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DukeBr adbandF I T Z PAT R I C K I N S T I T U T E F O R P H O T O N I C S • D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y

10 Years for Duke’s Fitzpatrick

Institute for PhotonicsAND

Celebrating 50 Years of the Laser

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The FIP is the cornerstone of Duke’sPhotonics Initiative, and cross-disci-plinary research is at the heart of itsvision. We foster breakthroughsachieved by multidisciplinary researchteams whose combined expertiseextends beyond the traditional indi-

vidual disciplines. It is gratifying to see a strong, sharedvision of interdisciplinary spirit in our FIP faculty andacross the Duke campus as the growing collaborationsbetween disciplines and departments strengthen thevigor and relevancy of our efforts.

Who We AreThe FIP has experienced a remarkable growth and its fac-ulty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, and students are thefoundation of its development. The FIP faculty member-ship increased from 25 in 2006 to over 76 faculty mem-bers in 2010, with participation from 26 departments,centers and institutions ranging from BiomedicalEngineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering,Mechanical Engineering & Material Science, Chemistry,Physics, Computer Science, and Mathematics toAnesthesiology, Cell Biology, Chemical Biology,Neurosurgery, Oncology, Orthopaedic Engineering,Ophthalmology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Radiology andSurgery. The research activities of the Institute aregrouped in eight research programs, each led by aresearch director: biophotonics, nano & micro systems,quantum information, nanophotonics, photonics materi-als, advanced photonics systems, novel spectroscopies,and theory & systems modeling. The interdisciplinarymembers of the FIP faculty includes engineers, scientists,medical researchers and clinicians, all working togetherand dedicated to developing and applying the mostadvanced technology in photonics to address the chal-lenges of the 21st century in many areas ranging frominformation transfer technology to disease diagnosticsand therapy.

EducationAs education is an important component of the Institute’sactivities, the FIP Education Task Force has a strong com-

mitment to expanding photonics as an area of emphasisfor education and research. To best prepare undergraduateand graduate students for a career in photonics, we havedeveloped the Graduate Photonics Certificate (GPC) Programand, more recently, the Master of Engineering in Photonicsand Optical Sciences. Students are encouraged to developinterdisciplinary and transferable photonics skill sets intheir course work and research activities. The Institute hasestablished several Graduate Research Fellowships andScholarships sponsored by the John T. Chambers Fund andthe Michael J. and Patricia W. Fitzpatrick Fellowship Fundto encourage and assist graduate students and FIP facultymembers from different departments and schools to estab-lish long-term collaborations. We believe that this invest-ment in seeding cross-disciplinary, cross-campus researchactivities will yield valuable future dividends for Dukeand, ultimately, contribute to generation of interdiscipli-nary solutions addressing complex and global problems.

Need-Driven Research and SpinoffsIn addition to fostering fundamental research in its eightphotonics programs, the Institute also encourages indus-try-funded research. The FIP Corporate PartnershipProgram has included companies, such as Hamamatsu,Newport, Elcan, and CVI-Melles Griot. Even during theeconomic downturn of the last few years the continuingsupport of our Corporate Partners has allowed ourInstitute to have important activities, such as the FIPBreakfast Series and the FIP Seminar and DistinguishedLectures Series. With the improving economy and theemergence of strong partners in photonics, the Institutehopes to strengthen its industrial relations programs inthe coming years. We will also continue to actively pro-mote transfer of technologies developed at FIP to thecommercial sector. Spin-off companies initiated by FIPfaculty research have included Advanced Liquid Logic, Inc.,Applied Quantum Technologies, Inc., Bioptigen, Inc., BlueAngel Optics, Centice, Inc., Endls Optics, Oncoscope, Inc., PhaseBioscience, Inc., and Signal Innovations Group.

International PartnershipsTo expand its global outreach the Institute has nurturedinternational partnerships with the National Chiao Tung

D I R E C T O R ’ S M E S S A G E

Welcome to this special issue of BROADBAND, the newsletterof the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics (FIP). As we celebrate the10th anniversary of the Institute in 2010, it is important to reflect onthe achievements of the Institute for the last ten years and contem-plate our leap into the next decade.

Professor Tuan Vo-Dinh

University (Taiwan) and the University of Saint Andrews(UK). Recently the FIP has further extended its interna-tional program by establishing partnerships with theInstitut d’ Optique (France) and the Institute of Solar FuelsResearch (Germany). In addition, FIP faculty membershave established numerous collaborations in photonicsresearch with international investigators.

Our VisionWe are witnessing avery exciting periodin the history of sci-ence because there isan epochal convergenceof many revolutions of the20th century, such as the quantumrevolution, the technology revolutionand the genomics revolution. Photonicshas played a critical role by contributingkey revolutionary and disruptive technolo-gies. Light influences our lives today in newways that we could never have imagined just adecade ago. As we move into a new decade, lightwill play an even more significant role, triggeringa revolution in global photonic communications,creating nanoscale biosensors to unveil the innerworld of the human cell, developing cost-effectivemedical cures for global health, inventing new ener-gy sources, and galvanizing human exploration atthe frontiers of the universe.

Photonics is a critical enablingtechnology at the heart of this scien-tific convergence that will defineresearch progress in the 21st century.This is an exciting time for scientistsand engineers, whose efforts are criti-cally needed to address the challengesof our time. With the increasingawareness of our planet’s limitedresources, we are now entering a para-digm shift from a ‘development-driv-en’ society to a ‘sustainability-driven’ society. Scientistsand engineers will have many opportunities to use theirexpertise in photonics, apply their innovativeness, anddevote their energies to address these global challengesand contribute to a sustainable future.

We are confident that the highly interdisciplinarynature of the FIP faculty’s resources and expertise pre-pares us for the challenges of the next decade. We haveentered a phase where the knowledge of individual ele-ments is no longer sufficient but should be combinedand integrated in order to attain knowledge at the nextlevel, i.e., the multi-scale systems level where the infor-mation on organization, activity and function requires amuch higher level of complexity and sophistication.This transition from a knowledge base of individual ele-ments to a systems level is one of the major paradigm

shifts of the 21st century, which can be achieved only byintegrating multiple disciplines and domains of knowl-edge. In a broader context, education and research in thenext decade will evolve into a framework to fit the newreality of our world, i.e., a world that will be faced withcross disciplinary, systems level, and global challenges.

We need to educate the next generationof innovators and leaders not only tosolve scientific and technical problemsbut also to understand societal connec-tions between various human activities,create bridges between elements span-ning multiple disciplines, and ultimate-ly build a better world.

Reaching beyond our current leader-ship in biophotonics, photonic materialsand quantum optics, the FIP is pursuing

new opportunities to focus the unique depth and breadthof its faculty’s expertise and resources on critical areas ofnational and global importance such as energy and sus-tainability. As we aim to achieve international leadershipthrough research, education and technology transfer, wewill focus on developing translational research and inte-grated education aimed at service to a global society.

With this vision of hope I invite you to visit our web-site at www.fitzpatrick.duke.edu to learn more about ourfaculty, research programs, and activities.

Tuan Vo-Dinh, PhDDIRECTOR, FITZPATRICK INSTITUTE OF PHOTONICS

R. EUGENE AND SUSIE E. GOODSON PROFESSOR OF BIOMEDICAL

ENGINEERING

PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY

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Photonics in the global era:

FIP faculty membershave established

numerous collaborationsin photonics research

with international investigators

FIP is collaboratingwith the followingcountries:BelgiumBrazilCanadaChinaDenmarkFranceGermanyGreeceIsraelKoreaIndiaItalySpainTaiwanUnited Kingdom

Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics

International Collaborators

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Co-Sponsors • FIP Symposium

Corporate Sponsors • FIP Symposium

The Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics would like to thank our Co-Sponsors and Corporate

Partners for contributing to the organization of the 2010 FIP Symposium

“Frontiers in Photonics: Science and Technology”.

Laserfest is a year-long celebra-

tion of the 50th anniversary of

the laser, which was first demon-

strated in 1960, and is a collabora-

tion between the American

Physical Society, the Optical

Society, SPIE and the IEEE

Photonics Society. From DVD play-

ers to eye surgery, the laser is one of the greatest inventions of

the 20th century—one that has revolutionized the way we live.

The Eastern North Carolina Section (ENCS) IEEE Photonics

Society (IPS) Chapter was established in March 2007. The

broad technical

field of interest

of the IPS

includes lasers,

optoelectronics,

and photonics.

The IPS is also concerned with the research, development,

design, manufacture, and application of materials, devices,

and systems in the field of quantum electronics.

The Duke University OSA/SPIE Student

Chapter (DOSC) is a student organiza-

tion officially affiliated with the Optical

Society of America (OSA) and the

Society of Photographic Instrument-

ation Engineers (SPIE). The chapter con-

sists of graduate and undergraduate

students interested in research in optics, photonics, biophotonics

and related fields. DOSC engages in many activities related to the

exploration and promotion of optical sciences such as hosting

invited speakers, fostering industry connections and conducting K-

12 optics outreach.

SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics

founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. Serving

more than 180,000 constituents from 168 countries, the

Society advances emerg-

ing technologies through

interdisciplinary informa-

tion exchange, continuing

education, publications,

patent precedent, and

career and professional

growth.

Hamamatsu an internationally recognized leader in photonics

products. The principal lines of the company's business is the

development, manufacturing and marketing of optical sensors,

such as high-speed, high-sensitivity photomultiplier tubes, as

well as various kinds of light sources, photodiodes, photo ICs,

image sensors and

other opto-semicon-

ductor elements,

and high-power

semiconductor lasers. The principal line of business in the

Systems division is upgrading systems of devices that are opti-

mum for applications involving fields such as biotechnology,

semiconductors and medical care.

Platinum Partner – Hamamatsu Photonics | Corporate Partner – CVI Melles Griot

Since 1959, CVI

Melles Griot is a

global leader in

the design and manufacture of products that enable the prac-

tical application of light. Headquartered in Albuquerque, New

Mexico, CVI Melles Griot operates manufacturing facilities in

New Mexico, California, New York, the British Isles, Japan, and

South Korea with sales representatives and distributors locat-

ed worldwide.

A main goal of the FIP Corporate Partnership Program is to strengthen its industrial relations programs in the coming years in

order to encourage need-driven research and further develop technology transfer programs. In this activity the FIP works closely

with the Office of Corporate Industrial Relations in the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke.

5

It’s hard to imagine much happeningin a millionth of a billionth of a sec-ond. Apparently, though, a whole lotis going on. It’s just that no one has

been able to see it.That is until a method was developed to

capture images of events that happen thatquickly. In this case the images are ofevents as small as the actions of individualatoms, the folding of proteins or layers ofbacterial cell membranes.

It took scientists at the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology, led by AhmedZewail, to come up with an approach thatadded the all-important 4th dimension totraditional imaging techniques: time. Bycombining traditional electron microscopywith ultrafast electron pulses to “light up”targets to produce what Zewail and his col-leagues refer to as four-dimensional (4-D)electron microscopy.

Zewail, an Egyptian chemist, receivedthe 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for hiscontributions to developing this specialtype of “camera” to visualize events thatoccur on nanoscopic length scales and ultra-fast timescales. Among his many other honors, Zewail was asked to present thekeynote address at the FitzpatrickInstitute’s 10th annual symposium. He cur-rently serves as the Linus Pauling Chair andProfessor of chemistry, director of thePhysical Biology Center forUltrafast Science andTechnology, and professorof physics at CalTech.

Zewail's technique oper-ates on femtosecond timescales. The duration of asingle femtosecond is just amillionth of a billionth ofa second. To put this tinyduration in context, a femtosecond is to asingle second what that second would berelative to 31 million years.

Fields as diverse as materials science, nan-otechnology and medicine are expected tobenefit from the insights allowed when ableto examine miniscule structures andprocesses on heretofore inacessible timescales.

Lights, camera, action!A T O M S A N D C E L L S I N T H E M O V I E S

“The most important development fol-lowing the invention of the laser itself wasachieving fine resolution and coherence,which allows us to achieve femtosecond abil-ities,” Zewail told the audience in SchicianoAuditorium. “Until the 1960s, we couldonly achieve milli- and micro-seconds.

“To be able to measure the action ofatoms, you need to be able to captureimages at femtosecond speeds,” he added.

In explaining the technique, he describedearly experiments designed to figure outhow a falling cat rights itself and lands onits feet. The maneuver performed by the cathappens too fast forthe eye to see, butscientists in the1890s applied stop-action photographyto the question. Byflipping the indi-vidual images oneafter the other, theywere able to see thecat’s actions as itfell.

Zewail makessimilar “movies” ofindividual atoms orcells using a “cam-era” that also cap-tures individual

images, but in femtosecond slices. “Since the 1930s, electron microscopy

images have been static, three-dimension-al,” Zewail said. “Our goal was add thatfourth dimension – time. By integratingthis fourth dimension, we are turning stillpictures into the movies needed to watchmatter’s behavior — from atoms to cells —unfolding in real time.”

Zewail received his early education inEgypt and completed a Ph. D. from theUniversity of Pennsylvania and a postdoc-toral (IBM) fellowship at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, before joining the fac-ulty at Caltech.

Last year, he was appointed to PresidentObama’s Council of Advisors of the WhiteHouse and named the first United StatesScience Envoy to the Middle East.

For his contributions to science and pub-lic life he has garnered other honors fromaround the globe: 40 honorary degrees inthe sciences, arts, philosophy, law, medicine,

and humane letters;Orders of State andMerit; commemorativepostage stamps; andmore than 100 interna-tional awards, includingthe Albert EinsteinWorld Award, theBenjamin FranklinMedal, the Leonardo daVinci Award, the KingFaisal Prize, and thePriestley Medal.

Zewail was honoredwith the 2010 Pioneerin Photonics Award atthe 10th AnnualMeeting of the

Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics at DukeUniversity in October, 2010.

He is an elected member of academiesand learned societies, including theAmerican Philosophical Society, theNational Academy of Sciences, the RoyalSociety of London, the French Academy, theRussian Academy, the Chinese Academy,and the Swedish Academy. ■

F E A T U R E S T O R Y

.0000000000000001Professor Ahmed H. Zewail, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (1999) delivered the keynote lecture at FIP 10 year celebration.

Femtosecond Spect roscopy

ed by lasers.”Kim first became aware of lasers in the

form of futuristic weapons in the hands ofanimated characters in Japan. Now, he usesthem in trying to create the next genera-tion of computers based on quantumphysics.

Current computer designs are driven bythe laws of classical physics. However,chips can only get so small before theybecome the size of an atom, at which timeanother type of physics, known as quan-tum physics, comes into play. This sub-atomic quantum world is often governedby its own rules, and its vast potential canonly be realized when scientists figure outhow to create and capture the fleetingatomic-scale events that are the core of thecomputer’s power. When brought undercontrol, these properties offer the possibil-ity of unimaginable computing power,Kim said.

However, one of the keys to makingquantum computing possible is buildingstable architectures so the many compo-nents can work reliably together. Kim andhis colleagues at six other institutions wereawarded $15 million earlier this year fromthe Intelligence Advanced ResearchProjects Activity (IARPA) to do just that.

“In this five year research program, wepropose a coherent and comprehensiveresearch effort to construct an 80-qubitdevice,” Kim said. “Using the resourcesprovided by this hardware in an optimalway, we anticipate the realization of a ver-satile general-purpose quantum computerthrough which complex quantum algo-rithms can be executed. Our team consistsof leading experimentalists in ion trapquantum computing, engineering talentwith complex system integration expertise,and a group of outstanding theorists withstrong history of working closely withexperimental groups.”

Not bad considering the laser was once called “a solu-tion in search of a problem.” ■

In their youth, engineers-to-be JosephIzatt and Nan Marie Jokerst were fasci-nated by lasers and were inspired to

build their own. Then, the early transform-ers that powered neon signs were large andbulky, sometimes weighing up to 40pounds. Izatt and Jokerst both used trans-formers scavenged or lent from neon signcompanies to power their early creations.

They were hooked from then on.Izatt won a high school science fair com-

petition in his hometown of Quebec Citywith his homemade laser, despite the sparksand smoke that shot out from the trans-former. Now he uses lasers and other opticsdevices to non-invasively visualize individ-ual layers of the eye’s retina/cornea inexquisite detail.

Jokerst became fascinated with lasersafter reading a story about them inScientific American while in high school,and later, while an undergraduate atCreighton University, she built one of herown. Now, she not only fabricates minus-cule lasers that fit on a chip, but she createsintricate connections between chips usinglaser light that could someday replace cop-per as the main conductor of information.

These are just a few of the examples ofhow engineers throughout the Pratt Schoolof Engineering at Duke University areusing lasers in their different areas ofexpertise. In fact, they and other Pratt engi-neers have said much of their work wouldnot be possible without them.

As ubiquitous as lasers have become inlaboratories across the world, they alsoappear in everyday household and officeproducts.

“Lasers are everywhere,” said JungsangKim, associate professor of electrical andcomputer engineering. “There are literallybillions of them out there in everythingfrom laptop computers to DVD and CDplayers. Optical communication would notbe possible without lasers. If you think about it, everyphone call, every connection, and every signal is generat-

Lasers InspireThree Duke Engineers

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Top to bottom: ProfessorsJoseph Izatt, Nan Jokerst

and Jungsang Kim represent-ing FIP faculty.

50 Years of the Laser

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By Ashley Yeager, Duke Office of News and Communications

Definitions don’t always come easily to scientists. ConsiderPluto’s planethood, the question of what constitutes life, ordetermination of what is or is not a cancerous cell. Even the

definition of a laser has recently been debated. The acronym LASER stands for Light Amplification Stimulated

Emission of Radiation. But fifty years of studying amplified lightsources has moved the tools far beyond simple laser pointers, somuch so that a large consortium of scientists could only agree that alaser is, “hard to define, but I know one when I see one,” saidWarren Warren, chair of Duke’s chemistry department, during the2010 Fitzpatrick Institute forPhotonics, or FIP, symposium.Warren, part of the TechnicalAdvisory Committee for LaserFest, ayearlong celebration of the 50thanniversary of the laser, said thatdozens of scientists weighed in todevelop a satisfactory definition ofthe device for the LaserFest Website,laserfest.org.

“Up to about three months ago,on no place on the site did it saywhat a laser was,” Warren said.

LaserFest.org now describes thelaser as a “device that strengthenslight waves.” Some have a well-directed, very bright beam with avery specific color; some haveextremely short pulses, but the keyis that the light amplification iswell-defined and reproducible,unlike everyday light from the sunor a lamp. Warren added that a def-inition for Congress might also con-sider the laser is an economicengine. Ten billion dollars in research has enabled four trillion intechnology, he said. Part of that growth is developing laser-basedtechnologies to study cancer. Warren uses lasers to detectmelanomas because current diagnostic methods using light and amagnifying glass—seventeenth century technologies—often yieldinaccurate diagnoses. Even tissue bioposy, the removal and analysisof a piece of suspect tissue from a potential tumor, can lead to falsepositive diagnoses of cancer, unnecessary surgery and higher healthcare bills, he said.

Warren’s group proposes using lasers to pump a small amount ofenergy, less than that of a laser pointer, into a suspicious mole orbiopsied cell. Scientists watch the energy redistribute in the moleand in return obtain high-resolution images of how skin pigments

are distributed in the cells. If the pigments appear organized, thecells are healthy. But if the pigmentation is disordered relative toputatively 'normal' tissue, the cells are likely diseased. It’s the firsttime scientists have been able to look at where the different pig-ments are located in skin, opening up a whole new way of lookingfor melanomas.

Detecting diseased brain tissue isn’t yet as straightforward. Dukeneurosurgeon Gerald Grant demonstrated this when he stumped thesymposium audience with the task of identifying the line between acancerous tumor and healthy tissue in images of brain surgery

patients. During surgery, neurosur-geons can become just as confused asthat audience because doctors can’talways tell the difference betweennormal and cancerous cells just bylooking at them, Grant said.Identifying those tumor margins iscritical: Patients have a higher rateof survival if more than 70% of abrain tumor is removed, but removalof too much tissue (as can occurwhen using current fluorescent imag-ing tools for tumor margin assess-ment) means that healthy brain mat-ter has been cut away. Grant pleadedfor new tools to locate tumor mar-gins and proposed further collabora-tive investigations, possibly on thephysiology of brain cells. One goalwould be to determine whether bio-chemical differences exist betweenhealthy and diseased tissue, then todevelop a tool similar to Warren'swhich would allow real-time tumormargin assessment during surgery.

One possible solution to the challenges Grant raises is theSpectroPen, developed by Duke radiologist James Provenzale andcolleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, Georgia Tech andEmory University. The tool looks like a laser pointer, and uses acombination of Raman scattering and near-infrared fluorescence todistinguish cancer cells from normal cells. When used in the oper-ating room, the surgeon can use the integrated system to locate atumor, excise the tumor, and confirm removal via image-guided sur-gery. The SpectroPen will soon be tested in clinical trials.

These and other laser-based technologies being developed at Dukemay one day identify the presence or absence of cancer in real-time.Soon, that characterization may be even more straightforward thanthe definition of a laser itself. ■

Lasers and CancerA Shining Light of Hope Professor Gerald Grant

Surgery and NeurosurgeryDuke School of Medicine

ology, many of the basic scientists and cli-nicians do not know each other. That willchange with our new chairman.”

Researchers and physicians, includingEpstein, discussed their views on the issueand floated some suggestions. One of hisideas, which he has put in place, createscollaboration between people.

To help achieve this goal, Epstein estab-lished regular chairman’s lectures, whereophthalmology faculty members speak on a topic of clinical interest to faculty andstudents.

“What we’ve done is make each one ofour presenting faculty members bring tothe lecture a researcher from outside oph-thalmology who is doing basic science onthe topic,” Epstein said. “These collabora-tions typify the vast opportunities offered

to Duke residents to work on ground-breaking research in conjunction with engi-neers, basic scientists, chemists, pharma-cists and others.”

Tuan Vo-Dinh, R. Eugene and Susie E.Goodson Professor of BiomedicalEngineering, the head of the FitzpatrickInstitute for Photonics, and the chair of theInstitute's annual symposium, recountedhis long experience at the national laborato-ries at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The lab has a

That’s how David Epstein, Duke’schairman of ophthalmology, likened theprocess of how researchers from differentcorners of the university and from differentspecialties seem to approach collaboratingwith each other.

The Fitzpatrick Institute’s 10thanniversary symposium concluded with apanel discussion of how barriers separatingdifferent departments and disciplines can bebroken down and how to foster a richerenvironment for collaboration.

Other panelists added their observationsabout how multidisciplinary collaborationscome about.

“It’s said that collaborations often beginat the airport,” joked George Truskey, chairof the department of biomedical engineer-ing. “We need to come up with better

mechanisms for people to find what otherpeople are doing.”

And as Danny Jacobs, Duke chairmanof surgery put it: “We have to move fromrandom collisions to planned collisions.Meetings such as this can help.”

“I’ve been in the department of radiolo-gy for five years, and I just got my firstinvitation to their faculty meeting,” saidWarren Warren, professor of chemistry witha joint appointment in radiology. “In radi-

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I N T E R D I S C I P L I N A R Y R E S E A R C H :

chance ncountersNot Enough for Meaningful Collaborations

program where about three percent ofresearch dollars are set aside annually forresearch ideas, with the caveat that at leastthree different investigators had to be partof the proposal. It started off slowly.

“But within five to ten years, the pro-gram took off and became quite successfulin getting different kinds of scientistsworking together,” Vo-Dinh said. “

All panelists agreed that that there needto be more joint faculty appointments, aswell as more common spaces where facultycan communicate with each other –whether it be a specific physical location ora website devoted to the issue.

Students, whether undergraduate, grad-uate or post-docs, can also be a mechanismfor different labs to communicate and possi-bly collaborate.

“I believe that students can be veryvaluable in this regard,” said Joseph Izatt,professor of biomedical engineering. “Manyof my students are over in the ophthalmolo-gy labs all the time, but not many medicalstudents come over here to engineering.”

While he felt that Duke isnot the best place for facultyfrom different departments togather, Mark Dewhirst, profes-sor of radiation oncology, saidpost-docs can help bridge thedivide.

“They are a group thattends to be ignored but theycan serve as great ambassadorsbetween laboratories,” he said.“We should also try to estab-lish more cross-disciplinaryresearch programs.”

Vo-Dinh said that whileDuke and other research insti-

tutions struggle to establish meaningfulmultidisciplinary collaborations, it appearsto be happening on a smaller scale at theFitzpatrick Institute.

“There are so many people from somany disciplines at Duke pushing theboundaries of science,” said Vo-Dinh. “Atthe Fitzpatrick Institute, people are comingtogether, typifying the environment we needto create across the campus. We try to makethese collaborations happen.” ■

Left to right: Professors Tuan Vo-Dinh, Danny Jacobs (next to Warren Grundfest from UCLA), David Epstein, participants of the Forum on Cross-disciplinary Research

The scene is familiar. In a high school gym, with music blaring andstreamers streaming, teenagers awkwardly shuffle their feet, building upthe courage to ask someone to dance with them. When it finally happensfor some, things often go well. But it’s that hesitancy to make contact atthe beginning that stymies connections.

e

9

MORE THAN 75 YEARS AFTER it was postulated byAlbert Einstein and colleagues, French physicist AlainAspect helped prove experimentally a theory that could

ultimately usher in the next generation of computing.Einstein’s theories of quantum physics explain the properties of

particles at the atomic level, properties that are often counter-intu-itive and seem to contra-dict the basics of classicphysics. One particulartheory of Einstein and hisstudents, published in1935, argued that thereare certain quantum states that exhibitcorrelations which can occur almostinstantaneously over great distances.

By taking advantage of these cor-relations, many scientists believe theycan develop computers with almostunlimited quantum power. But thispotential can only be realized whenscientists figure out how to create andcapture the fleeting events at theatomic scale. When brought undercontrol, these properties offer the pos-sibility of unimaginable computingpower.

During his speech at the10thanniversary of the creation of theFitzpatrick Institute of Photonics,Aspect described the scientific arguments that ensued afterEinstein’s theory was first published and the subsequent work ofJohn Stuart Bell in 1965.

Bell’s argument, known as Bell’s Inequality, stated that predic-tions of quantum mechanics cannot be explained by the assumptionthat distant events have no instantaneous effect on local ones. Or, inother worlds, one particle can have an immediate effect on another,no matter the distance between. This is known as quantum entan-

glement.Aspect and his team

played a key role in experi-mentally confirming Bell’sInequality theory by takingdetailed measurements in his

laboratory.“It was the most fascinating measure-

ment I’ve made in my life,” Aspect, pro-fessor at the Ecole Polytechnique, toldthe audience.

“Wave / particle duality is all mysterybut by 1985 the correlations aided inquantum computing, teleportation, cryp-tography, and computing new types ofalgorithms,” he continued. “We’re able tocalculate exponentially faster than classi-cal computers, and there may be an evenlarger parallelism.”

Aspect is a member of the FrenchAcademy of Sciences and the FrenchAcademy of Technologies. In 2005 hewas awarded the gold medal of the

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, where he also isresearch director. The 2010 Wolf Prize in physics was awarded toAspect, Anton Zeilinger and John Clauser. ■

QuantumComputing

“It was the most fascinating

measurement I’ve made in my life.”

Albert Einstein and

John Stewart Bell

Professor Alain Aspect, Wolf Prize (2010), CNRS Distinguished Scientist, Institut d’Optique

(France)

Proving the Basis for

E D U C A T I O N

STUDENT POSTER CONTESTForty-three students submitted abstracts for the poster contest at the 10th Annual Meeting of Duke’s Fitzpatrick Institute forPhotonics. Poster Prizes: 1st place $300, 2nd place $200, 3rd place $100. The winners were:

10

FIRST PLACE:

Mary Jane SimpsonNovel melanin imaging technique provides intrinsic chemical contrast and melanoma diagnostic capabilityThomas E. Matthews1, Mary Jane Simpson1, M. Angelica Selim2,Ivan R. Piletic1, Warren S. Warren1

1Department of Chemistry, Duke University; 2Department of Pathology,Duke University Medical Center

Melanoma diagnosis is clinically challenging; theaccuracy of visual inspection by dermatologists is high-ly variable and heavily weighted towards false posi-tives, and even the current gold standard of biopsygives discordance amongst pathologists. We havedeveloped a multiphoton imaging technique which forthe first time allows direct imaging of the microscopicdistribution of eumelanin and pheomelanin in tissue.By performing transient absorption spectroscopy in thenear infrared using a modulation transfer technique,eumelanin was found to have an excited state absorp-tion while pheomelanin exhibited ground state bleach-ing. Imaging based on this contrast shows a markedshift in the chemical variety of melanin from non-malignant nevi to melanoma as well as a number ofsubstantial architectural differences, creating the basisfor a both highly sensitive and specific diagnosticmethod. Examining slices from 27 pigmented lesions,it was found that melanomas had a significantlyincreased eumelanin content compared to non-malig-nant nevi. The ratio of eumelanin to pheomelanin as adiagnostic criterion for melanoma had 100% sensitivi-ty and greater than 85% specificity in this limitedsample set. Specificity was further increased whenarchitectural and cytological features revealed by mul-tiphoton imaging were taken into consideration,including the maturation of melanocytes, presence ofpigmented melanocytes in the dermis, number andlocation of melanocytic nests and confluency of pig-mented cells in the epidermis.

SECOND PLACE: Neil TerryClinical detection of dysplasia in Barrett’s esophagus with angle-resolved low coherence interferometryNeil G. Terry, Yizheng Zhu, Matthew T. Rinehart, William J. Brown, Steven C. Gebhart,Stephanie Bright, Elizabeth Carretta, Courtney G. Ziefle, Masoud Panjehpour, Joseph Galanko,Ryan D. Madanick, Evan S. Dellon, Dimitri Trembath, Ana Bennett, John R. Goldblum,Bergein F. Overholt, John T. Woosley, Nicholas J. Shaheen and Adam WaxDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University

Angle-resolved low coherence interferometry (a/LCI) is a light scat-tering technique that uses elastically scattered light to provide depth-resolved information about the morphology of nuclei and other cellularscatterers in vivo. a/LCI is able to identify dysplasia endoscopically bytaking subsecond “optical biopsies” of target tissue and comparing theresults to those predicted by Mie theory. We present the results of apilot clinical study of 50 Barrett’s esophagus patients to assess the effi-cacy of the a/LCI technique in identifying dysplasia in vivo in a clinicalsetting.who is using novel light-based technology to identify pre-can-cerous cells of the esophagus. He is a Ph.D. student working in thelaboratory of Adam Wax, associate professor of biomedical engineering.

THIRD PLACE: Stephanie ChiuAutomatic Segmentation of Real-World Ophthalmic SDOCTImages with Better Accuracy than Expert Manual SegmentationStephanie J. Chiu1 , Joshua Y. Choi1, Francesco LaRocca1, Anthony N. Kuo1,Cynthia A. Toth2,1, Joseph A. Izatt1,2 Sina Farsiu2,1

1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA2Department of Ophthalmology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

The accurate detection of anatomical and pathological structures inreal-world ophthalmic Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography(SDOCT) images is critical for the study and diagnosis of ocular dis-eases. Only recently have algorithms been developed to automate thesegmentation process. These works, however, focus mainly on the seg-mentation of high quality images for only a particular anatomical orpathological feature. We extended a general segmentation frameworkbased on graph theory and dynamic programming, which we introducedpreviously for segmenting retinal layers in normal eyes. We broadenedthe application of our framework by incorporating prior informationabout the morphology of the ocular structures. We applied this tech-nique to segment images of varying quality from several different oph-thalmic SDOCT applications, including normal retina, Level 3 aged-macular degeneration (AMD) retina with drusen, advanced AMD retina,pediatric retina (with and without edema), and cornea. The underlyingalgorithm for the segmentation of these various images was identical,with modifications made to the graph weights, search space, and seg-mentation order for each image category. Results show that our algo-rithm accurately segmented layers in retinal and corneal SDOCT imageswith varying degrees and types of pathology. Furthermore, our automat-ic segmentation matched an expert grader more closely than a secondgrader for all image targets. This is highly encouraging for not onlyreducing the time and manpower required to segment images in oph-thalmic studies, but also for offering an extensible yet integrated algo-rithm for the segmentation of different ocular diseases.

Left: Mary Jane Simpson (right) presenting the winning poster.

11

The Fitzpatrick Institute forPhotonics is now offering a newmaster’s degree designed to provide

students with specialized classes in pho-tonics and optical sciences paired with acore of business and management courses.Students are also required to complete aninternship or project.

“The new Master of Engineering degreein Photonics and Optical Sciences is anatural extension for the FitzpatrickInstitute,” said Adam Wax, Director ofGraduate Studies for the Department ofBiomedical Engineering, and the facultyadviser for the new degree program. “Weare able to provide student training tai-lored to launch careers in industry—andthat even provides job experience throughinternships.”

The new degree program offers gradu-ate courses in areas were Duke is leadingphotonics research, including biophoton-ics, nanophotonics, quantum informationsciences, laser systems and optical imag-ing and spectroscopy.

For more information about the degree:http://meng.pratt.duke.edu/photonics-optical-curriculum

The Chambers Scholars is a new and distinctive award for the 2010-2012 academ-ic years. The program provides existing Duke graduate student(s) within theFIP $40,000 each year towards their stipend and tuition for two years. The

Chambers Scholars program is designed to reward the most outstanding individualswithin FIP for their accomplishments and potential. Each candidate was nominated by aFIP professor, and was judged on criteria including demonstrated excellence both in theclassroom and the laboratory, their two-year research plan, and projects involving inter-group or interdisciplinary research stimulating new collaborations within the FIP.

STUDENT FELLOW ADVISOR DEPARTMENT

Meizhen Shi Prof. Daniel Gauthier PhysicsStephen Crain Prof. Jungsang Kim ECEAndrew Fales Prof. Tuan Vo-Dinh BMEAmy Frees Prof. Nimmi Ramanujam BMEShwetadwip Chowdhury Prof. Joseph Izatt BME

New Scholars Program

Left to Right: Amy Frees, Andrew Fales, Meizhen Shi, Shwetadwip Chowdhury, StephenCrain, Stephanie Chiu (Chambers Scholar) Not pictured: Ma Luo (Chambers Scholar)

2010-2011 Chambers Fellows

The Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics is pleased to announce the five new recipientsof the John T. Chambers Fellows for the 2010-2011 academic years. This programhas been supporting FIP graduate students since 2001. Candidates for these fellow-

ships are incoming graduate students to Duke University who have been nominated by aFIP professor. They are judged based on their prior research accomplishments, theirresearch potential, their collaborative potential, and a range of their own personal qualities.

This year’s recipients are:Stephanie Chiu Prof. Sina Farsiu BMEMa Luo Prof. Qing Liu ECE

NewDegreeMaster of Engineeringin Photonics andOptical Sciences

F I P F A C U L T Y

Non-profit Org.US Postage

PAIDDurham, NCPermit #60

DukeBroadband is published semi-annually by the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics, Pratt School ofEngineering, Duke University. Edited by: Adam Wax, Tuan Vo-Dinh, August Burns, and Deborah Hill. Directcomments to august.burns@duke.edu.

DukeBr adband

Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics305 Teer Building, Box 90271Durham, NC 27708-0271

ANESTHESIOLOGY

Allan Shang, M.D. Assist. Prof.

BIOLOGY

Adele DeCruz, Adj. Assist. Prof.

BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

Ashutosh Chilkoti, Prof.Mark Dewhirst, Prof.Sina Farsiu, Assist. Prof.Daniel Gauthier, Prof. Farshid Guilak, Prof.Joseph Izatt, Prof.G. Allan Johnson, Prof. Kam Leong, Prof.Hisham Massoud, Prof. Barry Myers, M.D., Prof.Nimmi Ramanujam, Prof.William (Monty) Reichert, Prof. Jingdong Tian, Assist. Prof.George Truskey, Prof. Adam Wax, Assoc. Prof.Fan Yuan, Prof.Lingchong You, Assist. Prof.Tuan Vo-Dinh, Prof.

CENTER FOR METAMATERIALS ANDINTEGRATED PLASMONICS

April Brown, Prof.Steve Cummer, Assoc. Prof. Nan Jokerst, Prof.Jungsang Kim, Assoc. Prof. Anne Lazarides, Assist. Prof.David R. Smith, Prof.

CHEMICAL BIOLOGY

William (Monty) Reichert, Prof.

CHEMISTRY

David Beratan, Prof. Adele DeCruz, Adj. Assist. Prof.Martin Fischer, Assist. Res. Prof. Jie Liu, Prof. Richard A. Palmer, Prof. EmeritiWilliam (Monty) Reichert, Prof. John Simon, Prof. Michael Therein, Prof.Eric Toone, Prof. Warren Warren, Prof. Benjamin J. Wiley, Assist. Prof.Weitao Yang, Prof. Tuan Vo-Dinh, Prof.

CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTALENGINEERING

Heileen Hsu-Kim, Assist. Prof.

COMPUTER SCIENCE

Thomas LaBean, Assoc. Prof. Nikos Pitsianis, Adjunct Assoc. Prof.John Reif, Prof. Xiaobai Sun, Prof.

DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASESAND INTERNATIONAL HEALTH

Aimee Zaas, Assoc. Prof.

DUKE COMPREHENSIVE CANCERCENTER

Victoria Seewaldt, M.D., Prof.Neil L. Spector, M.D., Assoc. Prof.

DUKE HUMAN VACCINE INSTITUTE

Nathan Thielman, Assoc. Prof.

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTERENGINEERING

Martin Brooke, Assoc. Prof. April Brown, Prof. David Brady, Prof.Rachael Brady, Res. Sci. Lawrence Carin, Prof.Krishnendu Chakrabarty, Prof. Leslie Collins, Prof. Steve Cummer, Assoc. Prof. Chris Dwyer, Assist. Prof. Richard Fair, Prof. Jeff Glass, Prof. Nan Jokerst, Prof.Jungsang Kim, Assoc. Prof. Jeffrey Krolik, Prof. Qing Liu, Prof. Hisham Massoud, Prof.Nikos Pitsianis, Adjunct Assoc. Prof.David R. Smith, Prof. Adrienne Stiff-Roberts, Assist. Prof. Tomoyuki Yoshie, Assist. Prof.

GASTROENTEROLOGY

Anna Mae Diehl, M.D., Prof.

INSTITUTE FOR GENOME SCIENCE & POLICY

Geoffrey Ginsburg, M.D. Prof.Lingchong You, Assist. Prof.Aimee Zaas, Assoc. Prof.

MATHEMATICS

Stephanos Venakides, Prof.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING ANDMATERIALS SCIENCE

Anne Lazarides, Assist. Prof.Benjamin B. Yellen, Assist. Prof.

NEUROSURGERY

Gerald Grant, M.D. Assoc. Prof.

ONCOLOGY

Victoria Seewaldt, M.D., Prof.Neil L. Spector, M.D. Assoc. Prof.

OPHTHALMOLOGY

Sina Farsiu, Assist. Prof.Joseph Izatt, Prof.Cynthia Toth, Prof.

ORTHOPAEDIC BIOENGINEERING

Farshid Guilak, Prof.

PATHOLOGY

Gayathri Devi, Assist. Prof. Mark Dewhirst, Prof.Christopher Woods, Assoc. Prof.

PEDIATRICS

Bernie Fischer, Assoc. Prof.Judith Voynow, M.D. Prof.

PHYSICS

Harold Baranger, Prof. Glenn Edwards, Prof.Daniel Gauthier, Prof. Bob Guenther, Adjunct Prof.G. Allan Johnson, Prof.John Thomas, Prof.Ying Wu, Assoc. Prof.

RADIATION ONCOLOGY

Mark Dewhirst, Prof.Paul Stauffer, Prof.Terry Yoshizumi, Assoc. Prof.

RADIOLOGY

G. Allan Johnson, Prof.James Provenzale, M.D. Prof.Warren Warren, Prof.Terry Yoshizumi, Prof.

SURGERY

Gayathri Devi, Assist. Prof. Kam Leong, Prof.

76 FACULTY MEMBERS

26 PARTICIPATING DEPARTMENTS &

INSTITUTIONS AT DUKE UNIVERSITY:

AnesthesiologyBiologyBiomedical Engineering (BME)Center for Metamaterials & Integrated Plasmonics Chemical BiologyChemistryCivil & Environmental Engineering (CEE)Computer Science (CS)Division of Infectious Diseases & International HealthDuke Comprehensive Cancer CenterDuke Human Vaccine InstituteElectrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)GastroenterologyInstitute for Genome Science and PolicyMathematicsMechanical Engineering and Material Science (MEMS)NeurosurgeryOncologyOphthalmologyOrthopaedic BioengineeringPathologyPediatricsPhysicsRadiation OncologyRadiologySurgery

CORE RESEARCH THEMESbiophotonics: J. Izatt, directornano & micro systems: N. Jokerst, directorquantum information: D. Gauthier, directorsystems modeling: W. Yang, directoradvanced photonics systems: M. Reichert, directornanophotonics: K. Leong, directormetamaterials: D. Smith, directornovel spectroscopes: W. Warren, director