Optics and Photonics Research Areas
The Schools of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Physics, and the Georgia Tech Research Institute are collectively involved in interdisciplinary research in optics and photonics that encompass nine major areas:
BIOPHOTONICS
The science of generating and harnessing light to image, detect, and manipulate biological
systems. It is used in medicine to study tissue and blood to detect, diagnose, and treat
diseases.
• Light-assisted drug delivery
• Photodynamic cancer therapy
• Biological imaging
• Optical diagnostics
DIFFRACTIVE AND HOLOGRAPHIC OPTICS
Exploiting diffraction to control optical wave fronts and thereby enable switching
and information processing.
• Binary diffractive optics
• Holographic storage and image processing
NONLINEAR OPTICS
Understand and quantify the optical phenomena associated with the effects light has on
the propagation medium and to control and exploit these effects for signal processing,
communications, and sensing.
• Nonlinear propagation
• Frequency conversion
OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Technologies and system configurations used in the design of optical communications networks
ranging from low-cost gigabit short-haul links to ultrahigh-speed long-haul systems with
aggregate throughputs in excess of 1Tb/s.
• Modulation and detection techniques
• Fiber optic communications
OPTICAL MATERIALS
Design, synthesis, and optimization of new materials that enable the efficient
control of light.
• Compound semiconductors
• Ogranic molecules and polymers
• Hybrid nanocomposites
OPTICAL SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY
Technologies and systems used to generate and detect electromagnetic energy for
the purpose of imaging and sensing.
• Optical remote sensing
• IR signatures
• IR imaging
• Spectroscopy
OPTOELECTRONICS AND NANOPHOTONICS
Generating, manipulating, and detecting light particularly for communications and
information processing applications. Photonic devices often exploit semiconductors to
manipulate light in integrated optical structures.
• Electro-optical devices
• Integrated optics
• Photonic bandgap structures
• Nanostructured materials
QUANTUM OPTICS
Experimental and theoretical studies of the fundamental interactions of light and matter,
down to the level of individual atoms and photons.
• Laser cooling and trapping of atoms and ions
• Quantum information
• Cavity quantum electrodynamics
• Atom-light interaction processes
• Matter wave optics and Bose-Einstein condensation
ULTRAFAST OPTICS
Technologies and phenomena that allow investigation and exploitation of events
that occur on the picosecond and faster time scale.
• Femtosecond pulses and their measurements
• Ultrafast optical and phenomena and applications
