has been the photonics industry over the last decade, and it will continue to revolutionise our ways of information storage, processing and transfer for the next 10 to 20 years. The current project of high-capacity Petabyte optical data storage, i.e the third generation optical data storage, will prove to be the key technological innovation in photonics (one of the National Research Priorities), which will not only meet the growing demands of the consumer market, but also continue to drive the industry and create new markets. This is in line with the Priority Goals set by the Minister for Education, Science and Training, as it will put Australia into the unique position in the information age. Read moreRead less