Mixed Digital and Analog Control of Advanced Lasers

The spectral control of lasers is crucial if they are to be used in applications ranging from gravitational wave detection through to the remote detection of leaks from gas pipelines.

Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) offer a convenient platform to achieve this. However signal-to-noise arguments favour more traditional analog control methods particularly when high servo bandwidths are required.

In this project you will explore the use of blended control strategies to optimise the performance of advanced lasers.

This project is part of the research program within the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), and includes research toward upgrading the sensitivity of the current generation of detectors, analysing data from those detectors and the development of technology for future detectors.

• Professor Peter Veitch | Dr Sebastian Ng
• Research Area: Ozgrav
• Recommended honours enrolment: Honours in Physics