OSCILLATOR: applications of Optical SCatterIng and Light LocAlisation in Turbid Or peRiodic media

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The short-term objectives of OSCILLATOR are to deliver devices to open new avenues in photonics for optical logic (OL), Quantum processing (QP), secure communications (SEC), advanced fibre lasers (AFL) and high-resolution distributed sensing with our recently developed ultra-long fibre Bragg gratings (UL-FBGs). The long-term objectives are the refine the state-of-the-art Fabulas facilities to include ultra-high precision plane-by-plane writing (PPW) using fs lasers to deliver through the coating written optical fibre filters, to develop a new sensor system for real time displays for robotics and surgical catheter guidance/tracking and neural networks based of interconnected random lasers for studying nonlinear phenomenon, artificial intelligence (AI) and a new generation of glass ceramics and optical fibres for laser cooling and heat mitigation. These advances would make a huge impact on the above-mentioned areas by offering outstanding device performance, as yet unattained by other means. Successful outcomes will advance Canada's technological competitive advantage. Fabricating ultra-¬high¬ quality UL¬FBGs has remained a challenge, which will be addressed in the course of the current proposal, requiring the control of phase to less than one thousandth of a wavelength of light over hundreds of mm, further complicated by the use of fs lasers to write through the coating which severely reduces the quality of the FBG. To mitigate these problems, we need to refine the techniques to allow replication with a high yield. Devices will be made for optical networking, point to point and satellite communications where security is of paramount importance, as well as to implement real-time ultrahigh speed optical logic operations. Pre¬programmed random FBGs have shown great promise in bend sensing and real-time display for bio¬medical use with minimally invasive surgical catheters. These FBGs are assembled into triplets for real-time catheter tracking, however, challenges remain in data processing for this application. Recent developments in my lab have shown near zero heat generation in Yb doped nano-crystalline glass ceramic samples. This on¬going work requires a focus on purification, which theory predicts will lead to cooling in these easily mouldable glasses to open applications, e.g., for sensors in space and bio photonics. Optical fibres will be made out of these materials for mitigating heat generation in high power fibre lasers through radiation balancing. Tunable random lasers were made with our new material based on the elastomer, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with rare earth (RE) doped glass ceramics. Why quenching occurs in certain RE: doped glasses needs to be answered as this potentially offers wide tunability. We also permanently photosensitized PDMS with Germania and other dopants, and demonstrated fs laser simple waveguides, and opens avenues to integrate tunable photonic devices compatible with lab-on-a-chip, directly written with lasers.