A brief introduction to Photonics

LIGHT-MATTER INTERACTIONS IN NOVEL OPTICAL FIBRES

IPAS Institute for Photonics & Advanced SensingA brief introduction to PhotonicsAssociate Professor David Lancaster

[email protected]: the technology of lightwww.ipas.edu.au

Photonics controls, uses and manipulates light

Photonics is made up of many different technologies: optics, quantum electronics, lasers, detectors, fibres, materials

Photonics is essentially photon engineering

Electronics revolutionized the 20th century, photonics is doing the same in the 21st

2LightThe natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible (the web)

Lightwww.ipas.edu.auLight is energy

Light is electromagnetic radiation

Light has both wave-like and particle-like properties

Light interacts with materials and structures

4Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

Full mirrorPartial mirrorLaser medium

LASER processExcited levelGround levelAtom in excited levelE = h c / Incident photonBeforeemissionDuringemissionAfteremissionE1E2h : Plancks constant6.626 x 10 -34 j.sc : speed of light

LasermirrorsPump light

Daniel Colladon first described this "light fountain" or "light pipe" in an 1842 article entitled On the reflections of a ray of light inside a parabolic liquid stream. Light guide = optical fibreModern fibres guide light by total internal reflection in ultra-pure glass fibres

World fibre production is 24 million kms/ year

Some Photonics applicationsData storage

The internet

Fibre sensors

Laser radars

Laser machining

Defence

Molecular sensing

Fibre sensors

Chemical detection fibre fuel quality sensor hydrogen peroxide monitor in human eggs125 m fibre (human hair width)< 4 m coreAllows light to travel in core (on a light rail !)Light interacts with outside environment

A smart wine bung

Laser radar - Maptek

Laser machining

JSF IR imaging

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91 Day Lunar-Mars Life Support Test ProjectThis was the third phase of testing of regenerative life support systems which included a crew of four volunteers living in an air tight chamber environment for 91 days. This work at the Johnson Space Center is in preparation for possible human expeditions away from Earth orbit.Phase I of the Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project began on Sept. 19, 1997. This phase used a combination of physical, mechanical, chemical and biological methods to recycle all the air and water used by the crew and to use plants grown in a connecting chamber to provide some of their food. Regenerative life support is a critical enabling technology for future space missions, since astronauts cannot carry all the supplies necessary to support a trip to Mars or an extended stay on a base on the Moon.Development of an automated multi-component gas sensor

Developed by D. Richter, D.G. Lancaster, F.K. Tittel

= 643nm16