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Invited

Materials Processing Using Ultrashort Laser Pulses, at OSA Frontiers in Optics Meeting (Tucson, AZ), Wednesday, October 19, 2005:
talk_1125.pdf
Ultrashort laser pulses are an important new tool in materials processing. We will discuss the physics of short-pulse laser interactions with materials and applications in micromachining and biotechnology.
Nonlinear optics at the nanoscale, at OSA Frontiers in Optics Meeting (Tucson, AZ), Wednesday, October 19, 2005:
talk_1138.pdf
Silica nanowires allow the guiding and manipulation of light at the nanoscale. The linear optical properties of these wires can be easily modeled because they are a step-index, all-core cylindrical waveguides. The nonlinear optical properties wires open the door to novel applications in nanoscale photonics.
Fundamentals and Applications of Femtosecond Laser Micromachining of Glass, at First Conference on Advances in Optical Materials (Tucson, AZ), Wednesday, October 12, 2005:
talk_1149.pdf
When femtosecond laser pulses are focused tightly into a transparent material, the intensity in the focal volume can become high enough to cause nonlinear absorption of laser energy. The absorption, in turn, can lead to permanent structural or chemical changes. Such changes can be used for micromachining bulk transparent materials. Applications include data storage and the writing of waveguides and waveguide splitters in bulk glass, fabrication of micromechanical devices in polymers, and of all-optical sensors.
Femtosecond laser micromachining: Applications in Technology and Biology, at The 8th International Conference on Laser Ablation (Banff, Canada), Monday, September 12, 2005:
talk_1139.pdf
When femtosecond laser pulses are tightly focused into a transparent material, the intensity in the focal volume is high enough to cause absorption through nonlinear processes. The absorption of the laser energy excites a submicrometer-sized region of plasma inside the material, and the energy is subsequently transferred to the atoms in the form of heat and shock waves. This process permanently alters solids and ablates cellular structures in biological media [1]. Applications include high-density data storage in three dimensions, writing of waveguides and waveguide splitters in bulk glass,... Read more about Femtosecond laser micromachining: Applications in Technology and Biology
Visual learning: how much do we learn from what we see?, at AAPT Summer Meeting (Salt Lake City, UT), Wednesday, August 10, 2005:
talk_1093.pdf
Classroom demonstrations and textbook illustrations are often considered to be key tools in improving student understanding of physical concepts. Vizualization alone, however, does not necessarily improve student understanding and can even create additional misconceptions. Active engagement of the students is essential to avoid the creation of a “wrong picture”.
Visualizations and visual illusions: how the mind tricks us, at NATO ASI Course on New developments in optics and related fields: modern techniques, materials, and applications, Centro Ettore Majorana (Erice, Italy), Saturday, June 11, 2005:
talk_1159.pdf
Neurobiology and cognitive psychology have made great progress in understanding how the mind processes information – in particular visual information. The knowledge we can gain from these fields has important implications for the presentation of visual information and student learning.
Subwavelength-diameter silica wires for microscale optical components, at SPIE Europe International Symposium: Microtechnologies for the New Millennium (Sevilla, Spain), Tuesday, May 10, 2005:
talk_1078.pdf
Optical components built from structures that are tens of micrometers wide are playing a key role in current optical communication networks, optical sensors, and medical optical devices. The demand for improved performance, broader applications, and higher integration density, together with rapid advances in nanotechnology for electronics and optoelectronics, has spurred an effort to reduce the size of basic optical components. However, the miniaturization of optical components with subwavelength and nanometer-sized optical guiding structures through established fabrication methods is... Read more about Subwavelength-diameter silica wires for microscale optical components
Memorization or understanding: Are we teaching the right thing?, at 229th American Chemical Society National Meeting (San Diego, CA), Sunday, March 13, 2005:
talk_1123.pdf
Education is more than just transfer of information, yet that is what is mostly done in large introductory courses -- instructors present material (even though this material might be readily available in printed form) and for students the main purpose of lectures is to take down as many notes as they can. Few students have the ability, motivation, and discipline to synthesize all the information delivered to them. Yet synthesis is perhaps the most important -- and most elusive -- aspect of education. I will show how shifting the focus in lectures from delivering information to synthesizing... Read more about Memorization or understanding: Are we teaching the right thing?
Nanowiring light, at Optical Fiber Communication Conference 2005 (Anaheim, CA), Thursday, March 10, 2005:
talk_1076.pdf
Recent advances in the fabrication and manipulation of sub-wavelength optical fibers provide new methods for building chemical and biological sensors, generating supercontinuum light by nonlinear pulse propagation, and constructing microphotonic components and devices.

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