Optical Properties of  Materials & Structures Group

Department of Physics and Optical Engineering

Below is  brief descriptions of the primary areas of research we are currently active in.  Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like further information.

We work closely with the Baer & Hiltner group from Case Western Reserve University  to design, fabricate, and test optical systems based on layered polymer systems.  The layering technology developed by Case allows for optical quality films with a variable index of refraction.  One thrust of this research is the development of optical systems that mimic biological systems—so called biomimetic systems. An example of this is spherical gradient refractive index lenses. The lens of the human eye has this structure, but it is particularly prevalent in underwater creatures as can be seen below by the focusing of rays of an octopus eye.  We have designed lenses based on the multilayered polymer films that are equal and in some cases better than that found in nature.

Asphaltenes are an important component of oil and have been an intensive area of research for several decades. While many of the bulk properties of asphaltene have been determined over the last several years a few molecular properties are debatable.  For example, the figure below shows three proposed molecular structures of asphaltene. This research aims to apply the techniques of nonlinear optics to elucidate the fundamental questions still surrounding asphaltene molecules.

Optical Design Based On Layered Polymers

Nonlinear Material Characterization

Nonlinear Optical Properties of Asphaltene

Research

A general thrust of our group  is to  simplify current nonlinear spectroscopy techniques  in order to make them more amenable to practical applications such as in bio-medicine and telecommunications.    Currently,  our group is looking into methods to get the same amount of information from the standard z-scan technique using a single shot method with low quality input beam. Additionally,  the ability to get data over a large spectral range from nanosecond pulses will be investigated.

The interaction of short pulses with silicon is an important area of research due to the ubiquities nature of silicon in the electronics and photonics industry.  This research aims to develop a complete Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) code to simulate this interaction in tight focusing geometries. One of the primary goals is an explanation of single event effects in circuits.

Numerical Beam Propagation in Silicon

Octopus Eye

Aspheric Layered Polymer Lens

Asphaltene Models