Tim and Chris at the conference dinner in the tower of Lehigh’s Iacocca Hall.
Tim Atherton and grad student Chris Burke recently attended the conference “Foundations of Nonlinear Optics” (FoNLO), hosted at Lehigh University by Prof. Ivan Biaggio. Nonlinear optics concerns certain unusual interactions between light and matter: nonlinear optical materials cause strange things to happen to light beams, for example doubling their frequency, or causing light beams to interact with each other in ways that wouldn’t occur in free space or in ordinary materials. These properties make these materials ripe for use in applications like switching devices, which would allow information to be processed in the form of light without needing to convert it to an electrical signal.
Tim and Chris’s research focuses on the fundamental aspects of molecules which make up nonlinear materials. They deal with the question, “what properties should a molecule have in order to optimize its nonlinear response?” Tim and Chris both gave talks on their research at FoNLO. The conference included a wide range of topics, spanning from the theoretical work that the Atherton group does, to experimental work including the synthesis of nonlinear molecules and the design of nonlinear optical devices.
The conference was a two-day affair, attended by approximately 40 researchers. The quality of the presentations was excellent, and the small size and casual atmosphere of the conference allowed for many illuminating discussions during both the scientific sessions and the breaks and social events. Attending this conference was also a treat for Chris, who attended Lehigh as an undergraduate. It was nice to return to Lehigh’s beautiful campus and catch up with old professors.
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