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Contents

1. About IONS KOALA ................................................................................................................................ 2

2. IONS KOALA 2015 ................................................................................................................................... 3

3. Summary .................................................................................................................................................... 4

4. Sponsors ..................................................................................................................................................... 5

5. Programme Overview ............................................................................................................................... 7

5.1 Plenary Speakers and Student Talks ............................................................................................... 8

5.2 Events and Activities ....................................................................................................................... 12

6. Contact and Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ 19

7. Attendee Feedback .................................................................................................................................. 20

7.1 Testimonials ..................................................................................................................................... 20

7.2 Survey Responses ............................................................................................................................. 22

8. List of Student Attendees ........................................................................................................................ 23

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1. About IONS KOALA

IONS KOALA is the Conference on Optics, Atoms and Laser Applications held annually in Australia and New

Zealand and is also an International OSA Network of Students (IONS) conference sponsored by The Optical

Society (OSA). IONS KOALA is organised for students, by students, and with the support of many fantastic

organisations, brings together a large group of Honours, Masters and PhD students from New Zealand, Australia

and around the world annually and aspires to prepare them for rewarding and successful careers in research and

industry through a strong scientific program, networking and professional development.

IONS KOALA encompasses a broad variety of topics within the field of optics and photonics. These typically

include (but are not limited to): atomic, molecular and optical physics, quantum optics, spectroscopy, micro and

nanofabrication, biomedical imaging, metrology, nonlinear optics and laser physics research. Most attendees

are at the very beginning of their careers, so IONS KOALA provides a great opportunity to discover a wide

range of possible directions within the world of optics and photonics!

IONS KOALA is designed to facilitate scientific discussion in an open and supportive environment amongst

peers working in many different locations and across a variety of fields, often outside of a student’s current

scope of knowledge. As well as the main student contingent, we invite established researchers to give plenary

talks and host an industry event to serve as a platform for networking outside of the academic realm. Our aim

is that students gain a fresh perspective as well as the opportunity to build up their professional network, discover

further research and industry opportunities whilst learning about new and exciting research being conducted

worldwide.

In keeping with IONS KOALA’s aim of providing an inclusive environment for students at all levels of study,

registration fees are kept as low as possible and accommodation and food costs are covered for all attendees.

This is achieved via partnerships with our generous sponsors from a wide range of related businesses,

organisations and research centres.

The IONS KOALA conference series is forever evolving, but its basic structure remains consistent, with a

scientific program of plenary speakers, contributed talks and poster presentations combined with a strong social

aspect that enables attendees to relax and network.

The IONS KOALA conference first began in 2008 at the University of Queensland (Australia), and has been

held in various Australian and New Zealand cities every year since, evolving to become one of the greatest

student conferences in optics, photonics and atom physics in Australia and New Zealand.

Past Locations

2008: University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

2009: University of Sydney and University of Macquarie, Sydney, Australia

2010: University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

2011: University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and Swinburne University,

Melbourne Australia

2012: Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

2013: University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

2014: University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

2015: University of Auckland and University of Otago, Auckland, New Zealand

In 2016 IONS KOALA will be returning back across the ditch, to Melbourne, thanks to a joint effort by the

students of the OSA and SPIE student chapters at Swinburne University of Technology and Monash University.

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2. IONS KOALA 2015

IONS KOALA 2015 was co-hosted as a collaboration between the University of Auckland OSA Student

Chapter and the University of Otago OSA and SPIE Student Chapter and was held at the University of Auckland

City Campus, home to many world class research centres including the Photon Factory and a large branch of

the Dodd Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies. The University of Auckland campus is located

in the heart of the Auckland CBD, meaning conference attendees could find their way between the various

conference venues easily, had good access to the public transport system (including airport buses) and allowed

them to explore the city in their free time.

IONS KOALA 2015 was the second ever kiwi-KOALA and we are very proud to say that it was the biggest

and most international IONS KOALA to date, with a total of 107 attendees from institutions across 10 different

countries: New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, France and Austria!

IONS KOALA 2015 was also fortunate

to fall within UNESCO International

Year of Light and Light-Based

Technologies (IYL2015). This gave

delegates an opportunity to look back on

the year that has been IYL 2015, focus on

science outreach and spark up

conversations around how we can

continue to promote light and light-based

technologies beyond 2015.

Keeping within the theme of IYL 2015, the programme featured a fantastic line up of local and international

plenary speakers conducting research in the field of optics and photonics, focussing on trends in optical

communications, advances in atomtronics circuits, uses of ultra-short pulses, medical imaging and surgical

robots, and insights into careers and connections in photonics. Four of our plenary speakers travelled from the

USA and the UK to be a part of this event, for which we are very grateful!

We were extremely fortunate to host Nobel Prize winner in ultracold laser cooling, Prof. William D Phillips as

one of our plenary speakers who also gave an excellent public lecture at the University of Auckland entitled

“Einstein, Time and Light”. This public lecture was organised by members of the IONS KOALA 2015

committee and the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies and had a terrific turnout of

over 500 audience members comprised of academics, members of the public, teachers and school children.

As well as the plenary sessions, we had a very strong scientific program where student attendees presented

research talks and tutorials on advanced topics. Attendees were also given the opportunity to present their

research during the evening poster session.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to all of our attendees from Australia, New Zealand and beyond for

contributing their research to the conference! IONS KOALA also always includes plenty of social networking

events, which will be detailed later in the report.

This year we aimed to foster an environment where young researchers could share their expertise, discuss new

ideas, relax, and socialise while building long-lasting networks that will continue to support them throughout

their careers – and we think we succeeded!

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3. Summary

Location: The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Date: Sunday 22nd – Friday 27th November, 2015

Attendees: PhD, Masters and Honours Students 98

Invited Speakers 5

Sponsor Representatives 4

(OSA, Callaghan Innovation, Powerhouse Ventures, Edmund Optics)

Total 107

Accommodation: All non-local attendees were housed for the week at University Hall, located on campus.

Food: All meals were provided for attendees. Breakfast and dinner were served at University Hall, while

lunch was a buffet provided by FlameTree Kitchen and served on-site at the conference venue.

Sessions:

- 4 Conference Plenary Speakers (60 minutes)

- 1 Industry Keynote Speaker (30 minutes)

- 1 Industry Panel Discussion (45 minutes)

- 1 Public Lecture (60 minutes)

- 5 Student Tutorials (25 minutes + 5 minutes question time)

- 45 Student Oral Presentations (12 minutes + 3 minutes question time)

- 35 Student Poster Presentations (2-hour long poster session)

Organising Committee:

Conference Co-Chairs:

- Bianca Sawyer

- Simon Ashforth

Secretary:

- Julie Kho

Committee Members:

- Jami Johnson

- Nina Novikova

- Xavi Fernandez Gonzalvo

- Fan Hong

Additional Support:

- Thomas Haase

- Ricardo Gutierrez Jauregui

- Andy Wang

- Rakesh Arul

- Nikolett Nemet

- Margaux Airey

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4. Sponsors

Our geographical location can make it difficult to bring in people from across Australia and New Zealand, and even

more so from overseas. Fortunately IONS KOALA’s sponsors help to provide student travel grants and subsidise food

and accommodation to ensure IONS KOALA is an inclusive experience. The conference would not be possible at all

without the generous support provided by these organisations, centres and companies, listed on the following page. On

behalf of the IONS KOALA 2015 organising committee and our attendees – thank you all so much!

Principal Conference Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

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With the help of our sponsors we were able to offer eight travel grants to applicants with outstanding abstracts with

a maximum of NZD$800 offered for travel expenses. Travel grants were awarded by John Taylor from OSA at the

final conference dinner.

Recipients of the travel grants were:

Name Amount Awarded Country of Origin

Jasmine Sears $700 USA

Meng Wang $500 China

Litty Varghese Thekkekara $300 Australia

Shuo Li $300 Australia

Xinyao Huang $300 China

Laura Le Barbier $500 France

Keith R. Motes $400 Australia

Sarah Kostinski $800 USA

Shaun Johnstone $400 Australia

John Taylor awarding travel grant certificate

to Laura Le Barbier from France

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5. Programme Overview

IONS KOALA 2015 was packed full of student presentations and plenary sessions and provided lots of opportunities

for students to get to know each other during our social day and evening events. The details of all of our events are

below.

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5.1 Plenary Speakers and Student Talks

One of the primary goals of IONS KOALA 2015 was to allow attendees to present their research to their peers from

around Australia, New Zealand and abroad. Attendees were given the option to present a 30 minute tutorial, 15 minute

oral presentation or poster presentation during the conference.

In addition, we aimed to encourage students to gain insights in to their fields of research by offering a range of plenary

talks from distinguished scientists from a variety of research areas. The ability to interact and converse with our plenary

speakers was an invaluable experience which many of the attendees enjoyed.

Plenary Speakers

This year we hosted five truly inspiring plenary speakers, working in a variety of fields across optics and photonics,

most of whom travelled from afar to attend KOALA. Below is a biography for each speaker, along with the abstract for

their plenary session.

Dr. Catherine Mohr

Dr. Mohr is Vice President of Medical Research at Intuitive Surgical, a high technology

Silicon Valley based company that makes the da Vinci surgical robot. In this role she is

responsible for strategic planning of new developments, identifying key new technologies

for incorporation into the robotic platform, and conducting surgical labs to evaluate prototype

devices and technologies. In addition, she is a Consulting Assistant Professor in the

department of Surgery at Stanford School of Medicine and on the medicine and robotics

faculty of Singularity University.

Dr. Mohr received her BS and MS in mechanical engineering from MIT, and has been

involved with several startup companies in the areas of alternative energy transportation,

computer aided design software, and medical devices. In her early career, she worked for

many years with Dr. Paul MacCready at AeroVironment developing alternate energy vehicles, high altitude aircraft, and

high efficiency fuel cell power systems aimed at reducing our world’s energy consumption and emissions.

Dr. Mohr then went on to medical school at Stanford University School of Medicine during which time she founded a

company to commercialize a medical device which she designed while in medical school. In addition, Dr. Mohr

currently serves as a scientific advisor to several startup companies in Silicon Valley as well as government technology

development programs and startups in her native New

Zealand.

She is a frequent speaker on the topics of surgical robotics,

innovation, and the importance of science, at national and

international conferences. She is also the author of

numerous scientific publications, and the recipient of

multiple awards including “World Class New Zealander”

for raising the profile of New Zealand on the international

stage.

“Moving out of the Lab and into the Real World”

Dr. Catherine Mohr talks about a wide variety of subjects

from surgical robots to deep learning, the common thread

being technologies aimed at improving the human

condition, and how we as technologists can move these

technologies out of the lab and into the real world.

Dr. Catherine Mohr giving her plenary talk to the IONS

KOALA 2015 attendees

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Dr. Naoise Mac Suibhne

Naoise’s visit was generously sponsored by the OSA Traveling Lecturer Program

Dr. Mac Suibhne is currently an EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow (SOLAS) based in

the Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies, in Aston University UK. He is currently

studying several topics including the potential benefits of spatial and orbital light for

advanced optical transmission systems, fibre reliability and novel-fibre nonlinearity.

Dr. Mac Suibhne obtained his BE(Hons) in Electronic and Microelectronic Engineering

and a PhD in optical communications from the department of Electronic and Electrical

Engineering, University College Cork, Ireland in 2009 and 2014 respectively. He has made

several key contributions to the area of spatial multiplexing optical transmission systems

(particularly at the 2µm wavelength using hollow core fibre) and novel modulation formats, preforming the first direct

quantitative measurements of four wave mixing enhancement in few-mode fibre and of the performance benefit of the

polarisation switched QPSK format. He has authored/co-authored more than 25 peer reviewed publications and is

currently involved in several EU and UK projects.

Dr. Mac Suibhne has a keen interest in commercialisation having worked for AT&T Bell Labs and Analog Devices on

industrial placements along with a commendation from the Minister of Innovation in Ireland for work carried out while

at the Tyndall National Institute where he was part of an early stage start-up based on electronic dispersion compensation

and full-field detection technology.

Dr. Mac Suibhne has studied closely the information capacity limits of fibres, both single and multi-mode in the presence

of nonlinearity and his current work looks at the approaching “capacity crunch” and how it may be avoided.

“Optical Comunications: Past, Present and Future Trends”

In this talk we will review some of the key enabling technologies of optical communications and potential future

bottlenecks. Single mode fibre (SMF) has long been the preferred waveguide for long distance communication. This is

largely due to low loss, low cost and relative linearity over a wide bandwidth. As capacity demands have grown SMF

has largely been able to keep pace with demand. Several groups have been identifying the possibility of exhausting the

bandwidth provided by SMF. This so called ”capacity-crunch” has potentially vast economic and social consequences

and will be discussed in detail. As demand grows

optical power launched into the fibre has the

potential to cause nonlinearities that can be

detrimental to transmission. There has been

considerable work done on identifying this

nonlinear limit with a strong research interest

currently on the topic of nonlinear compensation.

Embracing and compensating for nonlinear

transmission is one potential solution that may

extend the lifetime of the current waveguide

technology. However, at sufficiently high

powers the waveguide will fail due to heat-

induced mechanical failure. Moving forward it

becomes necessary to address the waveguide

itself with several promising

contenders discussed, including few-mode fibre

and multi-core fibre.

Dr. Naoise Mac Suibhne with some conference attendees after his

plenary talk.

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Prof. William D. Phillips

Bill’s visit was generously sponsored by the Dodd Walls Centre.

Professor Phillips was born November 5, 1948 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He first

discovered his passion for Physics at Juniata College in Huntingdon,

Pennysylvania under the supervision of Wilfred Norris where he rebuilt an X-band electron

spin resonance (ESR) spectrometer in order to resolve discrepancies in the literature about

ESR line-widths. This allowed him to spend his senior year conducting ESR experiments

at Argonne National Laboratories.

Prof. Phillips then went on to Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked with Fred

Walther on the high-field hydrogen maser. His thesis focussed on measuring the magnetic

moment of the proton in water. Upon completion of his measurements, tunable dye lasers

had begun to find their way in to the MIT lab. Phillips was intrigued to learn more about

lasers and embarked on an experiment to study the collisions of laser-excited atoms.

Prof. Phillips received the Chaim Weizmann Fellowship which allowed him to continue his work on collisions and

Bose-Einstein condensation in spin-polarized hydrogen. In 1978 he accepted a position at the National Bureau of

Standards (NBS), later renamed the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Phillips used his experience

with lasers and atomic physics to explore ways of improving measurement capabilities with a variety of tools. This

eventually led him to make some ground breaking discoveries in laser cooling which gained him the Nobel Prize in

1997.

His work in laser cooling has resulted in numerous discoveries of understanding low-temperature behaviour of matter,

cooling atoms below the theoretical limits to a few microKelvin above absolute zero. This opened the gateway to

creating the Bose-Einstein condensation, a unique form of matter where atoms fall in to their lowest energy levels and

merge in to a single quantum state.

Prof. Phillips and his team at NIST continue their research of ultra-cold atoms which have been used in a variety of

applications. Prof. Phillips also serves as a Distinguished University Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland.

“Spinning atoms with light: a new twist on atom optics”

Physicists have used light and its polarization to elucidate the internal state of atoms since the 19th century. Early in

the 20th century, the momentum of light was used to manipulate the center-of-mass motion of atoms. The latter part of

the 20th century brought optical pumping, coherent laser excitation, and laser cooling and trapping as tools to affect

both the internal and external states of atoms. Bose-

Einstein condensation created atomic samples having

laser-like deBroglie-wave coherence, and atom optics

techniques like Bragg diffraction provided coherent

mirrors and beamsplitters for the coherent atoms.

Recently, an extension of Bragg diffraction, using light

beams with orbital angular momentum (angular

momentum associated not with the optical

polarization, but with the shape of the spatial mode),

provided a new tool for coherent manipulation of

atomic motion, creating coherent rotation of atom

clouds, and persistent flow of superfluid atoms in

toroidal traps. In the latest experiments, we have

introduced an optical weak-link into the superfluid

flow, allowing us to explore the behavior of an

atomtronics circuit with an interesting circuit element.

Nobel Laureate Prof. William Phillips during his keynote talk at the

IONS KOALA 2015 conference.

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Assoc. Prof. Cather Simpson

Cather Simpson joined the University of Auckland’s Physics and Chemical Sciences departments

in 2007. She is the founding director of the Photon Factory, a modern multi-user laser and micro

fabrication facility.

The Photon Factory’s core mission is to enable all New Zealand researchers – academic,

industrial, and CRI-based – through the advanced use of laser pulses to explore light-matter

interactions and to manipulate and machine materials on the nano-to-micron scale. About 25

physics, chemistry, and engineering students and staff now perform research at the facility.

Professor Simpson is also investigating how femtosecond laser machining can be engineered to

make it viable for widespread use. Studies on metals, dielectrics, biomaterials, and polymers seek

to illuminate and better exploit the mechanistic details of laser ablation. Commercial partners

help target this research to meet commercially valuable challenges, thereby to ensure it advances high-tech

manufacturing by mobilizing new knowledge. Professor Simpson received her Ph.D. in the US, and after a Department

of Energy Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship at Sandia National Labs, earned tenure at Case Western Reserve

University. She holds leadership positions in several professional associations and is a principal investigator in the

MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology and in the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and

Quantum Technology, where she also sits on the executive committee. Recent awards include a Callaghan

Commercialisation Fellowship (2013) and an Ako Aotearoa National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award (2013).

“Light Matters – Making Ultra-short Pulses Ultra-useful”

2015 is the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies. “Photonics” is on track to be one of the most

important fields of the 21st century – mostly because of its impact on our everyday lives. In fact, I predict that photonics

will soon become every bit as important as electronics as a key enabling technology that underpins virtually all of our

major innovations. In this talk, then, I will use some of our research in the Photon Factory to illustrate how “Light-based

Technologies” have the power to change our world. I will highlight some recent areas of success at the more industry-

facing end of that spectrum: (1) our targeted research in improving femtosecond laser micromachining, (2) providing

sex-sorted sperm to the agriculture sector through spin-off Engender Technologies, and (3) a new project to give dairy

farmers the detailed data they need to improve their productivity.

Student Tutorials and Oral Presentations

Throughout the conference programme students had a chance to give a 30 minute tutorial or present their work during

a 15 minute oral presentation. There were a total of 5 tutorials and 45 oral presentations throughout the course or the

week covering a wide variety of topics such as laser machining, spectroscopy and atom optics.

Attendees during the student oral presentations

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Throughout the week, members of the committee and session chairs noted down exceptional oral presentations for

the best student talk awards. At the end of the conference the winners were announced and awarded certificates of

achievement and prizes.

Winner: Matt Reeves

1st Runner Up: Sam Hitchman

2nd Runner Up: Blair Morrison

Highly commended: Ryan Thomas and Chris Billington

5.2 Events and Activities

Registration and Welcome Reception – Sunday 22nd November

Attendees began arriving at University Hall located on campus at the University of Auckland for registration from 3pm

on Sunday 22nd November. All attendees received their ID nametag, conference programme and bag, while the non-

local attendees were also checked in to their accommodation at University Hall.

Following registration and dinner, a Reception was held to open the conference and welcome attendees. This was a

casual event held at the nearby Shadows Student Bar. This served as a great opportunity for students to relax after a day

of traveling and to meet their fellow attendees before the academic program started.

Auckland based attendee Peter Hosking collecting his

conference materials and badge.

Attendees enjoying the welcome reception at Shadows

Student Bar

Winner of the oral presentations, Matt

Reeves, receiving his certificate and prize

from IONS KOALA 2015 co-chair Simon

Ashforth

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Industry and Innovation Night – Monday 23rd November

On Monday 23rd November from 7pm we held our Industry and Innovation

Night in the Fale Pacifika Complex at the University of Auckland. The event

was inspired by the Industry Workshop held at IONS KOALA 2014 and

served as a platform for networking between conference attendees and

representatives from the Australasian optics community; an opportunity for

attendees to find out more about the exciting world of optics and photonics

industry and innovation. The format of the evening was as follows:

7:00 – 7:15pm: Welcome remarks, drinks and nibbles

7:15 – 7:45pm: Keynote presentation by Dr Michelle Stock

7:45 – 8:15pm: A series of short presentations from sponsors of KOALA

8:15 – 8:30pm: Short break

8:30 – 9:15pm: Industry and Innovation Panel Discussion

9:15 pm onward: Networking over drinks and nibbles

Dr. Michelle Stock - Keynote Presentation

The Industry and Innovation night started off with a keynote presentation by Dr.

Michelle Stock who gave conference delegates her insights on the career path for

young researchers after completing their academic career. Specifically she referred

to her own experiences developing her startup company and consulting firm.

Michelle’s visit was generously supported by the SPIE Visiting Lecturer Program.

Michelle L. Stock, Ph.D is President of mlstock consulting, offering business

development and marketing services primarily for companies developing leading-edge lasers or laser components. Her

services are based on 20 years of experience commercializing ultrashort and short-pulsed fiber lasers for scientific,

medical, and industrial applications.

Dr. Stock obtained her Ph.D. in 1994 from the Center for Ultrafast Optical Science at the University of Michigan, where

she worked on generation and amplification of ultrashort pulses in optical fiber and was involved in the first fiber

chirped-pulse amplification experiments. After graduating, she joined ultrafast fiber laser specialist IMRA America as

an engineer, developing and commercializing the pioneering Femtolite laser, followed by other award-winning lasers.

While at IMRA, she became interested in working more closely with customers, and transitioned into sales and

marketing positions. In 2007, she co-founded Arbor Photonics to develop specialty optical fiber to improve lasers for

precision material processing, which was acquired by nLight in 2012.

Dr. Stock has over 45 publications and 3 patents. She is the first chairperson of the non-profit trade association Mi-Light

(the Michigan Photonics Industry Cluster) and has been involved in the U.S.-based National Photonics Initiative (NPI),

is a member of SPIE, OSA, and LIA, and is the current Chairperson for ICALEO’s Laser Microprocessing Conference.

“Insights on Careers and Connections in Photonics: from Start-ups to Industry Clusters (and beyond)”

During this International Year of Light, we have the opportunity to consider all the ways that optics and photonics has

improved our world. For many of us, this has also provided the inspiration to reflect on our photonics-based careers. In

my case, the path I set out on has allowed me to participate in both profit and non-profit endeavors in the photonics

industry. From co-founding a start-up to co-founding an industry cluster, these very different types of pursuits have

Sponsored by…

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allowed me to participate in the continuum of activities that work in concert to bring new ideas to market and support

the overall optics and photonics ecosystem.

This presentation will describe some of the experiences I’ve had along the way, both in bringing new technology from

the idea stage to market, and in working with partners from companies, academic institutions, and economic

development agencies to build a new organization focused on connecting people and resources dedicated to growing a

regional photonics industry base. What connects it all is a desire to solve problems by bringing new solutions to the

world, using light-based innovations and the industrial foundation that drives these innovations forward.

Industry Representative Presentations and Discussion Panel

There were several breaks during the evening where students, plenary speakers, and industry and innovation

professionals mingled and formed connections through casual discussions. Every IONS KOALA sponsor was invited

to send along a representative to join in on the evening, plus silver and gold level sponsors had the opportunity to give

a short presentation. Many of the organisations represented at this event will likely be a source of future employment

for graduates, homes for future researchers, or suppliers of parts, services and equipment used throughout our attendees’

future careers.

The final part of the evening was a panel discussion where Michelle was joined by three other industry and innovation

experts from a variety of backgrounds. The panellists answered questions from the audience about their careers, advice

on getting into industry and innovation, and the relationship industry and academia, to name a few. Details of the other

panellists are below:

Dr Naoise Mac Suibhne

Naoise has a BE(Hons) in Electronic and Microelectronic Engineering and a PhD in optical

communications and currently works as a Research Fellow at Aston University. He has a keen

interest in commercialisation and hasworked for AT&T Bell Labs and Analog Devices on

industrial placements and at the Tyndall National Institute as part of an early stage start-up based

on electronic dispersion compensation and full-field detection technology.

Joonho Rhee

Joonho is the Sales Manager at Edmund Optics Korea, in Seoul. He joined Edmund Optics in

2005; currently, he manages the sales office in South Korea. He is also responsible for all of the

Korean translations in the catalog and on the website. He holds a M.S. in Optoelectronics and

Photonics and a B.S. in Engineering Physics from the University of New South Wales in Sydney,

Australia.

Will Barker

Currently an investment manager at powerHouse Ventures, Will has over 10 years of experience

commercialising new technologies through securing IP, raising investment funds and building

high-performance teams. As a registered patent attorney, he has in-depth knowledge of the

mechanics of IP-driven value-creation and has assisted numerous start- ups with developing IP

strategies to create world-class partnerships.

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Poster session – Tuesday 24th November

A poster presentation session was held following dinner on Tuesday

24th November in the Basement Foyer of the Science Centre. There

were 35 student posters on display, and the presenters were available

to discuss the details of their work. The Dodd Walls Centre generously

sponsored the event, providing pizza and drinks for attendees to enjoy

while viewing the posters, discussing research and networking. The atmosphere was friendly, informal and buzzing with

activity, with security staff practically having to force attendees to stop talking science and leave the venue when the

evening came to an end! The posters were assessed for content, clarity and aesthetic appeal by a panel of judges

consisting of John Taylor from OSA, Dr. Kasper Van Wijk from the University of Auckland Physics Department and

Dr. Graham Brodie, Postdoctoral Fellow from the University of Auckland Photon Factory.

Winner

Elena Goi

1st Runner Up

Andrew Groszek

2nd Runner Up

Dijana Bogunovic

During the poster session there was also an OSA and SPIE booth set up with information about becoming a member of

both organisations and the benefits of being a member, along with reports, photos and other information about the

activities of the University of Otago OSA and SPIE Student Chapter.

Dr. Michelle Stock giving her keynote presentation to

IONS KOALA attendees

Industry representatives during the discussion panel

Attendees discussing presented research during the

IONS KOALA 2015 poster session.

First place winner, Elena Goi,

of the IONS KOALA 2015

poster session

Sponsored by…

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Social day – Wednesday 25th November

Wednesday 25th November was our social day, where

attendees take the day to kick back and relax while

socialising with their peers and enjoying some of the

things that the host city has to offer. Our social day was

spent in St Heliers Bay, a seaside suburb 7 km east of the

Auckland City Centre, with one of the region’s most

picturesque beaches overlooking Rangitoto Island and

Waitemata Harbour.

About 40-50 attendees took the city bus out to join us

and, despite a nasty looking weather forecast, the day

was perfect! The sheltered and warm beach provided a

great spot for swimming, sunbathing and sandcastle

building, and the large grassy reserve across the road was

used for friendly games of soccer, tree climbing, and

general chilling out and socialising. Many walked down

to the nearby shopping district for ice cream, while a few

ventured further up the hill to Achilles Point for some breath taking views of Auckland. At lunchtime pizza was provided

for lunch for all attendees present.

Those who decided not to join us for the day kept themselves occupied in Auckland city, visiting places like the Sky

Tower and the Auckland Art Gallery.

Attendees enjoying the sun and surf at St. Heliers Bay during

the conference social day.

Attendees enjoying the day off from the conference with activities at St. Heliers Bay and Vellenoweth Green.

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Public Lecture by Bill Phillips – Wednesday 25th November

Nobel Laureate William D. Phillips of the Joint Quantum Institute,

National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of

Maryland generously gave his time to present both a plenary talk and

a public lecture during his time in Auckland. The public lecture was an

entertaining, informative and down-to-earth account of the way that

gases can be cooled to ultracold temperatures for use in atomic clocks,

and included many exciting experimental demonstrations. It was

thoroughly enjoyed by the ~500 strong audience, including many

children, who asked a series of incredibly insightful questions at the

end of the talk.

“Einstein, Time, and Light”

Einstein’s insights into light have changed how we think about

time. In the 20th century, scientists used light to cool a gas of

atoms to temperatures billions of times lower than anything else

in the universe. Now, these ultracold atoms, Einstein's theory of

gravity, and the discoveries of optics pioneers from Ibn al-

Haytham to today, are converging upon a great scientific and

technological wonder: atomic clocks, the best timekeepers ever.

Today, the best primary ultracold atom clocks achieve

accuracies of better than a second in 300 million years.

A recording of Prof. Phillips’ public lecture can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-v22qeMnTI

International Year of Light Conference Dinner – Thursday 26th November

Our conference dinner was held on Thursday

26th November at Mecca Stonehouse in

Mission Bay, where we enjoyed a sit-down

meal in a covered outdoor area overlooking

the beach and unbeatable views of the

Hauraki Gulf.

As well as a way to wrap up the conference

and socialise with conference attendees, the

evening was dedicated to celebrating

IYL2015 and the outreach efforts of our

conference delegates during the year. It

served as an opportunity to look back on the

year that has been IYL 2015, reflect on what

we have all achieved and discuss how we can

continue to promote light and light-based

technologies beyond 2015.

Prof. William Phillips with his exciting demos of

the “coolest stuff we’ve ever seen”.

Prof. William Phillips beginning his public lecture on

"Einstein, Time and Light"

Conference attendees at the International Year of Light Conference

Dinner at Mecca Stonehouse

Sponsored by…

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IONS KOALA 2015 group photo, taken before the conference dinner at Mission Bay. Rangitoto Island can be seen in the

background.

The evening’s proceedings included a speech from Assoc. Prof. Cather Simpson, one of our plenary speakers and Co-

Chair of the New Zealand IYL Board, along with a series of four presentations by student attendees from Otago,

Auckland, Sydney and Arizona on IYL events that they and their OSA and SPIE student chapters have held in their

communities.

At the end of the evening, travel grants and poster prizes were awarded, the host of next year’s KOALA was announced

and the kiwi-koala mascot passed over to the joint Monash/Swinburne team.

Lab Tours – Friday 27th November

Following the final presentations and the closing address of IONS KOALA 2015, an opportunity to visit many of the

physics, optics and photonics and laser technology laboratories at the University of Auckland was available for those

interested. Labs on offer included the Physical Acoustics Lab, The Photon Factory, The Quantum Information (Cold

Atoms) Lab and the Dan Walls Centre Pure and Applied Optics Lab.

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6. Contact and Acknowledgements

If you have any queries regarding IONS KOALA 2015, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with the committee co-

chairs Bianca or Simon:

Simon Ashforth (Auckland): s.ashforth@auckland.ac.nz

Bianca Sawyer (Otago): bianca.j.sawyer@postgrad.otago.ac.nz

On behalf of the IONS KOALA 2015 Organising Committee I’d like to express my genuine thanks to our invited

speakers, generous sponsors, student presenters and other attendees, all of whom helped to make KOALA a success.

The student attendees and invited speakers made amazing contributions to our scientific program, which was of an

exceptionally high standard, and helped to create an active, fun and supportive atmosphere. Thank you all so much for

travelling from near and far to be a part of our event! To all of our sponsors, thank you for your generosity and for

making the event possible. A special mention must be given to OSA, SPIE and The Dodd Walls Centre for their very

generous contributions, advice and support, and to John Taylor from OSA, for coming along to see what all of the

KOALA hype is about and for being our conference photographer!

Finally, thanks to my fellow committee members who worked long and hard all year to put together this instalment of

IONS KOALA. It is with both sadness and excitement that we handed over the Koala-Kiwi mascot to the joint Monash

and Swinburne team for next year’s event. Shaun, Sam, Xuewen and team – good luck and bring on KOALA 2016!

Bianca Sawyer,

IONS KOALA 2015 Organising Committee Co-Chair

University of Otago OSA and SPIE Chapter President

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7. Attendee Feedback

7.1 Testimonials

“KOALA 2015 was a great experience, bringing together a variety student researchers. It was interesting to hear what

other people around the world were working on as well as getting the opportunity to interact with them, making new

friends and connections. In addition to this there were very interesting keynote speakers who gave great presentations.

I particularly enjoyed Catherine Mohr's talk. The conference was well organised and catered to the student attendees

with accommodation and meal packages available. On the whole it was a well run, and enjoyable experience”

Thomas Ward

4th Year Engineering Student (Hons)

The University of Auckland

“This was my second KOALA and it was a great experience. I enjoyed a lot the conference, the activities, and meeting

new people.”

Martina Barbiero

PhD Student

Swinburne University of Technology

"KOALA was easily the highlight of my Master's year. It was fun and we were well taken care of. It was really good to

see what goes on outside of my narrow area of physics, and I learnt a huge amount. All of the other students I met were

really nice, and I think the best thing about the conference was finding out that other postgraduate physicists are in the

same boat as you."

Hamish McDonald

Master’s Student

University of Otago

“IONS KOALA 2015 has once again raised the bar for the KOALA series. It was professionally run, with an excellent

selection of student talks and posters, as well as high profile, interesting plenary speakers. Despite the record high

number of attendees, the conference maintained the friendly atmosphere that it is known for. KOALA provides a unique

chance for students in Australia and New Zealand to make new friends, catch up with old ones and maintain a vibrant

student community in the region. Having attended several KOALAs, I now have links to institutions and companies

across the world, as friends met in previous years who have graduated move on to international universities and

industries, becoming the next generation of scientists. Congratulations to the Otago and Auckland students on the

organising committee, your hard work paid off and it will be a hard act for us at Monash to follow alongside Swinburne

for IONS KOALA 2016!”

Shaun Johnstone

PhD Student

Monash University

“KOALA gives students great opportunity to present their work to scientific community and to connect with peers in the

same research field. Panels like SPIE Industry and Innovation Night have participants with a variety of backgrounds

and career paths, which gives students a useful insight into future prospects in industry and academia.”

Dijana Bogunovic

PhD Student

Callaghan Innovation

“KOALA 2015 at Auckland, New Zealand was an enjoyable and well-organised event. It was great being able to meet

and speak to other students in the optics and photonics fields and hear about the other current research going on in

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these fields. The plenary speakers were established scientists and from research and industry and each gave great talks,

very different from one another. Overall, a relaxed, interesting week and an excellent experience for a first scientific

conference.”

Winnie Cao

4th Year Science Honours Student

The University of Auckland

IONS KOALA 2015 was my first conference as a post-graduate student, followed immediately by another non-student

run conference also in Auckland. I have to say that KOALA compared very favourable with the second conference! The

conference was well organised - the talks went smoothly with minimal interruption, there were timely tea breaks and

plenty of variety with regards to food - particularly important at a student conference. We got to see some very

interesting research being done across a wide range of universities by fellow students. There was also a strong industry

representation at the conference, and the quality of the plenary speakers was exceptionally high (especially Nobel

laureate William Phillips). Despite a very packed schedule, there were still many opportunities to socialise and network

with other attendees. Poster sessions, social days and of course the conference dinner. Overall I thought it was a

wonderful experience and a fantastic introductory conference. I look forward to attending future IONS KOALA

conferences, and recommending them to other students.

Dan Blay

PhD Student

Macquarie University

IONS-KOALA 2015 was one of the best student conferences I have been to. I was kindly offered the opportunity to give

a tutorial during the conference and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was also a learning experience for me while

preparing for the 30 min talk. I particularly like the diversity of the keynote/plenary speakers in this year's KOALA; this

year we have scholars from very different areas of optics, as well as a higher-than-ever female to male guest speaker

ratio. Overall it was a very well organized event and the organizing committee has done a splendid job.

Katie Chong

PhD Student

Australia National University

The 2015 IONS-KOALA conference was a fantastic experience facilitating a space where students of optics related

fields could meet and discuss. The plenary speakers where inspiring giving insight into both cutting-edge research and

new industry innovations. While the student speakers presented their research giving new perspectives into optical and

atomic fields. Both the University of Auckland and Otago University OSA student chapters did an amazing job at

organizing KOALA making it a successful conference.

Thomas Haase

Physics PhD Candidate

University of Auckland

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7.2 Survey Responses

We sent out a post-event survey via email. Below is a break-down of some of the responses we received:

There was also a field for general comments about the event, and below are a few of the more relevant responses:

“[I] like the women to men plenary speaker ratio, like the variety and topics, very well chosen speakers”

“Very well-organized and I can see that the organizers have put in a lot of hard work and dedication despite their

busy schedule as postgraduate students to make this work. Well done!”

“I reckon that, after a few editions of the event, in a certain degree people and different groups start to know each

other and each other's topics. I personally had the pleasure this time to exchange a few but very useful conversations

with other students that helped me lots for my current projects, and hopefully in for future postdocs ones :-)”

[KOALA provides a] “good chance to socialize & the opportunity to learn about a broad range of subjects in an easy-

going environment”

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8. List of Student Attendees

Tutorial Presenters

Oral Presenters

Keith Motes Linear Optical Quantum Metrology with Single Photons — Exploiting Spontaneously Generated Entanglement to Beat the Shot-Noise Limit

Jasmine Sears Structure and Applications of Self-Assembled Indium Nanoantennas

Scott Fraser Laser fabricated graphene oxide supercapacitors

Chris Billington Reproduction of Stern–Gerlach-like behavior in semiclassical models using hidden variables

Wei Huang Complete achromatic optical switching between two waveguides with a sign flip of the phase mismatch

Sabine Wollmann Observation of genuine one-way Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Steering

Victor Canela Production and control of sub-Poissonian light of high photon number

Zahraa Al-Baiaty Surface Plasmon Coupled with Nanodiamonds

Xiaorui Zheng Flexible graphene oxide thin film for photonic applications

Patrick Bowen All-PM fiber, net normal cavity, Tm-doped fiber laser

Meng Wang Efficient Scheme for Perfect Collective Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Steering

Nina Novikova Ultrafast spectroscopy as tool for probing the dynamics of boron porphyrin and boron porphyrinoid complexes

Jami Johnson Non-Contact Line Detection for Photoacoustic and Laser-Ultrasound Imaging

Litty Thekkekara Fractal Based High energy Storage Integrated Silicon Solar cells

Ryan Thomas Multiple-scattering of fermions at a p-wave resonance

Blair Morrison 50dB of Brillouin Gain in Chalcogenide Waveguides

Sarah Scholten Broadband phase-sensitive frequency-comb spectroscopy using a virtually imaged phased array

Shaun Johnstone Measuring turbulence with a twist

Hamish McDonald Manipulating Photon Echoes With Light Shifts

Sam Hitchman Non-contacting elastic interrogation using laser ultrasonics

Zachary Chaboyer Reconfigurable laser-written interferometers for quantum metrology

Toshio J. Croucher Fluctuation in the Erasure of a Qubit

Laura Le Barbier New Dynamics Study of Lasers with Optical Feedback

Sarah Kostinski Resonances of low-symmetry dielectric nanoparticles with high refractive index

Xinyao Huang Planar quantum squeezing and atom interferometry

Fang Ou Rapid assessment of bacterial viability using the optrode

Stuart Masson Effective spin systems using cavity-assisted Raman transitions

Katie Chong Metasurfaces and Planar Metadevices

Jacob Martin Open-optics: Using open-source tools to make optical instruments

Ricardo Gutierrez Jauregui Dissipative quantum phase transitions in light-matter systems: A bridge from Jaynes-

Cummings to Dicke

James Titchener On-chip generation and sparse tomography of entangled photons

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Rakesh Arul Laser reduction of graphene oxide to reduced graphene oxide: an experimental and simulated comparison between methods

Courtney Taylor Optical testing of random anti-reflection structures on spherical lenses

Lewis Williamson Phase Ordering Dynamics in Spin-1 Bose-Einstein Condensates

Moritz Merklein Light dancing to the sound: harnessing photon-phonon interactions on the nanoscale

Martina Barbiero Opto-magnetic properties of blinking nitrogen vacany centers in nanodiamonds

Shuo Li Optimal Band Gap in 2D Photonic Crystals

Mahmood Hussain Fast quantum logic gates with trapped Ions

Matt Reeves Identifying a Superfluid Reynolds Number via Dynamical Similarity

Yaakov Fein Berry Phase with Rotating Nitrogen Vacancy Centres

Zoe Davidson Apple Decay

Yauhen Sachkou Superfluid optomechanics: light-based control of superfluid motion

Dinusha Gunawardena Analysis of Thermal Decay Characteristics of UV Induced FBGs Pre-treated with CO2 Laser

Muhammad Waleed Enhanced optical trapping via structured scattering

Salmaan Syed Measurement of the third order non-linearity of gold nanosheets

Elena Goi Tuning the refractive index in gyroid photonic crystals via leadchalcogenide nanocrystal coating

Donald White Disordered Cold Atoms in 2D

Matt van Breugel Silicon-vacancy Centres in Nanodiamond for Near-resonant Optical Trapping

Reece Roberts Combining Classical and Quantum Forces for an Enhanced Optical Trapping System

Xin He Enhanced Optical Forces From Superfluid Flow

Poster Presenters

Iman Aryanfar Reconfigurable rectangular passband filter based on stimulated Brillouin scattering

Dan Blay Proposal for an Integrated Raman-free Correlated Photon Source

Dijana Bogunovic Real-time poling of electro-optic polymers

Winnie Cao Laser ablation of novel organic polymers

Shuming Cheng Monogamy of Steering with Noise

Dashavir Chetty Optical emission spectroscopic studies of a picosecond laser produced plasma: Single pulse and double pulse methods

Maddy Cormack Detecting tagged photons in acousto-optic imaging using quantum memory techniques

Carlo Danieli Flatband Engineering of Mobility Edges

Xavier Fernandez Gonzalvo

Frequency Up-Conversion of Microwave Signals to the Optical Telecommunications Band in an Er:YSO Crystal

Petra Fersterer Effects of Light Scattering and Near Field Radiation on Density Measurements of Ultracold Atoms

Sam Fischer High temporal resolution magnetometry on spinor condensates using Faraday rotation

Elena Goi Laser direct fabrication of topological photonic crystals

Andrew Groszek Onsager vortex formation in anharmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

Xianbin Gu Painting Style Transfer via Deep Learning

Rachel Guo Using the optrode to detect Escherichia coli in solution stained with acridine orange

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Fan Hong High index immersion fluid for 193nm interference lithography

Milena Horvath Ultracold collisions near Feshbach resonances

Pavel Kolesnichenko REVIEW: Monolayers of Tungsten Disulphides

Amit Kumar Sahu Enhanced photorefractivity in graphene-oxide-dispersed polymers

Kenny Li Hierarchy of Markovian Open Quantum Dynamics

Haitao Luan Femtosecond Laser Processing for High Efficiency Large Scale Thin-film Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells

Loris Marini Non Linear Plasmonics: Experimental Challenges in Classical and Quantum Studies

Thomas Mawson Non-Abelian turbulence in spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

Rob McDonald Reservoir Interactions during Bose-Einstein condensation: modified critical scaling in the Kibble-Zurek mechanism of defect formation

Rassoul Mesbah Gaussian Mixture Model for Random Sequence of Multiple Burns in Pattern Scanning Laser Photocoagulation

Nikolett Nemet Manipulating the squeezing properties of a degenerate parametric amplifier with coherent, time-delayed feedback

Sue Ann Oh Effect of Centrosymmetry on the Excitonic Energy Transfer in Photosynthetic Systems

Youhei Okawa Single Photon Heterodyning

Erick Romero Quantum opto-magneto-mechanics

Bianca Sawyer Dispersive detection of ultracold gas dynamics

Xuewen Wang Large area uniform short period surface structures on ITO film induced by ultraviolet femtosecond pulses

Tom Ward Time Optimisation of Femtosecond Laser Ablation for Efficient Cutting of Sintered Alumina Wafers

Gaolei Xue Flexible holographic 3D display

Yunyi Yang Self-assembled graphene oxide films for photonics applications

Ming Yong Centrifugal microfluidics for a near real-time bacteria counting device

Other Attendees

Margaux Airey Peter Hosking

Simon Ashforth Yagmur Kati

Logan Baber Julie Kho

Ruth Cink Marine Pigneur

Carolyn Cowdell Matheus Vargas

Glen Douglass Andy Wang

Thomas Haase James Clarke