NEW RESEARCH CENTRE TO BRING WORLD’S BEST MEASURING DEVICE OUT OF THE LAB

A new collaborative research centre of excellence will develop ultra-precise measuring devices that could enable game-changing science, such as better medical screening technologies and carbon emissions monitoring. RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, will lead a consortium of universities and industry partners in the new $72 million ARC Centre of Excellence in Optical Microcombs for Breakthrough Science (COMBS).

The consortium will focus on bringing optical frequency comb technology—which translates electronic signals into light waves for high-precision measurement—out of the lab and into a wide range of real-world applications.

Centre Director and RMIT Distinguished Professor, Arnan Mitchell says it's a major milestone in the growing momentum of optical frequency comb technology: “A photonic chip industry has finally emerged and the unique technology it produces will transform many fields of science.”

The multi-disciplinary COMBS team includes worldleading experts from eight Australian universities (Australian National University, Monash, Swinburne, University of Technology Sydney, University of South Australia, Adelaide and Sydney) and 23 global partner organizations including The Garvan Institute, Advanced Navigation and the National Measurement Institute.

Investment in the centre will support the development of a diverse researcher workforce engaging collaboratively across fundamental science and technology, enabling advances in multiple application areas.

“The power of real-time information delivered by microcomb technologies is truly transformative. Microcombs will transform the way we measure everything around us, and in doing so change how we communicate, travel and live our lives,” said RMIT Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation and Vice-President, Professor Calum Drummond.