Varun Sharma
Sculpting the Light: Control, Manipulation, and Structuring in Bulk and Integrated Photonics
Research Highlights
Light has served as a pivotal element and a carrier of information throughout human history, from the transmission of messages and imaging to predicting seasons based on the positions of constellations. The advent of the laser has exponentially expanded these capabilities. As we continually push the boundaries through control and manipulation, light’s potential grows daily. This progress necessitates further innovations to generate and tailor the properties of light across a broad spectrum. In this realm, optical parametric oscillators, rooted in nonlinear optics, provide a versatile platform for creating light sources ranging from the ultraviolet to the infrared. Strategic manipulation of such sources is crucial for the spatial structuring of light. My initial research focused on designing and refining optical cavities to spatially engineer light’s properties. This endeavor has evolved into developing novel methods to generate sources, particularly in the UV region, continually pushing the envelope of what’s possible with light. As we advance, the fusion of these technologies promises to unlock new dimensions in optical research and applications.
Programmable photonic integrated circuits (PPICs) represent a transformative leap in optical technology, merging the versatility of programmability with the compactness and efficiency of integrated photonics. At their core, PPICs are complex optical circuits fabricated on a single chip that can be dynamically reconfigured to perform a variety of functions, much like electronic integrated circuits but with light instead of electrons. Unlike traditional fixed-function photonic devices, PPICs can manipulate, route, and process optical signals in a highly flexible manner, allowing for on-the-fly adjustments to their operational parameters. This adaptability opens up a vast range of applications, from telecommunications and quantum computing to biosensing and information processing. A critical and developing domain within this field is beam metrology, which concentrates on deciphering properties of light including amplitude, phase, and polarization. In several of our recent studies, we have concentrated on determining complex amplitudes using these devices, aiding in the measurement of orbital angular momentum characteristic of Laguerre-Gaussian modes