interdisciplinary Photonics Laboratories

Student Research - Introduction

Research Opportunities 2008

Honours Projects in Schools of Chemistry and Physics

PhD topic areas: examples

An APAI scholarship is available on a jointly awarded ARC Linkage Grant between the University of Sydney and Thales Australia to develop holographically processed distributed feedback (DFB) fibre lasers for acoustic sensing in maritime applications. The bulk of the work will be undertaken within the School of Chemistry’s Interdisciplinary Photonics Laboratories with the possibility of field trials as the project progresses.

     The APAI stipend is ~25K per annum. In addition, the possibility of a loading will be considered for exceptional students. Applicants must be Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents or New Zealand citizens.

For enquiries email.

Lab-in-a-fibre technology

This project will develop new multi-functional capabilities within structured optical fibres and will include various processing methods to shape and access the structure within the fibre. Multi diagnostic capabilities as well as new devices based on what is selectively entered into the structure will be researched.

     A stipend equivalent to that of an APA will be awarded – if the student already has an APA then an additional loading will be considered. Applicants must be Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents or New Zealand citizens.

For enquiries email

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Below are 2008 Honours projects within the School of Chemistry under Prof. John Canning. Queries can be directed to j.canning@usyd.edu.au.

NANO-CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURED OPTICAL FIBRES (With Dr. Mattias Aslund & Dr. Stuart Jackson, Optical Fibre Technology Centre)

The aim of the project is to produce a new class of optical glass fibres with added functionalities by adding transparent nano-crystals of sub-Rayleigh scattering dimensions into standard optical glass fibres. The scope of the honours project is to provide a chemical and spectroscopic analysis of nano-crystals embedded into a light transmissive glass matrix. The nano-crystals will range in character from quantum dot-like structures to ferroelectric crystals. The analysis will include a thorough spectroscopic study complemented with an optical as well as an electron-microscope study of the nano crystal particle matrix.

MULTI-COMPONENT HEAVY METAL GLASS FIBRES FOR RAMAN LASERS (With Dr. Mattias Aslund & Dr. Stuart Jackson, Optical Fibre Technology Centre)

The scope of this project is to establish a range of glass formers with Raman active components that can be drawn into optical fibres for high power optical Raman lasers in the mid-IR. The candidate will design phase diagrams and carry out trials of multi-component oxide glass manufacturing with spectroscopic studies to establish glass forming regions with large Raman shifts.

THERMOLUMINESCENT GLASSES (With Dr. Mattias Aslund & Dr. Stuart Jackson, optical Fibre Technology Centre)

Rare-earth metals and some transition metals emit strong thermoluminescence when heated. This project intends to harness this property at moderate temperatures by manufacturing low-phonon energy glasses that are heavily doped with a few rare-earth oxides. The candidate will fabricate and provide a thorough spectroscopic study of the near-IR spectral emission lines of a range of glasses as a function of temperature. Embedding such materials within optical fibres is of interest in producing low cost white light sources within waveguides.

HIGH POWER AIR-CLAD FIBRE LASERS (With Dr. Stuart Jackson, Optical Fibre Technology Centre)

We are the leading fibre laser group in Australia covering low power DFBs to high power double and triple clad fibre lasers. We are also developing air-clad fibre lasers where an air cladding determines the guidance of the pump power. Given the index contrast is higher it is possible to get much higher pump power densities than conventional double clad lasers leading to superior performance over shorter lengths. The project will involve constructing such lasers from air clad fibre made here and overseas, better understanding of the periodic ring of holes that defines the air clad, including chaotic scattering, and characterising the final laser.

INTRA-CAVITY CHARACTERISATION OF AN AIR-CLAD FIBRE LASER (With Dr. Mattias Aslund & Dr. Stuart Jackson, Optical Fibre Technology Centre)

Air-clad fibres are fibres that have a ring of air holes with bridge thicknesses <300nm to stop light leaking out. When an air-clad fibre is doped with a rare earth ion in the core, high power fibre lasers can be made. This project builds on recent innovations in air-clad photonic crystal fibre lasers and gratings within these structures and will focus on characterising the thermal heat load arising from pump absorption in these layers. The role of resonant nonlinearities in dopants such as Yb³⁺ will also be explored.

NA APERTURE MEASUREMENT OF PHOTONIC CRYSTAL AND AIR CLAD FIBRES AND WHAT IT MEANS (With Dr. Mattias Aslund & Dr. Stuart Jackson, Optical Fibre Technology Centre)

A key feature of photonic crystal fibres and air-clad fibres is the large NA that is possible given the effective index contrast can be much larger than conventional fibres. Such fibres have applications in efficient light collection for biomedical and astronomical diagnostics, fibre lasers, and high power delivery. A critical parameter is the numerical aperture – unlike conventional optical fibres this parameter is sensitive to wavelength as a result of the bridges that exist between holes that permit light to leak out. For astronomical applications, other parameters such as aberration free transmission become important. Indeed, quite distinct properties are observed giving rise to new interpretations of the role of tunnelling in light leakage in highly multi-mode fibres.

IMPACT OF HEAT AND ELECTRIC ARCING ON SUPERCONTINUUM GENERATION WITHIN OPTICAL FIBRES (With Dr. Mattias Aslund, Optical Fibre Technology Centre)

Photonic crystal fibres with cores <2um are used in a number of applications such as supercontinuum ("white light") generation and sensing applications. In this project, such fibre will be characterised and its suitability for sensing applications explored. The generation of white light through pulsed excitation with a YAG laser will be studied. The relationship with blackbody radiation generated by plasma generation either with the laser or with an electric and finally in combination will also be explored.

UV TRANSMISSION OF PHOTONIC CRYSTAL FIBRES

There is a pressing need for efficient UV transmitting fibres that can operate down to 193nm. However, the ability to transform and radiation harden silica so that it transmits more and further into the UV requires an understanding of the origins of photodarkening, the structure of silica and the role of impurities in glass transmission properties. The need for such fibres is to a large extent driven by the adoption of 193nm as the semiconductor lithography wavelength for making smaller and smaller features. This project will focus on developing highly efficient fibres that transmit UV light down to 193nm using in-house developments in radiation hardening of glass, including variations of hypersensitisation.

NONLINEAR PROPERTIES OF PHOTONIC CRYSTAL FIBRES DOPED WITH PORPHYRINS (With Prof. Max Crossley)

Metallo-organic cages are an exciting medium for tailoring custom properties both in the electrical and optical domain. They form the basis for future molecular electro optics. Together with the School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, the OFTC was the first group in the world to combine photonic crystal fibre technologies with porphyrins. This project will explore specifically the nonlinear properties of these materials both in and outside the fibres using custom tailored porphyrin structures.

SELF ASSEMBLY ON SILICON (With Prof. Max Crossley)

In a joint project with iNANO, Arhus University, Denmark and the School of Chemistry at Sydney we have begun work on developing self-assembled structures such as nano wires on silicon and their characterisation for eventual use in opto-electronic devices. This is a new area with significant potential for subsequent cutting edge PhD work both here and at Arhus.

LAB-IN-A-FIBRE TECHNOLOGY: ION BEAM PROCESSING OF OPTICAL FIBRES

Structured optical fibres such as Fresnel fibres, photonic crystal fibre and others potentially enable the development of new portable, disposal photonic micro sensor laboratories for diagnostics. Mass production through fibre fabrication has meant they are potentially cheaper than lab-on-a-chip technologies where the functionality required is only one or a few sensors and disposability. However, significant research is required to bring this technology to reality and this project will begin the first steps towards achieving that.

Ion beam processing is a technique we applied to engineer optical fibres. It allows one to access holes within structured fibres and to even make functional devices such as active grating devices. These holes can be filled with functional materials. However, it is not a fully understood process and this project will work towards optimising the process and better understanding how it works and how to best implement it for specific applications.

LAB-IN-A-FIBRE TECHNOLOGY: GAS DETECTION AND CHARACTERISATION

In this project, resonant techniques involving holographically inscribed gratings within structured optical fibres to enhance gas detection of acetylene and others will be developed. The project will work closely with fellow students working on ion beam processing to exploit that technology.

CONTROLLING REDOX REACTIONS IN MCVD FABRICATION (With Dr. Mattias Aslund & Dr. Stuart Jackson, Optical Fibre Technology Centre)

Depending on the atmosphere employed, certain species can be reduced or oxidised in a number of ways during preform fabrication of optical fibres. There has been no detailed study to date of the possibility of opening up new levels of control of the electronic state of species introduced into preforms which end up in the final optical fibre phase. This project will beginning the first steps to exploring these possibilities and determining in practice just how far one can control the valence state of a metal, for example, and whether this can be used to greatly increase the incorporation of such metals into optical fibre form. If this is possible a new host of doped optical fibres with specific functionality ranging from practical nonlinear effects and Faraday rotation become possible.

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Given the interdiscplinary nature of the group, PhD projects can span a number of areas covering contemporary technology and research. We are flexible in accommodating student interests or collaborative researcher interest. Below are examples of various topic areas currently being explored:

High power fibre lasers

Lasers based on air clad structured fibres or conventional fibre design are of great interest and several projects are available in this area. Applications using these lasers are also being investigated.

Photosensitivity and glass

Several areas of research explore light matter interactions using several sources ranging from CW and femtosecond lasers. This work involves strong participation form the School of Chemistry and international collaborators.

Microfluidic and nanofluidic science in an optical fibre

Recent developments in micromachining allow us to begin a new project area looking at the fundamentals of electrokinetic flow in a fibre as well as developing new “Lab-in-a-fibre” systems.

Novel waveguide technology

Self-assembly of films and wires

For further information or ideas, or simply to discuss possibilities, please contact us at j.canning@usyd.edu.au

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