The research group has access to and collaborates closely with ANFF-Optofab Adelaide, providing them with a diverse range of expertise and facilities in glass and fibre fabrication, functionalisation and characterisation as well as advanced subtractive and additive manufacturing of metal, polymer, ceramics and glass. The research areas developed in the group range from fundamental science to application-driven design and development.
Key areas of application strength include the development of:
- Tellurite and fluoride glasses (both passive and active)
- Glasses with custom compositions
- Advanced technologies for processing and shaping glass
- Advanced preform technologies (extrusion, 3D printing and drilling based)
- Glasses and fibres capable of transmitting light in the mid-infrared that underpin new sensing platforms and lasers
- Silica microstructured optical fibres, including suspended and exposed core silica fibres for sensing
- Soft glasses and optical fibres with enhanced infrared transmission and optical nonlinearity
- Hybrid glass fibres created by embedding nano-/micro-crystals in glass
- Microstructured soft glass fibres for sensing and nonlinear processing
- Microstructured polymer fibres for THz guidance
