Optics

Andersen, Boggess, Flatté, Goree, Kleiber, Prineas, Skiff, Smirl, Wohlgenannt

Optics is an applied physics area with applications in industry, scientific instrumentation, medicine, astronomy, and future technologies such as quantum computing. The University of Iowa is the home of the Optical Science and Technology Center (OSTC), which is an interdisciplinary center for optics researchers in physics, chemistry, engineering, and other fields. The Department of Physics and Astronomy has experimenters who develop and test new optical devices and materials, as well as experimenters in the fields of plasma, atomic, and molecular physics, who develop scientific instruments based on lasers and optics. Our experimenters have fifteen labs on campus, and we have a theorist. We offer graduate-level courses in modern optics.		Image gallery
We have greatly increased the number of optics faculty and state-of-the-art laboratories in our department. Students interested in optics enjoy a wide range of research possibilities, within the OSTC and with other faculty in the Department as well. With their strong financial support from numerous funding agencies, our faculty members offer students excellent research opportunities. Job placement opportunities are particularly strong for PhD graduates with experience in any of the kinds of optics that our students use.

• Parametric solitons, nonlinear optical crossbar switch, passive and adaptive nonlinear optical equalizer, 4-pi confocal nonlinear optical microscopy
• Applications include long-haul telecommunications systems, embedded wireless communications
• Professor with appointments in the departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and in Physics and Astronomy
• Facilities include 1100 sq. ft. lab, with a 100 femtosec Ti:Sapphire laser system and other sources for nonlinear optics
• Students also interact with theoretical wireless group from Electrical Engineering, medical group from Optical Science and Technology Center
• In most years, grant support is available for an RA stipend and student travel to conferences

• Buiding and using sources of ultrashort optical pulses
• Major equipment includes six optical tables with several ultrafast lasers and a streak camera, all located in 2000 sq. ft. of laboratory space
• Students also interact with other group members, including a postdoctoral scholar, graduate students, and undergraduates
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• Laser materials are theoretically designed and then tested by experimenters at Iowa
• Research applications include medicine and environmental monitoring
• Computing facilities dedicated to the group include a high-speed 60-processor linux cluster
• Students also interact with other group members, including a postdocs and other students, and with experimenters in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Chemistry
• Students develop skills including analytical and numerical techniques and programming C++
• Placement opportunities for graduates students include industry participants in our research
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• Primary research areas are plasma and condensed matter; students design and use optical systems as part of their research
• Optical imaging, image analysis, laser scattering, laser stimulation of lattices, spectroscopic imaging, laser diagnostics of plasmas
• Experiments are performed in labs, on aircraft and the International Space Station
• Two labs with lasers (argon, YAG, dye, diode, HeNe), spectrometers, video imaging, plasma chambers
• Students develop skills including design, construction, and operation of: optical, laser, vacuum, and electronic systems; programming in various languages; image analysis
• Previous assistants found employment in the semiconductor industry and as academic postdocs; one is now a professor
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• Primary research area is atomic and molecular physics; students use optics and lasers in their projects
• Development of laser-based spectroscopic methods
• Three labs; optical instruments include tunable Nd:YAG-pumped lasers
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• Optical pulse shaping for pulse-propagation experiments in semiconductors
• Development of ultrafast spectroscopic techniques, studies of quantum nano-optics of semiconductors
• Two labs, including an ultrafast spectroscopy lab, and a cleanroom with two molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) machines equipped for II-V semiconductor growth
• Students also interact with other members of the Optical Science and Technology Center and participate in collaborations with the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Germany
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• Optical instrumentation is developed and used as part of an experimental plasma physics program
• Low-light-level laser scattering, cw laser systems for spectroscopy, nonlinear optics of plasma waves
• Experimental facilities include: 3-meter linear magnetized plasma device for waves and spectroscopy, single-frequency scanning lasers for high-resolution laser spectroscopy
• Students also interact with group members including a postdoc and students, and they interact with other theoretical and experimental faculty
• Students develop skills including designing and building apparatus, electronics, computation
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• Topics include laser physics and propagation effects in semiconductors
• Optical measurement methods include characterizing the optical field on a femtosecond time scale, spectral interferometric techniques, ellipsometric measurements of polarization
• Five laboratories (5,000 sq. ft.) containing with lasers and associated measurement equipment give students access to femtosecond pulses at a broad range of frequencies
• In most years, grant support allows for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• Topics include light absorption, reflection and emission, continuous wave photoinduced (non-linear) absorption
• The influence of electric and magnetic fields on optical properties, spectroscopy of superconducting state in two-dimensional electron gas
• Facilities include a new laboratory under construction beginning in 2002, with spectroscopy facility using continuous wave laser, light-emitting diode fabrication, electromagnet
• Students participate in worldwide collaborations in semiconducting organics, chemistry and electrical engineering departments
• Placement opportunities gained from learning include semiconductor or fiber optics industry, government labs, and academia
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences