Dr John Holdsworth

Biography

I have more than 30 years of experience in molecular science, optical sources, equipment and detection, signal extraction and amplification.

My career path is different from the norm in that I have worked in the industry for 12 years before I did a PhD and didn't have the opportunity to do postdoctoral research. From 1995-2001, I worked in the Philippines as an academic with both teaching and administration (Chair of the Physics Department, Ateneo de Manila University) as primary duties. During this time, in difficult financial circumstances associated with the third world location, I developed a LIDAR system, upon which two Ph.D. and one M.Sc. student were trained and from which many (22) conference papers and posters were generated. Additionally, I collaborated with the Caesar Saloma group at the University of the Philippines resulting in the single journal article from this period. In June 2001, I returned to Australia and accepted the Lecturer (in Photonics) position at the University of Newcastle where I devoted most of my time in the first 3 years coordinating the Photonics program and developing its teaching materials paying particular attention to the laboratory component.

Despite my limited research opportunities, I have succeeded in my effort to establish research which has resulted in multidisciplinary collaborations with :

: Swinburne University (David Booth) yielding one journal and one conference paper in doped glass behaviour.

: Colleagues at the University of Newcastle (Howard Bridgeman, Geography) and CSIRO yielding two conference papers from LIDAR.

: Colleagues at The University of Newcastle (Paul Dastoor) into conductive polymer dynamics and mapping yielding four papers.

: The Optical Fibre Technology Centre (Stuart Jackson & John Canning) yielding two conference papers.

: Colleagues at the University of Newcastle (Dirk Van Helden) in 2-photon microscopy.

I still await my first ARC grant despite applications for DPs (now 3), LPs(2), LEIFs (1), however as a founding member of the Priority Research Centre for Organic Electronics of the University of Newcastle, I am now in a position to engage with colleagues in competitive research, and I believe I have the capability to contribute significantly to the proposed research. I currently co-supervise 3 PhD students and had mentored 2 Honours students.

I was chosen as a member of a UNESCO panel to visit North Korea in 2000 to evaluate Physics and Physics Education in North Korea. This was on the basis of significant development in and knowledge of Physics teaching in a third world setting.

I was Chair of the Physics Department of the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines for 18 months.

I have has established the B.Sc. (Photonics), B.Sc. (Hons) (Photonics) degree programs and the new (2006) Photonics major within the B.Sc. program at the University of Newcastle. This has been a very successful venture for the University and has led to graduates pursuing Honours and Doctoral degrees at Newcastle, ANU RSPSE and University of Adelaide as well as finding demand in industry and within CSIRO.

I was awarded the Faculty of Science and Information Technology Teaching award for 2004 and the prestigious Vice Chancellors Award for Teaching in 2006.

The LIDAR I developed was a finalist in the Newcastle branch of the Engineers Australia Engineering Excellence awards in 2005.

I was invited to be a full member of the University of Newcastle Research Priority Centre for Organic Electronics in recognition of my research potential and capability.

I have mentored 3 RHD (1 PhD and 2 MSc) students to completion in my previous academic position.

I have assessed 8 RHD theses both here and abroad.

I am a member of the Optical Society of America, the Australian Institute of Physics, and am the Secretary of the Australian Optical Society.

Qualifications

• PhD, Griffith University
• Bachelor of Science, Griffith University
• Bachelor of Science (Honours), Griffith University

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Research

Research keywords

• Conductive polymer characterisation
• LIDAR
• Laser applications
• Lasers

Research expertise

I have developed metal vapour laser systems for medical and scientific use and have a wide expertise in lasers and optical systems. Applications of lasers pursued have been in LIDAR, photocurrent mapping of conductive polymers as well as ultra-short pulse probing of conductive polymer materials.

I have expertise in glass modification via UV irradiation and two-photon microscopy in biomedical science.

Collaboration

I trained as a molecular spectroscopist under Prof. Alan Knight at Griffith University for all my degrees with a central theme of applications of lasers in this field, including laser isotope enrichment, multi-photon ionisation, laser ablation from liquids, cavity ringdown spectroscopy , collisional energy transfer in iodine as probed by laser fluorescence and laser induced chemical vapour deposition.

During the years 1980-1988 I worked in industry developing the initial prototype copper and gold vapour lasers and optical fibre attachments for lasers for Quentron Optics Pty. Ltd. under an Industrial Research and Development Grant and held various positions within that company including research and development scientist. I worked for Spectra-Physics the international laser company, for a three year period in laser applications until returning to Ph.D. study during 1991-1995. During 1995-2001, I transferred to the Philippines and helped to establish a research group performing LIDAR studies of the atmosphere.

My appointment as Photonics Program Coordinator in 2001 brought me to Newcastle as a teaching academic. In order to establish a research dimension to this position I have collaborated with David Booth and Keith Gibbs to measure fluorescent lifetimes in Pr doped ZBLAN glass. I collaborated with Stuart Young of CSIRO and atmospheric scientists to measure dust concentrations with LIDAR. I collaborate with the OFTC on microstructured fibre devices and have shared students with them. I collaborate with Paul Dastoor and research group colleagues and have developed the photocurrent mapping technique using near field scanning optical microscopy which, for the first time, has allowed the photocurrent output from morphological features to be probed. Spectrally resolved photocurrent detection from conductive polymer films has been established as a standard test in our laboratories.

Ultra-fast detection of exciton lifetime in polyphenylenevinylene using a supercontinuum generated in microstructured optical fibre is a topic of current research within the research group and I supervise a RHD student in this area. I collaborate on developing two-photon microscopy for biological applications and supervise a student in this area.

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
020500	Optical Physics	85
040600	Physical Geography And Environmental Geoscience	10
091200	Materials Engineering	5

Centres and Groups

Centre

• PRC - Priority Research Centre for Organic Electronics

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Member - Australian Institute of Physics
• Secretary - Australian Optical Society
• Member - Institute of Physics
• Member - Optical Society of America

Appointments

Member Physics Evaluation Team UNESCO (Korea, Democratic People's Republic)

01/06/2000 - 01/07/2000

Awards

Recognition.

2006	Vice Chancellors Award for Teaching Excellence University of Newcastle (Australia) Vice Chancellors Award for Teaching Excellence in Faculty of Science and Technology

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Administrative

Administrative expertise

I was the manager of a sales and service team of 12 while in industry. I was head of department of 30 Faculty in the Philippines. I have served University of Newcastle on several committees, Research Training and International, Teaching and Learning, Complaints Officer.

I am the secretary of the Australian Optical Society and the reviews editor of the Australian Institute of Physics.

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Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Optical Physics
• Photonics

Teaching expertise

I have established the Photonics program at the University of Newcastle. In doing so I have extensively revised and /or developed from scratch the key courses in that program. In 2006 I was awarded the VC's award for teaching excellence in recognition of the effort.

Programs

• Bachelor of Science