Bringing Wavefields to Light: Novel Techniques for Optical Field Characterisation

School of Physics, University of Melbourne

3.30pm, Friday 9 July 2004, AR103 Seminar Room, Graduate Research Centre

Understanding the nature of light and other wavefields is critical in areas as diverse as microscopy, atom optics and optical telecommunications. It is well-known that a temporally and spatially coherent wavefield can be described in terms of its amplitude and phase. A partially coherent classical optical field, on the other hand, requires a formalism incorporating the coherence properties of the field. This talk will involve a discussion of novel techniques for fully characterising coherent and partially coherent wavefields and their application to areas such as imaging and photonic device fabrication and characterisation. Experimental techniques to be discussed include Near-field Scanning Optical Microscopy, Phase Microscopy Techniques and Phase Space Tomography.

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