UQ physicist and Head of the School of Mathematics and Physics has just been elevated to the rank of Fellow Member by a world-leading optics professional society for her exceptional contributions to the field of optics.
Professor Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop is being recognised by the Optical Society of America (OSA) for her pioneering contributions in micro and nano-laser micromanipulation, including her work with optical tweezers and atom optics, as well as nano-optics with applications in biophotonics.
“Halina has served the optics community with distinction, and I am very pleased to recognise her with this honour,” OSA President Tony Heinz said.
“She is part of a truly global group of individuals, this year’s Fellows representing more than a dozen countries on four continents. On behalf of OSA, I extend my warmest congratulations to Halina for this special recognition of her accomplishments.”
Uniting more than 130,000 professionals from 175 countries, OSA brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. Election to the status of an OSA Fellow is based on outstanding contributions to optics through accomplishments in science and engineering, through technical leadership, and through impact on the optics community.
Professor Rubinsztein-Dunlop, who is also the Director at UQ’s Quantum Sciences Laboratory, and one of the Chief Investigators at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems (EQuS), is one of just 66 individuals among OSA’s regular members to be so distinguished this year.
She has a long-standing experience with atom optics, laser micromanipulation, laser physics, linear and nonlinear high resolution spectroscopy, and nano-optics, and has also produced over 200 publications in international peer reviewed journals, 10 book chapters as well as a large number of international conference papers and many invited presentations.
Under Professor Rubinsztein-Dunlop’s active leadership, research in atom optics culminated in the first demonstration of dynamical tunnelling in a Bose-Einstein condensate in a modulated standing wave.
Additionally, her group in laser micromanipulation and optical tweezers was the first to demonstrate the transfer of angular momentum of light to microscopic particles. This research has led to a number of interesting and innovative applications in the area of optically-driven micromachines with further application in biological and biomedical systems, such as a novel approach to studying nerve cell behaviour - more precisely, the use of an optically driven micromotor to study the control of nerve fibre movement.
Media: Professor Rubinsztein-Dunlop (07 3365 3405, halina@physics.uq.edu.au) or SMP Communications and Marketing Officer Aarti Kapoor (07 3346 9935, a.kapoor@uq.edu.au)
