Lasers and Optics

Winful is recognized for promoting the university’s goals around diversity, equity and inclusion.

Winful is recognized for his decades of outstanding leadership and commitment to developing a culturally and ethnically diverse University of Michigan community.

Research led by Prof. Stephen Rand, Director of the Center for Dynamic Magneto-optics (DYNAMO), has important potential for energy conversion, ultrafast switching, nanophotonics, and nonlinear optics.

Rather than installing new “2D” semiconductors in devices to see what they can do, this new method puts them through their paces with lasers and light detectors.

Andre was chosen for her outstanding research and commitment to outreach activities.

It will now be possible to study brain activity when timing is important, such as the consolidation of memory.

Winful has made fundamental contributions to nonlinear optics and the physics of tunneling, while also championing an inclusive department.

The Duke University Professor delivered a virtual talk on enabling hybrid thin films for optoelectronics and shared her memories of Michigan.

From outreach programs for local kids to events that bring the U-M Engineering community together, the Optics Society exemplifies leadership and service.

Nees is honored for his excellence in research and scholarship, as well as his distinguished career as a key member of the Center for Ultrafast Optical Science.

By looking at tissue oxygen and cell metabolism at the same time, doctors could have a fast and noninvasive way to monitor the health of brain cells.

Researchers demonstrated the use of stacked, transparent graphene photodetectors combined with image processing algorithms to produce 3D images and range detection.

From rubbing elbows with royalty to finding yourself a casual seatmate to a member of U2, Professor Emeritus Gérard Mourou, Prof. Donna Strickland, and their former U-M colleagues shared their experiences and reflections on the 2018 Nobel Prize ceremony.

The three-petawatt system could unlock secrets of the universe, advance cancer treatments, improve security screenings for nuclear threats, and much more.

For the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, U-M ECE takes a look back – and a look forward – to how our professors, students, and alums have made their mark on the field.

For the past 31 years, Prof. Winick has helped define undergraduate courses and curriculum both at U-M and abroad while inspiring all to engineer their future by understanding the past.

The rays used by airport scanners might have a future in medical imaging.

Willingale’s research in plasma physics advances many research areas from spectacular astrophysical phenomena to cancer treatment to fusion power.

Gérard Mourou, Professor Emeritus of EECS, returned to campus to discuss winning the Nobel Prize and his work in high-intensity optics.

Lasers of tomorrow might neutralize nuclear waste, clean up space junk and advance proton therapy to treat cancer, says Gerard Mourou.

PhD student Brandon Russell is awarded the Rackham International Student Fellowship for his research on magnetic fields in high-energy plasmas, which could help advance the development of clean energy and our understanding of energetic astrophysical phenomena.

Bhattacharya honored for the development and commercialization of quantum dot lasers.

After Europe and Asia surpassed U.S. in high intensity laser research in the early 2000s, the Department of Energy is funding new collaborative research network to make the U.S. more competitive.

Kira was recognized for his pioneering contributions to the theory of semiconductor quantum optics.

At U-M, Gérard Mourou advanced ‘chirped pulse amplification,’ leading to more precise LASIK eye surgery and pushing the limits of optical science.

Electron states in a semiconductor, set and changed with pulses of light, could be the 0 and 1 of future “lightwave” electronics or room-temperature quantum computers.

Using some of the best lasers in the world, Willingale is shedding light on the impact of solar events on Earth.

Powered by a broadband infrared laser, the device can zero in on the ‘spectral fingerprint region’.

Laura Andre says she “ended up just falling in love with optics.”

Lasers are typically thought of as hot. What if they were able to cool?

It could enable tabletop particle and X-ray sources as well as the investigation of astrophysics and quantum dynamics.

Nees recognized for work with ultrafast lasers

Prof. Galvanauskas was recognized for his pioneering work with fiber lasers.

By developing a fast algorithm to map out the paths light takes through yogurt, researchers aim to someday see through skin.

The Optics and Photonics event showed a thriving industry in SE Michigan

Extremely short, configurable “femtosecond” pulses of light demonstrated by an international team could lead to future computers that run up to 100,000 times faster than today’s electronics.

Winful discusses life in education

SPIE chose Stock for her achievements in business development and science policy

Prof. Mi conducts research in the area of semiconductor optoelectronics, specifically in the areas of III-nitride semiconductors, low dimensional nanostructures, LEDs, lasers, Si photonics, artificial photosynthesis and solar fuels.

This national center, established in 1990, confirmed Michigan’s leadership in the field.

Prof. Deotare’s work will deepen our understanding of the underlying physics of exciton-mechanics interactions and help engineer novel devices for energy harvesting and up-conversion.

While 3D films are currently made using multiple cameras to reconstruct each frame, this new type of camera could record in 3D on its own.

The award supports research that will help our understanding of how tissues form distinct shapes and structure to become organs, such as lungs, salivary glands, and mammary glands.

Prof. Grbic specializes in the broad fields of electromagnetics and optics, with interests ranging from fundamental electromagnetic theory to microwave circuits.

Professor Islam is leading the reconstruction of super continuum lasers he designed to aid the military into a non-invasive tool to measure glucose in the blood system.

The MLP seeks to provide outreach and education about the world of optics in general, and the optics industry in Michigan specifically.

One of the most promising avenues for achieving new target levels of high peak intensity and high average power in an ultrafast laser system is to turn to fiber lasers.

Profs. Shai Revzen and Herbert Winful spoke about their passion for their work at the sixth annual conference, themed “Constructive Interference”.

Prof. Forrest is widely acknowledged as one of the most successful academic inventors and entrepreneurs today.

Cheng works with Prof. L. Jay Guo on research projects in the field of micro/nano-scale optical device physics and fabrication.

The professors addressed two very different problems the industry faces with current technology.

His research will impact the ability to investigate the structure of brain circuits through the use of optical imaging techniques.

Yoon is leading a team that will design new light sources with lasers capable of zooming in on individual neuron circuits within the brain.

Researchers at the University have extended the lifetime of blue organic light emitting diodes by a factor of ten.

Since coming to the University in 1984, Bhattacharya has pioneered several important technological advances.

Cheng is a 4th year PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering working in field of micro/nano-scale optical device physics and fabrication.

Prof. Norris is an internationally recognized expert in the field of ultrafast optics.

These faculty deepen ECE’s areas of expertise in computer vision, communications and information theory, environmental remote sensing, and laser-plasma interactions.

The researchers believe that metasurfaces could one day be used to completely control the phase, amplitude, and polarization of light.

Lasers emitting in the 600nm wavelength range have applications in medicine, optical information processing, optical storage, and more.

Mourou put the University on the map in ultrafast optics when he established the Center for Ultrafast Optical Science in 1991.

The fundamental objective of the research initiative is to uncover, explain, and exploit dynamic magneto-optical processes and materials for new technological capabilities.

With precarious particles called polaritons that straddle the worlds of light and matter, University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated a new, practical and potentially more efficient way to make a coherent laser-like beam.

U-M researchers demonstrated a unique terahertz detector and imaging system that could bridge the terahertz gap.

Elizabeth’s research is to understand how a new interaction between light and matter can generate electricity.

Michigan Engineering professor Duncan Steel explains how quantum computing works, using quantum bits that take on superpositions of 0 and 1 simultaneously.

Wang’s research studies the glow-like atmospheric pressure microdischarges created under specialized conditions in laser printers.

By shining the laser on a target and analyzing the reflected light, researchers can tell the chemical composition of the target.

“It is no longer a scientific curiosity. It’s a real device.”

Thanks to HERCULES, scientists are now able to study very dense plasmas — a crucial step in nuclear fusion and astrophysical research.

“We believe this could be used as an invisible knife for noninvasive surgery,” Guo said. “Nothing pokes into your body, just the ultrasound beam.”

In the tradition of our best faculty at Michigan, Ted is a phenomenal teacher and mentor as well as researcher. Congratulations!

The work advances the scientific understanding of laser cooling technologies currently being pursued to explore the boundary between classical and quantum physics.

The discovery of nonlinear optics was just one of several Michigan “firsts” that occurred about fifty years ago, and underscores the importance of involving undergrads in research.

As the birthplace of nonlinear optics, the University of Michigan is proud to host a symposium which will bring together some of the pioneers in the field.

This new technique could make solar power cheaper and, with improved materials, more efficient.

By using the wiggling motion of electrons in a plasma bubble generated by the ultrashort laser pulse, researchers produced X-rays comparable to that produced in a synchrotron facility.

Can the laser’s pulse propagate in such a way that it does not change its energy, and leaves the system in the excited state? Does the pulse speed up during propagation?

The team is working toward building organic lasers that, like many inorganic lasers today, can be excited with electricity rather than light.

The award will support Professor Carmon in three years of basic research on continuous on-chip extreme UV emitters.

Steel will concentrate his efforts on solid state systems, specifically with epitaxially grown InAs/lGaAs semiconductor quantum dots.

Comprised of electrical engineers, astrophysicists, physicists, materials scientists, biomedical engineers, and doctors, CUOS explore ultrafast laser applications.

Professor Winful sheds light on one of the most perplexing mysteries of quantum tunneling.

“The future of CUOS is bright,” said Mourou. “Nothing will stop the flow of discoveries.”