Research

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Other work in our group deals with novel uses of matter and light as probes. One example is the use of very short pulses of electrons in diffraction experiments, where the short pulses allow for ultrafast time resolution of physical and chemical effects being observed. These short pulses of electrons suffer both dispersive and Coulomb repulsion effects even as they propagate through vacuum towards the target, and the characterization of their behaviour in electron diffraction or holography experiments is far from trivial. Another example is the use of nanostructured devices to enhance the optical detection of target media, often biological substances. Here the same kind of resonant behaviour that leads to the enhanced generation of entangled photons also plays a role in the design of new scenarios for optical detection in medical applications.

All the work done in the group is theoretical, with some of it heavily computational and some more analytic in nature. Many students and postdoctoral fellows in the group do a mix of both. Most of the work is done in collaboration with experimental groups. Currently such collaborations are underway with colleagues at a number of universities, including colleagues here at the University of Toronto in the Department of Physics, the Department of Chemistry, and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.