Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Our research group builds spectrometers, fiber probes, refractometers, as well as micro-sensors for optical absorption, fluorescence, mechanical strain, vibration and sound. In our instrument development we are guided by two principles:       (A) absolute quantification of the measurand, but avoiding light intensity measurements       (B) emphasis on small volumes and/or low concentrations We take full advantage of the advances of the commercial developments in the telecom, imaging and sensing areas. When developing instruments we fabricate prototypes, write our own software and frequently design our own electronic circuitry. Most importantly for the proposed program, new and better instruments allow us to make discoveries that would not be observable with conventional tools. In the past 6 years, our work therefore produced not only 3 patents but also 29 research articles, including 8 cover articles. In all research programs, we first build in-house expertise and then work with collaborators in industry and academia on further development. This gives our research the largest impact and provides HQP with an opportunity to build an international network of industrial and academic contacts. The topics in this application fall into four categories spanning instrument design, fundamental optics, spectroscopy, photochemistry and micro-analytical chemistry. In project suite (1) we will develop several applications for a new light source in analytical spectroscopy. This light source is based on multiplexing either discrete solid state light sources or MEMS devices. In other project suites we will (2) advance the use of optical micro-cavities for chemical sensing, (3) use an extraordinarily sensitive fiber Fabry-Perot cavity for sound measurements over 5 orders of magnitude in amplitude and 6 orders of magnitude in frequency, and (4) exploit properties of photonic crystal waveguides for both precision optical measurements and separation science. In the next 5 years we will provide training and education to at least 4 PhD candidates (2-3 per annum), 6 MSc. candidates (2 p.a.), 2 postdoctoral fellows (1 p.a.), and at least 5 undergraduate students (1 p.a.). Graduate students and undergraduate students are involved at all stages of development through project management, budgeting, hiring of undergraduates and internships in with collaborator labs, e.g. industrial partners (e.g. ABB Canada, GasTOPS, KPM, Aurubis) or academic research labs (INO Naples, KGH Stockholm, innoFSPEC Potsdam).