New Pulsar Instrumentation for Gravitation Wave Detection and Understanding the Emission Mechanism. Millisecond pulsar timing currently provides the most sensitive method of detecting long-period gravitational waves which permeate the Universe. Parkes leads the world in the discovery and timing of millisecond pulsars. This has motivated the development of three new advanced instruments including a cyrogenic dual-band receiver, a very wide-band correlator and a baseband recorder with an in-built ....New Pulsar Instrumentation for Gravitation Wave Detection and Understanding the Emission Mechanism. Millisecond pulsar timing currently provides the most sensitive method of detecting long-period gravitational waves which permeate the Universe. Parkes leads the world in the discovery and timing of millisecond pulsars. This has motivated the development of three new advanced instruments including a cyrogenic dual-band receiver, a very wide-band correlator and a baseband recorder with an in-built supercomputer. We aim to exploit these new technologies to systematically study the pulsar population. We will establish a timing array which can detect gravitational waves, enable GLAST to identify over 100 gamma-ray pulsars and study the pulsar emission mechanism at sub-microsecond time resolution.
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Photonic Crystal Signal Processing and Antenna Technologies. The information society in which we live requires increasingly high bandwidth, low cost communications. This project addresses two critically important technologies needed to meet these demands: signal processing devices and antennas. These devices will be designed using three-dimensional photonic crystals, which provide excellent possibilities for low-cost, highly integrated photonic circuits. Working prototypes will be built at micro ....Photonic Crystal Signal Processing and Antenna Technologies. The information society in which we live requires increasingly high bandwidth, low cost communications. This project addresses two critically important technologies needed to meet these demands: signal processing devices and antennas. These devices will be designed using three-dimensional photonic crystals, which provide excellent possibilities for low-cost, highly integrated photonic circuits. Working prototypes will be built at microwave frequencies, but due to the scalability of electromagnetic theory these results are also valid in the optical domain. The outcomes of this project will be accurate theoretical models and empirical tests for new technologies that satisfy the future needs of the information society.Read moreRead less
Enabling next-generation high-efficiency visible laser sources through advanced waveguide engineering. Lithium niobate has the potential to become the silicon of the optoelectronic industry. In order to realise its potential, fundamental problems associated with long term stability and cost of integration need to be solved. This project will develop a new hybrid fabrication platform that circumvents the traditional approaches pursued in the past for introducing waveguides into a lithium niobate ....Enabling next-generation high-efficiency visible laser sources through advanced waveguide engineering. Lithium niobate has the potential to become the silicon of the optoelectronic industry. In order to realise its potential, fundamental problems associated with long term stability and cost of integration need to be solved. This project will develop a new hybrid fabrication platform that circumvents the traditional approaches pursued in the past for introducing waveguides into a lithium niobate chip. This platform will enable the production of robust, low cost light sources for fields as diverse as biotechnology, environmental sensing and displays. This project will lead to new IP that will establish Australia as a leader in this field.Read moreRead less
Laser Micro-Fabrication of Optoelectronic Devices. The project aims to develop new techniques of laser direct-write fabrication of microstructures (1-100 micron in size) in crystalline materials, and to apply these to fabricating periodically-poled nonlinear crystals for optical frequency conversion. These techniques will use laser ablative surface profiling with subsequent electric field poling, and a completely new process of laser temperature profiling with simultaneous field poling, to writ ....Laser Micro-Fabrication of Optoelectronic Devices. The project aims to develop new techniques of laser direct-write fabrication of microstructures (1-100 micron in size) in crystalline materials, and to apply these to fabricating periodically-poled nonlinear crystals for optical frequency conversion. These techniques will use laser ablative surface profiling with subsequent electric field poling, and a completely new process of laser temperature profiling with simultaneous field poling, to write periodic domains in lithium niobate. Such laser direct-write processing is well suited to rapid prototyping and will enable investigation of novel periodically-poled structures, for example, chirped, fanned and multiplexed structures for nonlinear spectral and temporal conversion.Read moreRead less
The Development of Quantum Gravity. This research constitutes the first large-scale effort to unpack and make sense of the development of quantum gravity. Given the pressing nature of this problem and its importance for our worldview, such a study would be of great benefit to several sectors of the academic community. By giving a global perspective of the field from its origins those outside the field will be able to appreciate its importance and its place in contemporary physics. Quantum gravi ....The Development of Quantum Gravity. This research constitutes the first large-scale effort to unpack and make sense of the development of quantum gravity. Given the pressing nature of this problem and its importance for our worldview, such a study would be of great benefit to several sectors of the academic community. By giving a global perspective of the field from its origins those outside the field will be able to appreciate its importance and its place in contemporary physics. Quantum gravity researchers will be able to see how their preferred approach fits into the web of research programmes, thus opening the door for greater collaboration between the various approaches. This research will greatly enhance Australia's position in this breakthrough science.Read moreRead less
Optical parametric amplifiers with exceptional qualities using highly nonlinear optical fibre. Current optical fibre networks use only a fraction of their capacity. This is in part because optical amplifiers with enough bandwidth do not exist. However, it will soon become necessary to exploit all of this capacity. This project will create a new highly nonlinear optical fibre with very low loss and tailored dispersion properties. This will then be used to make an optical fibre parametric ampli ....Optical parametric amplifiers with exceptional qualities using highly nonlinear optical fibre. Current optical fibre networks use only a fraction of their capacity. This is in part because optical amplifiers with enough bandwidth do not exist. However, it will soon become necessary to exploit all of this capacity. This project will create a new highly nonlinear optical fibre with very low loss and tailored dispersion properties. This will then be used to make an optical fibre parametric amplifier with a world record bandwidth, which will enable the full capacity of optical fibre to be exploited.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354527
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Frontier technologies, prototypes and strategic positioning for the international radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array. This Network will forge new linkages between scientists and engineers to design and enable an advanced prototype for the international next-generation radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The prototype will make fundamental new tests of general relativity and the physics of dark energy and test SKA imaging and signal processing systems. The Network partners ....Frontier technologies, prototypes and strategic positioning for the international radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array. This Network will forge new linkages between scientists and engineers to design and enable an advanced prototype for the international next-generation radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The prototype will make fundamental new tests of general relativity and the physics of dark energy and test SKA imaging and signal processing systems. The Network partners will collaborate to develop low-cost technologies for ultra-wideband antennas, high-speed signal processing, software radios, mitigation of man-made interference and the handling of petabyte data sets. The aim is a leading role for Australian researchers and industry in the $2 billion SKA.Read moreRead less
Singular Causation: A Conceptual Analysis. The concept of causation plays a central role in structuring our experience of the world. Bu how is the concept of causation itself to be understood? This project aims to answer this question by advancing a novel theory to explain the content and structure of the concept. A book monograph outlining the new theory will be of interest not only to philosophers, but also to natural and social scientists concerned to understand the application of the concept ....Singular Causation: A Conceptual Analysis. The concept of causation plays a central role in structuring our experience of the world. Bu how is the concept of causation itself to be understood? This project aims to answer this question by advancing a novel theory to explain the content and structure of the concept. A book monograph outlining the new theory will be of interest not only to philosophers, but also to natural and social scientists concerned to understand the application of the concept in their disciplines, and to cognitive psychologists and artificial intelligence experts concerned to understand its role in human cognition.
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Magnetic walls as nano-manipulators for physics, bio- and medical technologies. The focus of this project is the development of new scientific and technological aspects of nanomanipulators allowing not only the effective control of molecules and other magnetic quantities for a new approach in computation, but also the vital influence of biological processes at the molecular level. The outlook of this idea becomes increasingly promising in science and a broad range of industries (electronics, mat ....Magnetic walls as nano-manipulators for physics, bio- and medical technologies. The focus of this project is the development of new scientific and technological aspects of nanomanipulators allowing not only the effective control of molecules and other magnetic quantities for a new approach in computation, but also the vital influence of biological processes at the molecular level. The outlook of this idea becomes increasingly promising in science and a broad range of industries (electronics, materials engineering, nanotechnology and biotechnology). This project will establish Australia's capability at the forefront in this rapidly advancing area. The outcomes predicted may soon lead to the development of practical devices, where Australian science and industry may play one of the key roles.Read moreRead less
Novel Motion Correction Technologies for Simultaneous Positron Emission Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The recent development of the world's first prototype combined MR-PET scanner for human use has prompted immense interest. MR-PET is likely to revolutionize clinical diagnosis and basic research, by providing exquisite structural images co-registered with simultaneous functional PET images. We will exploit the as yet unexplored potential for motion information derived from the MR sy ....Novel Motion Correction Technologies for Simultaneous Positron Emission Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The recent development of the world's first prototype combined MR-PET scanner for human use has prompted immense interest. MR-PET is likely to revolutionize clinical diagnosis and basic research, by providing exquisite structural images co-registered with simultaneous functional PET images. We will exploit the as yet unexplored potential for motion information derived from the MR system to be used to correct the simultaneously acquired PET data for patient motion. This research is an excellent opportunity for Australian researchers to make important contributions to an emerging technology with high economic potential, and will strengthen Australia's international position in engineering and biomedical systems development.Read moreRead less