Optics and Photonics Research
Dr. Girish Agarwal and his students are exploring various problems in quantum optics and quantum information science, including quantum computing. Dr. Agarwal holds the Noble chair in Optics at OSU; the group has worldwide collaborations in the field of optics with similar groups at the University of Rochester, Texas A&M, and the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics.
Dr. Donna Bandy (Noble Research Fellow) and her students are investigating "whispering gallery modes" (WGM's) using sophisticated modeling techniques to predict properties such as mode excitation and outcoupling using tapered optical fibers.
Dr. James Harmon has developed real-time sensors which measure minute levels of various chemical and biological agents by studying the changes in the spectral properties of target molecules to which they bind. Dr. Tim Wilson is computing the spectral properties of these target molecules and how they are affected by the agents which bind to them.
Dr. Al Rosenberger is studying the fundamental properties and technical applications of "whispering gallery modes" (WGM's) of light in dielectric microresonators. For example, a fused-silica microsphere less than 1 mm in diameter supports many WGMs, whose evanescent parts extend outside the sphere to "feel" the environment. Applications include quantum-dot microlasers and chemical sensors.
Dr. Gil Summy is using Bose-Einstein Condensation in Rubidium-87 to investigate fundamental issues in quantum chaos and atom trapping. In August 2004, Dr. Summy's group achieved a Bose Einstein condensate using optical trapping methods exclusively, thereby becoming one of the first such groups in the world to do so. The group maintains active collaborations with Dr. William Phillips' (Nobel Laureate 1997) group at NIST.
Related Facilities/Groups
- The Bose-Einstein Condensation Laboratory
- The Optical Physics Laboratory
- The Quantum Optics and Quantum Information Science Group
