Congratulations to Dr Faris Shahidan

Congratulations to Dr Shahidan whose PhD was awarded on 31 August! From his citation his contributions to the field involved the investigation of novel approaches to generating nanostructured surface colouration. He showed that nanoimprint lithography can produce complex three-dimensional nanostructures over large areas and at scale critical to adoption of structural colour technologies. His work underpins new approaches for producing environmentally conscious colour films for consumer goods and next-generation security features.


TMOS seeking PhD and masters students

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems is now seeking expressions of interest from suitably qualified candidates for MSc (coursework) and PhD positions. By harnessing the disruptive concept of meta-optics TMOS will develop the next generation of ultra-compact optical systems with fundamentally new and exciting capabilities.

If you are interested in joining the Melbourne node in 2022 as either a PhD or MSc student contact Professor Ken Crozier or Professor Ann Roberts.

Potential project details here. More information about TMOS here.


Actively variable-spectrum optoelectronics with black phosphorus

Nima Azar, Sivacarendran Balendhran and Ken Crozier are co-authors on a Nature paper with colleagues from the University of California at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. They made use of the extraordinary sensitivity of the bandgap of black phosphorous (bP) to strain to show the continuous and reversible tuning of the operating wavelengths in bP light-emitting diodes and photodetectors.

Link to paper:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03701-1


New article on optical nanotweezers designed by computer algorithm

Neuton’s paper on algorithm-designed plasmonic apertures for optical nanotweezers has been published in Advanced Optical Materials. The apertures were fabricated using a helium ion microscope and were characterised by cathodoluminescence and optical trapping experiments. It was shown that at every laser intensity, an algorithm-designed structure can outperform a conventional plasmonic aperture.

Link to paper:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adom.202100758


Ann Roberts awarded Alan Walsh Medal

TMOS Chief Investigator Ann Roberts has been awarded the Alan Walsh Medal for 2020 by the Australian Institute of Physics (AIP).

Professor Roberts, a member of the University of Melbourne’s School of Physics, received the award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the fields of plasmonics, nanophotonics, and optics.

Exciton Science Associate acknowledgment: https://excitonscience.com/news/ann-roberts-awarded-alan-walsh-medal


Lukas Wesemann PhD completion

Congratulations to Lukas Wesemann who was awarded his PhD on 5 March. His citation states that he investigated all-optical image processing with nanostructures.  He demonstrated both thin-film and patterned surfaces that can detect the edges of features in an image or permit visualisation of transparent objects. His study will enable the development of ultracompact and energy-efficient optical systems for applications, including in biotechnology and remote sensing. Dr Wesemann is continuing research into meta-optical devices and systems.


Research Fellow positions in Meta-Optics available

Ken Crozier and Ann Roberts have two research fellow positions available for suitably qualified applicants. The positions will be part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems and the roles will involve working on the experimental realisation of new nano-optical devices and their incorporation into optical systems. Applications close on 16 March. More information including position descriptions and a link to the application form here.


Number of posts found: 74