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Diamond Laser Group

News Archive - Diamond Laser Group (2008 onwards...)

2023

Dec 2023: Congratulations Richard Pahlavani! - winner, PhD poster prize at the ANZCOP AIP Summer Congress in Canberra. The paper was entitled "Frequency Stablized 589 nm Diamond Raman Laser".

May 2023: Are you seeking up-to-date data for all your nonlinear optical materials? We are pleased to support the work of Nathalie Vermuelen and Eric Van Stryland in their collection of post-year-2000 data for nonlinear optical materials. Just published - find it here.

2022

Mar 2022: Our collaborators at UTS have reported a novel single photon source for QKD based on boron nitride (Press Release)

Mar 2022: Our collaborators at CERN have reported conversion of broad linewidth pumps into nice single-frequency output using monolithic diamond resonators (published in Optica).

Jan 2022: We're up and running in 2022 following a big lab detox and cleanup!

2021

Jan 2021: Want to generate randomized polarizations directly, with quantum-assured true randomness? Our idea is published in this article and there is some background here (press release) and in articles here (New Atlas) and here (OSA Optics and Photonics News).

2020

Oct 2020: We are learning more about the strange world of UV laser etching of diamond. Our new paper in Carbon shows the intricate way nanopatterns emerge as function of the surface symmetry and laser polarization.

Sep 2020: We have found that UV etches diamond about 10 times faster in dry oxygen. New paper in Applied Physics Letters.

Apr 2020: Dr Xuezong Yang's paper is out on single-frequency diamond lasers for sodium excitation. Published this week in Optics Letters and highlighted by Laser Focus World. Press release is here.

Feb 2020: Our first journal publication on diamond Brillouin lasers finally emerges! See the press release, Laser Focus World article and SciLight.

2019

Aug 2019: The Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source (RILIS) group at CERN have reported a tunable diamond laser in the blue for beamline applications.

Jul 2019: Thanks to Seeker for this cool little clip on our 'super lasers'.

Feb 2019: Xuezong Yang's work on single-frequency power lasers in the visible is an Editors Pick in Optics Letters.

Jan 2019: Physical Review Letters has published our recent results on single-atom layer removal of diamond surface using a UV laser beam. Based on model calculations, it looks like 2-photon ejection of surface carbonyl groups could be a key mechanism.

2018

Nov 2018: Prof Mildren has been elected an OSA Fellow.

Oct 2018: New results in UV-induced surface etchiing and modification of diamond presented at World Congress in Nano Science and Technology, Potsdam.

Aug 2018: We have been accepted into the Europhoton postdeadline session for a report on free-space Brillouin lasers.

Jul 2018: Congratulations to Zhenxu Bai, who takes home another award - the Springer-Nature "Rising Stars of Light Prize" at the Light Conference 2018.

May 2018: Zhenxu Bai wins the presitigious 2018 Teddy Laurin Scholarship for his work on diamond Brillouin lasers - congratulations Bai! See also article in Photonics.Com and Photonics Spectra.

May 2018: Rob Williams and Zhenxu Bai are reporting a breakthrough in free-space Brillouin lasers at CLEO this month. A new platform for extreme laser devices.

Apr 2018: A new summary paper on our work on high power diamond lasers has just appeared as invited paper in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics (Early Posting) .

Apr 2018: Our attempts to enter the world of pop culture in the Macquarie Lighthouse research showcase.

Jan 2018: Off to fast start to the year with two new papers. One on large factor beam brightness enhancement in diamond Bai et al Optics Letters and on a high brightness red diamond laser Jasbeer et al Optics Express.

2017

Nov 2017: Our team wins the Innovative Technology category at the University Academic Staff Awards 2017.

Oct 2017: We are pitching our high power laser technology to the maritime and defence communities at the 2017 Pacific Exposition.

Sep 2017: Congrats to group members Dr Hadiya Jasbeer and Dr Alex Sabella on their graduation!

Aug 2017: The diamond laser group and A/Prof Mildren have been congratulated by the Defence Minister and the Chief Defence Scientist after winning the Australian Museum Eureka Awards for"Outstanding Science for Safeguarding Australia".

Jul 2017: A/Prof Mildren is a finalist in the Australian Museum Eureka Awards in the "Outstanding Science for Safeguarding Australia" category coming up on Aug 30.

Apr 2017: Our diamond-based concept for combining high power laser beams has been published. See the Laser & Photonics Reviews article and the MQ press release.

Feb 2017: We are pitching our high power laser technology to the aerospace and defence communities at the 2017 Avalon AirShow.

2016

Oct 2016: Diamond supplier Element 6 our enthusiastic about the possibilities for diamond in Raman lasers. Some great endorsements of our research in their current newsletter.

Sep 2016: See our new SPIE press release on beam combination in diamond.

Sep 2016: We are proud to have won a place in the CSIRO's ON Prime pre-accelerator program for commercialization of our technology. Macquarie U press release here.

Aug 2016: Our paper on single-mode Raman lasers is out in Optica along with this press-release: A new path to high spectral brightness. See also this review in Laser Focus World.

Jul 2016: Our book chapter on Intrinsic Optical Properties of Diamond is now available on free download courtesy of Wiley.

May 2016: New ARC Linkage Grant (in collaboration with M-Squared Lasers UK) on high spectral brightness lasers just announced.

2015

Dec 2015: New publications coming out on the important optical properties of diamond: Raman gain coefficients and the effects of in-grown stress.

Oct 2015: See our contribution to an historical piece on Dr Gisela Eckhardt's crucial role in the discovery of stimulated Raman scattering, published in Physics World. "Gisela Eckhardt and the Raman Laser" by V. Pasiskevicius, R. Mildren and D. Burman

Sep 2015: We have been accepted in the Postdeadline Session at Advanced Solid-State Lasers Conference in Berlin. Oliver Lux and Soumya Sarang present a novel method of single longitudinal mode operation.

Aug 2015: Diamond laser power increases by 20 times - see Laser Focus World article and Phys.Org article.

Jun 2015: Along with U of Strathclyde, we are highlighted for diamond laser achievements by Element 6 in Laser Focus World.

Jun 2015: New publications coming out on Raman amplifiers, ultrafast diamond, and 0.4 kW diamond lasers.

May 2015: Huffington Post have spotted our research on UV effects on diamond surfaces!

2014

Sep 2014: See our Feature Article on Diamond Raman Lasers in this month's Optics and Photonics News. Links: web article and magazine.

Jul 2014: Williams et al show how to make diamond lasers generate more than 100W of output power Optics Letters.

Jun 2014: Tunable output in the range 3.4-3.8 microns using diamond: Sabella et al Optics Letters.

May 2014: McKay's diamond brightness converter has been highlighted by the American Institute of Physics.

May 2014: Diamond makes laser beams more brilliant - see our press release and paper in Laser & Photonics Reviews.

Mar 2014: Our work on laser-selective atom removal from diamond has been featured in OSA's Optics and Photonics News, Novus Light Technologies Today, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.

Mar 2014: We report a UV-induced carbon ejection phenomenon in diamond that may lead to exciting new ways to enable atomic-scale optical processing. The full paper appears in Nature Communications, and a press article in The Conversation discusses the observation and its significance.

Feb 2014: McKay et al paper on high power diamond laser was ranked a highlight of 2013 by Laser Physics Letters in the Novel Laser Materials category.

Jan 2014: Diamond Raman lasers are highlighted a 2014 "Trend in Lasers" by Photonics Spectra Magazine.

Jan 2014: Record KGW laser output power and preferential high-order mode excitation reported in Optics Express.

2013

Oct 2013: Congratulations to Ondrej Kitzler, one of 10 winners of the Incubic/Milton Chang Student Travel Grant at the recent FiO Meeting in Orlando FL, for his paper on frequency conversion of fibre lasers in diamond.

Aug 2013: High power pulsed diamond laser just published in Laser Physics Letters (A. McKay et al) 15W obtained at 1240 nm and 1485 nm.

Mar 2013: New book Optical Engineering of Diamond released on google books. In print from mid April from Wiley-VCH.

Feb 2013: Macquarie diamond research featured in Australian Research Council Annual Report 2011-2.

2012

Sep 2012: High average power (10-20W) diamond Raman lasers reviewed at the High Power Laser Systems and Applications conference in Istanbul 10-14 Sep.

Aug 2012: Reece Roberts wins MQ Photonics undergraduate research scholarship. Congratulations Reece.

Jul 2012: 10W continuous wave Raman laser reported in Optics Letters (Kitzler et al).

May 2012: Congratulations to Ondrej Kitzler, one of 15 winners of the OSA Foundation Travel Grant at the recent CLEO Meeting in San Jose, for his paper on high power cw diamond Raman lasers.

Jan 2012: Macquarie diamond laser and nanodiamond research featured at the Melbourne University - Harvard Diamond Photonics Symposium.

2011

Dec 2011: "Recent Progress in Diamond Raman Lasers" Symposium plenary presented at the Fall Meeting of the Materials Research Society in Boston

Nov 2011: First eye-safe diamond Raman laser reported in Optics Express (Sabella et al).

Oct 2011: Australian diamond photonics research (Macquarie and University of Melbourne) has been reviewed in the Chemistry World magazine. See Cover Story here.

Aug 2011: Postdeadline paper accepted at the Pacific Rim Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (Sydney 28/8-2/9) on a continuous wave Raman conversion of Nd:YAG laser obtained in diamond using a simple singly resonant cavity (Kitzler et al).

Jul 2011: Diamond evaporates under exposure to ultraviolet light. As reported in the open-access journal Optical Materials Express, and reviewed in Nature News, the process may provide a highly practical method for creating smooth graphite-free microstructures in diamond.

Jul 2011: Diamond Raman lasers are highlighted in the recent edition of Nature Photonics in the article "Diamond Photonics" by Igor Aharonovich, Andrew Greentree and Steven Prawer.

May 2011: First Raman laser directly pumped in the deep ultraviolet reported in Optics Express.

Feb 2011: The first single pass and most efficient side pumped crystalline Raman laser demonstrated as reported in Optics Letters in Optics Letters.

Jan 2011: “Rock Stars” article in Sydney Morning Herald highlights Macquarie’s diamond photonics research.

2010

Dec 2010: Invited talk on "Diamond Raman lasers" was presented at the Laserfest symposium at the Australian Institute of Physics Congress in Melbourne.

Oct 2010: Near quantum limited performance of a 1240nm diamond Raman laser accepted for publication in Optics Letters (Sabella, Piper, Mildren).

Sep 2010: Invited paper given at Europhoton Conference (Hamburg) on the Performance and Prospects of Diamond Raman Lasers.

Aug 2010: Postdeadline paper (Sabella, Mildren) accepted at Europhoton Conference (Hamburg) on record slope efficiency Raman laser.

Jun 2010: Diamond based spintronics, quantum communication and Raman lasers usher in the Coming Age of Diamond writes Aaron Cook in Cosmos Magazine

May 2010: Invited paper at CLEO (San Jose) on May 18 to report latest results.

Apr 2010: Visible diamond Raman laser research is highlighted in the April issue of Nature Photonics.

Feb 2010: Ultrafast (picosecond) synchronously pumped diamond Raman laser reported in Optics Letters (Spence, Granados, Mildren).

Jan 2010: Efficient diamond Raman laser demonstration was nominated by Photonics Spectra as the one of the Best of 2009: Laser Achievements together with several other high profile achievements including the X-ray free electron laser, the nanolaser and the 192 beam US National Ignition Facility.

2009

Dec 2009: Efficient Diamond laser results featured in Optics and Photonics News (OSA).

Nov 2009: Invited paper "The outlook for diamond in Raman lasers" presented at the Materials Research Society Fall Meeting (Boston 30 Nov- 4 Dec)

Oct 2009: The Optical Society of America has featured our recent diamond laser research in this press release.

Sep 2009: Awarded ARC Future Fellowship to support diamond laser research.

Aug 2009: High efficiency diamond Raman laser paper accepted for publication in Optics Letters.

May 2009: Winner Invention Disclosure Category in the 2009 University Innovation Awards. A description of the night's highlights appears in the June 2009 Issue of Quest Magazine

Feb 2009: Invited paper Diamond Raman Lasers presented at the Hasselt Diamond Workshop

2008

Nov 2008: CVD-diamond Raman laser reported in Optics Express. This report shows for the first time that CVD-grown synthetic diamond is suitable for Raman laser operation.