Jeff Lundeen
Nexus for Quantum Technology, Physics Department, University of Ottawa

Abstract

Imaging is one of the oldest and most applied of the sciences, dating back at least two millennia to the first lenses and Euclid’s Optics. Until recently, most if not all optical elements, such as lenses, diffraction gratings and phase plates, have functioned by acting on a photon’s position. In contrast, this talk will describe our experiments that rely on a photon’s momentum, i.e. its angle, to create novel types of imaging systems. For example, we have used photon pairs that are quantum-entangled in momentum to image in the presence of turbulence, background light, and even without aiming a camera at the object. For single photons, I will show that through controlling momentum one can create arbitrary optical transformations, including that of free-space itself. The latter effectively compresses optical propagation into a thin plate, a device we call a "spaceplate". If perfected, spaceplates could one day replace the space between a lens and the imaging sensor, enabling flat thin cameras. I will finish by outlining prospects for even more exotic and useful imaging systems that function by acting on a photon’s momentum.

Biography

Dr. Jeff Lundeen's experimental and theoretical research uses individual particles of light, photons, to test and apply ideas from quantum physics. He is an Associate Professor in the Physics Dept. of the University of Ottawa. He did an undergraduate degree in physics at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. After, he did a MSc and PhD with Dr. Aephraim Steinberg at the University of in experimental quantum optics and quantum information. As a Postdoctoral Fellow, he did experimental research in the group of Prof. Ian Walmsely at the Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford. He returned to Canada and became a staff scientist in optical metrology at the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada. In 2013, he joined the University of Ottawa.

Jeff was also a Tier II CRC in Quantum Photonics for ten years and is the Director of the UOttawa Institute, Nexus for Quantum Technologies. 

Timbits, coffee, tea will be served in STI A before the colloquium.

Cristiano Galbiati
Princeton University

Abstract

I will present how the field of investigations in neutrinos and dark matter has evolved in the past 30 years, contributing major discoveries and building a strong base for future advancements in our understanding of the Universe. I will present a look at results from the solar neutrino experiment Borexino, which performed a detailed measurement of the entire neutrino spectrum with an organic liquid scintillator target.  I will discuss status and prospects of the ongoing search for the discovery of dark matter with the DarkSide program. I will detail the impact of the technological innovations introduced for the DarkSide project in the search for neutrinoless double beta decay.

Burcin Mutlu-Pakdi
Dartmouth College

Abstract

The smallest and faintest galaxies around the Milky Way are the most ancient, most metal-poor, and most dark-matter-dominated systems known. These extreme objects offer unique access to small scales where the stellar and dark matter content can be studied simultaneously. They hold the promise of major breakthroughs in understanding the nature of dark matter and a more complete picture of galaxy formation. Thus, their discovery and characterization are among the most important goals in the field. In this talk, I will share our ongoing observational efforts to detect these faint systems around the Milky Way and beyond, and upcoming advances in the era of deep and wide imaging instrumentation, with a focus on their implications.

Timbits, coffee, tea will be served in STI A before the colloquium.