AOS News - The Australian Optical Society - Macquarie University

AOS News Volume 25 Number 1 2011by Ben EggletonCUDOSLaunchOn the 6 th of April 2011 an exciting event washeld to mark the new phase of CUDOS –the ARC Centre of Excellence for Ultrahighbandwidth Devices for Optical Systems - at the centre’sheadquarters based in the School of Physics at TheUniversity of Sydney.Professor Ben Eggleton shows Senator Kim Carr,Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science andResearch, the CUDOS laboratoriesIt was my pleasure to host the Ministerfor Innovation, Industry, Science &Research, Senator Kim Carr, who officiallylaunched the centre and unveiled thecommemorative plaque in front ofan enthusiastic audience of over 250people.Prior to the official launch, ProfessorMargaret Sheil, CEO of the AustralianResearch Council, members of theCUDOS Advisory Board and Universityof Sydney executive staff joined me andSenator Carr on a tour of the CUDOSlabs. Senator Carr was very pleased tomeet some of the staff and students withinCUDOS and find out more about theirresearch. The Launch also provided anopportunity to screen our new videowhich was well received. “CUDOS –faster, Smaller, Greener” can be seen onYouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=830YgQ_C9fYCUDOS was initially fundedfrom 2003 to 2010. The outstandingachievements made during this periodhave contributed, I believe, to us nowreceiving $23.8 million under the mostrecent ARC Centres of Excellence fundinground, to cover a new R&D over theperiod from 2011 to 2017. The NSWGovernment is also supporting us with$500,000 through the State’s ScienceLeveraging Fund, a program that supportsNSW-based research and developmentconsortia.CUDOS is collaboration betweenseven of Australia's leading universitieswith research characterised by strongExcellence in Research for Australia (ERA)performance, as recently reported, in theirdisciplines of optical physics and electricaland electronic engineering. The Universityof Sydney, ANU, Macquarie University,Swinburne University of Technology,RMIT University, Monash University andUTS will work with an extended groupof partner investigators from the world'sleaders in photonic research includingThe University of Oxford, ImperialCollege London, University of Karlsruhein Germany, the National Instituteof Advanced Industrial Science andTechnology, Japan and local companiesSilanna and Finisar.The new CUDOS will have arevolutionary new program of research.We will build on what has alreadybeen demonstrated, that an integratedphotonic-based signal processing platform- a photonic chip - can switch data atspeeds beyond terabits a second. Centralto the new direction is our extensioninto the field nanophotonics focusingon metamaterials and plasmonics, withthe aim of developing miniature devicesthat rely on optical characteristics tooperate, which are unattainable with bulkmaterials.Senator Carr ‘s address highlighted andpraised the potential of our photonic chiptechnology to magnify the capacity of theNational Broadband Network.“As the NBN fibre is rolled out to moreand more homes, the traffic on the coreof the network will rise. New technologybeing developed by CUDOS to increasethe core network capacity will help ensurehome users can get 1Gbps, 10Gbps ormore in the future as their need grows.”Senator Carr said.The Innovation Minister said thereare many other uses for the technologicalspin-offs of the research work undertakenby CUDOS.“CUDOS is generating and processingnew wavelengths of laser light for sensingchemical signatures which can detectexplosive material or chemicals potentiallySenator Kim Carr was pleased to meet and talk with CUDOS students34