Colloquia & Guest Speakers

Physics and Application of Complex Scattering Media

Hui Cao, Yale University

Monday, November 24, 2014
3 p.m.–4 p.m.

Goergen 101, Sloan Auditorium

Abstract:
Strongly scattering media usually look opaque, even though the material has little absorption. The low transmission poses a severe limitation for biomedical imaging and optical communication. By shaping the input wavefront, we are able to enhance or suppress the transmission of coherent light through open highly scattering media. The total transmission is varied by one order of magnitude. Similar technique is also used to control light absorption in complex scattering media. In addition, we utilize the multiple scattering in a random structure to realize an on-chip spectrometer. The speckle pattern is used as a fingerprint to recover an arbitrary spectrum. In spite of very small footprint, good spectral resolution is achieved.

Bio:
Hui CaoCao focuses on understanding and controlling light transport, scattering, absorption and amplification in complex photonic nanostructures. Broadly put, her research is concerned with complex photonic materials and nanophotonic devices, both for fundamental physical studies and for applications. Her research involves nanofabtrication, material characterization, optical measurement with high spatial, spectral and temporal resolution, and numerical simulation.