Profile

Prof Piper has extensive expertise and experience gained over 30 years of research in lasers, optics and photonics, and applications in micro fabrication. In the area of gas lasers, he has a strong international reputation for research in continuous wave metal ion, cyclic pulsed metal vapour lasers and metal ion recombination lasers; outcomes include developments of new high-power copper vapour laser technologies of international importance due their application in a variety of industrial laser processes. Research on beam quality and nonlinear frequency conversion of high-power copper lasers has led development of new ultraviolet laser sources which also have important industrial applications in microfabrication. He has also undertaken extensive developments of tunable dye laser cavities, particularly for copper laser pumped dye lasers, work which has resulted in several widely cited publications which have formed the basis of many subsequent dye laser designs used commercially, and in various major national programs relating to the nuclear industry.

His research in solid-state lasers has concentrated primarily on diode-pumped lasers and related thermal engineering, mid-infrared solid state laser materials, solid state Raman lasers, and novel self-frequency-doubling laser materials. Key results have been development of encapsulated-rod concepts for diode-side-pumped lasers, demonstration of efficient all-solid-state visible lasers based on the self-frequency-doubling material Yb:YAB, and development of a new class of efficient visible sources based on intracavity, frequency-doubled crystalline Raman lasers.

Following approaches from Australian industry Prof Piper and his team have undertaken extensive research in high-precision ultra-violet laser micromachining of polymers, metals and ceramics using high-pulse-rate uv lasers. One key outcome of this work has been development of the laser drilling technology used to fabricate the micro-orifice flow controllers for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games torches. This work has expanded to include laser fabrication of photonic components such as fibre Bragg gratings and other microstructured optical (nonlinear) materials.

Current position

• Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Professor of Physics

Academic qualifications

• 1968, B.Sc. (Hons), University of Otago, NZ; 1971, PhD, University of Otago, NZ.

Relevant employment history

• 1971-1975, Research Fellow, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford University, UK
• 1975-83, Lecturer, Snr Lecturer and Assoc Professor in Physics, Macquarie University
• 1984- ..., Professor of Physics, Macquarie University
• 1997-2002, Dean, Division of Information & Communication Sciences, Macquarie Univ.
• 2003- ..., Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Macquarie University

Awards

• 1982 Pawsey Medal, Australian Academy of Science
• 1984 Walter Boas Medal, Australian Institute of Physics
• 1994 Fellow, Optical Society of America
• 1997 AOS Medal, Australian Optical Society
• 2004 Carnegie Centenary Professorship, Carnegie Trust Universities of Scotland
• 2006 Honorary Doctorate of Science, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland

Publications

• DEST proxies, 2001‑5:

Ten significant publications, 2001‑05

1. P Dekker, JM Dawes, JA Piper, Yaogang Liu & Jiyang Wang, "1.1 W CW self-frequency-doubled diode-pumped Yb:YAl₃(BO₃)₄ laser " , Optics Communications 195 (2001) 431-436.
   
   
   

   [C1; impact = 1.581 ; 27 citations]
2. DJW Brown, MJ Withford & JA Piper, "High power, high brightness Master Oscillator Power Amplifier copper laser system based on kinetically enhanced active elements ", IEEE J. Quantum Electron QE-37 (2001) 518-524.
   
   [C1; impact =3.675; 10 citations]
3. PA Burns, JM Dawes, P Dekker, JA Piper & JY Wang, "Coupled-cavity, single-frequency, yellow microchip tunable cw Yb:YAB laser ", Optics Communications 207 (2002) 315-320.
   
   [C1; impact = 1.581; 16 citations]
4. P Dekker, PA Burns, JM Dawes, JA Piper, Jing Li, Xiaobo Hu, and Jiyang Wang, "Widely tunable yellow-green lasers based on the self-frequency-doubling material Yb:YAB ", Journal of the Optical Society of America B 20 (2003) 706-712.
   
   [C1; impact = 2.649; 6 citations]
5. HM Pask, S Myers, JA Piper, J Richards & T McKay, "High average power, all-solid-state, external resonator Raman laser ", Optics Letters, 28 (2003) 435-437.
   
   [C1; impact = 3.882; 4 citations]
6. H Ogilvy, MJ Withford, P Dekker & JA Piper, "Efficient diode double-end-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser operating at 1342nm ", Optics Express 11 (2003) 2411-2415.
   
   [C1; impact = 3.797; 11 cit'ns]

7. R Connally, D Veal & JA Piper, "Flashlamp-excited time-resolved fluorescence microscope suppresses autofluorescence in water concentrates to deliver an 11-fold increase in signal-to-noise ratio ", Journal of Biomedical Optics 9 (2004) 725-734.
   
   [C1; impact = 3.455; 3 citations]
8. RP Mildren, M Convery, HM Pask, JA Piper & T. Mckay, "Efficient, all-solid-state, Raman laser in the yellow, orange and red ", Optics Express 12 (2004) 785-790.
   
   [C1; impact = 3.797; 4 cit'ns]

9. RP Mildren, HM Pask, H Ogilvy & JA Piper, "Discretely tunable, all-solid-state laser in the green, yellow and red ", Optics Letters 30 (2005) 1500-1502.
   
   [C1; impact = 3.882; 1 citation]

10. H Ogilvy & JA Piper, "All-solid-state high repetition pulsed 336 nm source based on a frequency-quadrupled Nd:YVO₄ laser ", Optics Express 13 (2005) 9465-9471.
    
    [C1; impact = 3.797; 0 citations]