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The University of Kent OSA Student Chapter was proud to host Dr. Riccardo Sapienza from King’s College London on the occasion of the School of Physical Sciences colloquium.

Dr. Sapienza was welcomed at the Ingram Building by members of the University of Kent OSA Student Chapter and was taken on a short tour of the Photonics laboratories of the Applied Optics Group. Research in optical coherence tomography and photoacoustic microscopy have been shown. Afterwards Dr. Chao Wang explained research activities done at Microwave Photonics lab from the School of EDA (Engineering and Digital Arts). Research includes Ultrafast imaging systems, optical beamforming and 5G communication. Ultrafast imaging systems are used for high speed signal or image detection and can be used in microscopy and tomography applications with compressive sensing techniques solving needle in haystack problem. Optical beamforming technique is wireless optical communication using optical grating.

After the lab tours Dr. Sapienza was taken to lunch by our academic supervisor Prof. Adrian Podoleanu and joined by the chapters’ president, vice-president and secretary.

At 2 pm, Dr. Sapienza gave his talk entitled “Nanoscale photonic network lasers”. He began by giving a background of complex optical networks and the research he has conducted towards generating such network using polyester fibres combined with quantum dots to enable information flow over several micrometres. Afterwards he explained on how to use such complex network to produce a “random” laser using a specific emitter in a network and pumping the whole network and measuring the outputs of the laser.

At the end of the one hour talk, pictures were taken with the audience and with members of the chapter. The event was attended by staff and students of the Applied Optics Group, School of Physical Sciences and the Communications Research Group, School of Engineering and Digital Arts.

Abstract of the talk:

With decades of proven success, lasers have become central to many technologies that are used in manufacturing, communications, medicine and entertainment. Yet laser research continues to develop new types of light sources with unique and unprecedented characteristics, that have not yet been realised with existing laser technology.

Conventional lasers are generally restricted to aligned mirrors at fixed positions and 1D geometries, resembling the original design from the ‘60s. Instead, random lasers are mirror-less lasing systems which use highly disordered materials to obtain laser action, and have attracted significant interest due to their structural simplicity. Here the disordered matrix folds the optical paths by multiple scattering, while optical gain provides the amplification that triggers lasing. The result is an opaque medium in which laser light is generated by flowing and scattering in a speckle-like pattern.

I will introduce photonic network lasing originated from a web-like network of subwavelength waveguides. Building on this I will show how we design and fabricate biocompatible random laser lasers that can be use as sensitive sensors for living tissue integration, opening a path between complex photonics and medicine for future health care.

The University of Kent OSA Student Chapter was proud to host Dr. Arlene Smith, a 2017 OSA Ambassador, who had offered to visit the Chapter and give a talk on professional development. Prior to her visit, the Chapter had advertised the event to staff and students of the School of Physical Sciences and the School of Engineering and Digital Arts by placing television screen adverts in the foyers of the two Schools and by sending email reminders.

The President of the Chapter, Mike Everson, received Dr. Smith at the Ingram Building and took her on a short tour of the Photonics laboratories of the Applied Optics Group. Afterwards she was taken to lunch at Dolce Vita by the Chapter Advisor Professor Adrian Podoleanu and accompanied by the Chapters’ President, Secretary and Treasurer for light conversation.

At 1 pm, Dr. Smith gave her talk entitled “Optical Networking: Connecting You to Your Career”. She began by giving a background of OSA and the field of Optics and Photonics, including information and statistics regarding the different chapters and other associated organisations, collaborative partners and external connections. This gave a very interesting insight into the current work of OSA.

Recounting her personal experience, Dr. Smith presented a guide for postgraduate students, who are thinking about the next step in their career. She highlighted the benefits of being active in the scientific community and encouraged students to network through a variety of different events such as conferences.

At the end of the one hour talk, pictures were taken with the audience and with members of the chapter. The event was attended by staff and students of the Applied Optics Group, School of Physical Sciences and the Communications Research Group, School of Engineering and Digital Arts.

Abstract of the Talk:

In today’s competitive job market, simply having an MSc or PhD may not be enough to get you where you want to go. In this talk, I will share my experiences as an early career professional in the optics industry, including making the jump from academia to industry and the value of establishing and growing a professional network.

Biography of the Speaker:

Dr. Arlene Smith is a Program Manager for Avo Photonics, Inc., USA and a 2017 OSA Ambassador.
She obtained a BSc in Physics and Astronomy from the National University of Ireland, Galway, an MSc in Photonics and Optoelectronic Devices from the University of St Andrews and a PhD from the National University of Ireland, Galway. She previously worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Biomedical Imaging at the University of Michigan.

Venue of the Talk:
Room 110, Ingram Building
School of Physical Sciences
University of Kent

From the UBAPHODESA project's website:

The Applied Optics Group and the OSA student chapter of the University of Kent organised a small event for the international celebrated “Day of Photonics” on the 21st of October. The Day of Photonics celebrates the adoption of the current speed of light at the General Conference of Weights And Measures on the 21st of October 1983.

The Applied Optics and OSA student chapter organised a small booth in one of the universities science buildings, presenting various optical instruments and phenomena. They also offered guided lab tours to the photonics labs and gave an insight to the research carried out at the Applied Optics Grouop of the University of Kent.
We had the chance to meet with many interested students and give them an introduction to our research and gave them the opportunity to ask questions concerning optics and our research.

Closer look on our presented experiments:

Impressions during the lab tours:

Last Friday, January 30th the OSA Student Chapter hosted a pizza party social event, which took place at the Photonics Centre meeting room. This was a fantastic way to finish a week's intensive course of seminars including invited talks and lectures integrated in the PH800 module curricula.

We were also visited by our colleagues currently in the first half of their Marie Curie PhDs in Denmark, who will eventually be involved in this Chapter at some point.

This was an excellent opportunity for all of us to meet in a more relaxed environment with a lot of lovely pizza ordered locally. Many thanks to everyone for coming!

One thing we are interested in promoting, as a student chapter, is collaboration with researchers outside the School of Physical Sciences. The University of Kent conducts research in a broad range of imaging techniques not only at our Applied Optics Group, but also at the School of Engineering and Digital Arts and at the School of Computing. To foster interdisciplinary collaboration, a colloquium between these schools was organised to share the current topics being researched and build relations across the constituent groups.

Seven invited talks were scheduled in addition to a keynote presentation by Prof. Adrian Podoleanu, head of the Applied Optics Group. The talks covered a wide range of topics including optical coherence tomography, single pixel cameras, plenoptic imaging, high speed cameras, and image processing on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and graphical processing units (GPUs).

The event had over 30 in attendance, with a lively Q&A session. This event would not have been possible without the collaborative effort involving the University of Kent student chapters for both the Optical Society of America (OSA) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

This colloquium was successful in sharing the wide breadth of imaging research going on at Kent and we look forward to many new research endeavours as we work together.

On Tuesday 11th November, members of the OSA Student Chapter at Kent gave lab tours to interested undergraduate Physics students from the University of Kent. Students were shown around the Photonics labs and spoke with researchers (both post-doctorate and PhD) about their work within the Applied Optics Group.

The undergraduates were able to gain perspective into the research environment, particularly in optics but also academia as a whole. The visit was also greatly beneficial to the AOG members as it gave an opportunity to relate their work to a less experienced audience.

The chapter would like to give thanks to all AOG members involved, and of course to the undergraduates who expressed enthusiasm for the event. A final acknowledgement goes to Prof. Podoleanu for publicising these tours in his “Electromagnetism & Optics” lectures.

More photos are available here

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