Brian Orr (BSc Hons I, Sydney 1964; MSc Sydney 1965, PhD Bristol 1968, FRACI, FAIP, FOSA) is Professor of Molecular and Optical Physics at Macquarie University, Sydney and Director of MQ Photonics (a Macquarie University Research Centre which incorporates the Centre for Lasers and Applications). He was previously Professor of Chemistry (1988-2002) and a staff-elected member of the University Council (1999-2002). He is active in several professional chemical, optical and physical societies and in journal editing (
currently Optics Express, previously JOSAB andChemical Physics Letters). He was the first recipient (in 1994) of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute's Physical Chemistry Division Medal and (in 2005) the Australian Optical Society's W. H. (Beattie) Steel Medal. In 2004, the Optical Society of America awarded him its prestigious William F. Meggers Award "for outstanding work in spectroscopy." Brian Orr's research interests cover a range of molecular and optical physics, applying laser and spectroscopic techniques - notably energy transfer processes, molecular spectroscopy, photochemistry, chemical analysis, nonlinear optics, biophotonics, and laser instrumentation. Recent work has focused on narrowband tunable optical parametric oscillators, novel forms of cavity ringdown spectroscopy, and rotationally resolved collision-induced molecular energy transfer – together with efforts to develop, patent, and commercialise laser-based instruments for spectroscopic sensing in industry, medicine, agriculture and the environment. He and his colleagues are now initiating a research programme on nanostructure-enhanced coherent Raman microspectroscopy and imaging, to investigate biomolecular processes and to detect trace chemical substances such as explosives, pathogens and forensic residues.
For further information, see the home pages of the
Molecular and Optical Physics Laborotory (MOPL) and the
MQ Photonics Research Centre.
