ABSTRACT: Light transport in a highly multimode fiber exhibits complex behavior in space, time, frequency, and polarization, especially in the presence of random mode coupling and polarization mixing. Recent developments of adaptive wavefront shaping and phase recording techniques have opened the possibility of harnessing such enormous complexity for multimode fiber applications in imaging, spectroscopy, optical trapping, and microfabrication.

A spatial light modulator enables precise characterization of the field propagation through a multimode fiber, and by adjusting the incident wavefront it can accurately tailor the transmitted spatial pattern, temporal profile, and polarization state. Furthermore, wavefront shaping techniques are employed to suppress nonlinear optical effects and instabilities in multimode fiber amplifiers while maintaining high beam quality. Professor Cao will review recent advances and breakthroughs in controlling light propagation in multimode fibers, and discuss emerging applications.

Biography: Hui Cao is the John C. Malone Professor of Applied Physics, a Professor of Physics, and a Professor of Electrical Engineering at Yale University. She received her Ph.D. degree in Applied Physics from Stanford University in 1997. Prior to joining the Yale faculty in 2008, she was on the faculty of Northwestern University for ten years. Her technical interests and activities are in the areas of mesoscopic physics, complex photonic materials and devices, nanophotonics, and biophotonics. Professor Cao is a Fellow of IEEE, AAAS, APS and OSA, and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

This seminar is sponsored by the Department of Applied Physics and the Ginzton Laboratory