Shedding light on photonics: New discoveries made within concrete walls of university Photonics Center

As you begin this article, take some time to notice your surroundings. You will hear noise from cars on the Massachusetts Turnpike, Commonwealth Avenue, the T, people walking by and talking and maybe a stereo, as well. You may also notice vibrations in the ground if you concentrate. That is, unless you are reading this in the Photonics Center.

According to Photonics Spectra magazine, you are sitting in $85 million worth of expert design and careful construction to isolate you from vibrations from the eight-lane Mass. Pike and the commuter rail to the south, and Comm. Ave and the B line to the north. The 6-foot floating slab of concrete that serves as the foundation, the carefully designed bays (the spaces between the columns and the beams on each floor), the steel girders stiffening the corridors and the viscous dampening of the floor slabs means you will not feel any vibrations from people walking by, from the elevators, even from the air-conditioning units.

Photonics is the practical application of light in optics, imaging, and laser technology. Possessing 17 academic laboratories, a technology business incubator, classrooms, teaching labs, administrative offices and an art gallery, the Photonics Center is not just a center for physics and engineering; it has become a launching point for biology, communications, business and art students.

However, to many Boston University students, the Photonics Center is a mystery.

College of Communication sophomore Emily Johnson can only speculate about the Photonics Center and its purposes.

“It’s a strange building where they do experiments, she said. “Maybe they have telescopes there. I think it has springs in the floor for the lasers.”

What few students realize is the Photonics Center contains a technology start-up incubator, which helps new companies develop their ideas into salable products as quickly as possible by providing financial support as well as management, marketing and legal consulting, according to the Photonics Center website. There are internship opportunities in most areas, recruiting students from several areas of the University, including the School of Management, College of Fine Arts, College of Communication, College of Arts and Sciences and College of Engineering.

PHOTONICS CENTER HAPPENINGS

Also occurring in the Photonics Center is the Quantum Imaging Laboratory’s work toward developing new sources of light using the quantum nature of light and the electromagnetic field. These new sources of light are called “quiet light” and are produced by passing light through a special crystal (anisotropic and non-linear) to produce two “daughter photons” from a photon emitted by a laser. The daughter photons are identical and both have the same energy and momentum of the “mother photon.” In this state, called an entangled-photon state, electromagnetic noise is reduced greatly, even from a laser source. This method for producing light will be used in optical imaging, communications, cryptography, teleportation and computing, according to the Photonics Center website.

In addition to housing research projects concerning relatively far-flung quantum physics, the Photonics Center is used to improve tools used during daily life. An example is the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Lab, which works on the important component of flat-screen televisions and computer monitors. The LCD Lab designs and simulates LCD models to improve viewing angles and color rendition, according to descriptions on the Photonics Center website.

ART AS A SCIENCE

The Photonics Center also displays works of art, created by students in the College of Fine Arts. All of the pieces use light as a medium in some way, such as with Noctiluna, created by Heather Richards a former College of Fine Arts student, composed of fluorescent dye imbedded in glass and illuminated by black light.

FUTURE OF PHOTONICS

Due to the recent downturn in the technology sector, in part due to oversupply of optical fiber and recent advances in optical signals processing, the outlook for some research has fallen. Concern about the future of some aspects of the photonics industry is rampant. This fall, the Photonics Center will host the Annual Executive Symposium on Emerging Business Opportunities in Photonics, labeled “After the Downturn.”