User:AMCDawes

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[edit] Andrew M. C. Dawes, Ph.D.

I am a recent graduate of the Department of Physics at Duke University. At Duke, I studied pattern-forming nonlinear optics, slow-light in optical fiber and the application of such systems to quantum and classical information science.

Research

My research projects are generally related to the exploration of the interaction between light and matter. Typically "light" in my lab implies laser beams although not in every case. The two projects that I am most active in are all-optical switching and slow-light in optical fiber.

All-optical switching also has implications for the telecommunications industry although we have a lot of work to do before we could implement devices based on our current research. The initial discovery that led to our first major result in all-optical switching was the observation that optical patterns formed by the interaction between laser light and rubidium atoms can be controlled by a very weak beam. The weak beam slightly changes the light-matter interaction which leads to a drastic change in the generated patterns. Using this system we hope to demonstrate a switch that is sensitive to a single photon.

Slow-light can mean different things in different contexts, physically it is a phenomena whereby the speed at which a pulse of light travels through a material is significantly slower than the speed of light in vacuum (c). Typical materials such as glass, transmit light at speeds that are slower than c but not by a lot (between 1.4 and 1.6 times slower depending on the glass). My research focuses on preparing systems where the speed of light is several hundred times slower than c.