Novel devices for spatial light transformation. The aim of this project is to develop new optical instrumentation for spatially transforming light. This research expects to find solutions to problems that have thus far been out of reach by replacing what would traditionally be a human optical systems designer with computer algorithms. The expected outcomes include the development of three new devices as well as a set of design, fabrication and characterisation procedures that offer higher perfor ....Novel devices for spatial light transformation. The aim of this project is to develop new optical instrumentation for spatially transforming light. This research expects to find solutions to problems that have thus far been out of reach by replacing what would traditionally be a human optical systems designer with computer algorithms. The expected outcomes include the development of three new devices as well as a set of design, fabrication and characterisation procedures that offer higher performance, increased robustness and scalability. This should improve accessibility of this technology and provide benefits to a wide range of applications, including astronomical and biomedical imaging, telecommunications, as well as quantum and classical optical signal processing.Read moreRead less
Time reversed optics. The development of technology to precisely control how light travels through space and time yields the ability to deliver light through objects in ways which would not traditionally be possible and hence opens new applications. This project aims to develop new programmable optical systems for transforming the spatial and temporal properties of light, leveraging recent advances in optical beam shaping. Expected outcomes of this project include the construction and testing of ....Time reversed optics. The development of technology to precisely control how light travels through space and time yields the ability to deliver light through objects in ways which would not traditionally be possible and hence opens new applications. This project aims to develop new programmable optical systems for transforming the spatial and temporal properties of light, leveraging recent advances in optical beam shaping. Expected outcomes of this project include the construction and testing of two new types of optical systems. This should provide significant benefits in the areas of biomedical imaging, telecommunications, advanced manufacturing and both classical and quantum optical information processing.Read moreRead less
Parallel Lines: Ultra-dense optical systems for extreme data-rates. The project aims to explore methods to significantly expand global internet data rates, by using emerging ultra-dense optical technologies. The project plans to discover how novel existing and emerging tiny photonic chip devices may enable the use of new, unused optical spectral bands, and then enable 1000s of channels to be supported by exploiting newly available parallelism in both wavelength and space. Success in the project ....Parallel Lines: Ultra-dense optical systems for extreme data-rates. The project aims to explore methods to significantly expand global internet data rates, by using emerging ultra-dense optical technologies. The project plans to discover how novel existing and emerging tiny photonic chip devices may enable the use of new, unused optical spectral bands, and then enable 1000s of channels to be supported by exploiting newly available parallelism in both wavelength and space. Success in the project aims may enable speeds of up to 100 times greater than achievable today, in a variety of fibre optic systems. Connectivity is key to our society, so benefits may arise in both future-proofing key Australian data infrastructure, and in providing a roadmap to support exponential capacity growth over the coming decades.Read moreRead less
Investigating spatio-temporal instabilities in next-generation lasers. This project aims to decipher the transient spatio-temporal dynamics of lasers with an emphasis on investigating chaotic instabilities whose fundamental laws are unknown and whose effects impair laser performance in applications with a billion-dollar aggregate value. This project seeks to solve the problem by unravelling the evolving beam's structure on picosecond timescales using an optical device that dissects the beam in s ....Investigating spatio-temporal instabilities in next-generation lasers. This project aims to decipher the transient spatio-temporal dynamics of lasers with an emphasis on investigating chaotic instabilities whose fundamental laws are unknown and whose effects impair laser performance in applications with a billion-dollar aggregate value. This project seeks to solve the problem by unravelling the evolving beam's structure on picosecond timescales using an optical device that dissects the beam in space and time. The expected outcome is a suite of tools capable of guiding global efforts to develop next-generation lasers. The discoveries would propel Australia to become a characterisation nexus of the laser industry and usher in the era of faster telecommunication, enhanced sensors and high-precision manufacturing.Read moreRead less
Resilient Remote Environment Emulation for Human-to-Machine Communication. Human-to-machine haptic communication allow humans to immersively interact with remotely-located robots/machines. Current networks cannot support its technical demands, thereby limiting the achievable human-machine distance. This project aims to develop cloudlet intelligence together with a programmable resilient network to realise reliable remote environment emulation, a concept where the physical environment at the remo ....Resilient Remote Environment Emulation for Human-to-Machine Communication. Human-to-machine haptic communication allow humans to immersively interact with remotely-located robots/machines. Current networks cannot support its technical demands, thereby limiting the achievable human-machine distance. This project aims to develop cloudlet intelligence together with a programmable resilient network to realise reliable remote environment emulation, a concept where the physical environment at the remote machine is emulated close to the human. A key outcome will be the first reliable remote environment emulation platform that achieves vast human-machine distances on current networks. Enabling immersive human-machine experience will significantly benefit many sectors, from education through to industrial manufacturing.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100964
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$456,354.00
Summary
Precision Rulers for the Visible - Chip Scale Optical Frequency Combs. This project aims to create a photonic chip technology that generates hundreds of coherent laser lines in the visible spectrum from a single chip for accurate sensing, imaging unknown objects and measuring gas emissions. The project expects to introduce this new capability in the current photonic chip technology, which currently only operates with infrared light. The expected outcomes are inexpensive, stable and energy-effici ....Precision Rulers for the Visible - Chip Scale Optical Frequency Combs. This project aims to create a photonic chip technology that generates hundreds of coherent laser lines in the visible spectrum from a single chip for accurate sensing, imaging unknown objects and measuring gas emissions. The project expects to introduce this new capability in the current photonic chip technology, which currently only operates with infrared light. The expected outcomes are inexpensive, stable and energy-efficient devices the size of a fingernail that will enable measurements with unprecedented accuracies. This should allow these devices to be mounted on drones, satellites, and robots, making them attractive for defence, information security, imaging, autonomous vehicle, and sensing applications.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100625
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$446,700.00
Summary
Integrated slab-mode beam engineering for handheld terahertz systems. Current dominant system architectures for terahertz waves are adapted from other ranges, leading to critical bottlenecks. This project will address this with a new integration platform that is tailored to the particular needs of terahertz waves. This requires advances in the emerging field of micro-scale integrated optics, combined with antenna-theory principles, semiconductor science, and advanced microfabrication to incorpor ....Integrated slab-mode beam engineering for handheld terahertz systems. Current dominant system architectures for terahertz waves are adapted from other ranges, leading to critical bottlenecks. This project will address this with a new integration platform that is tailored to the particular needs of terahertz waves. This requires advances in the emerging field of micro-scale integrated optics, combined with antenna-theory principles, semiconductor science, and advanced microfabrication to incorporate active devices. Novel spatially-dependent dispersion engineering techniques will also be pioneered for phased-array-free beamforming. This will enable a broad variety of all-in-one handheld systems for practical applications of terahertz waves such as noninvasive standoff sensing and self-aligning wireless links.Read moreRead less
ARC Centre of Excellence in Optical Microcombs for Breakthrough Science. ARC Centre of Excellence in Optical Microcombs for Breakthrough Science. This Centre aims to explore the society wide transformations that will flow from optical frequency combs - thousands of highly pure light signals precisely spaced across the entire optical spectrum - by leveraging and building upon the latest breakthroughs in physics, materials science and nanofabrication. It expects to generate a wide new base of know ....ARC Centre of Excellence in Optical Microcombs for Breakthrough Science. ARC Centre of Excellence in Optical Microcombs for Breakthrough Science. This Centre aims to explore the society wide transformations that will flow from optical frequency combs - thousands of highly pure light signals precisely spaced across the entire optical spectrum - by leveraging and building upon the latest breakthroughs in physics, materials science and nanofabrication. It expects to generate a wide new base of knowledge in fields as diverse as astronomy, spectroscopy, chemical sensors, and precision measurement. Expected outcomes include the capability to realise complete comb systems on a chip the size of a fingernail, tailored to specific applications, with significant benefits spanning from imaging live cells to autonomous vehicles, satellite communications, and the search for exoplanets.Read moreRead less
Industry Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: IL230100116
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,359,464.00
Summary
Breaking through the manufacturing ‘glass ceiling’ for ZBLAN glass fibres. This project aims to develop innovative methods to improve the purity and manufacture scale of fluoride glass (ZBLAN) optical fibres to deliver faster and more efficient internet. This project expects to produce ZBLAN fibres with lower light loss than the best fibres to date by integrating innovations in glass science, materials purification, process automation and space manufacturing. Expected outcomes include industrial ....Breaking through the manufacturing ‘glass ceiling’ for ZBLAN glass fibres. This project aims to develop innovative methods to improve the purity and manufacture scale of fluoride glass (ZBLAN) optical fibres to deliver faster and more efficient internet. This project expects to produce ZBLAN fibres with lower light loss than the best fibres to date by integrating innovations in glass science, materials purification, process automation and space manufacturing. Expected outcomes include industrial scale production of ZBLAN fibres with 10 times better performance than existing production. The project should provide innovative new manufacturing methods and improved economic and social prosperity by increasing the availability of ZBLAN for a wealth of applications touching many aspects of Australian lives.Read moreRead less
Next Generation Terahertz Materials. We will investigate novel tuneable terahertz (THz) metamaterials, based on the exploitation of phase change materials. Tunable metamaterial-based terahertz devices, such as modulators and filters, will potentially generate significant downstream IP for short-path wireless applications. This fills a critical need to meet the increasing demand for greater bandwidth. Elucidation of the fundamental science underlying the interaction between terahertz signals and ....Next Generation Terahertz Materials. We will investigate novel tuneable terahertz (THz) metamaterials, based on the exploitation of phase change materials. Tunable metamaterial-based terahertz devices, such as modulators and filters, will potentially generate significant downstream IP for short-path wireless applications. This fills a critical need to meet the increasing demand for greater bandwidth. Elucidation of the fundamental science underlying the interaction between terahertz signals and phase-change materials will enable tuneable metamaterials. A major leap will be devices that can steer and modulate terahertz signals with unprecedented agility and compactness; enabling future high-bandwidth desktop data transfer.Read moreRead less