Volume 47, Number 5, September/October 2010 Physics/Aust Phys 4… · 122 Marshall Stoneham 1940–2011 Product News 124 A review of new products from Lastek, Coherent Scientific

Volume 47, Number 5, September/October 2010

HHarrie Massey Medal for 2010 awarded to Hans Bachor

Alan Walsh Medal for 2010 – Commercialising Laboratory Lasers

Walter Boas Medal for 2010 – Plasma Nanoscience

Bonsai Black Hole in Our Backyard

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Editorial100 Introducing the new editor of Australian

Physics

President’s Column101 Incoming AIP President, Marc Duldig,

discusses the importance to ourprofession of ‘scientific volunteerism’

News & Comment102 Tanya Monro named South Australian of

the Year for 2011CERN Director-General announces newAustralian centreAustralian Synchrotron restructures withseveral senior appointments

Harrie Massey Medal for 2010105 Ben Villani profiles the research of ANU

physicist Hans Bachor

Alan Walsh Medal for 2010106 Robert Scholten describes his fascinating

journey of how a laboratory laser led tothe foundation of a company thatexports to labs all over the world

A Bonsai Black Hole111 Robert Soria explains how the discovery

of powerful jets from a nearby black holereveals new clues about the behaviour ofmassive quasars in the early universe

Walter Boas Medal for 2010114 Ken Ostrikov describes how plasma

nanoscience is able to control complexorganisations of atomic matter at sub-nanometre to microscopic scales

How Much Free Will Do We Have?119 The work of the ANU’s Michael Hall on

the Bell inequalities is previewed by TimWetherall

Book Reviews121 John Macfarlane on ‘The Cold Wars: A

History of Superconductivity’ by JeanMatricon and Georges WaysandLee Weissel on ‘The Quantum Frontier:The Large Hadron Collider’ by DonLincoln

Obituary122 Marshall Stoneham 1940–2011

Product News124 A review of new products from Lastek,

Coherent Scientific and WarsashScientific

Inside Back CoverPhysics conferences ahead for 2011 and 2012

98 Australian Physics Volume 47, Number 5, September/October 2010

A Publication of the Australian Institute of PhysicsPromoting the role of physics in research,

education, industry and the community.

EEditorPeter Robertson [email protected]

Assistant EditorDr Akin [email protected]

Book Reviews EditorDr John [email protected]

Samplings EditorDon [email protected]

Editorial BoardA/Prof Brian James (Chair)Dr M. A. BoxDr J. HoldsworthA/Prof R. J. SteningProf H. A. BachorProf H. Rubinsztein-DunlopProf S. Tingay

Associate Editor – EducationDr Colin Taylor [email protected]

Associate EditorsDr John Humble [email protected]

Dr Chris Lund [email protected]

Dr Laurence [email protected]

Dr Frederick Osman [email protected]

Peter Robertson [email protected]

Dr Patrick Keleher [email protected]

Submission GuidelinesArticles for submission to Australian Physics shouldbe sent in electronicaly. Word or rich text formatare preferred. Images should not be embedded inthe document, but should be sent as high resolutionattachments in eps, tiff or jpg format. Authorsshould also send a short bio and a recent photo. TheEditor reserves the right to edit articles based onspace requirements and editorial content.Contributions should be sent to the Editor.

AdvertisingEnquiries should be sent to the Editor.

Published six times a year.Copyright 2010 Pub. No. PP 224960 / 00008 ISSN 1837-5375

The statements made and the opinions expressed inAustralian Physics do not necessarily reflect the viewsof the Australian Institute of Physics or its Councilor Committees.

ProductionControl Publications Pty LtdBox 2155 Wattletree Rd PO, VIC [email protected]

Cover

A composite multi-band image of Pictor A, aclose and powerful Fanaroff–Riley class IIradio source. The host appears as a non-de-script point at the centre of the backgroundoptical image (European Southern Observa-tory DSS-2 R-band image in grey). An X-rayjet is seen emanating from the centre of thegalaxy extending across 360,000 light-yearstoward a brilliant hotspot (Chandra X-rayimage in blue). Two nearly circular lobes,normally reminiscent of a ‘dying’ radiosource, are seen at radio wavelengths (6 cmAustralia Telescope Compact Array image inred), but the presence of hot spots seen at the

lobe extremities suggests that the jet may have been recently re-activated. A similar objectknown as Fornax A is featured in Robert Soria’s article on p. 111. [Courtesy: Emil Lenc,Australia Telescope National Facility, Sydney]

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Australian Institute of PhysicsAAIP website: www.aip.org.au

AIP ExecutivePresident Dr Marc Duldig

[email protected] President Dr Robert Robinson

[email protected] Dr Andrew Greentree

[email protected] Dr Judith Pollard

[email protected] A/Prof Bob Loss

[email protected] Past President A/Prof Brian James

[email protected] Projects OfficersDr John Humble

[email protected] Olivia Samardzic

[email protected]

AIP ACT BranchChair Dr Anna Wilson

[email protected] Joe Hope

[email protected]

AIP NSW BranchChair Dr Graeme Melville [email protected] Dr Frederick Osman

[email protected]

AIP QLD BranchChair Dr Joel Corney

[email protected] Dr Till Weinhold

[email protected]

AIP SA BranchChair Dr Scott Foster

[email protected] Dr Laurence Campbell

[email protected]

AIP TAS BranchChair Dr Elizabeth Chelkowska

[email protected] Dr Stephen Newbury

[email protected]

AIP VIC BranchChair Dr Andrew Stevenson

[email protected] Dr Mark Boland

[email protected]

AIP WA BranchChair A/Prof Marjan Zadnik

[email protected] Dr Andrea Biondo

[email protected]

PrintingPinnacle Print Group288 Dundas Street, Thornbury VIC 3071www.pinnacleprintgroup.com.au

It is an honour to be asked to be the nexteditor of Australian Physics, a magazine I’vebeen reading for over thirty years. Some ofyou may remember me as the editor of theAustralian Journal of Physics, formerly pub-lished by CSIRO and the Australian Acad-emy of Science. During my time as editor(1980 to 2001), I looked on AustralianPhysics as the ‘sister’ to Aust. J. Phys. andthere was always a close relationship be-tween the two publications.

Publishing a magazine though is quitedifferent to a research journal and so I’ll beon a steep learning curve over the next fewmonths. As you know, the magazine isrunning over six months late and so themajor challenge will be to get the publica-tion schedule back on track. This can onlyhappen if we have a stream of quality ma-terial coming our way. So I strongly en-courage you to think about preparing afeature article on your research or any otherarea of physics that interests you. If youhave an idea for an article, contact me andwe can discuss how to develop the idea.

At the highly successful Congress inMelbourne last December the AIP awardeda number of prizes and medals. In thisissue we bring you two articles based onthese presentations: the award of the SirAlan Walsh Medal to Robert Scholten(University of Melbourne) for his commer-cialisation of a laboratory laser and theaward of the Walter Boas Medal to Kostya

(Ken) Ostrikov (CSIRO) for his work onplasma nanoscience.

We also have a profile on Hans Bachor(Australian National University) who wasawarded the Harrie Massey Medal by theAIP and the UK IOP for his research inquantum optics. An article by Hans de-scribing the development of quantum op-tics in Australia will appear in our nextissue. Similarly, we plan to publish an arti-cle by Joe Wolfe (University of NSW) whowas awarded the AIP Education Medalduring the Congress.

Lastly, I can mention that we haveformed a very talented editorial team andover the next few issues I will be introduc-ing them to you. The team will be workinghard this year to help get Australian Physicsback on schedule.

Peter Robertson


Editorial

ChallengesAhead

Letter

Dear Editor,The wide publicity given to possible nuclearradiation levels arising from the recent re-actor disaster in Japan has prompted me torevise my knowledge of the units currentlyin use. I grew up with, and became familiarwith, the rad and the rem, but have notcaught up with the Gray and the Sievert.

So the publicised estimates in microsievertsor millisieverts left me in the dark. I suggestan authoritative discussion by an expert inthe field around the units of exposed dose(Grays) and absorbed dose (Sieverts), rela-tive to the current recommended maxi-mum levels, might form a suitable subjectfor a future article in Australian Physics.

Sincerely,John Macfarlane

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While thinking about what I should writefor my first President’s column I becamevery aware of the honour of being elected,and slightly daunted by the role I havetaken on. I see the Presidency as a welcomechallenge to try and have an impact. Thereis much that is great about our Institute,but there are also many improvements thatcan be made, and I intend to work with therest of the executive to put some of the nec-essary improvements into place.

You will see we now have a new editor,and a plan to catch up on the publicationof the magazine so that the cover date andthe publication date are once again aligned.This relies on you as members to providearticles that highlight the range and excel-lence of physics carried out across Australiaand to tell your fellow physicists about it.We will only catch up if we have a steadysupply of articles so please let’s hear aboutyour exciting work.

This actually forms a nice introductionto the main theme of my first President’scolumn which is the role and importanceof volunteerism to science and its societies.Cathy Foley, in a previous President’s col-umn some years ago, discussed volunteer-ing from the perspective of it forming oneof the underlying structures that supportthe scientific method. The role of peer re-view – be it for journal articles, project orfunding proposals, fellowships and promo-tions – is part of the scientific process andits success. Without voluntary refereeingthe whole system would simply fail. Assuch, it is important that we all play ourpart in the process and equally that as su-pervisors or managers of staff we also recog-nise this contribution in performance

assessment and promotion considerations.However, there is another aspect to sci-

entific volunteerism that I also see as ofhigh importance and that appears to beunder even greater stress than the peer re-view system – the role of representation onscientific societies. It is becoming more andmore difficult to fill branch, group and na-tional positions in the Institute, and it isnot entirely clear why this situation has de-veloped.

In the past such representation was avaluable addition to one’s CV, and I wouldhope that this is still the case. Because oneof the most valuable ways for any person toadvance their career is through the profes-sional networks they develop. These aregateways to opportunity, because with net-working comes information. Informationabout new developments, jobs, committeesthat will influence the direction your cho-sen field takes that could eventually benefityou through enhancement of your field.

The people you get to know throughvolunteer committees in societies are one ofthe richest sources of networking you willfind. They are invariably from a far widerrange of areas than your direct experience,they will include the movers and shakers oftomorrow and they will expose you to waysof thinking and political awareness that willalways serve you well. There are few betterenhancements to your professional skill setthan your networks.

I have heard it said that some supervi-sors, managers or department heads haveopposed junior staff ‘wasting their valuabletime’ on society committees when theyshould be concentrating on their teachingor research. I disagree with that view en-

tirely. I think that such service, in appro-priate amounts relative to the stage of theircareer, is invaluable and I ask all leaders topromote rather than discourage involve-ment for the reasons I have mentionedabove and to recognise these contributionspositively when assessing staff.

Finally, I still believe that all of us whohave made a career out of our chosen sci-entific field have a responsibility to putsomething back into a system that haslooked after us. This is particularly true formid and late career people who should beable to find some time for just such activi-ties.

I would welcome comment, criticismand discussion on this column and hopethat members will send a ‘Letter to the Ed-itor’ for inclusion in the next issue. Feelfree to send in letters on other topics as wellbecause it is good to have open discoursethrough these pages.

Marc Duldig

Australian Physics Volume 47, Number 5, September/October 2010 101

President’s column

Scientific Volunteerism

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Tanya Monro named South Australian of the Year for 2011

Physicist Tanya Monro has been namedSouth Australia’s ‘Australian of the Year’ for2011. Tanya, who is the Director of the In-stitute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing(IPAS) within the School of Chemistry &Physics at the University of Adelaide, waspresented with her award by the Governor

of South Australia, Kevin Scarce, at a cere-mony last November.

Tanya became the inaugural professor inphotonics at the University of Adelaide in2005. Her PhD research focused on devel-oping new classes of optical fibres, forwhich she received the Bragg Gold Medalfor the best physics PhD in Australia. From1998 to 2004 Tanya worked at the Univer-

sity of Southampton in the UK.In 2006 Tanya was named as one of the

top 10 brightest young minds in Australiaby science magazine Cosmos. In 2008 shewas awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize forPhysical Scientist of the Year. She is cur-rently an ARC Federation Fellow.

Tanya has been recognised for her workin the field of photonics – technology that


News & Comment

Professor Tanya Monro (University of Adelaide) is South Australian of the Year for 2011.

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allows the generation and control of lightusing glass optical fibres. This enables thecreation of new tools for scientific researchand solutions for problems in areas such asinformation processing, surgery, healthmonitoring, military technology, agricul-ture and environmental monitoring. Shehas published over 300 papers in journalsand refereed conference proceedings.

The vision of the Institute for Photonicsand Advanced Sensing is to bring togetherresearchers in physics, chemistry and biol-ogy to pursue a trans-disciplinary approachto science for applications in defence, pre-ventative health, environmental monitor-ing and food and wine. In late 2008, IPASwas awarded $29 million from the federalgovernment’s HEEF (EIF) scheme towardsthe construction of a new building for IPASon the North Terrace campus of the Uni-versity of Adelaide. This project is also re-ceiving support from the South Australianstate government and the Defence Science& Technology Organisation.

As winner of the SA ‘Australian of theYear’ award, Tanya joined recipients fromother States and Territories as a finalist inthe national awards which were announcedin Canberra on Australia Day on 26 Janu-ary 2011.

CERN Director-General announces New Australian Centre

The Director-General of CERN in Switzer-land, Professor Rolf-Dieter Heuer, an-nounced a new $25 million AustralianResearch Council Centre to explore the ori-gins of the universe during the AustralianInstitute of Physics Congress last Decem-ber. Heuer was also appointed as the chairof the International Advisory Committeeof the ARC Centre.

Led by the University of Melbourne, theARC Centre of Excellence for Experimen-tal Particle Physics at the Terascale will ex-plore particle physics at terascale energiesthrough the ATLAS experiment, a giantparticle detector which is an essential partof the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) atCERN.

Director of the ARC Centre, ProfessorGeoff Taylor at Melbourne’s School ofPhysics said that by probing fundamentalparticle interactions at higher energies,more would be discovered about the earlystages of the evolution of the universe afterthe Big Bang: “Exciting new physics suchas the existence of extra dimensions of

space, microscopic black holes, and an ex-tension of relativity called supersymmetry,are possible discoveries motivated by plau-sible extensions of the standard model ofparticle physics.”

More particularly, CERN physicists aredesperately hoping to discover the elusiveHiggs boson, predicted in 1964 by UK’sPeter Higgs and others, which explains howparticles of matter achieve the property weknow as mass.

As Geoff Taylor notes: “The Centre willgreatly expand Australia’s role in the largestpure science enterprise on the planet, theLHC. Our collective scientific effort willleave a legacy of enhanced national capabil-ity at the forefront of this intellectual en-deavour.”

The Centre brings together scientistsfrom the University of Melbourne, theUniversity of Adelaide, Monash University,the University of Sydney and internationalcollaborators including Cambridge Univer-sity, the University of Pennsylvania,Freiburg University, the University ofGeneva, Duke University and INFN Mi-lano.

The involvement of CERN director Pro-

fessor Heuer in the ARC Centre has rein-forced the international standing of theparticle physics expertise in Australia. Ac-cording to Taylor: “We are very excited toannounce the start of a new era of Aus-tralian collaborative scientific research inthe field of particle physics and understand-ing the beginnings of the universe”.

Australian Synchrotron announcesSenior Appointments

The Australian Synchrotron (AS) has an-nounced a number of new senior appoint-ments, as well as a major re-organisation ofresponsibilities for senior staff.

Professor Keith Nugent will be the newDirector of the Australian Synchrotron, apart-time position. He replaces Dr GeorgeBorg who was appointed Acting Directorafter the controversial departure of the in-augural director, Professor Robert Lamb, in2009.

Currently, Nugent is Research Directorof the ARC Centre of Excellence for Co-herent X-ray Science and Laureate Profes-sor of Physics at the University ofMelbourne. He will combine the positionwith his existing responsibilities. The ap-


Minister Kim Carr during an official visit to CERN in March this year, with Director-GeneralRolf-Dieter Heuer (centre) and Professor Geoff Taylor (University of Melbourne) [credit:CERN].

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pointment follows an extensive international search.Nugent will focus on and be responsible for scientific leadership

and strategic development. He is currently a member of the ASBoard of Directors, but will step down from the Board to take onhis new role. The AS Board said it was delighted to be able to ap-point a distinguished and respected scientist such as Professor Nu-gent.

A second senior appointment is Dr Andrew Peele who took upthe new position of Head of Science late in 2010. Peele who is anAssociate Professor at La Trobe University and head of its X-rayScience Group joins the AS on full-time secondment.

As an investigator on grants totalling more than $25 million,Peele has significant experience in team management and scienceadministration, having previously been the chair of the AIP Vic-torian Branch and co-chair of the organising committee of the AIPCongress last December. He also has extensive experience in syn-chrotron science having published over 80 refereed articles.

According to Peele, by synchrotron standards the science facilitywas still very young and its credentials and performance, first class.“In its short life, the Australian Synchrotron has attracted some ofthe best minds in synchrotron science and, in addition to support-ing the research needs of over 2000 domestic and international sci-entists since its opening in 2007, it continues to run its existingbeamlines at better than 99% per cent reliability.”

“The Australian Synchrotron has realised its aims in establishingits first suite of beamlines covering research techniques rangingfrom imaging and medical therapy to powder diffraction, but itmust grow so as to continue to provide Australian and interna-tional researchers with access to a world-class science and researchfacility”, Peele said.

The Board said the re-organisation aimed to further enhancethe Australian Synchrotron focus on producing great science, whileensuring that its administration maintained high standards of ef-fectiveness, accountability and compliance.


New appointments at the Australian Synchrotron: part-time Director, Professor Keith Nugent (left) and Head of Science, ProfessorAndrew Peele.

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How do you pop a small purple balloonthat is blown up inside a large clear bal-loon? With a green laser of course! The en-ergy in green light passes through clearrubber and is then absorbed by the purpleballoon – which heats up and bursts.

Professor Hans Bachor used this surpris-ing phenomenon to show how lasers can beused in eye surgery. The demonstration wasone of many he performed at an event heldlast November at Questacon – the National

Science and Technology Centre to mark the50th anniversary of the laser’s invention.The performance is an excellent example ofBachor’s efforts to engage the public withphysics.

He has recently received awards for hiscontributions to scientific outreach as wellas his outstanding achievements in re-search, teaching and mentoring of students,all done at the Australian National Univer-sity (ANU).

In December 2010 Hans Bachor was

awarded the Harrie Massey Medal of theAustralian Institute of Physics (AIP) andthe UK Institute of Physics (IOP) and theBeattie Steel Medal of the Australian Opti-cal Society. These were presented to himduring the AIP Congress held in Mel-bourne. Together with the AIP Award forOutstanding Services to Physics in 2009,the decorations represent a rare ‘trifecta’ ofrecognition which very few scientists havereceived.

Bachor began studyinglasers and plasma physics dur-ing his PhD in Germany. In1981 he came to Australialooking for adventure and per-formed post-doctoral work atthe ANU. Here he enjoyed thefreedom to study somethingnovel and he initiated quan-tum optics experiments in Aus-tralia. Currently, Bachor isDirector of the internationallyrecognised ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum-AtomOptics (ACQAO). He and histeam are researching thestrange behaviour of light andmatter on the quantum scale.They do this by designing ex-periments that manipulateonly a very small number ofatoms or photons.

“Our aim is to test what ispossible! For 25 years we havebeen scrutinising many of theuntested predictions of quan-

tum mechanics.” Bachor’s extensive re-search contribution has been published inover 150 journal articles. The work con-ducted with ACQAO and others will havemany practical applications and has the po-tential to revolutionise communications,computing, cryptography and ultra precisemeasurements of time, space and gravity.

As well as scientific research and publicengagement, Bachor is known for his pas-sionate commitment to teaching and theinspiring lectures delivered at the ANU and

internationally. He has guided and super-vised 28 PhD graduates, and says “Theyhave all worked very hard and found theirway as professionals. I’m proud about thefact that I have helped them with one im-portant step.”

At the same time Bachor acknowledgeshe could not have achieved success byworking alone. “You can’t do physics all byyourself. I’ve been very fortunate over theyears to work with many teams. And whileI’ve played in these teams, I’ve got into thesin bin occasionally, but I’ve also won somepremierships. I became a trainer, a coachand now a mentor. That’s how youprogress. I’ve always enjoyed the fact, thatreally, doing science is very much a team ac-tivity.”

And today, as director of ACQAO, Ba-chor compares his job to that of an orches-tra conductor. He says it’s like working withamazing and creative solo artists, but themost incredible sounds happen wheneveryone plays together. “Working togetheris an essential feature in science becauseeverybody contributes something different.Everybody thinks slightly different – theo-retically, mathematically, or like an engineer– and all of these styles are necessary.”

Ben Villani moved recently from

Questacon to the ANU where he is a

science communicator.


Harrie Massey Medal for 2010awarded to Hans BachorBen Villani

Professor Hans Bachor at the ANU’s ARC Centre ofExcellence for Quantum-Atom Optics [courtesy: DamienHughes].

“Our aim is to testwhat is possible! For 25 years we

have beenscrutinising many

of the untestedpredictions of

quantummechanics.”

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Sir Alan WalshEveryone has seen the yellow glow ofsodium when salt is thrown in a fire, andfor anyone with even a primary school con-cept of atomic structure, it is not too hardto imagine identifying material constituentsfrom emission spectra. Until the early1950s, emission was the basis of spectro-graphic atomic analysis, until Sir AlanWalsh invented and developed the atomicabsorption spectrometer, which revolu-tionised chemical analysis in the 1950sthrough three key contributions [1].

The first was his understanding that evenin a flame or discharge, only a small frac-tion of constituent atoms will be excitedand therefore emit, whereas the muchlarger ground state fraction will readily ab-sorb resonant radiation. Absorption wascommonly used for molecular analysis butthe flames and discharges necessary toatomise a sample inherently producedstrong emission which swamped the ab-sorption measurements. Walsh realised thatthe two could be separated by modulatingthe light source which was being absorbedcombined with synchronous detection; thatis, with a lock-in amplifier. Finally, he usedspectral line lamps, rather than a broadcontinuous spectrum white light source.Much higher signal-to-noise ratios werepossible since no light was wasted in areas

of the spectrum not absorbed by atomicconstituents of interest.

The atomic absorption spectrometer(AAS) provides fast, simple, accurate andhighly sensitive measurements of atomicconstituents, with applications in medicine,agriculture, mineral exploration, metal-lurgy, food analysis, biochemistry, environ-mental monitoring, and probably manymore. In 1968 the AAS was described bySir Ian Wark, Chief of the CSIRO Divisionof Industrial Chemistry, as “the most sig-nificant advance in chemical analysis thiscentury” [1].

The invention and development of theAAS occurred just as a booming globalmining industry needed accurate and reli-able chemical analysis. After a slow start

with a UK scientific instrument maker,Walsh helped some local electronics, glassblowing and machining companies put to-gether do-it-yourself AAS kits, and theyeventually became Varian Australia, with astaff of 400 and a similar number at exter-nal contractors.

Tuneable lasersThe story of MOGLabs, named after theMelbourne Optics Group, is also based onthe interactions of light with atoms, in thiscase the need for better lasers to do experi-ments in atom optics. The development oftuneable lasers in the 1970s and 80s en-abled an explosion of new science, includ-ing laser cooling of atoms to micro- andnano-Kelvin temperatures, Bose-Einsteincondensation, quantum optical squeezing,atomic clocks, exquisite gravity gradiome-ters, the GPS system, new tests of theequivalence principle, and slow light, withnew examples arising almost daily. Manyrely on lasers that can be tuned precisely toan atomic transition, with optical frequen-cies of order 1015 Hz and linewidths of 105

Hz or better: an uncertainty better thanone part in 1010.

As an example, my lab has developed asource of ultracold electrons, based on pho-toionisation of laser cooled atoms, for appli-cations in diffractive imaging at the


Alan Walsh Medal

From Lab to MOGLabs: Commercialising Laboratory Lasers

Robert E. Scholten

The interactions between atoms and coherent lightfields have enabled a vast assortmentof fascinating research advances and technological applications, including laser coolingof atoms, Bose -Einstein condensation, magnetic imaging of hyper-polarised gas, andquantum squeezing. Experiments in these areas rely on tuneable narrow linewidth lasers,particularly external cavity diode lasers. While today we can choose from several goodcommercially available lasers, it was not long ago that researchers had little choice but tobuild their own. This is the story of how a rat-nest tangle of wires in a universitylaboratory became the foundation of a company that exports to labs all over the world.

Fig. 1. Sir Alan Walsh with an early atomicabsorption spectrometer [courtesy:Science Image, CSIRO].

AustPhys_475 20/04/11 11:46 PM Page 106

nanoscale. Fig. 2 shows a schematic of the ex-periment. Rubidium atoms effuse from athermal reservoir at speeds of 300 m/s. Theyare slowed by counter-propagating laserbeams, and cooled and trapped by additionallasers in a magneto-optic trap. A cloud of 108

atoms is then excited (by a laser) and thoseexcited atoms are ionised (by a laser) to pro-duce a cold plasma. The electrons (or ions)are extracted with an electrostatic field to pro-duce a highly coherent beam of electronbunches (see Fig. 3).

Semiconductor lasers have made mod-ern laser cooling experiments feasible. Theyare tuneable, narrow in linewidth, compact,and reliable. But in the early days, commer-cial products were expensive and most labsfound they could do just as well by makingtheir own. My lab developed a popular de-sign [2], and also designed and built somecrude electronics to drive the lasers (see Fig.4). The electronics were functional, butfrustrating. A rat-nest of wires was timeconsuming to build, a nightmare to debug,and underwhelming in performance.

Two pivotal opportunitiesTwo critical events occurred at almost thesame time. The first was my sabbatical in2002 at the Technical University of Eind-hoven (TU/e), in The Netherlands. Someof my students accompanied me, includingLincoln Turner. Our colleagues at TU/ealso had problems with their laser electron-ics, and so Lincoln and some Dutch PhDstudents decided they needed to under-stand electronic control theory. The bookswere large and obtuse, but fortunately theirbrains were even larger, and through their

work, our understanding grew beyond sim-ple PID concepts.

We were then fortunate in being able toemploy an outstanding electronics engi-neer, Alex Slavec, at The University of Mel-bourne, just when we thought we knewwhat electronics was needed to drive our

lasers. Alex was accustomed to designingincredibly complex circuit boards for cut-ting-edge technology in fibre communica-tions, so it was like hitting a nail with ajackhammer. The rat-nest of wires becamean elegant six-layer circuit board with al-most 1000 surface-mount components,


Fig. 2. Atoms are cooled and trapped using narrow linewidth tuneable diode lasers, andthen photoionised to produce a very cold electron bunch.

Fig. 3. Electron bunches can be arbitrarily shaped by exciting and photoionising onlysome of the cold atoms, for example in the letters CXS. Because the electrons are verycold, the pattern is retained when the electron bunch propagates.

Fig. 4. Lab-built electronics: a rat-nest of wires.

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code-named Augustus (‘the revered one’).Alex simulated every stage of the design,

before laying out the circuit board, andhand-soldering the thousand tiny surfacemount components to the board. And con-trary to all our prior experience in design-ing apparatus for physics experiments, hisworked.

No returnsWe wanted eight for the lab, but the incre-mental cost per unit was relatively small, sowe built a few extra – twelve in total. Wesent a few to friends for their suggestionsand feedback – but they didn’t return them.To quote: “… please, please, please can webuy it?”, and eventually we (the University)

sold all but two of the twelve (see Fig. 7).Why? What is so good about a MOG?

The answer is a combination of ergonomicsand performance. The ergonomics is im-portant: compared to the Teutonic styleand user-interface of the main competition,a MOGLabs controller (‘MOGbox’) is easyto use, with accessible knobs and switches,convenient selection of signals to monitoron an oscilloscope, and most importantly,everything needed for running a laser andlocking it to an atomic transition. To runthe laser, the MOGbox includes a currentsupply for the diode, a temperature con-troller, frequency sweep ramp, and highvoltage outputs to control piezo-electrictransducers. For locking, it includes a low-

noise differential photodetector, and every-thing needed for synchronous detection, asused by Sir Alan in his atomic absorptionspectrometer. That is, a sine generator todrive an external modulator, a demodulator(lock-in amplifier), and feedback servoshaping based on the control theory learnedin Eindhoven.

The performance is defined primarily bylow noise [3]. The frequency of light froma laser diode is extremely sensitive to cur-rent, about 3 MHz/μA. To achieve the100 kHz linewidths desired for laser cool-ing of atoms, the current noise must belower than 30 nA, for a 200 mA DC sup-ply. The MOGbox design is steadfastly ana-logue, with no digital clock signals. Thepower supplies are all linear, rather thanswitchmode. The transformer is toroidal tominimise external AC magnetic fieldsthrough the PCB, with an additional layerof magnetic shielding to be sure. The DCvoltage supplies are each filtered and regu-lated, then filtered and regulated again.Sensitive signals on the PCB are run alonginner layers with Faraday shielding copperon other layers around them. The result isvery nearly too small to measure: -150dBm/√Hz, i.e. 1 attowatt/√Hz (10−18

W/√Hz), or in current terms, below 100pA/√Hz. No other laser diode driver hasdemonstrated such low noise, and using aMOGbox, a laser linewidth of 35 kHz(rms) is readily achievable [4].

Corporate commercialisationThere are hundreds, if not thousands, oflaser cooling labs around the world, nearlyall using external cavity diode lasers. ECDLproducts are also used in chemistry labs, en-vironmental monitoring research, astro-physics (e.g. investigating guide stars basedon alkali vapours), metrology labs, fibrecommunications research, and many otherareas. In 2007, a US manufacturer adver-tised that they had sold over 5000 ECDLs.With several enthusiastic users of our firstbatch of controllers, we contacted the com-mercialisation arm of our university, Mel-bourne Ventures, to discuss the possibilityof licensing the design to an existing man-ufacturer.

Melbourne Ventures investigated possi-ble buyers, including existing manufactur-ers of ECDLs and other lasermanufacturers that did not yet have theseproducts. They estimated a total market ofaround 700 units over five years, with an


Fig. 5. Iconic sculpture at the gates of the Technical University of Eindhoven in TheNetherlands.

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end-user value of something like $1 millionper annum. Contemplating the inventor’sshare of the royalties, we started looking atholiday homes in the exclusive Victorianbeach resort of Sorrento…

DIY commercialisationMeanwhile, back in the lab… actually out-side the lab, in Alex’s home: the dot-com in-dustry had begun to recover and Alexmoved back to the fibre communicationsindustry at the end of 2003, and continuedhis work on the MOGbox in his own time.Only one of the prototypes was finished; hecompleted the second unit, and then thefirst batch of 12 units, after changing jobs.Even while negotiating with MelbourneVentures, we continued to improve the de-sign, and after some months they suggested

we start our own company to build and sellthe product. In other words: “We don’tknow how to sell this, so why don’t you?”

We were a little passionate about it, fu-elled by positive comments from users. Andso, indeed it seemed like a good idea at thetime. We registered MOG Laboratories asa proper business (i.e. Pty Ltd), a partner-ship between myself and Alex, and signeda three-year licensing agreement with Mel-bourne Ventures.

One of the first steps was to improve theappearance of the MOGbox, to better re-flect the high quality of the electronics in-side. The units worked well, but lookedvery homemade. It was clear that weneeded to increase the price if the companywas to be viable, but it was critical that cus-tomers should appreciate the quality they

were paying for. We contracted a Sydneycompany known as Konstruktdesign to de-sign a better enclosure – money well spent,but money our business did not have. Theonly readily accessible finance was that tiedto the family mortgages. And so our fami-lies had to take a leap of faith, a faith thatfaltered a little when we decided to buy the

MOGbox components in batches of 25 toget the costs down. And faltered a littlemore when the time came to pay for abatch of 25 assembled PCBs: sufficientfunds to buy each of our families a new car– instead sent by wire to a company in Sil-icon Valley.

Fortunately, Konstruktdesign and thePCB manufacturer did a fantastic job, andthe controllers worked well and looked thepart. They have been sold to all corners ofthe globe, from South Africa to the UnitedArab Emirates, the USA to China. A singlecustomer now has 14. Even the strongestcompetitors to MOGLabs have boughtthem, and it is gratifying – and somewhatannoying – to see some familiar features intheir latest products. The company hasmoved from home dining-room to a busi-ness incubator, and hopes to move again tolarger premises soon. So far there is onlyone part-time employee; most of the workis contracted to over 100 suppliers fromMelbourne and Sydney to San Jose.


Fig. 6. From rat-nest to six-layer PCB and surface-mount components.

Fig. 7. One of the twelve units which were sold to other labs in Australia, the US, The Netherlands and to a notable German manufacturerof external cavity diode lasers.

“We don’t know howto sell this, so whydon’t you?”

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The FutureWhy do it? Why take an idea, or an instrument design, from thelab, and try to sell it around the world? It is another adventure;physics is only a small part of making the business work, whichmeans that there have been a lot of new things to learn. Of courseit is satisfying to see that other people care about your work,

enough to pay for it, and to be manufacturing high-tech equip-ment in Australia. It has brought new connections to similar re-searchers around the globe, and better instrumentation in my ownlab. The rewards are intangible: it has never been about makingmoney – but at the same time, we want to develop new products,and employ more staff, and move into larger premises, so the con-cern for financial matters is never far away.

MOGLabs is now five years old. It has grown without advertis-ing, without government assistance, without private investmentand without venture capital. Organic growth has allowed steady

improvements to the flagship product, and even to research anddevelop, in house, the obvious extension – a MOGLabs externalcavity diode laser. But we have many more ideas for new products,and see a promising future in following Sir Alan Walsh’s lead, indesigning and manufacturing scientific instrumentation in Aus-tralia.

AcknowledgementsMany people, knowing and unknowing, have contributed to theresearch and development of the external cavity diode lasers andelectronics at MOG Laboratories. Special thanks to Keith Nugent,Leo Holberg, Jamie White, Anton Barty and Jolanda van de Venand to former students Lincoln Turner, Karl Weber, ColinHawthorn, Sebastian Saliba, Mirek Walkiewicz, Chris Vale andPhil Fox. Most of all my thanks go to Alex Slavec, an engineer withlegendary insight and expertise in electronics, and remarkable pa-tience with a physicist’s concept of a commercial-ready design.

References[1] P. Hannaford, ‘Alan Walsh 1916–98’, Hist. Records Aust. Sci. 113(2) (2000) 179–

206.

[2] C. J. Hawthorn, K. P. Weber and R. E. Scholten, ‘Littrow configuration tunable

external cavity diode laser with fixed direction output beam’, Rev. Sci. Instrum.

72 (2001) 4477.

[3] L. D. Turner, K. P. Weber, C. J. Hawthorn and R. E. Scholten, ‘Frequency noise

characterisation of narrow linewidth diode lasers’, Opt. Commun. 201 (2002)

391.

[4] S. D. Saliba and R. E. Scholten, ‘Linewidths below 100 kHz with external cavity

diode lasers’, Appl. Opt. 48 (2009) 6961–66.

BioRobert Scholten is an Associate Professor andReader in Physics at The University of Mel-bourne, where he leads the Ultracold Plasmahigh-brightness electron source Programmeof the ARC Centre of Excellence in CoherentX-ray Science. His research career began with

studying electron collisions from laser-excited atoms, where thelaser polarisation controlled the quantum state of the target atoms.His interest in the laser-atom interactions formed the basis of hisfurther research, for example using atom-optics techniques fornanofabrication as a Fulbright Postdoctoral Research Fellow atNIST in the USA. He has also developed novel approaches to op-tical imaging of cold atoms, is currently working on quantum sensing using colour centres in diamond, and has created a high-tech start-up company (MOGLabs) based on lasers and laser electronics.


Fig. 8. Current model of the MOGLabs controller, laser andphotodetector. More than 100 controllers have been sold aroundthe world.

‘Contemplating the inventor’sshare of the royalties, we startedlooking at holiday homes in theexclusive Victorian beach resortof Sorrento…’

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Black holes are popularly portrayed as aplace of darkness and gloom, but to as-tronomers they are the cleanest and mostefficient source of energy in the universe.The recent discovery of a very large glowingbubble of ionised gas inflated and heatedby a black hole in the nearby galaxy NGC7793 helps us to understand their role ascosmic powerhouses.

While stars use nuclear fusion to extractenergy from their gas, black holes extractgravitational energy from the infalling mat-ter before it disappears into the hole – aprocess known as accretion. Indeed hydro-gen bombs and hydro power plants arebased on the same physical principles asstars and black holes, respectively.

Hydro power may seem less efficientthan nuclear fusion. While it takes a lot offalling water to produce the same energy aswe would get from nuclear fusion, this isonly because the gravitational field of theEarth is so weak. But gravity near a blackhole is much stronger, and accretion powercan be up to 50 times more efficient thannuclear fusion.

This is why black holes – or, more ex-actly, the gas in the region immediately out-side the black-hole horizon – can be themost luminous and powerful objects in theuniverse when enough matter is falling to-wards them. The end result is that blackholes get bigger over time as long as thereis matter to fuel them.

The general energetics of black-hole ac-cretion is known from fundamental physi-cal principles, but there are still manyimportant things we do not know abouthow that energy is released. The two mainchannels are radiation of photons and thekinetic energy of a jet.

The photons are emitted from the sur-face of an accretion disk that is formed bygas that is slowly spiralling towards theevent horizon – and is getting very hot in

the process. When photon output domi-nates, a black hole appears as a very lumi-nous source, especially in the X-ray andultraviolet bands. A supermassive blackhole in the centre of a galaxy, with a massthat is many millions of times the mass ofthe Sun, can be more luminous than all thestars in that galaxy put together.

Alternatively, accretion power can becarried out by a collimated jet of chargedparticles – either electrons and positrons,or electrons and protons – moving at al-most the speed of light.

A third ingredient may also be present,especially in the most active black holes: adense wind launched from the surface ofthe accretion disk can carry away mass, en-ergy and angular momentum.

How does a black hole decide whetherto release its accretion power via photons,

jets or winds? What switches the jet on andoff? These are still unsolved mysteries ofblack-hole astrophysics, but this is whereour recent discovery of the most powerfulstellar-mass black hole jet 12 million lightyears away in NGC 7793 will help to pro-vide some answers.

Radio galaxies and microquasarsOne of the best things about black holes isthat their fundamental physical propertiesare the same at all scales. Supermassiveblack holes in distant quasars work just likestellar-mass black holes in our galaxy, apartfrom a simple rescaling in the equations.What changes is the environment aroundthem, such as whether their fuel comesfrom galaxy-scale gas inflows or a compan-ion star.


A Bonsai Black Hole in Our Own Backyard

Robert Soria

The discovery of powerful jets from a nearby black hole reveals new clues about thebehaviour of massive quasars in the early universe.

Radio image of Fornax A, an iconic radio galaxy with extended lobes (orange). Thegrey region between the lobes is stellar light from the much smaller host galaxy(from Formalont et al. [1]).

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From an astronomer’s point of view, acrucial advantage of nearby stellar-massblack holes over their more distant andmassive cousins is that they evolve overshorter timescales and can switch betweenjet, disk and wind states within thetimescale of a university research grant. Su-permassive black holes may be bigger andbrighter, but they switch states over tens ofmillions of years.

Over the past two decades, much workhas been done to understand the connec-

tions between astrophysical objects thatonce seemed totally unrelated but are allpowered by active black holes. Radio galax-ies and microquasars are among the mostspectacular examples.

‘Radio galaxy’ is, in fact, a poorly chosenname. The ‘radio’ label comes from theirinitial discovery from radio observations inthe 1950s: it was not known at the timethat the radio emission is produced by rel-ativistic electrons in a jet. And the ‘galaxy’label is misleading: it is not the galaxy thatproduces the jet, it is the supermassive

black hole in its centre. Today, we have in-dependent evidence of black holes with jetsfrom infrared, optical and X-ray studies,but radio observations still provide the bestspatial resolution and are not affected by in-terstellar absorption.

Powerful black-hole jets share a commonstructure. They drill through the surround-ing gas until they lose enough energy or hitdenser interstellar material. A shock frontforms at the slowly-advancing head of thejet and is often visible as a bright ‘hot spot’

in several energy bands. When the relativis-tic jet particles reach the shock front, theirorderly bulk motion is converted into ran-dom motion and the collimation of the jetstream is lost.

After going through the shock front,electrons backflow and disperse into a large,fluffy lobe around the end of the jet, andsometimes form a full cocoon around theblack hole. As they swirl around magneticfield lines, the electrons emit synchrotronradiation – mostly in the radio bands butsometimes extending also to the optical and

X-ray band. The rest of the jet power istransferred to the ambient gas as thermalenergy and used to inflate the hot cocoon.

Microquasars are the stellar-mass equiv-alent of radio galaxies. They are powered bya black hole formed from the collapse of amassive star. They contain a pair of relativis-tic jets that interact with the interstellar gasand may produce bright hot spots, radiolobes and an expanding cocoon or cavity.

Radio observations of the inner jet andouter lobes have been a crucial tool for dis-covering and studying radio galaxies andmicroquasars, but calculating the total jetpower from its radio emission is not simple.The swirling cloud of radio-emitting elec-trons carries only a small and poorly-known fraction of the total power. The restis transferred from the jet to the surround-ing gas, which is heated and swept out,forming a hotter, lower-density bubblearound the black hole. This is what deter-mines the full impact of the black hole’s ac-tivity on the surrounding gas, but it isdifficult to observe this effect directly.

The most powerful microquasarThis is why an object such as the recentlydiscovered black hole S26 in NGC 7793 isso important. Our team, led by Dr Man-fred Pakull at the University of Strasbourg,used optical and X-ray observations to re-veal the hot spots at the end of the symmet-ric jets, and the hot bubble of gas aroundthe system. The bubble is expanding at a


“From an astronomer’s point of view, acrucial advantage of nearby stellar-massblack holes over their more distant andmassive cousins is that they evolve over…the timescale of a university research grant.”

Cygnus A is a classic radio galaxy comprisinga pair of collimated jets, hot spots and lobes

(from Carilli and Barthel [2]).

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speed of 250 km/s. The jets are driving theexpansion of the bubble, pushing its shellas they slam against the denser and coolerinterstellar medium. Strong radio emissionsfrom the jet lobes and the cocoon were dis-covered from our observations in 2009 and2010 at the Australia Telescope CompactArray at Narrabri in NSW.

This object contains the largest bubbleand the longest jets ever seen from a stellarblack hole, with a total length of about1000 light years. Furthermore, they areemitted from a black hole that is at most afew hundred kilometres in diameter.

We estimate that the active phase of thisblack hole started around 200,000 yearsago – the blink of an eye in the history ofthe universe. During this short period oftime, the black hole has swallowed as muchgas as there is in the Sun, and has produced300 times more energy than will be emittedby our star over its entire lifetime.

Having measured both the radio emis-sion from the relativistic electrons and theheating effect on the surrounding gas, wecould then estimate the total jet power. Itis a few hundred times the power carried bythe radio-emitting electrons alone.

This is more than previously thought. Itmakes S26 one of the most powerful stellarblack holes – including both jets and pho-ton output – by an order of magnitude. Italso means that we may have underesti-mated the total jet power of many otherblack holes, especially in the distant uni-verse, if we only measured their luminousoutput.

It was previously thought that radio jetswere only associated with moderately weakblack holes, while jets could not belaunched by black holes that are growingvery fast (i.e. when a lot of gas is falling intothem). In other words, at low accretionrates, black holes would produce jets, whileat high accretion rates they would have aluminous disk.

The discovery of S26 – and similar re-cent discoveries of a few jet-dominated,powerful quasars in the distant universe –have challenged this scenario. It seems nowthat at least some of the most powerfulblack holes can have strong jets.

Black-hole spin and jetsBut a fundamental problem remains un-solved: why do some of the most powerfulblack holes – both in the stellar-mass andsupermassive class – have jets while others

do not, even if they are accreting at thesame rate and have the same total power?How do black holes switch from one stateto the other?

One suggestion is that black-hole spindetermines the jet power. Rapidly spinningblack holes would more likely producestronger jets or retain their jets at high ac-cretion rates, all other conditions being thesame. This is at least in qualitative agree-ment with what is seen in other astrophys-ical objects (e.g. protostars, neutron stars),where jets are more often launched by fast-spinning bodies.

Spin is the most elusive property of ablack hole, and is even more difficult tomeasure than its mass. If we could measureboth the mass and the spin of an activeblack hole we could test crucial predictionsof general relativity and learn more aboutblack-hole formation and growth. Differentformation channels predict different spinvalues, so it would be extremely interestingif the jet power of black holes is indeed anindicator of their spin.

Regardless of the mechanisms for jet for-mation, the observed existence of very pow-erful black-hole jets has profoundimplications for the early history of the uni-verse. During the first billion years or so thecosmos was dominated by quasars, whichare the most powerful state of supermassiveblack holes in the nuclei of galaxies. How-ever, the quasar phase ended after most oftheir gas supply was exhausted.

S26 is a bonsai quasar in our own back-

yard. It is heating and sweeping the gasaround it, much like quasars did on agrander scale billions of years ago. If somequasars can output a significant fraction oftheir power through jets – instead of, or inaddition to, photons – they would be moreefficient at heating the ambient gas andwould have a stronger effect on the evolu-tion of their host galaxies.

Modelling the interaction betweenblack-hole growth and galaxy evolution willbe a key science goal of the AustralianSquare-Kilometre-Array Pathfinder(ASKAP) radio telescope being built nearGeraldton, WA, in synergy with infraredand X-ray studies.

Robert Soria is a Senior Research

Fellow at the Curtin Institute of Radio

Astronomy, Perth

[Reprinted from Australasian Sciencemagazine, March 2011]

References[1] Fomalont et al., Astrophys. J. Lett. 3346 (1989) 17.

[2] Carilli and Barthel, Astron. Astrophys. Rev. 7

(1996) 1.

[3] Soria et al., Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 409

(2010) 541.

[4] Pakull, Soria and Motch, Nature 466 (2010) 209.


Left: radio image at 3-cm wavelength of the newly discovered microquasar S26 in NGC7793. The red arrows mark the trajectory of the two jets, travelling in opposite directionsfrom the black hole. The brighter regions (hot spots) at the end of the jets are where thefast jet particles hit the surrounding interstellar gas and dissipate their energy. Right: theemission from ionised Helium reveals the location of hot gas (heated by the jets) in thesame system (from Soria et al. [3] and Pakull et al. [4])

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These simple points set the framework tostructure, perform, and communicate sci-entific reseach in a way that generates newknowledge and scientific excitement on oneone hand and leads to some practicallymeaningful outcomes on the other. Putsimply, one could pose the question “whatis new in what you do and why it is useful?”This needs to be clearly answered to satisfyour curiosity and to maintain the interestand excitement of all the categories of lis-teners and readers, ranging from profes-sional colleagues to the general public andschool students.

What is Plasma Nanoscience? Plasma Nanoscience is a multidisciplinaryresearch field which aims to elucidate thespecific roles, purposes, and benefits of theionised gas (plasma) environment in assem-bling and processing nanoscale objects innatural, laboratory and technological situ-ations and to find the most effective waysto ultimately bring these plasma-basedprocesses to the deterministic level [1]. Theconcept of the deterministic plasma-basednanoscale synthesis and processing is basedon finding the most optimum plasmaprocess parameters to minimise the numberof experimental trials one needs to under-take to achieve nanostructures and nano-materials with the desired properties, whichin turn determine their performance inpractical applications.

What do we do in PlasmaNanoscience?In an attempt to provide a relatively simpleand concise answer to this question, itwould be fair to state that myself and manyof my colleagues and collaborators do re-search in the field of Plasma Nanoscienceto find new plasma-specific mechanisms tocontrol complex organisations of atomicmatter at sub-nanometre to microscopicscales to develop new materials, devices,and processes for energy conversion, elec-tronics/IT, health care, environmental andother applications that are critical for a sus-tainable future. Even more concisely, we aretrying to control the plasma-related complex-ity to eventually achieve the practical simplic-ity in applications, which is also reflected inthe title of this article. Our research alsoaims at explaining some natural phenom-ena that are affected by the plasma- andnanoparticle-related effects.

Without trying to exhaustively covereven a small subset of relevant physical phe-nomena and practical applications, here wewill only highlight a few typical examplesand consider one of these examples in moredetail using the framework of “what is newin what you do and why it is useful?”

Our research simultaneously involveslow-temperature plasmas, nanoscale ob-jects, or mesoscopic objects with nanome-tre features. Situations where the plasmameets small solid or liquid objects are nu-merous and can be found in many natural,

laboratory and technological environments.For example, interstellar dust nucleates inthe relatively cold envelopes of red giantstars, where the gas temperature and theionisation degree are suitable for condensa-tion of carbon atoms that are produced andejected by the stars. At this stage, nanopar-ticles of solid matter are created; thisprocess is affected by the plasma environ-ment. Relevant plasma-specific phenomenainclude ion-induced nucleation, turbulentflows, vapour supersaturation, among oth-ers.

As another example, low-temperatureplasmas are used for microstructuring semi-conductor wafers in microelectronics, dep-osition of functional coatings, films andinterlayers, surface hardening and modifi-cation, etc. Fabrication of tiny features insemiconductor wafers involves manyplasma-specific effects such as surfacecharging, reactive ion etching, ion bom-bardment, production of reactive radicalsby electron-impact processes, just to men-tion a few.

As a third example, which will be con-sidered in greater detail below, carbon nan-otube nucleation and growth benefits frommicroscopic electric fields near the surface,electron- and ion-assisted production ofcarbon atoms from hydrocarbon precur-sors, plasma-specific localised heating, andsome other effects. These and many othereffects make low-temperature plasmas trulyunique environments for nanoscale synthe-sis and processing. Not surprisingly, inmany applications, plasma-based nano-tools have shown superior performancecompared with techniques primarily basedon neutral gas chemistry, such as thermalchemical vapour deposition (CVD).

Why make things more complicated? Compared to neutral gas-based routes, inlow-temperature weakly-ionised plasmasthere is another level of complexity relatedto the necessity of creating and sustaininga suitable degree of ionization and a muchlarger number of species generated in thegas phase [1]. Furthermore, in many casesit is very challenging to control the genera-tion, delivery and deposition of a very largenumber of radical and ionic species. This isfurther complicated by intense physical(physisorption, sputtering, etc.) and chem-


Walter Boas Medal for 2010

Plasma Nanoscience: From Controlled Complexity to Practical SimplicityKostya (Ken) Ostrikov

Physicists are often asked to explain the significance,novelty, and most important scientific points of theirresearch work. More precisely, they are commonlyexpected to clarify the ‘excitement created by the scientificnovelty and approach’ and the ‘significance and outcomes’of their work.

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ical (chemisorption, bond passivation, re-active ion/radical etching) plasma–surfaceinteractions. This higher level of complexityleads to a number of practical difficulties inoperating and controlling plasma-basedprocesses and provokes an obvious ques-tion: “Why do we need more complex,plasma-based systems if it is possible to pro-duce nanoparticles using wet chemistry orother relatively simpler means?”

Years of research in the PlasmaNanoscience field has provided many con-vincing examples where an investment intoproducing a more complex, ionised gas en-vironment has led to significant advantagesin terms of energy efficiency, quality, repro-ducibility, and safety of the fabricationprocesses, on one hand, and superior nano-material structure, properties, and perform-ance on the other. It is not surprising thatthe discovery of carbon nanotubes, themost common basic building blocks inpresent-day nanotechnology, was madeusing thermal plasmas of arc discharges [2].

Other non-exhaustive examples relate tosignificantly reduced process temperatures,control over species production and dy-namics in the gas phase and solid surfaces,very high energy efficiency, charge- andmagnetic field-related driving forces forself-organisation, possibility of commercial-scale nanoparticle production, unique ver-tical alignment of one-dimensionalnanostructures, effective control of nano-material properties by the process parame-ters, unique plasma-enabled nanostructuresand growth regimes impossible otherwise,dry ultra-fine precision etching and writingof virtually any nanoscale features includ-ing very high aspect ratio and straighttrenches for nanoelectronics, finely confor-mal coatings of micro- and nanoscale fea-tures with any required thickness down toa single monolayer or even sub-monolayercoverage, property-transforming (e.g. con-ducting to semiconducting) surface func-tionalisations of various nanostructuresincluding single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWCNTs) and graphene, production ofthermodynamically unfavourablemetastable structures and nanophases, in-tricate self-organised nanopatterns on a va-riety of substrates ranging from metals,ceramics, and semiconductors to flexibleand temperature-sensitive surfaces, the asrecently elusive possibility to control the‘uncontrollable’ chirality of SWCNTs, for-mation of graphene nanoribbons by cutting

and unzipping carbon nanotubes, synthesisof nanomaterials with exotic superstruc-tures, porosity, nanocrystalline inclusions,surface topology, reactivity, to mention justa few [3].

How to grow nanotubes andwhere are the challenges?Let now consider an example of plasma-based growth of single-walled carbon nan-otubes in more detail (see Fig. 1). First ofall, SWCNTs have generated a lot of excite-ment in the last decade owing to theirunique structural, electronic, mechanical,optical and other properties. The unprece-dented toughness and electron conductivitymake SWCNTs perhaps the most struc-turally stable one-dimensional supercon-

ducting nanomaterial of the future. Nanotubes are commonly synthesised

using metal or metal alloy catalyst nanopar-ticles (e.g. Fe, Co, Ni, Au and alloys suchas Fe–Ni) with a suitable lattice spacing,carbon solubility, and melting temperature.In thermal CVD processes, hydrocarbonprecursors (methane, acetylene, etc.) are de-composed to produce carbon atoms on thehot surface of a substrate material such asSi. This process requires a very significantexternal heating, up to 900–1000°C andeven higher. This heat is used to producecarbon atoms and give sufficient energy toa fraction of them to overcome quite sig-nificant potential barriers (of the order of

~1–2 eV depending on the nanotube sizeand catalyst material) to diffuse through thecatalyst nanoparticles and then to be incor-porated into the developing tubular struc-ture. It is believed that the nanoparticle sizedetermines the thickness of the SWCNT.

The thinner the nanotubes, the strongeris the quantum confinement of electronsand more unique size-dependent quantumeffects can emerge. However, it is morechallenging to grow very thin nanotubes.Indeed, nanoparticles of smaller radii tendto produce stronger internal tension whicheffectively pushes the incoming carbonatoms back to the substrate. This phenom-enon is known as the Gibbs-Thompson ef-fect, which strongly affects the nucleationand growth or a broad range of inorganicone-dimensional nanostructures.

Consequently, as the catalyst nanoparti-cles get smaller, the barriers that carbonatoms need to overcome increase. As a re-sult, the substrate temperatures required tosupply this energy need to be increasedeven further. Such higher surface tempera-tures are not only well above the presentlytolerable process temperatures in microelec-tronics (and some other areas), but also leadto the strong diffusion of the catalyst ma-terial into the substrate. In some cases thisdiffusion consumes the whole catalystnanoparticle even before the nanotubesstart growing. To prevent this, thin inter-layers such as SiO2 are used. However,

SiO2 is a dielectric material and representsan obvious obstacle to achieve ohmic loss-free direct integration of carbon nanotubesinto the presently dominant silicon-basednanodevice platform. Moreover, thermallygrown SWCNTs often feature structuraldefects, are twisted and tangled and, aswell, are very randomly oriented on thesubstrate. Furthermore, it is not presentlyknown how to control the chirality, whichis the angle of twist of a wrapped graphenesheet that makes up the nanotube.

Therefore, the major scientific challengesin this direction are to: (1) drastically re-duce the growth temperatures; (2) min-imise the amount of building material and


Fig. 1 A typical plasma–solid systemused in the growth of single-walled carbonnanotubes (SWCNT), showing the plasma–surface interactions.

“It is not surprising that the discovery ofcarbon nanotubes… was made usingthermal plasmas of arc discharges”

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energy used to achieve the desired growthrates; (3) prevent catalyst diffusion into thesubstrate without using intervening layers;(4) vertically align the nanotubes on thesubstrate and eventually achieve regularthree-dimensional nanoarrays; (5) achieveenergy-efficient nucleation and growth ofvery thin nanotubes; (6) enable chiralitycontrol of SWCNTs; and, if possible, (7)eliminate the need to use any catalyst at all.

Can we help you? Yes we can! This is where various Plasma Nanoscienceapproaches based on the unique propertiesof low-temperature plasma–solid systems(Fig. 1) are used to solve the above scientificchallenges. However, reasonable careshould always be exercised in the plasma-based growth of single-walled carbon nan-otubes. For instance, to minimise anypossible damage to the delicate single-walled structure of the nanotubes throughbombardment by energetic ions, remote

plasma systems are used for this purpose(see Fig. 2). In this case, the plasma is sep-arated from the substrate and only a smallamount of material is delivered to thegrowth surface. This arrangement also re-duces the effect of burying the catalyst par-ticles or the short nanotubes at the earlygrowth stages by amorphous (carbon in thiscase) material. This is a common problemin the catalysed growth of a large numberof one-dimensional nanostructures such asnanotubes, nanowires, nanotips, etc.

As shown in Fig. 1, the plasma bulk isseparated from the surface by the area ofuncompensated space charge termed theplasma sheath. In low-temperature non-equilibrium plasmas, the electrons havemuch higher energy than the ion or neutralspecies. Thus, many reactive species can becreated in the ionised gas phase by electron-impact reactions. In the carbon nanotubegrowth, carbon atoms need to be producedfrom hydrocarbon precursors such as CH4,C2H2, and some other gases and gas mix-tures. In thermal CVD, these processesmostly take place on the surface; thus, veryhigh surface temperatures that are sufficientfor the effective hydrocarbon dissociationare required. The strong thermal non-equi-librium of the plasma makes it possible togenerate the needed atomic and radicalspecies in the plasma bulk and thereforesubstantially (e.g. several hundred Kelvin)reduce the surface temperatures needed fornanostructure growth. This in turn dramat-ically reduces the rates of metal catalyst dif-fusion into the substrate.

Furthermore, due to a very high mobil-ity of electrons, the surfaces are at a nega-tive potential compared to the plasma bulk.Therefore, there are non-uniform electricfields within the plasma sheath; the electricfield lines start in the plasma bulk and con-verge to the sharp tips of the developingone-dimensional nanostructures. This leadsto strong ion focusing by the nanostruc-

tures. Depending on the energy, ions candeposit in different sections of the nan-otubes and on the substrate surface be-tween the nanostructures. Since the ionenergy is determined by the potential dropacross the plasma sheath, selective ion dep-osition can be effectively controlled by theplasma parameters and the substrate bias.

This leads to the unique possibility to se-lectively deposit ion fluxes in the specifiedareas, with nanometre (and possibly evenhigher) precision. In the SWCNT case con-sidered, it is desirable to deposit the ionsonto (or as close as possible) the catalystnanoparticle, which is located at the nan-otube base. This will lead not only to thefaster delivery of carbon species to the cat-alyst, but also to stronger and faster localisedheating of the catalyst nanoparticles. Thislocalised heating reduces even further theminimum external substrate heating (andhence the substrate temperatures) requiredfor the nucleation and growth. In addition,several ion-assisted processes facilitate theproduction of carbon atoms directly on theSWCNT surface (see Fig. 3). The carbonatoms produced in this way can diffusealong the nanotube surface and also be in-corporated into the growing tubular struc-ture through the catalyst nanoparticle. Thecarbon atoms and other radicals can alsoeasily detach/evaporate from the nanotubeand the substrate surfaces. Therefore, lowersurface temperatures in the plasma-basedSWCNT growth also substantially reducethe rates of material losses thereby increas-ing the matter and energy efficiency in thenanoscale synthesis process.

Fig. 3 shows many other elementaryinteractions between the plasma-generatedspecies and the single-walled carbon nan-otube. The number of elementary reactionsthat lead to the nanoscale transfer of energyand matter on the surface of the nanotubesis very large and is usually larger than inneutral gas-based processes. In particular, a


Fig. 3. The complexity of subnano- and nanoscale interactions of low-temperature plasmas with a single-walledcarbon nanotube, showing the principal processes of energy and matter transfer [4]: A – adsorption; D –desorption; E – evaporation; TD – thermal dissociation; IAD – ion-assisted dissociation; SR – surface recombination;

HAD – hydrogen-assisted desorption; SD-CNT – surface diffusion on the carbon nanotube surface; SD-S – surface

diffusion on the substrate surface; and WI – incorporation of carbon atoms in the nanotube walls. The following

processes are related to nanoscale transfer of energy: Hph – energy transfer from the plasma to the SWCNT; HL –energy transfer from the SWCNT to the plasma (energy loss); Hsh – energy transfer to the SWCNT due to external

substrate heating; Hsph – energy transfer to SWCNT due to the surface heating by the plasma; HIB – energy transfer

to the SWCNT due to plasma ion bombardment; and finally HR – energy transfer to the SWCNT due to exothermicSR.

Fig. 2. The remote plasma reactor at thePlasma Nanoscience Centre, CSIROMaterials Science and Engineering, atLindfield, NSW. The reactor is used forplasma-assisted growth of delicatenanoscale objects such as carbonnanotubes, graphene, silicon quantumdots and inorganic nanowires.

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very large number of electron- and ion-as-sisted processes, not common to neutralgas-based thermal processes, are involved.Therefore, the complexity of the plasma–surface interactions at the nanoscales ishigher compared to neutral gas-basedprocesses.

Nevertheless, this complexity leads tothe better energy- and matter-efficiency ofthe plasma-based nanoscale synthesisprocesses. It is important to stress that theabove features make it possible to alsoachieve much higher rates of the nanostruc-ture nucleation and growth compared withmany other nanofabrication processes.Moreover, localised nanoparticle heating ef-fects lead to the possibility of nucleation ofmuch thinner one-dimensional nanostruc-tures, thus mediating the adverse Gibbs-Thompson effect mentioned above.

In many cases plasma-based processes

lead to a superior quality ofthe nanostructures produced.For example, the level ofstructural defects in SWC-NTs produced in arc dis-charge plasmas is usuallylower compared with manywet chemical and neutral gasthermal processes. In addi-tion, charging and polariza-tion of the nanotubessubstantially improve theiralignment, most prominentlyin the direction of the electricfield within the plasmasheath. Since this electric

field is normal to the substrate sur-face, the nanotubes also align in thesame direction. This is why this ef-fect is usually referred to as the ver-tical alignment of one-dimensionalnanostructures. The electric fieldalignment effects appear to bestronger for the multi-walled CNTsand substantial efforts are still re-quired to obtain very regular arraysof vertically aligned SWCNTs.

The two issues of control ofSWCNT chirality and completeelimination of the catalyst remainamong the greatest scientific chal-lenges for the coming years.Plasma-produced Fe–Ni metal alloycatalyst nanoparticles [5] as well asthe application of external magneticfields lead to substantial improve-ments in the SWCNT chirality dis-

tributions. On the other hand, ourexperiments suggest that the exposure ofsmall features directly written on a Si waferto high-density plasmas enables a com-pletely catalyst-free growth of multi-walledcarbon nanotubes. This possibility, withoutany (e.g. metal or oxide) catalysts or artifi-cially carbon-enriched layers, still awaits itsrealisation for SWCNTs.

It is noteworthy that plasma-based ap-proaches bring many other new and excit-ing features into nanoscale synthesis andprocessing. This is why we hope that theabove discussion answers the first part ofthe question: “what is new in what you do?”

Why is it useful? Let us now try to answer the second part ofthe question, namely “why is it useful?” Thecarbon nanotubes discussed above show atruly outstanding potential for a very large

number of applications. Indeed, havingvery high conductivity, metallic SWCNTscan serve as inter-level (and other) conduct-ing connections in nanoelectronics; appro-priately (e.g. selected-area) dopedsemiconducting SWCNTs can be used astiny p–n junctions for photovoltaic energyconversion; interconnected SWCNT net-works offer tantalising prospects to achieveunprecedented nanoscale connectivity innew-generation, non-silicon-based nanode-vices; unique hydrophobic properties makeplasma-processed carbon nanotube arraysideal candidates for the advanceddrug/gene/protein delivery systems; andcarbon nanotube arrays have been demon-strated as the darkest matter that can absorbalmost 100% of the incident light. Theseare just a few examples among the many re-ported applications that benefit from theunique nanotube properties arising fromtheir size, dimensionality and structure.The plasma-based synthesis offers manypossibilities not only to improve the nan-otube quality and the energy-, matter-, andcost-efficiency of the synthesis processes,but also to uniquely post-process (e.g. coat,functionalise, etc.) the nanotube surfaces toenable additional controls of their elec-tronic, optical, bio-compatibility, and otherproperties.

Figs 4 and 5 show further examples ofthe applications of plasma-made nanoma-terials and microscopic plasma processing.In addition to the multipurpose CNT ar-rays discussed above, these non-exhaustiveexamples include carbon nanowire connec-tions between Ag nanoparticles for the ‘self-organised’ electronics of the future; regulararrays of highly-luminescent quantum dotarrays for the energy-efficient, ultra-brightsolid-state light emitting sources; ultra-nanoporous metal-oxide nanowires forphotochemical hydrogen production andnanofluidics; ultra-sensitive environmentalsensors based on plasma-produced ironoxide and other inorganic nanowires;nanostructured hydroxyapatite coatings ofhip and joint implants for reconstructivesurgery; as well as cellular control via mi-croscopic plasma–cell interactions for theimproved bacterial sterilisation, biofilm re-moval, wound healing, blood coagulation,and even highly-selective treatment of ma-lignant (e.g. melanoma) cells in cancertherapies.

Fig. 5 shows the structure of a photo-voltaic solar cell of the next generation


Fig. 4. Some applications of plasma-made nanomaterialsand microscopic plasma–surface interactions.

Fig. 5. Photovoltaic solar cell technology forrenewable energy generation relies heavily onplasma-based nanoscale processes. Quantum-dotenhanced photoactive nc-Si functional layers,nanostructured ZnO transparent conducting oxidelayers, and plasmonic arrays of Au nanoparticles areadvanced features of the next-generation solarenergy conversion devices.

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based on plasma-made functional layers.The main photo-conversion layer is madeof nanocrystalline Si (nc-Si). Such layers, re-cently produced in reactive low-tempera-ture plasmas, contain fairly regularthree-dimensional arrays of tiny Sinanocrystals with a reasonably uniform sizedistribution, which is very difficult toachieve otherwise. Transparent conductingoxide (TCO) layers made of the plasma-produced ZnO offer excellent light trans-

parency and very high electricalconductivity; the latter can be effectivelycontrolled using plasma-assisted doping.The arrays of Au nanoparticles in turn fur-ther enhance light capture via the surfaceplasmon-related forward scattering effect.Plasma-assisted magnetron sputtering is avery effective tool not only to produce suchtwo-dimensional arrays, but also to controlthe size- and position-distribution of thenanoparticles within the arrays.

These features of the next-generationsolar cells are expected to significantly en-hance the efficiency and reduce the cost ofphotovoltaic renewable energy generation.This is expected to be achieved by the effec-tive use of photons from the entire solarspectrum, minimising energy losses of the

photo-generated carriers, enabling multipleexciton generation (MEG) by a single en-ergetic photon, and other exciting physicaleffects. Importantly, these physical effectsrepresent a significant scientific challengeand are expected to generate exciting mul-tidisciplinary research in the coming years.

Where there is a will there is away An important point to stress is that bydoing fertile research in the PlasmaNanoscience field we are trying to learnhow to control complex plasma-basedprocesses, during nanoscale synthesis andprocessing, to produce new nanomaterialsthat in turn enable new functionalities innew-generation nanodevices. Most impor-tantly, these materials and devices shouldbe reliable, effective, energy- and cost-effi-cient, as well as reasonably simple in thepractical applications envisaged. This iswhy I particularly want to emphasise theneed to ultimately aim to achieve the prac-tical simplicity (a ‘will’) by learning how tocontrol complex physical phenomena (con-trolled complexity – a ‘way’) at the atomicand nanometre scales (e.g. nanoscale con-trol of energy and matter by using theplasma-specific effects).

It is also imperative to emphasise thatplasma-based nanotechnology is among thesafest nanotechnologies and offers a safenanofabrication environment with muchreduced nanoparticle toxicity risks andlower exposure to hazardous gases andchemicals.

Finally, I believe that the non-exhaustivearguments in this article suggest that doingresearch in Plasma Nanoscience is indeedsomething new, exciting, challenging, use-ful, and also safe. I also hope that these ar-guments have shed some light on thequestion “what is new in what you do andwhy is it useful?” and will generate interestamong researchers irrespective of their field,academic rank or background and will alsourge them to direct their research efforts intheir own fields from controlled complexityto practical simplicity.

Moreover, everyone is welcome to en-gage in this exciting and rapidly emergingresearch field and collaborate with us andcolleagues from our large international net-work. I take this opportunity to thank allmy coauthors and collaborators, as well asthe international Plasma Nanoscience re-search community for their contributionsand support.

References[1] K. Ostrikov, ‘Plasma Nanoscience: Basic Concepts

and Applications of Deterministic

Nanofabrication’ (Wiley–VCH, Weinheim,

Germany, 2008).

[2] S. Iijima, Nature 3354 (1991) 56.

[3] K. Ostrikov, ‘Control of energy and matter at

nanoscales: Challenges and opportunities for

plasma nanoscience in a sustainability age’, J. Phys.

D: Appl. Phys. 44 (2011) (in press).

[4] K. Ostrikov, ‘Nanoscale transfer of energy and

matter in plasma–surface interactions’, IEEE Trans.

Plasma Sci. (2011) (in press).

[5] W. H. Chiang and R. M. Sankaran, Nature Mater.

8 (2009) 882.

BioKostya (Ken) Ostrikovis a CEO ScienceLeader, ARC FutureFellow, and a foundingleader of the Plasma

Nanoscience Centre Australia at CSIROMaterials Science and Engineering at Lind-field, NSW. His achievements include thePawsey Medal awarded by the AustralianAcademy in 2008, eight prestigious fellow-ships in six countries, three monographsand more than 280 refereed journal papersand 80 plenary, keynote and invited talksat international conferences. His researchon nanoscale control of energy and matterin plasma–surface interactions contributesto the solution of the grand and as-yet un-resolved challenge of directing energy andmatter at the nanoscale, a challenge that iscritical for the development of renewableenergy and energy-efficient technologies fora sustainable future. He can be contactedat [email protected].


“… the next-generation solar cellsare expected tosignificantly enhancethe efficiency andreduce the cost ofphotovoltaicrenewable energygeneration”

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Quantum mechanics is inherently statisti-cal in that it can tell you the probability ofsomething like a nucleus emitting an alphaparticle in a given time, but it can’t tell youexactly when or how. In the early days ofquantum mechanics this caused great con-sternation for many scientists, includingEinstein whose dislike of this apparent ran-domness prompted him to protest “Goddoes not play dice!”

Einstein and others, proposed what’snow known as hidden variable theory, toget some causality back into the quantumworld. In essence this says that there aremechanisms within the nucleus that lead tothe emission of the alpha particle in a de-terministic way, but we can’t see them sothey appear random to us. However in1964, the physicist John Bell published afamous paper in which he argued that nohidden variable theory can reproduce all ofthe observed quantum phenomena.

A well-known and intriguing aspect ofBell’s work are known as Bell inequalities.Bell proposed a situation in which some-thing like the decay of a nucleus emits twoparticles simultaneously that move in op-posite directions.

One of the key features of quantum me-chanics is that each such emitted particleexists in a superposition of every possiblestate until a measurement is made, at whichpoint they condense into a single real state.In this way, it is the actual process of mak-ing measurements that in effect ‘creates’ re-ality – strange but true.

Conservation rules also dictate that if thespin of one such emitted particle is up, thenthat of its twin must be down. But ofcourse until a measurement is actuallymade, each particle has both spin up anddown at the same time. Physicists call thisquantum entanglement – two particleswhose states depend on each other butwhere both particles still exist in all possiblestates because no measurement has yet beenmade on them.

In a Bell inequality scenario, a measure-ment made on one such entangled particlecauses both it and its twin to instantly con-dense into a single real state, even if the twoare separated by vast distance. This notionwas also intensely disliked by Einstein, whotermed it “spooky interaction at a distance”.

However, Bell showed Einstein couldnot have his cake and eat it too. His ‘Bell

inequality’ paper proved that any hiddenvariable theory for quantum systems, inwhich observers had free will to choosewhat they measured, was forced to havesuch spooky interactions!

Of course people immediately began toask whether a Bell inequality scenario, orsomething like it, could be used to createfaster than light communication. The basicidea being that a pair of quantum entan-gled particles are sent in opposite directionsfrom a location midway between two dis-tant observers. If a measurement is madeon one, perhaps by an alien civilisation ina distant galaxy, that would instantly affectthe state of its twin here on Earth so surelythat’s faster than light communicationright?

Unfortunately the universe doesn’t workthat way. The problem is, that although theeffect may be instant, if we measure thespin of our particle as up, we don’t know ifthe aliens caused that by measuring theirsas down, or if it was our own measurementthat condensed the state. There are exactlyas many ups as downs, so there is no wayto tell. To find out you would have to senda message to the aliens and ask them what


How Much FreeWill Do We Have? Quantum mechanics may be evenspookier than we thought, as TimWetherall reports

In a Bell inequality scenario, a measurement made on one such entangled particle causesboth it and its twin to instantly condense into a single real state, even if the two areseparated by vast distance.

AustPhys_475 20/04/11 11:46 PM Page 119

they did and of course that would have tobe at sub-light speed. It would seem there-fore that no faster than light signalling orinformation transfer is possible. Howeverthat’s not to say that the physics of Bell in-equalities is not interesting.

One scientist looking into the interpre-tation of quantum mechanics and whatmight or might not be possible within Bell

inequalities is Dr Michael Hall, a visitingfellow at the ANU Department of Theoret-ical Physics. According to Hall: “It’s beenshown that you can’t have no-signalling, de-terminism and experimental free will all to-gether in a world described by quantummechanics. You have to give up some or allof at least one. But how much of each oneis a really interesting question.”

Dr Hall has recently published a paper[1] in the prestigious journal Physical Re-view Letters suggesting that if you give upjust a little experimental free will you canaccurately model a Bell inequality using thekind of deterministic hidden variablephysics Einstein might have loved.

“I’m looking at what’s known as a re-laxed Bell inequality, that is one in which

the need for absolute free will is relaxedslightly. Do that, and you can make it workdeterministically without evoking fasterthan light signalling.”

If this is indeed how the universe oper-ates, the very strange implication would bethat the apparent randomness in the spinorientation of entangled particles may beweakly coupled to the apparent random-

ness with which an experimenter chooseswhen and where to measure. In otherwords your free will might not be as free asyou think!

“My model sidesteps Bell’s theorem, byallowing the same underlying variable thatpredetermines the measurement outcomesto have a small statistical influence on thechoices of measurement made for each par-ticle. This influence – known as ‘measure-ment dependence’ – is not directlyobservable but leads to the correct quan-tum correlations.”

Of course that slight statistical shift inthe ‘free’ choices made by the measurer arenot limited to human experimenters. If arandom number generator were used, theremay also be a shift in its choices though sta-tistically the numbers it created would ap-pear perfectly random.

How could this still appear random?Well imagine tossing a coin four times.Heads, heads, tails, tails is statistically asprobable as heads, tails, heads, tails. Thefirst might be influenced by measurementdependence the second not – how wouldyou know?

Such an effect may have implications forquantum cryptography which relies on en-tanglement to send secure signals. If some-one taps into the system, the entanglementis lost and the eavesdropper is sprung.

“Quantum cryptography is basicallysound from a physics point of view, but ourwork opens up the question of the sendingand receiving devices being tampered with.If someone has ‘monkeyed’ with yourequipment, you may be exposed to dataleaks hidden within the seemingly randomstatistics, without that being at all obvious.”

In a strange coincidence, Hall and Ein-stein have more in common than an inter-est in hidden variable theories. In additionto his visiting fellowship at the ANU, Hallis also currently working as a patent exam-iner. “I comfort myself with the thoughtthat, while I’m not as good a physicist asEinstein, I’m a better patent examiner!”, hesays.

Tim Wetherall is editor of ScienceWise

magazine, published by the ANU

College of Physical Sciences

References[1] M. J. W. Hall, Phys. Rev. Lett. 1105 (2010) 250404.


“I comfort myself with the thought that,while I’m not as good a physicist as Einstein,I’m a better patent examiner!”

Dr Michael Hall is patent examiner at IP Australia in Canberra. In his spare time he is avisiting fellow at the ANU Department of Theoretical Physics.

AustPhys_475 20/04/11 11:46 PM Page 120

The Cold Wars: A History of SuperconductivityBy Jean Matricon and Georges WaysandRutgers University Press, 271 pp., $US25Translated from the French by CharlesGlashausserReviewed by John Macfarlane, CSIRO Lind-field

This is an eminently readable book, althougha couple of years out of date by now, withwhich to celebrate the Centenary Year of Su-perconductivity. Originally published as aFrench-language text in 2003, the recenttranslation by Glashausser brings a fascinatinghistory to a deservedly-wider audience. Start-ing with a brief outline of earlier nineteenthcentury milestones in the production of lowtemperatures by pioneers such as Faraday,Joule, Kelvin and Dewar, the human aspectsof the development of super con duct ivity re-search that was triggered in 1911 by Kamer-lingh Onnes are brought to life. We learn, forexample, that Onnes gave insufficient creditto the contribution of an assistant, GillesHolst, who had actually carried out the cru-cial electrical measurements.

The ‘Cold Wars’ of the title is appropriatealso to the political scene of the times, withan account of how Kapitza was encouragedby Rutherford to leave the Soviet Union toestablish the Mond Laboratory in 1933 atthe University of Cambridge, England. Stalinsubsequently ordered Kapiza back toMoscow, along with much of his Cambridgeequipment. Kapitza was nevertheless instru-mental in securing the release of Landau,who derived a theory of superfluidity, fromprison in 1940.

The works of Meissner, Ginzburg, Lan-dau, F. and H. London, Bardeen, Cooperand Schrieffer are woven into a vivid journeyleading towards our, as yet, imperfect under-standing of the superconductivity phenom-enon. Brilliant highlights including theJosephson effect, and the discovery of the‘high-temperature superconducting’ rare-earth oxides, occupy several chapters. Themain text is supplemented by no less than 20pages of detailed Notes, and a comprehensiveIndex.

Whether as a serious history, or as an en-joyable weekend read, this book provides ex-cellent value for content, entertainment, andquality. The air of disillusionment which hasset in over superconducting applications inrecent years is honestly conveyed, and doesnot in any way diminish the excitement ofearlier chapters. The Cold Wars is highly rec-ommended to interested laymen, teachersand students alike.

The Quantum Frontier: The Large Hadron ColliderBy Don LincolnJohns Hopkins Press, $25ISBN 978-0-8018-9144-1Reviewed by Lee Weissel, Wagga Christian Col-lege

This book takes on the daunting task of seek-ing to explain the existence and purpose ofthat magnificent scientific machine knownas the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Theauthor Don Lincoln is himself a scientistwith the Fermi National Accelerator Labora-tory and also author of a previous book, Un-derstanding the Universe: From Quarks to theCosmos.

What is immediately apparent in readingthis book is the author’s passion and knowl-edge for this subject. The fervour with whichhe writes, particularly in chapter five regard-ing the possible new directions and excitingnew understanding of reality that may beobtained from the LHC, is infectious almostas though through the LHC we will drinkfrom the Holy Grail itself.

The work, which is divided into fivechapters, plays out as having the reader enterinto the science surrounding the LHC. Theaudience for which the book is written seemsto be the non-expert in particle physics andbegins with a general appeal to the readerwho has an interest in the current directionsof science. Some knowledge of the periodictable, atoms, their components and indeedthe standard model of matter would be ben-eficial, although not essential.

The book then moves into the startlingrevelation that there is a deep uncertainty asto what the LHC will discover. Discussionon topics such as the Higgs boson, super-symmetry and what is the smallest particlein the universe is both stimulating and con-textualising in understanding the purpose ofthe LHC.

The book moves into the practical side ofhow this will be achieved by explaining howaccelerators work, and what makes the LHCdifferent from those that have gone before.It is in chapter four, particularly the secondhalf of the chapter, where the detail of thebook while interesting for the technical as-pects presented may swamp the non-physi-cist reader who only seeks to understand thegeneral concepts that the creators of the ma-chine wish to use it for. The work closes witha discussion on much broader issues that sci-entists are currently tackling. The strength ofthe work lies within the striking detail andunderstanding that the author is able tobring to bear in discussing this area of inter-est.

My criticism of the book is its unevenemphasis on the various aspects the authorwishes to cover. It is as though you wade intothe work only to discover that later on youperhaps should have brought more resourceswith you, as it can seem to suddenly becomedeep. Overall though, The Quantum Frontiercan be thoroughly recommended for an in-troduction to the LHC and to the contem-porary frontiers of science. It is a work towhet the appetite of those enthusiasts inphysics that a paradigm changing discoverycould be just around the corner.


Book Reviews

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Marshall Stoneham1940–2011Hamish Johnston

The theoretical condensed-matter physicist Marshall Stonehamdied on 18 February 2011 at the age of 70. Stoneham, who was afellow of the Royal Society, spent much of his career studying theeffects of defects in solids and published several books on the topic.In October 2010 he took over as president of the Institute ofPhysics, which publishes Physics World. His duties for the Institutewill for the moment be taken over by the Institute’s immediatepast-president Jocelyn Bell Burnell.

Stoneham was born in Barrow-in-Furness on 18 May 1940. Hecompleted a PhD in physics at the University of Bristol in 1965and spent much of his career at the UK Atomic Energy ResearchEstablishment (AERE) in Harwell, Oxfordshire, where he led thesolid-state and quantum-physics group of the theoretical divisionbetween 1974 and 1989. The following year he was appointed di-rector of research at AEA Industrial Technology and later took upthe position of chief scientist of AEA Technology.

In 1995 Stoneham moved to University College London, wherehe became director of the university’s interdepartmental Centrefor Materials Research. With his wife Doreen, who is also a physi-cist, Stoneham founded Oxford Authentication Ltd in 1997 andremained a director at the time of his death. The small firm usesthermoluminescence techniques to establish the provenance ofearthenware, stoneware, porcelain and the casting cores of bronzes.

Stoneham also served as vice-president of IOP Publishing, thepublishing arm of the Institute, and was editor-in-chief of the In-stitute’s Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. In his spare time,Stoneham was an enthusiastic French horn player and even pub-lished two books in this area. He is survived by his wife Doreenand two daughters. In a statement, the Institute said that “he willbe greatly missed by the physics community, and by all of us inthe Institute”.

Stoneham had a wide range of research interests, including theelectronic structure of defects, the properties of surfaces and inter-faces, the true nature of scanning-probe microscopy and diamondfilms. However, in recent years he had taken a growing interest in

quantum-information technology and hoped to create solid-statequantum gates that are compatible with silicon and could operateat room temperature. Stoneham was also involved in various proj-ects linking physics and medicine, including one that sought tounderstand how humans can discriminate between different scentsand whether left- and right-handed versions of chiral moleculesshould smell the same or not.

Hamish Johnston is an editor of physicsworld.com.


Obituary

AustPhys_475 20/04/11 11:46 PM Page 122

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These SIR Scanning Spectrometers fea-ture USB 2.0-compliant interfaces thatprovide fast data transfers. Plus, the in-cluded software can be used to control allof your SIR spectrometer’s functions as wellas analyse data.

The SIR spectrometer family includes:• SIR-1700: 400-1700 nm• SIR-2600: 0.9-2.6 μm• SIR-3400: 1-3.4 μm• SIR-5000: 2-5 μm• SIR-6500: 3.0-6.5 μm

Deep UV LEDs Sandhouse Deep UV LEDs are available ina wide range of wavelengths and packagesizes. These devices are manufactured usingAlGaN/GaN technology, which enables anew generation of high band-gap energyopto-electronics devices, able to performdown to 240 nm.


Product News

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Latest News from Toptica Photonics

MMulti-Colour Systems – Multi-Laser Engines and Tunable VISible Lasers

Three exciting new systems are now availablefrom Toptica:

iChrome MLE-LMulti Laser Engine with up to three diodelasers and one DPSS Laser fully integrated inone compact box.• Multi-line laser with up to four laser lines• Wavelengths diode lasers: 405, 445, 488

and 640 nm (375, 473, 660, 785 nm andothers on request)

• Wavelengths DPSS laser: 532 and 561nm (505, 515, 594 nm and others on re-quest)

iChrome MLE-SAll-diode Multi Laser Engine with up to fourdiode lasers fully integrated in one compactbox.• Multi Line Laser with up to four diode

laser lines• Available wavelengths: 405, 445, 488 and

640 nm (375, 473, 660, 785 nm and oth-ers on request)

• High free-space and fibre coupled outputpower levels

Common to both MLE modelsThe individual lasers are efficiently combinedand delivered free beam or via an all-in-onePM/ SM fibre output. The microprocessorcontrolled system enables flexible OEM in-tegration. High speed analogue and digitalmodulations allow fast switching of laserwavelength and intensity.

TOPTICA’s ingenious COOLAC technol-ogy automatically aligns the system with asingle push of a button. This feature ensuresa constant optical output level even understrongly varying ambient conditions andcompletely eliminates the need for manualrealignment - making the iChrome MLE themost advanced multi-line laser system on themarket.• Single mode, polarisation maintaining

fibre output or free beam COOLAC tech-nology for highest coupling efficiency, ul-

timate stability and drop-shipment capa-bility

• Direct modulation and fast switching be-tween wavelengths

• True one-box solution with integratedelectronics

• Unique features: COOLAC, FINE andSKILL technology

• Most compact and cost effective solutionfor multicolour biophotonic applications

iChrome TVISOur ultrachrome picosecond laser is: • Continuously tunable in the visible range

of 488 – 640 nm• Fibre coupled output (single-mode)• Fully automated operation• Pure colour, narrow emission bandwidth

(< 3 nm)• Perfectly suited for fluorescence lifetime

imaging microscopy (FLIM) or opticaltesting of componentsThe iChrome TVIS laser system is a fibre

laser with the flexibility to set automaticallythe laser output to any wavelength in the vis-ible (488 – 640 nm). The coherent laser out-put ensures that the visible light exhibits thebest intensity noise performance and the useof polarisation maintaining optical compo-nents a stable linear polarisation of the fibrecoupled output beam is achieved. The entirelaser system is extremely user friendly: Noalignment procedures of any optical compo-nents distract the user from the main task –to produce results.

DL-RFA-SHG pro @ 589nm 2 Watt, single line for sodium cooling

The new DL RFA SHG pro is a narrow-bandtunable continuous wave laser for sodiumcooling. The system is based on a near-IRdiode laser in the successful ‘pro-design’ (DL100/pro design, 1178 nm), with a subsequentRaman fibre amplifier (RFA) and a resonantfrequency doubling stage (SHG pro).

The DL RFA SHG pro features a spectrallinewidth below 1 MHz and 20 GHz mode-hop free tuning. For system operation, nowater cooling and no external pump is re-

quired. The power scalable approach of theDL RFA SHG pro also offers solutions forother high power applications such assodium LIDAR, medical therapy or superresolution microscopy. Customised systemswith higher output powers up to 10 W areavailable on request. Wavelengths between560 and 620 nm will soon be available ascustomised solutions.

FemtoFiber pro –the product familyi s expandedAfter the successfulintroduction of theFemtoFiber proIR, NIR and SCIR

models, TOPTICA is now taking the finalstep to also include the remaining systemvariants such as tunable visible (TVIS), tun-able near-infrared (TNIR) and tunable ultracompressed pulse (UCP). Options such asvariable repetition rate (VAR) and a phase-locked loop Laser Repetition rate Control(LRC) by TOPTICA’s well-established PLL-electronics are rounding up the FemtoFiberpro product family.

The first and fastest of the new models,UCP, shows short pulses in the range downto 13 fs, the fastest available on the marketfrom a turnkey SAM modelocked fibre lasersystem.

The TVIS expands the super-continuumgeneration (SCIR) by a tunable second har-monic generation and allows transferringfemtosecond pulse generation into the visiblewavelength range from 490 to 700 nm.

The TNIR variant finally adds a new fea-ture to the FemtoFiber pro family. As op-posed to the TVIS, it uses the high-bandcontinuum (>1560 nm) for second har-monic generation. This continuum part is asolitonic pulse and therefore needs no pulsecompression. The output wavelength can betuned from 800 to 1100 nm. This variantwas not previously available in the FFS prod-uct family.

For more information please contact Lastekat [email protected] Pty LdAdelaide University - Thebarton Campus10 Reid St, Thebarton, SAAus 1800 882 215; NZ 0800 441 005T: (61 8) 8443 8668; F: (61 8) 8443 8427email: [email protected]: www.lastek.com.au


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WarsashLLightweight Benchtop Vibration Isolation

Warsash Scientific is pleased to announce anew lightweight benchtop vibration isola-tion system from Kinetic Systems, Inc.Specifically designed for portability, theELpF can be easily repositioned on thebenchtop, even with a load and in float. Itsunique, self-contained design provides thiswithout causing damage to the vibrationisolators.

An economical alternative to heavy-weight models, the Ergonomic Low-Pro-file-Format platform provides vibrationisolation for sensitive devices. It features aload capacity of 100 or 300 lbs. in a light-weight, ergonomic system.

The platform has a low profile (only 3”high), uses a small tabletop (16” x 19” stan-dard), and weighs 40 lbs., making it veryportable. Ergonomic features includegauges tilted upward for easier viewing andrecessed handles for easy carrying.

Designed for use in laboratories andClass 100 cleanrooms, the ELpF platformis ideal for supporting atomic force micro-scopes, microhardness testers, analyticalbalances, profilometers, and audio equip-ment.

Self-leveling and active-air isolation givethe platform low natural frequencies (1.75Hz vertical, 2.0 Hz horizontal) and typicalisolation efficiencies of 95% (vertical) and92% (horizontal) at 10 Hz.

Other tabletop sizes can be customizedper specifications. The top, which can beordered with or without mounting holes,can be aluminum plate, ferromagneticstainless steel, plastic laminate, or anti-staticlaminate.

For more details on this or other vibrationisolation equipment, contact [email protected]

Real-Time Operating System for SystemsIntegration

PI (Physik Instrumente), the leading man-ufacturer of piezoceramic drives and posi-tioning systems, offers a real-time moduleas an upgrade option for the host PC andalso the connection of the GCS (PI GeneralCommand Set) software drivers. The mod-ule is based on Knoppix-Linux in conjunc-tion with a pre-configured Linux real-timeextension (RTAI).

The use of real-time operating systemson the host PC allows it to communicatewith other system components, e.g. a visionsystem, without time delays with discretetemporal behavior and high system clockrate.

A library which is 100% compatiblewith all other PI GCS libraries is used forthe communication with the real-time sys-tem. All PI GCS host software available forLinux can be run on this system.

The real-time system running in the real-time kernel can be used to integrate PI in-terfaces and additional data acquisitionboards for control. Open functions to en-able you to implement your own control al-gorithms are provided. Data, such aspositions and voltages, is recorded in realtime, and pre-defined tables, with posi-tions, for example, are output in real timeto the PI interface and to additional dataacquisition boards.

You can program your own real-timefunctions in C/C++, MATLAB/SIMULINK and SCILAB.

The system includes a PI GCS server,which allows the system to be operated asa blackbox using TCP/IP, via a Windowscomputer, for example.

The system can be installed on a PC orbooted directly as a live version from thedata carrier. A free demo version with re-stricted functionality is available.

For more information on the real timeoperating software or other PI positioningequipment, contact [email protected]

E-618: 3.2 kW Peak Power for New PiezoAmplifier

Available from Warsash Scientific is thenew PI (Physik Instrumente) E-618 highpower amplifier for ultra-high dynamicsoperation of PICMA® piezo actuators.

The amplifier can output and sink apeak current of 20A in the voltage rangebetween -30 and +130V. The high band-width of over 15kHz makes it possible toexploit the dynamics of the PICMA® actu-ators. This type of performance is requiredin active vibration cancellation and fastvalve actuation applications.

The E-618 also comes with a tempera-ture sensor input to shut down the ampli-fier if the maximum allowed temperatureof the piezo ceramics has been exceeded.This is a valuable safety feature given the ex-tremely high power output.

The E-618 is available in several open-loop and closed-loop versions with ana-logue and digital interfaces.

For more information on these and therange of other PI products, [email protected] Warsash Scientific Pty LtdTel: +61 2 9319 0122Fax: +61 2 9318 2192 www.warsash.com.au

New Sensors Improve Precision of S-340Tip/Tilt Mirror

Warsash Scientific is pleased to announcethe release of the new S-340 piezo tip/tiltmirror platform from PI (Physik Instru-mente), equipped with new high-resolutionstrain gauge sensors.


AustPhys_475 20/04/11 11:46 PM Page 126

The camera includes the improved Su-perSynchro timing generator, SyncMasterclock output, a compact ‘one-box’ design,convenient GigE interface and much,much more.

For further information please contact PaulWardill on [email protected]:Coherent Scientific116 Sir Donald Bradman Drive, Hilton SA5033ph: (08) 8150 5200 ; fax: (08) 8352 2020www.coherent.com.au

LLight-Field 64-bit Acquisition SoftwareFrom the world leaders in optical spec-troscopy and CCD/EMCCD/ICCD tech-nology comes LightFieldTM, an all-new64-bit data acquisition platform for spec-troscopy and imaging. LightFieldTM com-bines complete control over PrincetonInstruments’ cameras and spectrometerswith easy-to-use tools for experimentalsetup, data acquisition and post-processing.

LightfieldTM ensures data integrity viaautomatic saving to disc, time stampingand retention of both raw and correcteddata with full experimental details saved ineach file. LightFieldTM works seamlesslyin multi-user facilities, remembering eachuser’s hardware and software configurationsand tailoring options and features accord-ingly. The optional, patent-pending Intel-liCal package is the highest-performancewavelength calibration software available,providing up to ten times greater accuracyacross the entire focal plane than compet-ing routines.

Features include:• Immediate data acquisition upon launch• Progressive disclosure - contextual

menus ensure that only relevant optionsappear

• Graphical hardware configurationbuilder ensures that system elementswork exactly as the end user expects

• Dark gray GUI reduces monitor bright-ness; monitor dims automatically duringacquisition

• All experimental parameters are saved todata file headers - no more searching oldnotebooks for data acquisition settings

• Automatic light saturation warning withpseudocolour

• Multiple regions of interest can be de-fined in a single window

• Save and reload experimental settingsand share between multiple users

• Configurable setting dock holds pre-ferred commands

• Control multiple cameras via multipleinstances of LightField

• Drag-n-drop data into Excel, Paint andNotebook or export to TIFF, FITS, CSVetc.

• Peak find function works with both nar-row and broad lines

• IntelliCal provides up to ten times im-proved accuracy


eXcelon…CCD and EMCCD sensitivityredefinedPrinceton Instruments and Photometricsare pleased to announce the launch of neweXcelon back-illiminated charge-coupleddevice (CCD) and electron-multiplicationCCD (EMCCD) detector technology thatwill revolutionise scientific imaging andspectroscopy.

New eXelon sensors provide excellentphoton-detection capabilities across a widespectrum, from 200 to 1100nm, and areparticularly beneficial for applications re-quiring enhanced sensitivity in the blue andnear-infrared (NIR) region, as illustratedbelow. In addition, eXcelon back-illumi-nated sensors significantly reduce etaloning(the problematic appearance of fringes).

When eXelcon technology is applied toEMCCD devices, the result is a detectorwith sub-electron read noise, superb sensi-tivity, low dark current, little (if any)


The S-340 now achieves a resolution of20nrad at angles of 2mrad about both or-thogonal axes.

This large mirror platform is used for op-tics with diameters of up to 100 mm (4inches) and achieves a resonant frequencyof 900Hz for a mirror of 50 mm diameter.

The S-340 can be operated by the new,low-cost E-616 controller. Together, theyform a compact, high-performance solu-tion for beam control and image stabiliza-tion as employed in astronomy, lasermachining or optical metrology, for exam-ple.

For more information on the S-340Tip/Tilt Mirror platform or other Position-ing equipment from PI, contact [email protected]

Coherent

PI-MAX3 Intensified CCD Cameras Princeton Instruments’ PI-MAX series ofintensified CCD cameras has set the stan-dard for time-resolved imaging and spec-troscopy for almost a decade. NowPrinceton’s PI-MAX3 takes ICCD per-formance to a new level with order of mag-nitude speed improvements and a host ofnew features to allow easier and more accu-rate time-resolved imaging.

PI-MAX3 is available in formats of 1024x 1024 pixels for imaging and 1024 x 256pixels for spectroscopy. Video frame ratescan be achieved in the imaging format andspectral rates of thousands of spectra persecond can be achieved. Most importantly,the camera allows sustained gating rates upto 1 MHz, a 20-fold improvement overprevious designs.

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etaloning and high frame rates.New eXcelon technology will be fea-

tured in Princeton Instruments’ PIXIS andProEM deep-cooled cameras and is avail-able in several pixel-array formats:• 1340 x 100 and 1340 x 400 CCD cam-

eras for spectroscopy• 512 x 512 and 2048 x 2048 for imaging

The technology is also available in 512 x512 and 1024 x 1024 ProEM EMCCDcameras.

These new eXcelon-enabled cameras willtarget a wide variety of applications in boththe life and physical sciences. Examples in-clude astronomy, Raman spectroscopy, live-cell imaging confocal imaging, totalinternal reflection fluorescence microscopy(TIRFM), Forster resonance energy trans-fer (FRET), Bose-Einstein condensate(BEC) imaging, solar cell inspection, aswell as super resolution techniques such asSTORM and PALM.



Physics Decadal Plan The Australian Academy of Science is overseeing the development of a new Decadal Plan for Physics. The AIP has been charged withthe responsibility of running the process of developing the plan. A similar process was last run in 1993 which produced the publication‘Physics: A Vision for the Future’. The Australian Research Council has granted funds to support the development of the new plan.

Michelle Simmons (UNSW), in her role as the Chair of the Academy of Science National Committee for Physics, has appointedDavid Jamieson (UMelbourne and past AIP president) to convene a Working Group to take the process to the next stage. The WorkingGroup includes Hans Bachor (ANU), Cathy Foley (CSIRO), Ian McArthur (UWA), John O’Connor (UNewcastle), Halina Rubin-sztein-Dunlop (UQueensland), Brian James (USydney and past AIP president).

The Working Group has been busy interviewing a large number of physicists in academia, CSIRO, DSTO, ANSTO, schools, in-dustry, government, representative organisations and many other segments of the physics community. There was also a second interviewprocess to establish the research resource requirements of the various physics sub-disciplines and their views on what the big opportunitiesfor research are for the next 10 years. From these interviews the common issues affecting all will be identified and specific requirementsfor solutions will be developed.

The Decadal Plan consists of two broad components. The first is an inward looking component which will consist of a survey ofPhysics in Australia today to show how the discipline has evolved since 1993 and identify the significant areas of activity and expertise.The second is a forward looking component that aims to identify emerging opportunities that can be highlighted and developed. ThePlan aims to have a broad audience and will serve to make the excitement and potential of Physics in the twenty-first century accessibleto a wide audience.

Both components have called for comment and vision from the Physics community through a website, town hall meetings and thecall for white papers. The deadline for submission of white papers was the beginning of April 2011. Most important has been the op-portunity for delegates to the 2010 AIP Congress last December to present their views at dedicated sessions that were held during theCongress week.

A further six months of consultation and review will follow before the draft plan, provisionally titled ‘Investing in the future ofPhysics’ which will be presented to the Academy in July 2011.

Further information is available at http://www.physicsdecadalplan.org.au/home.

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29 May – 3 June 2011FFourth International Conference on Chaotic Modelling, Simula-tion and ApplicationsAgios Nikolaos, Greece

28 June – 1 July 2011Twenty-fifth International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics(IUGG) General Assembly: Earth on the EdgeMelbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre

1 – 3 July 2011Astronomical Society of Australia’s Harley Wood Winter SchoolAdare House, Victor Harbor, SA

4 – 8 July 2011Astronomical Society of Australia’s Annual Science MeetingUniversity of Adelaide, SA

4 – 8 July 2011Fifteenth International Conference for Women Engineers and Sci-entists (ICWES15)Adelaide Convention Centre, SA

19 – 22 July 2011American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) 2011 SummerMeetingOmaha, Nebraska

30 July – 3 August 2011Twenty-second General Assembly and Congress of the Interna-tional Union of Crystallography (IUCr)Madrid

22 – 31 August 2011URSI General Assembly and Scientific Symposium of Interna-tional Union of Radio ScienceIstanbul, Turkey

13 – 20 August 2011IQEC/CLEO Pacific Rim 2011Sydney

28 August – 1 September 2011International Conference on Nanoscience & Technology, Chi-naNANO 2011Beijing

7 – 9 September 2011Thirty-sixth Annual Condensed Matter & Materials MeetingCharles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga

31 January – 3 February 2012Queensland Astronomy Education Conference (QAEC)Brisbane

25 February 2012Thirty-sixth International Conference on High Energy Physics,ICHEP2012Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

4 – 11 July 2012Nuclei in the Cosmos 2012Cairns Convention Centre, Qld

5 – 10 August 2012Fifteenth International Conference on Small-angle Scattering, SAS2012Sydney


Conferences

Subscribe to Physics WorldAs part of our ongoing partnership with the UK Institute of Physics we are pleased to tell you that the new IOP member category ofIOP imember is available to AIP members for only $20 – a 20% discount on the standard price – incredible value for money.

Become an IOP imember today and here is what you get:• twelve digital issues of Physics World delivered direct to your inbox each month,• unlimited access to physicsworld.com, including the archive of video interviews and online lectures, and• online networking for IOP members at myiop.org.

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Documents

Volume 47, Number 5, September/October 2010 Physics/Aust Phys 4… · 122 Marshall Stoneham 1940–2011 Product News 124 A review of new products from Lastek, Coherent Scientific