Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Ultrafast lasers with pulse widths of a few hundred femtoseconds or less have emerged as powerful tools for research in recent years. They are both the light sources to probe ultrafast processes in photonic materials and components and the tools to develop miniaturized photonic devices with high degree of integration. Understanding the interactions between ultrafast lasers and photonic materials are extremely important for their applications. In this study, we will investigate novel microstructures in photonic materials to be generated by femtosecond lasers and their unique optical properties. The photonic materials to be studied include glasses in the forms of fibre and block as well as organic and polymer materials. The study will focus on the following areas: (1) laser processing of the photonic materials with femtosecond lasers including fabrication of three-dimensional micro-optical structures; (2) understanding of the interactions between femtosecond laser pulses and materials and the mechanisms of changes in their physical properties, including refractive index, birefringence, polarization, and morphology; (3) femtosecond spectroscopy of nano-materials, and (4) microstructures of photonic materials generated or processed by femtosecond lasers for device applications. The knowledge acquired from this research will have potential applications in optical sensing, signal processing, telecommunication and biomedical engineering, and benefit Canadian industries in these fields.