Professor Ewan M.Wright

COLLEGE OF OPTICAL SCIENCES

Professor at the College of Optical Sciences (weather), joint appointment with the Department of Physics, at the University of Arizona, Honorary Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of St. Andrews; B. Sc., Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, 1980; Ph. D. Heriot-Watt University, 1983; Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Munich 1983-1985; College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, 1985-date.

Last updated:  9/1/08

Research Interests

• Optical binding of particles, optically bound matter, nonlinear optics in soft condensed media
• Theory of quantum degenerate gases, Tonks-Girardeau gases
  

This work is carried out in collaboration with many colleagues including Professors Marvin Girardeau at the College of Optical Sciences, and Professor Kishan Dholakia's Optical Trapping Group at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

Teaching & Advising

Current classes

• Opti 310      Physical Optics I, Fall 2008
• Opti 546      Physical Optics, Spring 2009
• Opti 553      Elements of Nonlinear Optics, Spring 2010

Previous classes

• Opti 501       Electromagnetic waves
• Opti 511R    Optical Physics and Lasers
• Opti 541       Introduction to lasers
• Opti 542X    Optical beams and resonators
• Opti 544       Advanced linear optics
• Opti 545       Nonlinear Optics
• Opti 547X    Optical Physics

OPTI 310 Physical Optics I

Information: College syllabus, Class listing updated 9/1/08

Links to class related materials

Figures updated 8/27/08

1. Math Review

Opti 310 Sec. 1

Feynman Vol. II, Chap. 2

Homework set 1, due beginning of class, Monday Sept. 8, 2008

Solution set 1.

2. 1D waves (Hecht 2.1-2.6)

Opti 310 Sec. 2

A Slinky Movie

http://www.ngsir.netfirms.com/englishVersion.htm

http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/Demos/waves/wavemotion.html

http://www.surendranath.org/Applets/Waves/Twave01/Twave01Applet.html

3. 3D waves (Hecht 2.7-2.9, Fowles 1.3-1.4)

Opti 310 Sec. 3

3D plane-wave interference - same direction

3D plane-wave interference - opposite direction

Outward propagating spherical plane-wave

4. Review of EM (Hecht 3.1)

James Clerk Maxwell

5. Electromagnetic waves (Hecht 3.2-3.3, Fowles 1.2)

6. Light-matter interaction

7. Reflection and refraction at a dielectric interface

8. Fabry-Perot interferometer

9. Polarization

10. Fraunhofer diffraction

Current group members

 

• Steve Lee, Ph. D student (St. Andrews)

Ph. D and Masters students supervised

Selected & recent papers

• Nonlinear atom optics, with G. Lenz and P. Meystre, Phys. Rev. Lett. 23, 382 (1993).
• Collapses and revivals of Bose-Einstein condensates formed in small atomic samples, with D. F. Walls and J. C. Garrison, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 2158 (1996).
• Quantum dynamics of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential, with G. J. Milburn, J. Corney, and D. F. Walls, Phys. Rev. A. 55, 4318 (1997).
• Dynamic spatial replenishment of femtosecond pulses propagating in air, with M. Mlejnek and J. V. Moloney, Opt. Lett. 23, 382 (1998).
• Optically turbulent femtosecond light guide in air, with M. Mlejnek, M. Kolesik, and J. V. Moloney, Phys. Rev. Lett. 23, 382 (1999).
• Ground state properties of a one-dimensional condensate of hard core bosons on a ring, with M. D. Girardeau and J. Triscari, Phys. Rev. A 63, 033601 (2001).
• Dynamic nonlinear X-waves for femtosecond pulse propagation in water, with M. Kolesik and J. V. Moloney, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 253901 (2004).

• Bistability and hysteresis for optical binding of dielectric spheres in one dimension, with N. K. Metzger and K. Dholakia, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 068102 (2006).

• The role of linear power partitioning in beam filamentation, with D. E. Roskey, M. Kolesik, and J. V. Moloney, Appl. Phys. B 86, 249 (2006)

• Experimental observation of modulational instability and optical spatial soliton arrays in soft condensed matter, with P. J. Reece and K. Dholakia, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 203902 (2007).

• The dark spots of Arago, with P Fischer, S. E. Skelton, C. G. Leburn, C. T. Streuber, and K. Dholakia, Optics Express 15, 11860 (2007).

• Bright and dark solitary waves in a 1D spin polarized gas of fermionic atoms with p-wave interactions in a hard-wall trap, with M. Girardeau, Phys. Rev. A 77, 043612 (2008).

• Rotating ground states of a 1D spin-polarized gas of fermionic atoms with attractive p-wave interactions on a mesoscopic ring, with M. Girardeau, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 200403 (2008).

An abbreviated version of my CV with all my journal articles is also available.

Web of Science

General Information

Other AMO Related Work at the College of Optics  

Prof. H. M. Gibbs	Fundamental physics of semiconductor quantum-confined structures
Prof. R. Binder	Theoretical Investigations of optical properties of semiconductors
Prof. G. Khitrova	Fundamental physics of semiconductor quantum-confined structures
Prof. P. Jessen	Experimental AMO physics, laser cooling, optical lattices
Prof. P. Meystre	Theoretical AMO physics, BEC, nonlinear atom optics,
Prof. G. A Swartzlander	Optical vortices, optical vortex coronagraph
Prof. M. D. Girardeau	Many-body theory and Bose-Einstein condensation.
Prof. B. P. Anderson	Experimental Bose-Einstein condensation.
Prof. R. J. Jones	Ultrashort lasers, precision metrology

Other interests

• Tucson guitar society
• Arizona Opera

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