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:  11/21/09

Research Interests

•  Generation of optical vortex cat states and their use for creating macroscopic  superpositions of superfluid flows on a ring.
•  Optical binding of particles, optically bound matter, nonlinear optics in colloidal suspensions.
•  Theory of quantum degenerate gases, atomic anyons, Tonks-Girardeau gases.
  

This work is carried out in collaboration with many colleagues including Prof. Demetri N. Christodoulides' Nonlinear Waves Group at the University of Central Florida, Prof. Kishan Dholakia's Optical Trapping Group at the University of St. Andrews, Prof. Marvin Girardeau at the College of Optical Sciences, Scotland, Prof. Rina Kanamoto at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo, and Prof. Patrik Ohberg's Quantum Optics and Cold Atoms Group at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland.

Teaching & Advising

Current classes

• Opti 310      Physical Optics I, Fall 2009
• Opti 492      Directed Research - Studies in Beam Propagation, Fall 2009
• Opti 553      Elements of Nonlinear Optics, Spring 2010
• Opti 447      Optical Physics, Spring 2010

      Login to the Opti 310 Class website    http://www.optics.arizona.edu/Wright/opti310login.htm

      Login to the Opti 447 Class website    http://www.optics.arizona.edu/Wright/opti447login.htm

      Login to the Opti 546 Class website    :http://www.optics.arizona.edu/Wright/opti546login.htm

      Login to the Opti 553 Class website    :http://www.optics.arizona.edu/Wright/opti553login.htm

 

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 546       Physical Optics
• Opti 547X    Optical Physics

Current group members

      Graduate Research Students

Undergraduate Directed Research Students

• John M. Mongelli     -  Ring cavity simulations
• Chris Shanor             -  Triangular optics
• Asher Sussman         -  Fabry-Perot sensor
• Javier Yanez             -  Bessel beam interferometer

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).

• 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).

• 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).

• Nonlinear optical response of colloidal suspensions, with W. M. Lee, R. El-Ganainy, D. N. Christodoulides, and K. Dholakia, Optics Express 17, 10277 (2009).

List of refereed papers

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. 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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