光学
A linearly polarized Gaussian beam, carrying zero net spin angular momentum, is conventionally not expected to exert optical torque or induce rotational motion in birefringent microparticles. When such a beam is tightly focused, the…
Nonlinear metasurfaces provide a route to compact frequency conversion by replacing phase matching and long interaction lengths with resonantly enhanced light matter interaction in subwavelength structures. Extending this capability to…
Injection locking of optoelectronic oscillators (OEOs) with large delay gives rise to phase dynamics that lie beyond the scope of classical single mode locking theory, including the spontaneous formation of persistent $2\pi$ phase kinks. In…
Fiber-integrated micro-optical elements promise a scalable approach to photon collection and beam shaping for quantum information processing. Here, we demonstrate single-step fabrication of micro-spherical, micro-spiral, and micro-axicon…
We introduce a novel electro-optomechanic neural sensor for realizing ultra-compact neural recording probes that can detect and relay electrophysiology signals from within neural tissue. This technology addresses outstanding challenges…
Multi-photon microscopy is a powerful technique for deep-tissue imaging, providing high spatial resolution at increased penetration depth. Nevertheless, imaging remains largely restricted to superficial tissue layers well below 1 mm.…
This is an active module taught to Bachelor's and Master's students at the University of Birmingham since 2021, covering selected topics in applied optics with an emphasis on imaging, lasers, and classical and quantum communication. The…
General-purpose programmable photonic processors are considered a crucial technology because they combine the ultra high-speed, massive bandwidth, and energy efficiency of light-based computing with the flexibility of software-defined…
Scaling the photon-detection area of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) has traditionally been achieved by nanowire meandering. However, material inhomogeneities and fabrication-induced defects, such as line-edge…
Atmospheric turbulence makes free-space quantum polarization links intrinsically time varying, whereas receiver-side reduced interfaces are often treated as static. This paper develops a slow-time receiver interface by extending an…
Non-Hermitian dynamics in open systems can give rise to a variety of fascinating non-equilibrium phenomena, ranging from symmetry-breaking transitions to directional energy flow. Parity-time (PT) symmetry breaking determines the occurrence…
State-of-the-art photon sources based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) currently rely on artificial structuring of the material nonlinearity to satisfy phase-matching conditions. This technique, known as periodic poling, is…
We demonstrate robust programmable state preparation in small VCSEL arrays with optical feedback using transient optical injection in the form of Gaussian pulses. In Lang--Kobayashi type models of delay-coupled 2- and 3-laser arrays,…
Flat optics is now judged by more than a strong simulation or a single laboratory demonstration. To reach release, a device must survive a chain of handoffs: requirements, model selection, verification, layout release, fabrication,…
Advances in computational methods have made full-wave simulations in large disordered media increasingly feasible, but the resulting field data, scaling with the cube of the ratio of system size to wavelength, creates a severe storage and…
The hallmark feature of photonic time crystals (PTCs) is the momentum bandgap, yet opening such a gap is extremely challenging, as it demands strong and rapid temporal modulation of the material properties. Recent theoretical advances have…
Confocal Brillouin microscopy enables high-resolution mechanical imaging but has low acquisition speed, partly due to its pixel-by-pixel mapping strategy. Line-scanning Brillouin microscopy (LSBM) significantly improves imaging speed by…
Monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (e.g., MoS2) exhibit exceptionally large optical nonlinearities for high-order nonlinear light generation (NLG), yet their inherent atomic thickness fundamentally limits light-matter interactions…
As the explosive growth of visual data increasingly strains the latency and energy limits of conventional electronic computing, optical analog computing has re-emerged as a disruptive paradigm for zero-power, speed-of-light information…
The performance of organic optoelectronic devices is critically dependent on how molecules orient within organic thin films. Yet, standard characterization techniques only reveal the first and second moments of the molecular orientation…