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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

2022

Nonreciprocal vortex isolator via topology-selective stimulated Brillouin scattering

Xinglin Zeng, Philip Russell, Christian Wolff , Michael Frosz, Gordon Wong, Birgit Stiller

Science Advances 8 (42) eabq6064 (2022) | Journal | PDF

Optical nonreciprocity, which breaks the symmetry between forward and backward propagating optical waves, has become vital in photonic systems and enables many key applications. So far, all the existing nonreciprocal systems are implemented for linearly or randomly polarized fundamental modes. Optical vortex modes, with wavefronts that spiral around the central axis of propagation, have been extensively studied over the past decades and offer an additional degree of freedom useful in many applications. Here, we report a light-driven nonreciprocal isolation system for optical vortex modes based on topology-selective stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in chiral photonic crystal fiber. The device can be reconfigured as an amplifier or an isolator by adjusting the frequency of the control signal. The experimental results show vortex isolation of 22 decibels (dB), which is at the state of the art in fundamental mode isolators using SBS. This device may find applications in optical communications, fiber lasers, quantum information processing, and optical tweezers.

Stimulated Brillouin scattering in chiral photonic crystal fiber

Xinglin Zeng, Wenbin He, Michael Frosz, Andreas Geilen, Paul Roth, Gordon Wong, Philip Russell, Birgit Stiller

Photonics Research 10 (3) 711-718 (2022) | Journal | PDF

Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) has many applications; for example, in sensing, microwave photonics, and signal processing. Here, we report the first experimental study of SBS in chiral photonic crystal fiber (PCF), which displays optical activity and robustly maintains circular polarization states against external perturbations. As a result, circularly polarized pump light is cleanly backscattered into a Stokes signal with the orthogonal circular polarization state, as is required by angular momentum conservation. By comparison, untwisted PCF generates a Stokes signal with an unpredictable polarization state, owing to its high sensitivity to external perturbations. We use chiral PCF to realize a circularly polarized continuous-wave Brillouin laser. The results pave the way for a new generation of stable circularly polarized SBS systems with applications in quantum manipulation, optical tweezers, optical gyroscopes, and fiber sensors.

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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