Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: Developing of novel optical systems for biophotonic applications

Physics and Astronomy Colloquium
Developing of novel optical systems for biophotonic applications

Dr. Mbaye Diouf
Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Engineering Physics
Central Connecticut State University

Abstract:
Mid-infrared (MIR) supercontinuum generation (SCG) has emerged as a significant area of research, offering opportunities in various scientific and technological domains. We will first discuss our numerical study on highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibers to produce MIR SCG for potential applications for communications, imaging, spectroscopy, and optical coherence tomography. The second part of my talk will focus on space-time (ST) optics: a new structure of spatio-temporal light fields. The ST light sheet represents a category of pulsed optical fields that retain their structure without experiencing diffraction or dispersion. This one-dimensional (1D) ST light sheet is characterized by classical entanglement, a correlation between at least two non-separable intrinsic degrees-of-freedom. In particular, we show that 1D ST light sheets exhibit self-healing characteristics. The third and the last part of my talk will discuss our preliminary investigation using ST light sheets for imaging and biosensing. Our experimental findings demonstrate the capability of the ST light sheets to exhibit resistance in turbid environments such as biological tissues. The results of our work could be useful for a wide range of optical applications including bioimaging, communications, astronomy, and optical trapping. The talk will conclude with a brief discussion of some of the recent additional directions that we are exploring.

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Mbaye Diouf received his master’s degree in atomic and nuclear physics in 2014, from the University of Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD), Senegal. He earned his Ph.D. in 2017, from UCAD/Engineering School of Communication of Tunis (Sup’Com), Tunisia. He joined Brown University, School of Engineering in February 2020, as a Postdoctoral research associate. During his time as a senior research associate at Brown University, he almost single-handedly designed and built the PROBE Lab and trained and mentored many of the lab’s students.
Dr. Diouf’s current and future research will broadly target optics and photonics, including nonlinear optics, space-time optics, multiphoton microscopy, light sheet microscopy, and supercontinuum laser sources. He led the first-ever discovery of space-time wave packets, which he experimentally proved to be classically entangled in both space-time and space-polarization. An active member of OPTICA, he co-founded and served as the inaugural president of the Senegalese OPTICA student chapter. Trilingual in Wolof, French, and English, Dr. Diouf intends to prioritize DEI in his research, teaching, and leadership, particularly for those on the periphery of higher education.

Intended Audience:
All are Welcome!