Professor Louise Bradley

Prof. Bradley leads a vibrant research team in the field of photonics, with current research interests mainly in the area of nanophotonics. Her research is directly relevant for development of higher efficiency light emitting devices, solar cells and sensing applications. She has previously made significant contributions to the development of novel devices for optical telecommunications systems. In 1992 she received a BSc (First Class Hons.) in Experimental Physics from University College Dublin. She was awarded Forbairt and Trinity College Dublin scholarships to pursue postgraduate studies at Trinity College Dublin, obtaining a MSc in 1994 and a PhD in 1998. During her PhD she studied nonlinear optical processes in semiconductor microcavity systems. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow she worked on the development of semiconductor microcavity devices for lighting applications. In 1999, she became a Lecturer in the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, before returning to join the academic staff of the School of Physics in 2000. Subsequently, she was appointed Senior Lecturer and elected to Fellowship of the College in 2009, and promoted to Professor in 2016. Dr. Bradley has won over 3.55 M€ in competitive funding from Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Research Council. She has published over 140 scientific papers and collaborates with national and international research teams.

  CAVITY POLARITONS   Condensed matter, optical and dielectric properties   FABRICATION   Laser technology   NANOSTRUCTURES   Nanotechnology   Nonlinear Dynamics   Optical materials   Optics   PHOTOLUMINESCENCE   Photon Science & Technology   Photonic Networks   Photonics   Physics   QUANTUM-WELL   SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES AND MATERIALS   SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS   SEMICONDUCTOR NANOCRYSTALS   SEMICONDUCTOR OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS   Semiconductor optoelectronics   SEMICONDUCTOR QUANTUM WELLS   SEMICONDUCTOR-LASERS   SEMICONDUCTORS   SPECTROSCOPIC CHARACTERIZATION   Telecommunications Research

Over the past 25 years I have carried out research in a wide range of topics spanning the field of Photonics. In the early part of my career, I led research on microcavity physics and devices for optical communications. I pioneered research on nonlinear in microcavities in particular for microcavity-enhanced two-photon absorption based detector for optical telecommunications systems. This work led to numerous publications and two patents, and was highlighted in Nature Photonics. In parallel I developed systems for investigating nonlinear dynamics in semiconductor optical amplifiers. During this project I demonstrated the lowest noise-figure to date for a bulk SOA using novel a multi-section device to control the carrier distribution along the length of the device in collaboration with researchers in Dublin City University. At that time nanophotonics and plasmonics were only in their infancy but I could see that there was enormous potential for new physics and devices based on the control and understanding of light-matter interaction at the nanoscale. I pioneered a research programme in nanophotonics and plasmonics in Physics in Trinity. I led the development of experimental capability to fabricate, and characterise nanoscale structures. This led to long-term collaborations with leading chemistry and growth groups (Gaponik (TU Dresden), Rogach (City University, Hong Kong and Gun"ko (Chemistry, TCD)), and Parbrook (Tyndall Institute). I was the first to report experimental plasmonic enhancement of energy transfer between quantum dots. In subsequent research I revealed the role of different parameters in controlling the energy transfer signatures. Importantly I demonstrated that plasmon-enhanced energy transfer can be applied in hybrid material systems technologically of interest for improved light emission and light-harvesting devices. More recently I have pioneered research on dynamic plasmonic systems. I reported the largest resonance tuning to date using vanadium dioxide, and demonstrated for the first time that tuning the plasmonic resonance can compensate for thermal quenching of emission at elevated temperatures. My work on electrically driven reprogrammable VO2 metasurfaces demonstrates many significant features such as broadband operation, wide tuning range, inverse design and binary control, opening up many exciting possibilities for tunable metasurfaces. In further work I demonstrated for the first time that room-temperature strong light matter interaction can be achieved in dielectric metasurfaces coupled with transition metal dichalogenides. My paper on metasurface enhanced absorbance in MoS2 was the editor selection for that issue. These publications highlight my expertise across numerical simulation, design, fabrication and characterization. I have secured funding for the next 4 years to further explore metasurfaces for novel light emitting devices and sensing applications. I was invited to join the Irish Photonics Integration Centre in 2018 and I am the nanophotonics theme leader. Due to my expertise in design and characterise I am invited to collaborate on projects investigating novel materials for photonics applications. I recently designed photonic structures for colour responsive vapour sensing, pattern transformation and pattern encryption using 3D printed responsive hydrogel. A further collaboration with Alcon, a multinational company developing next generation intraocular lenses is also getting underway.