Zepler Institute hosts Photonics Day

The Zepler Institute recently held Photonics Day, a regular annual event in the University calendar, which has been re-launched this year to celebrate the truly multidisciplinary nature of photonics research.

The one day conference saw staff and students from across the Zepler Institute and wider University come together to review the latest research through a number of oral and poster presentations. With the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies 2015 (IYL 2015) on the horizon, the event was opened by Professor John Dudley, President of the European Physical Society and IYL 2015 Champion, who gave an invited talk on this worldwide UN initiative and the broad scope for participation from those in the photonics community and beyond.

Attendees were offered three sessions of talks and a poster session. The first session presided by Dr Anna Peacock (ORC) featured speakers from QLM and the Institute for Life Sciences giving respective presentations on qubit systems in silicon carbide and chemically-selective imaging. Also included were a series of ‘flash talks’ by students who, in advance of the lunchtime poster session, sought to promote their research within the 90 second time limit strictly overseen by Professor Rob Eason, Associate Dean Research.

Following lunch and the opportunity to browse some of the 40 student and postdoc posters on display, attendees returned to hear presentations from colleagues in ECS, the ORC, QLM and Chemistry. The second session, presided by Professor Otto Muskens (QLM), included talks on optical amplifiers and waveforms, terahertz emitters, ultrafast photomodulation spectroscopy and the study of chemical structure and dynamics using high energy and intensity lasers, whilst the final session, presided by Dr Goran Mashanovich (ECS/ORC), showcased research in germanium, silicon photonics, metamaterials and liquid crystals and nanofabrication for plasmonics.

The day concluded with a prize-giving as Deepak Jain, a PhD student in Silica Fibre Fabrication Group, was announced as the winner of the best student poster, receiving a first prize of £150 in cash. Congratulations were also given to the two runners-up, Callum Littlejohns, a PhD student from the Silicon Photonics Group, and Tim Raybould, a PhD student from the Nanophotonics Group, who both received cash prizes of £75.