Andre Luiten

Professor Andre Luiten

IPAS Chief Innovator, Chair of Experimental Physics

Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing

Division of Research and Innovation

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


Prof Luiten is the Chair of Experimental Physics at the University of Adelaide and also a Fellow of both the Australian Institute of Physics and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. Prof Luiten obtained his PhD in Physics from the University of Western Australia in 1997, for which he was awarded the Bragg Gold Medal. He has subsequently held three prestigious Fellowships from the ARC. For his early efforts, Andre was the joint inaugural winner of the WA Premier’s Prize for Early Career Achievement in Science.
Andre came to the University of Adelaide in 2013 to take up the Chair of Experimental Physics and a $1M South Australian Research Fellowship from the Premier’s Research and Innovation Fund. He has authored 144 journal papers (with over 6,355 citations – h-index 39), edited a book, published 7 book chapters as well as over 110 conference papers, and has raised over $50M for research. In 2014, Andre was appointed Director of the Institute of Photonics and Advanced Science – a multi-disciplinary entity with more than 220 researchers. After 10 years of leadership, IPAS delivered an 8-fold increase in high impact publications (from 8 p.a. to 66 p.a.), a tripling of income ($7M to $22M pa) and a 4-fold increase in the fraction of income connected to industry investments (15% to 65%). Over its life, IPAS has won $170M of research funding. In March 2024, Andre transitioned to take on a newly created role as the IPAS Chief Innovator to allow focus on research, research innovation and support for research commercialisation.
Prof Luiten’s work is aimed at the development of state-of-the-art instruments across many diverse fields of physics. The excellence of his research has been recognised by the Barry Inglis Medal Award from the National Measurement Institute in 2017, the Australian Institute of Physics’ Alan Walsh Medal for Service to Industry, the prestigious 2018 Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in safeguarding Australia and was awarded the 2022 South Australian Innovator of the Year by the South Australian Government. Recently Andre was awarded the 2023 National Measurement Impact Award from the National Measurement Institute as well as the 2023 John Love Award from ANZOS (as leader of a research team).
In one of his proudest achievements, Andre is the co-founder and Managing Director of QuantX Labs Pty Ltd. QuantX Labs was named the Best New Small Company in Defence at the 2019 Avalon Awards and more recently the 2023 Defence Small-to-Medium-Enterprise of the Year at the Australian Defence Industry Awards. This company, built on Andre’s innovative research, has been profitable from its first day and now employs 32 people, including 10 researchers, to deliver innovations into the real world. It will do more than $7.5M of business this year.

 

 

Precision Measurement

For detailed information, please see our website.

A defining feature of our technological society is a hunger for more accurate measurement and sensing. An ever-increasing capability in this field is demanded by the need to push more information through existing communication channels, make smaller features on chips to deliver more computing power in less space, and deliver revolutionary new technologies such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

This quest for ever-better measurement is also found at the heart of physics where it is perhaps the central strand of the field: many of the greatest discoveries in physics arose from measurements of important quantities to high accuracy.

The Precision Measurements Group (PMG) aims to build instruments that can make measurements with world-class precision and accuracy. We are interested in measurements that are of high value and interest to fundamental physics as well as in industrial, biological and defence contexts.

Time (or equivalently frequency) is the most precisely measurable quantity of all. For example, modern atomic clocks can deliver long-term precision of just parts in 10(^18) – corresponding to a time error of less than a second over the lifetime of the Universe. This performance is the culmination of a 10 million-fold improvement over the last 70 years.

Using various sensors it is possible to translate many other physical parameters into a frequency and hence use the power and precision of frequency measurement protocols in many other fields.

Although this approach may seem rather esoteric it turns out that many modern key devices in modern society are based on high-quality clocks, lasers and oscillators: the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite system, magnetic resonance imaging, radar, optical fibre communications, even mobile phones.

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2024 - ongoing IPAS Chief Innovator University of Adelaide
    2014 - 2024 Director, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) University of Adelaide
    2013 - ongoing Chair of Experimental Physics, School of Physical Sciences University of Adelaide
    2013 - ongoing South Australian Research Fellow South Australian State Government
    2011 - 2013 Winthrop Professor University of Western Australia
    2010 - 2013 ARC Future Fellow University of Western Australia
    2009 - 2011 Professor University of Western Australia
    2002 - 2009 Associate Professor University of Western Australia
    2000 - 2004 ARC Australian Research Fellow University of Western Australia
    1997 - 1999 ARC Postdoctoral Fellow University of Western Australia
    1996 - 1996 International Visiting Fellow Instituto Nationale de Fisica Nuclear, Paris
  • Awards and Achievements

    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2023 Award National Measurement Impact Award National Measurement Institute Australia -
    2023 Award Small to Medium Enterprise of the Year (QuantX Labs) Australian Defence Industry Awards Australia -
    2023 Award Finalist, Defence, Dual-Use Tech & Space Award (QuantX Labs) InnovationAus Awards for Excellence Australia -
    2023 Award The University Awards for Outstanding Achievement - The Portable Clock team University of Adelaide Australia -
    2022 Award Peter Domachuk Memorial Lecturer University of Sydney Australia -
    2022 Award SA Innovator of the Year SA Science Excellence Awards Australia -
    2020 Award Elected Fellow of Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering ATSE Australia -
    2019 Award Best new Small to Medium Enterprise Company in Defence Innovation Avalon Innovation Awards Australia -
    2018 Award Alan Walsh Medal for Service to Industry Australian Institute of Physics Aruba -
    2018 Award Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia Australian Museum/DSTG Australia 10000
    2017 Award Barry Inglis Medal Australian National Measurement Institute Australia -
    2012 Award US Department of Commerce Bronze Medal US Department of Commerce Bronze Medal United States -
    2002 Award Inaugural Premier's Prize for Early Career Achievement in Science Premier's Department, Government of Western Australia - -
    2001 Award Commendation for Honours supervision University for Western Australia - -
    2000 Award Young Scientist Award in Radio-Science Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale France -
    1997 Award Bragg Medal for best Physics PhD thesis in Australia Australian Institute of Physics - -
    1996 Award Outstanding Distinction for PhD Thesis University of Western Australia - -
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    1991 - 1996 University of Western Australia Australia PhD
    1990 - 1990 University of Western Australia Australia BSc (Hons)
    1987 - 1989 University of Western Australia Australia BSc
Competitive Research Funding

Over my career I have attracted more than $50M in research grants. I have been the recipient of three extremely competitive ARC Fellowships and Chief Investigator of the $35M ARC Centre of Excellence ‘COMBS’ awarded in 2022. The range of research sponsors is much broader than is usual for an academic thus signifying the range of my activities and the breadth of my understanding of research funding schemes. As examples, I have been granted significant funds from not only the Australian Research Council but also the UK’s Wellcome Trust, the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the USA, SA Government, DST Group, Australian Air Force, Department of Industry, Defence Industry Hub as well as conducting funded collaborative research with the National Measurement Institute, CSIRO, Chevron and a number of small to medium enterprises.

Date Project/ No. Funding Body Amount
2023-2029 ARC Centre of Excellence in Optical Microcombs for Breakthrough Science ARC CoE $7,000,000
2022-2026 Novel source of excited metastable atoms for Atom Trap Trace Analysis ARC DP $532,842
2022-2025 Developing capacity in relation to the ATTA Facility CSIRO $1,500,000
2022-2023 Development of an Engineering Model o f space clock SmartSAT CRC $1,000,000
2022-2024 Digital Clock NGTF Next Generation Technology Fund Quantum Technologies $783,432
2022-2025 Underwater Magnetometry NGTF Magnetometry $966,210
2022-2023 RIMPAC DSTG $3,454,656
2022-2023 An ATTA Machine for Hydrology AuScope NCRIS pilot Funding Program $510,000
2000-2022 Running Hot: Increasing the Availability of World-Class Precision Timing ARC Linkage $300,000
2021 Compact Clock for Small Satellite Applications SmartSAT $299,330
2021-2023 Development and field testing portable atomic clocks Phase I DSTG StarShot Funding $5,239,824
2020-2022 Development of Satellite Optical Systems for Earth Observation Science CSIRO Space Technology Future Science Platform $890,000
2020-2022 Prototyping a Low-Noise Scalar Magnetometer CSIRO SIEF Ross Metcalf STEM+ Business Fellowship Program $590,987
2019-2020 Commercialization of an ultra-stable signal source SA State Government RCSF Stream 2 Bootstrap Pathway $125,000
2022 Developing high-accuracy and high-sensitivity magnetometers for the real-world DST Next Generation Technology Fund Quantum Technologies $210,000
2022 Developing the Technology for Compact Quantum Clocks DST Next Generation Technology Fund Quantum Technologies $210,000
2020 Multi-kilohertz laser for attosecond and ultrafast science ARC LIEF $744,000
2020-2021 Development of Clocks for GPS denied maritime environments DST Next Generation Technology Fund Quantum Technologies $887,155
2019-2021 Delivering an Australian Portable Quantum Optical Clock DST Next Generation Technology Fund Quantum Technologies $1M
2019-2021 Upgrade of Environmental Tracer Detection Facility CSIRO $500k
2019-2020 Packaging a Quantum Magnetometer Array for Anti-Submarine Warfare DST Next Generation Technology Fund Quantum Technologies $456k
2017 Acoustic Levitation Facility for High Pressure Multiphase Systems Research ARC, Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) $193K
2017-2018 Establishment of 3D Metal Printing Facility (AMARN) SA State Government $1.3M
2016-2017 Ultra-High Quality Signal Generation and Signal Distribution for Over-the-Horizon Radar DST Group - CTD $1.85M
2016-19 Developing the Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillator – various grants DST Group $1.9M
2016-2017 Next-Generation Photonic Magnetic Sensing for Geophysical Exploration ARI, Commercialization Acceleration Scheme $45K
2016 Australian National Facility for Noble-Gas Radio-Isotope Measurements ARC, Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF)

$600K

2015-2016 SA Photonics Roadmap Department of State Development $200K
2015-2016 Support for ARC Centre of Excellence Department of State Development, PRIF, Collaboration Pathways $150K
2015 European Fellowship Go8 $20K
2014-2016 Magnetometry DST Group $150K
2014 Compact Optical Frequency Standard ARI, Commercialization Acceleration Scheme $50K
2014 Compact Optical Frequency Standard Denis Harwood Scheme $25K
2014-2015 Untangling complex molecular spectra with an optical frequency comb ARC, Linkage Project $369K
2014-2016 Disease Diagnosis through Breath Analysis PRIF, Catalyst Grant $50K
2014-2016 The Ultimate Laser Source PRIF, International Research Grant $258K
2013-2015 Foundation technology for quantum measurement, sensing and computing ARC, Linkage Project $410K
2014-2015 Ultra-stable optical frequency references for Earth and Space applications DAAD Go8 Australia –Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme $20K
2013-2015 Ultra-high spectral purity lasers for tests of relativity and atomic clocks ARC, Discovery Project $850K
2013 High performance clock facility for new-generation radar, imaging, measurement and radio-astronomy applications ARC, Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) $300K
2012-2015 Thermometry at the double shot-noise limit National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Grant $150K
2012-2015 Avoiding cryogenic solids formation in liquefied natural gas production ARC, Linkage Project $823K
2012 Quantum instrumentation Research Collaboration Award $17K
2012 Workshop grant UQ-UWA Bilateral Research Collaboration $19K
2012 A Raman facility for advancing research supporting Australia's natural gas, oil, coal and minerals industries ARC, Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) $275K
2011-2013 Creating a national time and frequency network ARC, Linkage Project $600K
2011-2013 Ground station facility for membership of the atomic clock ensemble in space mission ARC, Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) $1,230K
2011 Collaborative grant for theory and experimental interaction UWA-UQ BCRF $30K
2011-2012 Medical laser magnetometry Wellcome Trust £354K
2010-2013 The quest for ultimate measurement precision ARC, Future Fellowship $789K
2010-2012 Redefining temperature ARC, Discovery Project $570K
2008-2010 Exploring synergies between frontier microphotonics and advanced time and frequency technology ARC, Discovery Project $480K
2006-2008 Developing new clocks for Australia: testing the assumptions of modern physics ARC, Discovery Project $630K
2005-2007 Micro-engineered optical fibre clocks ARC, Linkage International $22K
2005 A facility for ultra-precise time and frequency transfer: creating an Australian user group for the ESA atomic clock ensemble in space mission ARC, Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) $242K
2004-2006

Development of optical clocks and their applications to precision frequency measurements and time keeping

ARC, Linkage International $36K
2003-2007 Creation of new precision optical and microwave technologies and their application to testing the fundamental of physics ARC, Discovery Project $1,846K
2002 A transportable optical frequency counter, synthesizer and super-continuum generator ARC, Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) $530K
2000-2002 Frequency chain and optical clock ARC, Large Grant $272K
2000-2005 Towards an optical clock ARC, ARF Fellowship $345K
1998 Optical frequency synthesis and counting DIST Workshop Support $17K
1997-1999 Measuring the frequency of light ARC APD Fellowship $157K

 

Current Teaching

 

 

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

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Principal Supervisor A low SWaP Two-Photon Rubidium Optical Atomic Clock for alternate GNSS Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Lachlan Max Pointon
    2021 Co-Supervisor Distant clock synchronisation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sabrina Slimani
    2020 Principal Supervisor NGTF quantum technology stream quest to build a portable atomic clock Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Benjamin Robert White
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2018 - 2024 Co-Supervisor Applying Fibre Bragg Grating Fabry-Perot Resonators for Filtering and Sensing Applications Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Jonathan Peter Hedger
    2015 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Towards Purely Laser Based Generation and Trapping of Metastable Krypton Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Milad Abou Dakka
    2015 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Nonlinear Magneto-Optical Rotation in Rubidium Vapour Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Nathanial Morgan Wilson
    2015 - 2019 Principal Supervisor High-Resolution Molecular Spectroscopy with an Optical Frequency Comb Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Sarah Katherine Scholten
    2015 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Cold-Atom Loading of Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fibre for Quantum Technologies Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Ashby Hilton
  • Other Supervision Activities

    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Two photon rubidium clock with optical Frequency comb The University of Adelaide - Honours Full Time Lachlan Pointon
    2020 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Improving concentration sensitivity for broadband gas measurements The University of Adelaide - Master Full Time Josh Whitaker-Lockwood
    2018 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Light-atom interactions in a hollow-core fibre for applications in quantum technologies The University of Adelaide - Doctorate Full Time Jed Rowland
    2017 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Ultrahigh-resolution molecular spectroscopy for transdisciplinary applications The University of Adelaide - Doctorate - Faisal Karim
    2017 - 2023 Co-Supervisor waveguide-atom interactions IPAS - Doctorate Full Time Hannes Griesser
  • Committee Memberships

    Date Role Committee Institution Country
    2022 - ongoing Advisory Board Member Federal Ministerial Advisory Committee National Quantum Advisory Committee Australia
    2019 - 2022 Member SA Premier's Science and Innovation Council SA Premier’s Science and Innovation Council Australia
    2017 - ongoing Member National Committees for Science | Australian Academy of Science Australian Academy of Science Australia
    2015 - 2016 Member Innovation Voucher Program Government of South Australia Australia
    2015 - 2016 Member SA Future Photonics Industry Roadmap Government of South Australia Australia
    2015 - 2015 Co-Chair Joint Program Chair Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics (ANZCOP) Australia
    2011 - 2011 Chair Sub-committee Chair Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and International Quantum Electronics Conference Australia
    2009 - 2016 Member Technical Program Committee International Frequency Control Symposium -
    2009 - 2016 Member Technical Program Committee European Frequency Forum -
  • Memberships

    Date Role Membership Country
    2015 - ongoing Member Commission on Symbols, Units, Nomenclature, Atomic Masses and Fundamental Constants (SUNAMCO) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics -
    2006 - 2010 Member European Science Foundation Grant Panel for Euroquasar: Quantum Standards and Metrology -
  • Position: IPAS Chief Innovator, Chair of Experimental Physics
  • Email: andre.luiten@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: The Braggs, floor 1
  • Org Unit: Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, Physics

Connect With Me
External Profiles