Gian-Luca Oppo
FOSA, Prof. of Computational & Nonlinear Physics

Research

Complexity is the science that studies multi-component systems capable of exhibiting global behaviour not displayed by the lone components. A typical complex system may be self-organized, nonlinear, chaotic, stochastic, far from equilibrium, networked, globally coupled, with long-range interactions etc.. Photonics systems are prototypical in their ability to display global complex dynamics. Chaos, patterns, solitons, fronts, vortices, nonlinear waves, control via negative feedback and synchronization have been predicted and observed in a multitude of photonic devices, from lasers to frequency converters, from saturable absorbers to optical fibres. The Computational Nonlinear and Quantum Optics group at Strathclyde has been at the forefront of international research in the discovery and application of these complex features in photonics and quantum optics for more than twenty years.

Recent interests include the fundamentals and applications of cavity solitons in Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSEL) and other semiconductor based devices, self-localization of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices, the dynamics and locking of phase fronts in photonics (see picture above). Cavity solitons are localized spots of light, much smaller than the surface area of the device, used in optical information processes. Oppo's research work focuses on the mathematical theory and numerical simulations of complexity in photonics in close connection with experimental realizations and applications in a variety of laboratories in Europe and USA.

Although complex features like solitons find a wide range of applications in photonics that are missing in other areas of research, their theory and simulation is often universal, with relevance in many scientific, technological and engineering disciplines. For these reasons, Oppo created the Institute of Complex Systems at Strathclyde
(ICSS) with Desmond Higham (Mathematics) and Paul Garside (SIPBS) in 2007. The ICSS has proven to be pivotal in attracting research funds for interdisciplinary work in the application of complexity science. Recent topics of cross-disciplinary interest include self-organization of the immune response, oscillating chemical reactions and complex networks.

Highlights

Resonances, but not as you know them: a discussion of a recent letter (Phys. Rev. Lett, 100, 123905 (2008)) appeared in the research newsletter.

A recent publication demonstrated the application of cavity solitons in the realization of an all-optical delay line and was selected for the cover page of Applied Physics Letters in January 2008.

A recent Physical Review Letters (2007) presented a theoretical and experimental investigation of free and locked phase fronts in nonlinear optics with possible applications in several scientific disciplines.

Recent invited talks include International Meetings on Advances in Coherence, Quantum and Atom Optics (with four Nobel prize winners, 2007); Complexity in Optics (NATO, 2007); Photon06 (2006). Chair of the Nonlinear Optics Panel at CLEO Europe / EQEC (2005).

Invited book chapter 'Quantum Imaging' (2007).