Biannual Chapter Report May 2005 – December 2005

Summer 2005: Optics and Photonics 2005 Conference Our executives Eugene Chen (President) and Jaron VanDijken (Secretary) prepared for the Optics and Photonics 2005 Conference by going through the various high-tech facilities available at the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department (picture bottom left, Nanofab facility). At the conference, they met with various SPIE student chapter members from around the world (picture above, a few of these students), eventually compiling their experiences into a Travel Report that was put up on the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Engineering website (picture bottom right).

September 2005: SPIE Student Chapter Information Booth Sarah Tsai, Ivan Chan (picture above, both dressed in black) and Eugene Chen helped set up an information booth outside ECERF (Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Facililty) to answer queries about the SPIE, the optics and photonics research at the ECE, and to promote our student chapter and it’s upcoming activities.

September 2005: SPIE Student Chapter Information Night The planning and work of the entire executive paid off handsomely for the SPIE Student Chapter Information Night. A huge crowd attended and stayed behind after the initial speech by Dr. Fedosejevs (Senior Industrial Research Chair in Laser and Spectroscopic Techniques Applied to the Natural Resources Industry) to learn more about optics and photonics, the student chapter, and the SPIE through the professors.

September 2005: Graduate Studies Information Seminar Working together with the Electrical Engineering Club and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Students Association (ECEGSA), our SPIE Student Chapter invited award-winning graduate student Jeremiah Hu (picture above, far left) to speak to undergraduate students about the various reasons for attending graduate school and several tips on getting through it. Dr. Ying Tsui, Associate Chair of Graduate Programs, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, also attended the event, which is likely to be held on a yearly basis.

October 2005: Research Lab Tour 01: Nanofab Facility at the University of Alberta Organized by Aleksandr Klyashitsky, Vice President of our student chapter, the lab tour was led by Kristian Olsen, a graduate student and user of the Nanofab. Kristian brought the attendees around the facilities, explaining to them not only the use and importance of the multi-million dollar devices present, but also discussed the potential benefits from the cutting-edge research being done there. A report of the tour was eventually put together, with all attendees signing a group picture to thank Kristian and the Nanofab for the tour.

October 2005: Research Lab Tour 02: iCORE Centre for Nanoscale Physics and Nanomaterials Research Jaron VanDijken helped organize the tour to the lab of Dr. Freeman, iCORE Professor and Canada Research Chair in Condensed Matter Physics, head of Ultrafast Microscopy Group. Students were first given a presentation by Dr. Freeman’s graduate student about how an STM (Scanning Tunneling Microscope) works before showing attendees the STM and a few results through its use.

October 2005: University of Alberta Open House As students in support of our Faculty of Engineering and as executives of the SPIE Student Chapter chipping in to help, the entire executive volunteered to help out for the University of Alberta Open House, a one-day event in which volunteers of the University set up demonstrations (sample student work) and give lab tours for potential students and their parents. Eugene and Jaron helped out with and performed demonstrations, while Aleksandr (Vice President) and Sarah directed groups of attendees through the graduate-students led lab tours.

Nov 2005: Research Lab Tour 03: Ultrafast Photonics and Nano-Optics Laboratory Dr. Elezzabi, Canada Research Chair in Ultrafast Photonics and Nano-Optics, led the tour and spoke about the developments and interesting work in his field. He went through the ramifications of much of the research conducted in his laboratory, and also conducted a demonstration for students that used a powerful, fentosecond laser to generate plasma by concentrating the laser onto a single point in space. A speck of plasma (ionized gas) was generated from this, and we could see light emitting from the spot. A report by Ivan Chan was put together from this tour.

Dec 2005: Research Lab Tour 04: Dr. Tsui’s lab in the Lasers and Plasmas Research Group Dr. Tsui, whose research projects include laser based microfabrication and nanofabrication, showed the students his lab and performed a number of very intriguing experiments (including one where an invisible laser would melt mirror) while relating the results and processes to a number of the courses he teaches. The lab tour was very interesting as Dr. Tsui continually paralleled real-world needs with the research results within the optics and photonics community.

Laser Maze Project From the Optics and Photonics 2005 Conference at San Diego, Eugene and Jaron suggested to adopt the laser maze project that was originally done by fellow SPIE student chapter members at University of California, Davis (UC Davis). The suggestion was approved by the student executives, and later Sarah and Eugene purchased the necessary materials to begin the project. A successful setup of the lasers, mirrors, and tripods with a fog machine (so that the light would be visible) can be seen from the pictures above.

From the basics went the improvements; the pictures above show Jaron and Aleksandr (Ivan was outside of the picture) working together to implement and improve on the circuit for safety. A simple yet ingenious plan was put together to improve the circuit, and the resulting circuit and its use for outreach will be put on our next report.

Future Plans In the coming months, our student chapter will be looking forward to hold a guest speaker at our University, organize an industry tour, and execute our outreach program. Edward Lau was recently appointed our officer for outreach projects and has several ideas to further expand the variety of optics-related experiments for outreach. Additionally, our student chapter will be working with other clubs and chapters to organize events such as the upcoming ECEGSA (Electrical & Computer Engineering Graduate Students Association) Conference in January.

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Our Executives Eugene Chen President echen@ualberta.ca (8) Aleksandr Kylashitsky Vice President agm@ualberta.ca (6) Sarah Tsai Treasurer stsai@ualberta.ca (7) Jaron VanDijken Secretary jaron@ualberta.ca (3)

Our Appointed Officers Ivan Chan Webmaster inchan@ualberta.ca (5) Edward Lau Outreach Manager eclau@ualberta.ca (2) Neal Wilding Chapter Photographer nealwilding@hotmail.com (1)

Faculty Advisor Dr. Abdulhakem Elezzabi Faculty Advisor elezzabi@ece.ualberta.ca (4)

Final Words The past few months have been extremely exciting for our young student chapter; there has been a large amount of behind-the-scenes involvement by several of the executives and officers for the success of the many activities we have had. In retrospect, seeing these accomplishments, I would like to thank all the executives and officers for the work they have put in despite busy schedules on behalf of the hundreds of students touched by their work.

Additionally, most of these activities would have never occurred if not for the support from the staff of the Faculty of Engineering and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. On behalf of the executive, the officers, and the members of the SPIE Student Chapter, I would like to thank the staff (especially those who attended our events and provided us with the research tours).

Sincerely,

Eugene Chen

University of Alberta SPIE Student Chapter University of Alberta ECERF Level 2 Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2V4, Canada

www.ece.ualberta.ca/~spieuofa

This report was written on behalf of and approved by the 2005/2006 University of Alberta SPIE Student Chapter executives: Eugene Chen (President) - Aleksandr Klyashitsky (Vice President) - Sarah Tsai (Treasurer) - Jaron VanDijken (Secretary)