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Division of Information and Communication Sciences

Michael Withford
Cntr for Lasers & Applications
Macquarie University 2109
AUSTRALIA 		Maquarie University
Email withford @ ics.mq.edu.au
Position Node Director, CUDOS @ Macquarie
Room No. E7A 211
Telephone +61-2-9850-7056
Fax +61-2-9850-8983

Main areas of research

Michael J. Withford was awarded a PhD from Macquarie University in 1995 for his investigations of the effects of gas additives on copper vapour laser performance. His continuing work in this field led to the development of a new sub-class of metal vapour, termed kinetically enhanced copper laser, in 1998. His current research interests include laser micromachining, fabrication and optical characterisation of a range of photonic devices such as fibre Bragg gratings, periodically poled ferroelectric materials and index guided photonic devices. Dr. Withford leads both the Macquarie University node of Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence: Ultrahigh-bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS) and commercial venture Laser Micromachining Solutions. He is a currently a holder of an ARC Research Fellowship.

Publications

Journal Articles:

  1. M. J. Withford, D. J. W. Brown and J. A. Piper, "Investigation of the effects of hydrogen and deuterium on copper vapour laser performance", Opt. Commun. (ISSN 0030-4018), vol. 110, pp. 699-707, 1994.
  2. M. J. Withford, D. J. W. Brown and J. A. Piper, "Effects of H2 buffer gas additive on repetition rate scaling of a copper vapour laser", Opt. Quantum Electron. (ISSN 0306-8919), vol. 26, pp. 1089-1100, 1994.
  3. M. J. Withford, D. J. W Brown, D. W. Coutts and J. A. Piper, "Increased efficiency of high-beam quality extraction from a copper vapor laser with H2-Ne admixtures", IEEE J. Quantum Electron. (ISSN 0018-9197), vol. 31 (5), pp. 898-902, 1995
  4. M. J. Withford and D. W. J. Brown, "Improved ultra-violet second-harmonic generation at elevated repetition rates from a medium scale copper vapour laser", IEEE J. Selected Topics on Quantum Electron. (ISSN 1077-260X), vol 1 (3), pp. 779-783, 1995.
  5. M. J. Withford, D. J. W Brown and J. A. Piper, "Investigation of the evolution of trace impurities during the processing phase of a newly constructed copper vapour laser discharge tube", J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. (ISSN 0022-3727), vol. 29, pp. 315-321, 1996
  6. M. J. Withford, D. J. W. Brown and J. A. Piper, "Optimisation of H2-Ne buffer gas mixtures for copper vapour lasers", IEEE J. Quantum Electron. (ISSN 0018-9197), vol. 32 (8), pp. 1310-1315, 1996
  7. M. J. Withford, D. J. W. Brown, R. J. Carman and J. A. Piper, "Investigation of the effects of bromine and hydrogenated bromide additives on copper vapour laser performance", Opt. Commun. (ISSN 0030-4018), vol. 135, pp. 164-170, 1997.
  8. R. I. Trickett, M. J. Withford and D. J. W. Brown, "4.7W, 255nm source based on second harmonic generation of a copper vapor laser in cesium lithium borate", Optics Letters (ISSN 0030-4018), vol. 23 (3), pp. 189-191, 1998.
  9. M. J. Withford, D. J. W. Brown, R. J. Carman and J. A. Piper, "Enhanced performance of elemental copper vapor lasers using H2-HCl-Ne buffer gas mixtures", Optics Letters (ISSN 0030-4018), vol. 23, pp. 706-708, 1998.
  10. M. J. Withford, D. J. W. Brown, R. J. Carman and J. A. Piper, "Kinetically enhanced copper vapour lasers employing H2-HCl-Ne buffer gas mixtures", Opt. Commun. (ISSN 0030-4018), vol. 154, pp. 160-166, 1998.
  11. R. J. Carman, M. J. Withford, D. J. W. Brown and J. A. Piper, "Influence of the pre-pulse plasma electron density on the performance of elemental copper vapour lasers", Opt. Commun. (ISSN 0030-4018), vol. 157, pp. 99-104, 1998.
  12. M. J. Withford, D. J. W. Brown and J. A. Piper, "Repetition rate scaling of a kinetically enhanced copper vapor laser", Optics Letters (ISSN 0030-4018), vol. 23, pp. 1538-1540, 1998.
  13. R. P. Mildren, M. J. Withford, D. J. W. Brown, R. J. Carman and J. A. Piper, "Afterglow ground state copper density behaviour kinetically enhanced copper vapour laser", IEEE J. Quantum Electron. (ISSN 0018-9197), vol. 34, pp. 2275-2278, 1998.
  14. C. J. Paddison, J. M. Dawes, D. J. W. Brown, M. J. Withford, R. I. Trickett and P. A. Krug, "Multiple fibre gratings fabricated using frequency doubled copper vapour lasers", Electron. Lett. (ISSN 0013-5194), vol. 34, pp. 2407-2408, 1998.
  15. M. J. Withford and D. J. W. Brown, "A 60W, High beam quality single-oscillator copper-vapour laser", IEEE J. Quantum Electron. (ISSN 0018-9197), vol. 35, pp. 997-1003, 1999.
  16. E. K. Illy, D. J. W. Brown, M. J. Withford and J. A. Piper, "Enhanced polymer ablation rates using high-repetition-rate ultra-violet lasers", IEEE J. Select. Topics Quantum Electron. (ISSN 1077-260X), vol. 5, pp. 1543-1548, 1999.
  17. R. J. Carman, R. P. Mildren, M. J. Withford, D. J. W. Brown and J. A. Piper, "Modelling the plasma kinetics in a kinetically enhanced copper vapour laser utilizing HCl + H2 admixtures", IEEE J. Quantum Electron. (ISSN 0018-9197), vol. 36, pp. 438-449, 2000
  18. D. J. W. Brown, M. J. Withford and J. A. Piper, "High Power, High Brightness Master Oscillator Power Amplifier Copper Laser System based on Kinetically Enhanced Active Elements", IEEE J. Quantum Electron. (ISSN 0018-9197), vol. 37, pp. 518-524, 2001.
  19. S. Saghafi, M. J. Withford and J. A. Piper, "Characterising output beams for lasers using high magnification unstable resonators", J. Opt. Soc. Am: A. (ISSN 1084-7529), vol. 18, pp. 1634-1643, 2001.
  20. D. J. W. Brown and M. J. Withford, "High average power (15W) 255nm source based on second harmonic generation of a copper laser MOPA system in cesium lithium borate", Optics Letters (ISSN 0030-4018), vol. 26, pp. 1885-1887, 2001.
  21. B. F. Johnston, A. J. Lee, M. J. Withford and J. A. Piper, "Laser assisted jacket removal and writing of fiber Bragg gratings using a single laser source", Opt. Exp. (ISSN 1094-4087), vol. 10, pp. 818-823, 2002.
  22. R.P. Mildren, G. D. Marshall, M.J. Withford, D. W. Coutts and J.A. Piper and, "Input / output power scaling of a compact (0.8L) kinetically enhanced copper- vapor laser", IEEE J. Quantum Electron. (ISSN 0018-9197), vol. 39 (6), pp. 773-777, 2003.
  23. H. Oglivy, M. J. Withford, P. Dekker and J. A. Piper, "Efficient diode doubled-end pumped Nd:YVO4 laser operating at 1342nm", Opt. Exp. (ISSN 1094-4087), vol. 11, pp. 2411-2415, 2003.
  24. M. J. Withford, D. J. W. Brown, R. P. Mildren, R. J. Carman, G. D. Marshall and J. A. Piper, "Recent advances in copper laser technology: kinetic enhancement", Prog. Quantum. Electron. (ISSN 0079-6727), vol. 28, pp. 165-196, 2004.
  25. H. Ogilvy, M. J. Withford, P. Dekker and J. A. Piper, "High repetition rate, q-switched and intracavity frequency doubled Nd:YVO4 laser at 671nm", Opt. Exp. (ISSN 1094-4087), vol. 12 (15), pp. 3543-3547, 2004.
  26. J. M. Fishburn, M. J. Withford, D. W. Coutts and J. A. Piper, "A method for determination of the volume of material ejected as molten droplets during visible nanosecond ablation", Appl. Opt. (ISSN 0003-6935), vol. 43, pp. 6473-6476, 2004.
  27. A. J. Lee, M. J. Withford and J. M. Dawes, "Direct write nanosecond laser microstructuring of heat shrinkable films", Applied Physics A (ISSN 0947-8396), vol. 80, pp. 1447-1449, 2005.
  28. B. F. Johnston and M. J. Withford, "Dynamics of domain inversion in periodically poled lithium niobate fabricated using laser based methods", Appl. Phys. Lett. (ISSN 0003-6951), vol. 86, pp. 262901-03, 2005.
  29. K. S. Johnson, H. M. Pask, M. J. Withford and D. W. Coutts,, "Efficient all-solid-state Ce:LiLuF laser source at 309nm", Opt. Commun. (ISSN 0030-4018), vol. 252, pp. 132-137, 2005.
  30. L. Fu, G. D. Marshall, J. A. Bolger, P. Steinvurzel, E. C. Magi, M. J. Withford and B. J. Eggleton, "Femtosecond laser writing Bragg gratings in pure silica photonic crystal fibres", Electron. Lett. (ISSN 0013-5194), vol. 41, pp. 638-640, 2005.
  31. M. Ams, G. D. Marshall,.D. J. Spence and M. J. Withford, "Slit beam shaping method for femtosecond laser direct-write fabrication of symmetric waveguides in bulk glasses", Opt. Exp. (ISSN 1094-4087), vol. 13, pp. 5676-5681, 2005
  32. H Oglivy, M. J. Withford, R. P. Mildren and J. A. Piper, "Investigation of the pump wavelength influence on pulsed laser pumped Alexandrite lasers", Appl. Phys. B (ISSN 0946-2171), vol. 81, pp. 637-644, 2005.
  33. J. M. Fishburn, M. J. Withford, D. W. Coutts and J. A. Piper, "Study of the fluence dependent interplay between laser induced material removal mechanisms in metals: vaporization, melt displacement and melt ejection", Appl. Surf. Sci. (ISSN 0169-4332), vol. 252, pp. 5182-5188, 2006
  34. A. J. Lee, M. J. Withford and J. M. Dawes, "Investigation into the power-law dependence of fibre Bragg grating growth", Opt. Commun. (ISSN 0030-4018), vol. 257 (2), pp. 261-269, 2006
  35. H. Oglivy, M. J. Withford and J. A. Piper, "Stable, red laser pumped, multi-kiloHertz Alexandrite laser", Opt. Commun. (ISSN 0030-4018), vol. 260, pp. 207-210, 2006
  36. S. Saghafi, M. J. Withford and J. A. Piper, "Propagation of laser beams formed by unstable resonators with different magnifications", in press Can J. Phys. (ISSN: 0008-4204).
  37. J. M. Fishburn, M. J. Withford, D. W. Coutts and J. A. Piper", Study of the interplay of vaporisation, melt displacement and melt ejection mechanisms under multiple pulse irradiation", in press Appl.. Surf. Sci. (ISSN 0169-4332), 2006.
  38. D. J. Baer, G. D. Marshall, D. W. Coutts, R. P. Mildren and M. J. Withford, "A simple method enabling pulse-on-command from high power, high frequency lasers", in press Rev. Sci. Instru. (ISSN: 0034-6748), 2006.
  39. G. D. Marshall, M. Ams, M. J. Withford, "Direct laser written waveguide Bragg gratings in bulk fused silica", in press Opt. Lett., June, 2006.

Chapters/Papers/Articles in Books:

  1. D. J. W. Brown, M. J. Withford, R. P. Mildren and J. A. Piper, "The effects of impurities on metal vapour laser performance", in Pulsed Metal Vapour Lasers-Physics and Emerging Applications in Industry, Medicine and Science; C E Little (ed), Kluwer Academic; Dordrecht, (ISBN 0-7923-4002-7), pp. 161-168, 1996.
  2. R. I. Trickett, M. J. Withford and D. J. W. Brown, Reprint: "4.7W, 255nm source based on second harmonic generation of a copper vapor laser in cesium lithium borate", in SPIE's Milestone Series of Selected Reprints on Gas Laser Technology, Gary Eden (ed), vol. 159, (ISBN 0-8194-3519-8), pp. 454-456, 1999.

Citations

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