2011 CUDOS Launch

Date: Wednesday 6 April 2011
Time: 3pm - 6:30pm
Venue: MacLaurin Hall, The University of Sydney (Limited paid parking is available in the New Law School carpark)

2:30 Registration & Coffee
3:00 Meet the Researchers
•Posters and displays
•Light refreshments
•Discuss the work of CUDOS
3:30 Speeches
•Prof. Clive Baldock, Head of School of Physics
•Prof. Stephen Garton, Provost, University of Sydney
•Dr Greg Clark, Chairman, CUDOS Advisory Board
•Prof. Ben Eggleton, Director, CUDOS
•Senator the Hon. Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research
4:00 Video – “CUDOS - Faster, Smaller, Greener”
4:10 Official Opening by Senator Carr
4:15 Reception
•Meet the Researchers (continued)
•Drinks and buffet food

View the invitation or go directly to RSVP.

Now recruiting up to 30 researchers and postgraduate students across our 7 collaborating universities to be involved in exciting next generation photonics research

BACKGROUND TO CUDOS

CUDOS is one of a small number of flagship research centres funded under the Australian Research Council’s prestigious Centres of Excellence program. CUDOS is a collaboration between Australia’s leading universities with photonic research programs – The University of Sydney, ANU, Macquarie University, Swinburne University of Technology, RMIT, Monash University and UTS – and partner investigators from the world’s leaders in photonic research, both globally and locally.

Established in 2003, CUDOS advanced a vision of developing an integrated photonic-based signal processing platform – a photonic chip. In 2009, in collaboration with researchers in Europe, CUDOS demonstrated that photonic chips could indeed be used to switch data at speeds that approached terabits a second. Now in 2010, with additional funding of $23.8 million secured until 2017, CUDOS is about to enter the most exciting stage of its history. CUDOS 2011 – 2017 will build on its previous achievements by researching photonic chips for applications in quantum signal processing and mid infrared technologies as well as in high speed optical communications.

CUDOS 2011 – 2017 will initiate a broad-ranging program in nanophotonics focusing on metamaterials and plasmonics, with the aim of developing miniature devices whose operation depends on optical characteristics that are unattainable with bulk materials. Hybrid integration, the marriage of dissimilar materials into one monolithic device, will be an active area of research, both to blend existing platforms used by CUDOS researchers into one device and to integrate the new classes of structured materials into existing platforms. The Research Program will cover theory and experiment from fundamental physics to engineering-level application.

CUDOS RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1. Develop world-first chip-based optical signal processors for next-generation multi-Tb/s energy efficient communications systems, delivering processing capabilities for the coming decades.
2. Develop chip-sized integrated photonic devices incorporating ‘on-chip’ sources for broadband sensing and analysis applications in the mid-IR, building on the remarkable properties of chalcogenide waveguides and the silicon-on-sapphire platform, and leading to the world’s first chip-based devices for environmental sensing and astronomy.
3. Develop integrated circuits combining programmable optical gates and nonlinear sources of quantum-correlated photons to unlock optical quantum information science for ultra-precise measurement, secure communications and fundamental quantum science.
4. Design, develop and demonstrate novel approaches to 3D hybrid integration using vertical layers of material(s) for different processing functions, in a CMOS silicon-compatible platform.
5. Design, fabricate and integrate functionalised metamaterials and nanoplasmonic materials— artificial composites whose novel optical properties are determined by their subwavelength structure. These materials will enable the unprecedented control of light in terms of speed, power and length scale, and will lay the foundation for new paradigms in photonic processing.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCHERS

CUDOS anticipates appointing up to 20 researchers at Level A or B, across our collaborating universities in the coming months. As a starting point, you would be expected to have a PhD in Physics, Electrical Engineering or a related discipline, with excellent communication skills and the ability to work in our highly collaborative team environment. For appointment at Level B you would be expected to provide evidence of the independent research capacity associated with at least two years postdoctoral research.

The specific areas of research in which CUDOS wishes to recruit include:

• Nonlinear optical processing
• Nonlinear optical for high-speed analogue to digital conversion
• Nonlinear quantum photonics
• Midinfrared nonlinear optics
• Nonlinear optical metamaterials

Positions will be posted on this website when they become available. Click here to view opportunities. To ensure that you get notified of upcoming vacancies please join our mailing list by forwarding your contact details to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS

Across its collaborative universities, CUDOS intends to offer a considerable number of PhD places in 2011, providing you with the opportunity to work with and be mentored by internationally recognised CUDOS researchers. You may be involved in projects that have both experimental and theoretical components, possibly working across several universities, and you will attend CUDOS Workshops and Conferences to interact with other students and researchers. There are other significant benefits of involvement with CUDOS too; visits to other research institutions & universities both locally and internationally, generous support for conference attendance, and access to professional skills training such as IP management & commercialisation. Click here to see some of the exciting projects that CUDOS PhD's are involved in and have received recent media coverage.

If you are thinking of undertaking a PhD, you will need to decide on a university, research project and supervisor that align with your research interests. Click here to see links to the relevant websites of the CUDOS universities where information on research projects available and other details of admission requirements, application procedures, scholarships etc will be provided.

If you are however  uncertain of the type of project you wish to undertake, please forward an "expression of interest" to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Tell us about yourself (possibly a CV) and what type of research project interests you. We will then forward this on to the appropriate CUDOS researcher for response.