Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem

Professor Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem

Prof (Photonic Materials and Optical Fibres)

School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


Prof Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem is Deputy Director of the Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) and Director of the Optofab Adelaide Hub at the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF). Heike is one of the world’s leading experts on the extrusion technique to fabricate elements with an almost unlimited range of structures from many glasses and polymers, leading to collaboration with global companies on structured glass element fabrication with high geometrical precision and surface quality. She is also the world’s first exposed-core optic fibre made from silica which leads to different high impact journals and patents.
In addition to being an enthusiastic scientist, Heike has been actively mentoring young researchers. She successfully supervised the completion of 12 PhD, 5 HDRs over the past 15 years. She currently leads a large multidisciplinary team of postdoctoral researchers, postgraduate students, research assistants and technicians, underpinned by the >$20M world-class capabilities in specialty optical glass and fibre fabrication at the Optofab Adelaide Hub.
Heike is passionate about devising new methodologies to create novel optical glasses and fibres with potential commercial impact. To translate and commercialise her research on optical glasses, fibres, lasers and sensors, she has established strategic collaborations with key leading experts from 82 university research groups and with 30 industry and defence partners.

Key Research Highlights
  • World-leader in billet extrusion technique to fabricate elements with an almost unlimited range of structures from many glasses and polymers, leading to collaboration with global companies on structured glass element fabrication with high geometrical precision and surface quality;
  • Employing soft glass extrusion to enable demonstration of new photonics concepts and prototyping of new microstructured fibre designs.
  • World’s first exposed-core optic fibre made from silica via use of ultrasonic milling.
  • Fabrication of a diverse range of nano/micro-scale fibres, of particular impact - exposed core silica fibres with core sizes ranging from ~2-10μm, enabling novel real-time and distributed sensing, and generation of new wavelengths through nonlinear optical processing;
  • New methods to embed nano- and micro-particles in glass, of particular impact – diamond-doped fibres for quantum and sensing applications;
  • World-class expertise in the fabrication of ZBLAN fluoride glass and fibres, enabling a new class of waveguide chip laser and working towards ultra-low loss ZBLAN fibres;
  • Innovative and portable technique to detect low gold concentration in rock and mining fluid;
  • New holistic approach to uncover and master the formation of plasmonic metal nanoparticles in glass, of particular impact – discovery of a new process for non-toxic, ecofriendly coloured glass fabrication.
Research Interests

Development of fibres for a wide range of applications including

  • Mid-infrared high power delivery and lasers
  • High nonlinearity based applications, e.g. supercontinuum generation
  • Evanescent field based bio/chemical fibre sensors
  • THz guidance

Glass science & technology

  • Development of tellurite, germanate and fluoride glasses with high mid-infrared transmission (2-6µm)
  • Development of glasses with high nonlinearity
  • Development of glasses and fibres doped with nano- and micro-size crystal particles (e.g. diamond nano-/micro-crystals for magnetic field sensing, oxide and fluoride nano-/micro-crystals for lasing, or gold and silver nanoparticles for coloured glass)
  • Optimization of glass melting and casting processes: understanding impact of processing conditions (e.g. melting atmosphere, crucible material, batch size) on glass quality with the aim to produce glass billets >100g with low loss and free of scattering centres

Preform and fibre fabrication

  • Understanding glass flow behaviour during extrusion and fibre drawing to control preform and fibre structure
  • Fabrication of new preform and fibre structures, e.g.
    • Suspended nanowire-core fibres with large holes for sensing
    • Hollow-core fibres
    • Fibres with extreme nonlinearity and tailored dispersion
    • Large mode area fibres
    • Fibres with subwavelength features
    • Fabrication of these new structures from wide range of materials, e.g.
    • Glass: tellurite, fluoride, fluoride-phosphate, lead-silicate, bismuthate
    • Polymer: PMMA, TOPAS/Zeonex

Fibre surface functionalization

  • Coating internal fibre surfaces with functional molecules, e.g. fluorophores, Qdots, ionophores, proteins, using silane monolayers, polyelectrolytes, PMMA or silk
  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2018 - ongoing Deputy Director, Optofab node, the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) The University of Adelaide
    2016 - ongoing Professor The University of Adelaide
    2014 - ongoing Deputy Director University of Adelaide
    2014 - ongoing Director, Optofab Adelaide Hub, Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) (ANFF) University of Adelaide
  • Awards and Achievements

    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2023 Award South Australian Government Future Industry Making Fellowship South Australian Government Australia -
    2023 Award ARC Industry Laureate Fellowship ARC Australia -
    2022 Award Beattie Steel Award the Australia New Zealand Optical Society New Zealand -
    2021 Award Excellence in Research Award The University of Adelaide Australia -
    2021 Award Darshana and Arun Varshneya Frontiers of Glass Lectures The American Ceramic Society United States -
    2017 Research Award Winnovation SA Technology Award Women in Innovation SA Australia -
    2017 Fellowship Fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA) The Optical Society of America (OSA) United States -
    2014 Award Womens Research Excellence Mid-Career Award University of Adelaide Australia -
    2009 Award International Zwick Science Award Zwick - -
    2001 Award Woldemar A. Weyl International Glass Science Award Pennsylvania State University - -
    2001 Fellowship Marie Curie Individual Fellowship European Commission - -
    1997 Fellowship Habilitation Fellowship of the Land Thüringen University of Jena Germany -
    1994 Award Award of the University of Jena for excellent PhD thesis University of Jena Germany -
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    2000 University of Jena Germany Habilitation (Postdoctoral thesis)
    1994 University of Jena Germany PhD
Research Grants
Funding Body Funding Scheme Project Amount Date Investigators
ARC LIEF National Electron Beam Irradiation Facility $740,000 2024

Professor Brant Gibson; Dr Jean-Philippe Tetienne; Associate Professor David Simpson; Dr Alastair Stacey; Professor Kristian Helmerson; Professor Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem; Dr Michael Barson; Mr Neil Wester; Associate Professor Shahraam Afshar Vahid; Dr Philipp Reineck; Professor Jeffrey McCallum

ARC Industry Laureate Fellowship

Breaking through the manufacturing ‘glass ceiling’ for ZBLAN glass fibres

$2,351,625 2024-2027 H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem
ARC Centre of Excellence

ARC Centre of Excellence in Optical Microcombs for Breakthrough Science (COMBS)

$4,900,000 2023-2029 H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, K. Dholakia, A. Luiten, A.Boes
ARC Linkage Project

Ultra-low-loss fluoride glass optical fibres for the future global network

$1,091,233

2023-2026 H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, D. Ottaway, E.Schartner, O. Henderson-Sapir, H.Moser, M.Ghaffari
DSTG NGTF A sub-nanotesla hybrid diamond: fibre sensing platform $699,723 2022-2025 B. Gibson, H.Ebendorff-Heidepriem, D.Simpson, A.Greentree, S.Afshar, A.
Stacey
ARC  Discovery Project

Ytterbium fibre laser with diamond: new laser threshold magnetometry method

$469,000 2024-2025 H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, B. Gibson, A. Greentree,Prof D. Ottaway, T. Ohshima
NHMRC  Ideas Grant Improving clinical outcomes of antimicrobial resistant infections with a drug-free intervention $699,707 2021-2025 K. Richter, R. Kostecki, H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, M.Trochsler, R. Narayan,
ARC Discovery Project Laser emission at the limit of glass transparency using nanocrystal doping $366,800 2021-2024 S. Jackson, H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem ; Y. Lu
ARC Linkage Project Polymer fibres: A game changer for THz high-capacity interconnects $343,167 2022-2024 S. Atakaramians, H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Y. Li, J. Hansryd
ARC LIEF A customized surface chemistry study system in realistic working condition

$1,544,495

2023-2024 Z. Guo, S. Qiao, H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, C. Sumby, S. Zhang, I. Gentle, W. Skinner,  M. Krasowska,  A. Blencowe J. Ma, S. Li, R. Marceau, G. Andersson, D. Jones
DSTG NGTF Integrated arrays of laser chip oscillators and photonic manufacturing techniques $128,935 2022-2024  
DSTG NGTF High-Power 790nm Diode Pump Lasers for High-Efficiency Directed Energy Solution $720,335 2021-23 H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, G. Solomon, N. Tansu,
DSTG NGTF High-power, 1590 nm and 1950 nm diodes for direct laser pumping of Holmium-doped fibre lasers for 2150 nm directed energy applications $669,082 2021-23 H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, G. Solomon, N. Tansu,
National Collaborative Infrastructure Scheme NCRIS National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Scheme (NCRIS) – Adelaide Optofab Node $6,304,000 2020-2023 H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem
ARC Linkage Project Smart design technology enabling the mid-infrared revolution $288,446 2021-2023 H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Y. Stokes , S. Warren-Smith, F. Chenard
US AFOSR AFOSR

Chaos in fiber lasers and amplifiers: breaking through nonlinear and thermal limits for the near-infrared and beyond

$1,040,183 2020-2023 H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, D. Ottaway, O. Henderson-Sapir, K. Wu, S.Warren-Smith, L. Nguyen,
ONRG Challenge X Diamond-doped fiber optic networks for persistent magnetic field sensing $40,000 2021-2023 B. Gibson, A. Greentree, D. Bai, S. Foster, H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, D. Simpson, S. Afshar

 

 
  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 Co-Supervisor Next generation quantum security using quantum-dot photon sources Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Nicole Jasmine Yuh Ling Yuen
    2023 Principal Supervisor Ytterbium fibre laser with diamond: a new approach to laser threshold magnetometry Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Sachin Kumar .
    2023 Principal Supervisor Development of two-dimensional nanomaterials based sensor devices for breath analysis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ehab Mohamed Ali Eid Salih
    2023 Principal Supervisor The new project is about advancing the development of rare earth doped core/clad (step-index) ZBLAN fluoride glass fibres for laser and amplifier applications. The research includes uncovering the impact of fabrication processes, rare earth doping and other factors on the core/clad interface quality. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ehab Mohamed Ali Eid Salih
    2021 Principal Supervisor Exploring the Properties and Stabilisation of Nanoscale Metal cluster/overlayer Architectures (Nanotechnology) Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Mohammed Zayed Asiri
    2020 Co-Supervisor From Moon Materials to High-Performance Products: Ultrapurification of Resources and their Manufacturing as Medicinal Formulations Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Quy Don Tran
    2019 Co-Supervisor Development of Laser Diodes Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Jamie Alexander McInnes
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2021 - 2024 Co-Supervisor Mathematical Modelling of Fibre Fabrication; Coupling Heat Transport with Fluid Flow in Extrusion Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Miss Eunice Blessica Yuwono
    2019 - 2023 Co-Supervisor Understanding intestinal and pancreatic hormone secretion in health and type 2 diabetes: (pre-)clinical studies and technical innovations Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Weikun Huang
    2019 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Design and Development of Microstructured Optical Fibre Pressure Sensor Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Mohammad Istiaque Reja
    2018 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Mathematical modelling of unsteady tube stretching with internal channel pressurisation for fabricating electrospray ionisation emitters Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Gagani Pathumika Ranathunga
    2018 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Intracellular delivery and voltage sensitivity of nanomaterials for the optical imaging of neuronal activity Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Mengke Han
    2018 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Optical fibre cavities for sensors and lasers Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Liushun Xie
    2017 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Mechanistic Studies of Tellurite-Based Glasses for Enhancing Visible Transparency and Ionic Conductivity Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Xuanzhao Pan
    2017 - 2019 Principal Supervisor A microfluidic sensing system for simultaneous monitoring of extracellular Ca(II) and insulin secretion Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Dr Weikun Huang
    2017 - 2022 Principal Supervisor High Resolution Distributed Sensing Using Exposed-Core Fibres Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Lu Peng
    2017 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Smart building façades using nanoparticle thermochromic technology:
    From fabrication to implementation
    Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Miss Marina Aburas
    2017 - 2023 Principal Supervisor NANOCOMPOSITES DEVELOPMENT FOR 3D OPTICAL DATA STORAGE APPROACH Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Mohammad shafiqur Rahman
    2016 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Mechanical and optical characterisation of glass optical fibres for sensing applications Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Mustaf Bekteshi
    2016 - 2023 Co-Supervisor Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) 3D printing of Titanium-based alloys: Effects of process parameters and post-fabrication treatments Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Alireza Dareh Baghi
    2015 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Noble metal nanoparticles in glass: A universal pathway towards light modulation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Yunle Wei
    2015 - 2017 Principal Supervisor Microelectrophoresis of Semiconductive Quantum Dots Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Ms Mengke Han
    2015 - 2017 Principal Supervisor Tellurite Glass Film for Enhanced Emission and Collection Efficiency of NV Centre in Nanodiamond Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Xuanzhao Pan
    2015 - 2017 Co-Supervisor Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensing: An Optical Fibre Based SPR Platform with Scattered light Interrogation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Elizaveta Klantsataya
    2014 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Radiation Sensitive Optical Fibres for Radiation Detection and Dosimetry Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Carly Anne Whittaker
    2012 - 2015 Co-Supervisor Exploring possibilities to enhance silicon solar cell efficiency by downconversion of sunlight Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Muddassar Naeem
    2011 - 2017 Co-Supervisor Corrosion Detection: A Fibre Optic Approach Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Roman Kostecki
    2010 - 2015 Principal Supervisor Radiation Effects in Glasses for Intrinsic Optical Fibre Radiation Dosimetry Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Chris Kalnins
    2010 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Development of Mid-infrared Fluoroindate Glasses Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Jiafang Bei
    2010 - 2012 Co-Supervisor Hydrogen Peroxide Sensing with Microstructured Optical Fibres Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Erik Schartner
    2009 - 2013 Co-Supervisor Nanodiamond in Optical Fibre Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Matthew Ryan Henderson
    2009 - 2014 Principal Supervisor Optical Fibre Sensors with Surface-immobilised Fluoroionophores Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Herbert Tze Cheung Foo
    2007 - 2011 Co-Supervisor Fluorescence-Based Chemical Sensing Using Suspended-Core Microstructured Optical Fibres Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Stephen Warren-Smith
    2006 - 2012 Co-Supervisor Soft-glass Microstructured Optical Fibres for Nonlinear Applications Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Wen Qi Zhang
  • Other Supervision Activities

    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 - 2025 Co-Supervisor 3D Glass Printing University of Adelaide - Master Full Time Wei Lin
  • Committee Memberships

    Date Role Committee Institution Country
    2021 - 2021 Chair Conference Chair International Workshop on Specialty Optical Fibers Australia
    2020 - 2020 Board Member Organising Committee Tradeshow, CLEO-PR Australia
    2016 - 2016 Member Conference Symposium Organiser International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICONN) Australia
    2015 - 2015 Member Technical Program Committee 4th International Workshop on Specialty Optical Fibers (WSOF'2015) Hong Kong
    2015 - 2015 Member Organising Committee Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics (ANZCOP) Australia
    2014 - 2014 Member Organising Committee International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICONN) Australia
    2013 - 2013 Member Conference Symposium Organiser 10th PacRim Conference on Ceramic and Glass Technology United States
    2011 - 2011 Member Conference Session Organiser 9th PacRim conference on Ceramic and Glass Technology Australia
    2011 - ongoing Advisory Board Member 9th PacRim conference on Ceramic and Glass Technology, Cairns, Australia Cairns Australia
    2005 - 2005 Member Conference session organiser Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society United States
  • Memberships

    Date Role Membership Country
    2012 - ongoing Member Optical Society of America United States
    2011 - ongoing Member Australian Optical Society Australia
    2011 - ongoing Member American Ceramic Society United States
  • Consulting/Advisories

    Date Institution Department Organisation Type Country
    2018 - ongoing The Board of Trustees of the Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation - - Australia
  • Editorial Boards

    Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country
    2018 - ongoing Member The Council of the Australian Optical Society (AOS) The Council of the Australian Optical Society (AOS) Australia
    2016 - ongoing Editor The OSA Journal Optical Materials Express OSA Journal Optical Materials Express United States
    2012 - 2012 Associate Editor Associate Guest Editor of the International Journal of Applied Glass Science - -
  • Presentation

    Date Topic Presented at Institution Country
    2023 - 2023 The Impact Pathfinders - guest speaker - Cruxes Innovation Australia
  • Position: Prof (Photonic Materials and Optical Fibres)
  • Phone: 83131136
  • Email: heike.ebendorff@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 83134380
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: The Braggs, floor 1
  • Org Unit: Physics

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