Prospective Physics MSc students are invited to the optics group information session which will be conducted as a ‘walk and talk’ tour through the group’s laboratories in the Basement and on Level 5 of the David Caro Building. The tour will begin with a brief introduction to the group followed by a walk through our laboratories. There will be an opportunity for informal discussions with group members after the tour.
Representing our OSA Student Chapter at the 2017 Student Leadership Conference in Washington DC was a great experience for me. Meeting optics students from all over the world strongly motivated me to be an active member of the society – talking to someone in person makes all the difference. Out of the large range of fascinating talks, a discussion on not-so-linear career planning, lead by Carlos Lopez-Mariscal from Underwater Photonics, impressed me. I’m more than happy to share my insights and contacts with anyone interested! Lukas Wesemann, PhD student
Dr Alex Wood, Professor Robert Scholten are the authors of a new article, ‘Magnetic pseudo-fields in a rotating electron–nuclear spin system’ published in Nature Physics on 7 August. They used quantum sensors, nitrogen–vacancy (NV) centres, in a rapidly rotating diamond to detect pseudo-fields in the rotating frame to explore precession effects via quantum sensing. This defines a new approach to quantum control using rotationally induced nuclear spin-selective magnetic fields and provides an integral step towards realizing precision rotation sensing and quantum spin gyroscopes. The article can be linked from here. An interview with Dr Wood and A/Prof Andy Martin is available at the University of Melbourne Pursuit page.
Congratulations to Eugene Panchenko who completed his PhD studies. Eugene investigated new approaches for elucidating the properties of light. He demonstrated that optoelectronic devices combining metallic nanostructures and semiconducting materials can monitor guided electromagnetic waves or determine the polarisation states or colour of freely propagating light. His findings may enable new approaches to optical imaging, computing and communications.
We are delighted that Eugene is continuing in the group as a research fellow.
PhD student Lukas Wesemann was elected the new President of the University of Melbourne OSA student chapter at the AGM on 8 May. Hamid Soleimaninejad (Chemistry) was elected President of the local SPIE chapter.
Congratulations to Dene Murphy on completing requirements for his PhD! Dene used laser cooling of atoms to generate ultracold bunches of electrons and ions for nanoscale imaging. Through a combination of computer simulations and novel experiments his work enabled new insights into the charged particle interactions that limit the brightness of sources used in extreme electron and ion microscopy and nanofabrication.
Stuart Earl (PhD) and Panji Achmari (MPhil) recently received confirmation of successfully completing their degrees. Their citations read:
Stuart … studied the interaction of light with metallic nanoparticles coupled to semiconductor films. He found that their optical properties could be switched by location on temperature-controllable materials, and their presence modified light emission by quantum dots. His studies will inform the development of new ultra-compact optical devices and light sources;
and
Panji … studied the interaction of focussed optical beams with nanostructured surfaces tailored to have specific electromagnetic properties. He has shown that it is possible to excite their elusive dark modes and subsequently investigated their sensitivity to different illumination strategies. His work will influence future optical sensors and imaging systems.
Congratulations and all the best for bright futures!
Professors Ann Roberts and Paul Mulvaney (Bio21 and Chemistry) have been awarded an Australian Linkage Project grant with collaborators from the Reserve Bank of Australia to develop anti-counterfeiting features for future Australian banknotes.
An article describing recent work by members of the Atom Optics sub-group into precise control of the shape of charged particle bunches has been published recently in Physical Review Letters.
