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Prof. Dr. Birgit Stiller

Professor

My fields of expertise are Brillouin scattering and optomechanics, nonlinear fiber optics and photonic circuits, as well as classical and quantum communications. The projects in my group span from nonlinear optics to quantum optics with a focus on light-sound interactions and waveguide optomechanics. We want to explore optoacoustic interaction experimentally at the classical and quantum level with suitably engineered microstructured fibres and nanowaveguides to manipulate, in this way, light states

2012

Demonstration of polarization pulling using a fiber-optic parametric amplifier

Birgit Stiller, P. Morin, D. M. Nguyen, J. Fatome, S. Pitois, E. Lantz, H. Maillotte, C. R. Menyuk, T. Sylvestre

Optics Express 20 (24) 27248-27253 (2012) | Journal

We report the observation of all-optical polarization pulling of an initially polarization-scrambled signal using parametric amplification in a highly nonlinear optical fiber. Broadband polarization pulling has been achieved both for the signal and idler waves with up to 25 dB gain using the strong polarization sensitivity of parametric amplifiers. We further derive the probability distribution function for the final polarization state, assuming a randomly polarized initial state, and we show that it agrees well with the experiments.

SBS Mitigation in a Microstructured Optical Fiber by Periodically Varying the Core Diameter

Birgit Stiller, Alexandre Kudlinski, Min Won Lee, Geraud Bouwmans, Michael Delque, Jean-Charles Beugnot, Herve Maillotte, Thibaut Sylvestre

IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS 24 (8) 667-669 (2012) | Journal

In this letter, we experimentally demonstrate a 4-dB increase of the<br> stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold in a microstructured optical<br> fiber. This result is obtained by periodically varying the size of the<br> air-hole structure by only 7% amplitude, while keeping a low attenuation<br> coefficient. The efficiency of this passive technique is verified by use<br> of the Brillouin echoes-distributed sensing technique where the<br> Brillouin frequency-shift oscillation is clearly observed.

Black-light continuum generation in a silica-core photonic crystal fiber

T. Sylvestre, A. R. Ragueh, M. W. Lee, Birgit Stiller, G. Fanjoux, B. Barviau, A. Mussot, A. Kudlinski

Optics Letters 37 (2) 130-132 (2012) | Journal

We report the observation of a broadband continuum spanning from 350 to 470 nm in the black-light region of the electromagnetic spectrum as a result of picosecond pumping a solid-core silica photonic crystal fiber at 355 nm. This was achieved despite strong absorption and a large normal dispersion of silica glass in the UV. Further investigations reveal that the continuum generation results from the interplay of intermodally phase-matched four-wave mixing and cascaded Raman scattering. We also discuss the main limitations in terms of bandwidth and power due to temporal walk-off, fiber absorption, and the photo darkening effect, and we suggest simple solutions.

Differential Phase-Shift-Keying Technique-Based Brillouin Echo-Distributed Sensing

Min Won Lee, Birgit Stiller, Jerome Hauden, Herve Maillotte, Carole Roch, Luc Thevenaz, Thibaut Sylvestre

IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS 24 (1) 79-81 (2012) | Journal

In this letter, we experimentally demonstrate Brillouin echoes-based<br> distributed optical fiber sensing with centimeter spatial resolution. It<br> is based on a differential phase-shift-keying technique using a single<br> Mach-Zehnder modulator to generate a pump pulse and a pi-phase-shifted<br> pulse with an easy and accurate adjustment of delay. The results are<br> compared to those obtained in standard Brillouin echo-distributed<br> sensing system with two optical modulators and clearly show a resolution<br> of 5 cm in a spliced segment between two fibers by applying a<br> pi-phase-shifted pulse of 500 ps.

Scientific career

  • since 2024 also W3 Full Professorship at Leibniz University Hannover
  • 04/2019 – Independent Max Planck Research Group Leader (centrally funded, selected in the competitive call 2017), Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Germany, Quantum Optoacoustic
  • 04/2021- 09/2022 Temporary W3 Full Professorship (Lehrstuhlvertretung), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Chair of Optics
  • 06/2015 – 02/2019 Research fellow, The University of Sydney, CUDOS, Australia, Nonlinear Optical Phononics (Prof. Benjamin Eggleton)
  • 10/2012 – 05/2015 Postdoctoral fellow, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Germany, Optical Communication and Quantum Communication (Prof. Gerd Leuchs)
  • 02/2012 – 09/2012Postdoctoral fellow, CNRS Institute FEMTO-ST, Besançon, France, Nonlinear Optics and Optoacoustics (Dr. Thibaut Sylvestre)

 

Academic education

  • 01/2009 – 01/2012 Doctoral thesis, CNRS Institute FEMTO-ST, Besançon, France, “Brillouin scattering in photonic crystal fibre: from fundamentals to fibre optic sensors”, (Dr. Thibaut Sylvestre, Dr. Hervé Maillotte)
  • 10/2003 – 12/2008 Master’s degree Mathematics / Physics / Education, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, Master thesis: „Fabrication of periodically poled LiNbO3 for nonlinear optical frequency conversion by quasi phase matching“ (Prof. Jan-Peter Meyn, Prof. Christine Silberhorn)

 

Selected awards, fellowships, services

  • 2024 - ERC Consolidator Grant
  • 2024 - Henriette Hertz Scout of the Humbold Foundation
  • 2024 - Photonics100 2025 List
  • 2022 Conference chair, Lorentz Workshop “Quantum Optics meets Acoustics”, Leiden, Netherlands (14-18 November 2021)
  • 2020 Editorial board New Journal of Physics
  • 2020 Fellow of the Max Planck School of Photonics
  • 2019-2021 Conference chair, “Workshop on Optomechanics and Brillouin scattering - WOMBAT 2021/2022”, Erlangen, Germany (16-18 June 2021 and 14-17 June 2022)
  • 2019 Conference chair, “Workshop on Optomechanics and Brillouin scattering - WOMBAT 2021”, Erlangen, Germany (planned for 16-18 June 2021)
  • 2019 Guest editor for APL Photonics for the Topical Issue “Optoacoustics - Advances in High-Frequency Optomechanics and Brillouin Scattering”
  • 2018 Co-Chair, “Nanophotonics 2018 – the next frontier”, Canberra, Australia
  • 2016 Co-Chair, “Quantum photonic connections conference”, Sydney, Australia
  • 2013 – 2015 Cusanuswerk career development program
  • 2011 Prix A’Doc 2011 of the Université Franche-Comté
  • 2009 – 2011 CNRS PhD Scholarship
  • 2009 Ohm-Preis 2008/2009 of the Physics department at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
  • 2004 – 2008 Scholarship Cusanuswerk
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