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Nonlinear Models of Biophysics
Many properties the biological objects demonstrate in Nature and laboratory are associated with their self-organized behaviour and complex structure and are driven by the dynamics of long-lived nonlinear excitations. For example, the conformational flexibility and folding of biopolymers can be understood as the manifestation of the nonlinearity-induced buckling and collapse instability, and it can be demonstrated with the help of a simple nonlinear model. This project aims to suggest and study some nonlinear models of the conformational dynamics and energy transfer in biopolymers and macromolecules based on the concept of long-lived nonlinear excitations and their dynamics.
Contacts: Dr. Sergei Mingaleev and Prof. Yuri Kivshar.
Nonlinear Physics of Complex Systems
The new millennium takes us into the world of complexity where simple objects interact to create new phenomena and assemble themselves into more complex structures demonstrating collective behaviour. The project will study various manifestation of coherence, self-organization, collective phenomena, and nonlinear localized modes in novel optical materials and matter waves in order to provide the foundation upon which to build complex systems with required properties.
Contact: Prof. Yuri Kivshar.
Bose-Einstein Condensation and Nonlinear Matter Waves
Nearly 75 years ago, Bose and Einstein introduced the idea of condensate of a dilute gas at temperatures close to absolute zero. The Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter in which a macroscopic number of particles share the same quantum state; it was experimentally created in 1995 by the JILA group, and already got a recognition by two Nobel Prizes awarded in this field (for the laser cooling technique, in 1997, and for the BEC creation, in 2001). BEC constitutes an example of the coherent matter waves in which topological defects with a circulating persistent current can be generated and observed. The study of coherent structures and vortices in atomic and atomic-molecular BEC will be the subject of this project that promises a deeper understanding of possible links between the physics of superfluidity, condensation, and nonlinear optics.
See also our research page on Bose-Einstein Condensates.
Contacts: Dr. Elena Ostrovskaya and Prof. Yuri Kivshar.
Photonic Crystals, Circuits, and Waveguides
Photonic crystals are new-engineering materials that provide novel and unique ways of controlling many aspects of electromagnetic radiation that is guided due to the Bragg reflection from the periodic structure. This project will involve the theoretical analysis of different types of 2D and 3D photonic-crystal structures, waveguides, waveguide bends, and waveguide circuits. In particular, the project will study transmission of waveguides and waveguide bends created in photonic crystals. Some collaboration with experimental groups producing real photonic crystal structures in Australia and overseas is expected.
See also our research page on photonic crystals.
Contacts: Prof. Yuri Kivshar and Dr. Sergei Mingaleev.