1279th OGM, Jak Kelly Award Lecture and Christmas Party

All-integrated mid-infrared laser sources
Gayathri Bharathan — Jak Kelly Award Winner (2019)
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Macquarie University

Event Organiser: Royal Society of New South Wales

Enquiries: Here or phone (02) 9431 8691
All are welcome

Register Here

The infrared (IR) part of the electromagnetic spectrum is sub-divided into the near (0.8 – 2 μm), mid (2 – 15 μm) and far (15 – 1000 μm) infrared region. Amongst those three, the mid-IR is of particular relevance as it corresponds to photon energies that overlap with the strong vibrational molecular resonances of most common constituents of atmospheric gases and with the liquid water. Potential applications include but are not limited to environmental monitoring, trace molecular detection (e.g. for airport security screening) as well as non-invasive breath analysis where the presence of certain molecules in the human breath can be used as an indicator of a specific disease.

Due to their numerous advantages, fibre lasers represent the ideal light sources for most applications and have therefore become the most widespread used type of lasers in the near-IR. In contrast, mid-IR fibre laser technology is still in its infancy, mainly due the nonexistence of fibre coupled optical components required to form an all-fibre cavity, which severely limits their applicability. The possibility to utilize femtosecond lasers to directly inscribe high-quality and robust integrated components such as fibre Bragg gratings as well as in-fibre polarizers opens a new avenue for the development of future mid-IR all-fibre laser systems. The aim of my research work is therefore to investigate the fabrication of integrated components in mid-IR compatible glasses for the development of high beam quality all-fibre mid-IR lasers.

Gayathri Bharathan

Gayathri Bharathan completed her Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering at Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala, India. This was followed by post-graduate studies in VLSI Design from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras). Later, she worked as a lecturer in the Federal Institute of Science and Technology for two years. She then returned to her studies in 2017, relocating to Sydney to pursue a Masters by Research in Photonics at Macquarie University. Her interest in the field of developing lasers for surgical applications led her to continue her studies and she commenced a PhD in March 2018 under the supervision of Dr Alex Fuerbach and Dr Stuart Jackson. At the completion of her PhD, she hopes that she can continue to contribute to the development of new mid-infrared laser sources for practical applications in medicine.

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1279th OGM, Jak Kelly Award Lecture and Christmas Party [Royal Society of NSW]

Wednesday, 4 December 2019, 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Venue: Gallery Room, State Library of New South Wales

Event Organiser: Royal Society of New South Wales

The Royal Society of New South Wales would like to invite you to join them at the 1279th OGM, Jak Kelly Award Lecture and Christmas Party on Wednesday, 4 December.

You can attend the OGM and Lecture only, or join them for the buffet-style Christmas Party with drinks following.

The guest speaker will be Gayathri Bharathan — Jak Kelly Award Winner (2019), on the topic of ‘All-integrated mid-infrared laser sources’/

Registrations are essential and must be made online by 9am, Monday 2 December.

Enquiries: Here or phone (02) 9431 8691
All are welcome

Register Here

Details

Date:
Wednesday, 4 December 2019

Venue:
Gallery Room, State Library of NSW (Entrance: Shakespeare Place, Sydney)

Entry:
$25 for Non-Members, $15 for Fellows, Members and Associate Members of the Society, $5 Students (including a welcome drink)

Dress Code:
Smart Casual

Christmas Party (buffet style, including drinks):
$55 for Non-Members, $50 for Fellows, Members and Associate Members, $25 for students. Reservations must be made by 9.00 am on Monday, 2 December