Dale Otten

Dr Dale Otten

Research Fellow

School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences

College of Science

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Available For Media Comment.

Dr. Dale Otten is an industrially-focused applied optical physicist, physical chemist, and engineer with over 20 years of experience working with lasers, optics and materials mainly for photonics-based sensing and laser technologies.    He currently works as a research fellow in the Laser Physics and Photonics Devices Laboratory focusing on applications development across a number of photonics and spectroscopic projects.  As part of his passion to drive research into effective commercial outcomes he has worked with industry-focused projects within the ARC IDEAL Research Hub and the Premier's Research Innovation Fund (PRIF) sponsored consortium for Unlocking Complex Resources through Lean Processing.  He currently is developing mineraturized laser technologies using propriatary ZBLAN chip laser technology, and establishing a new in-house ultrafast laser inscribed precision FBG fabrication technique in partnership with the Australian Defence Science and Technology Group sponsord by their Next Generation Technologies Fund.Dale earned his Bachelors of Science with Honours in Chemistry at the University of Adelaide in 2002.  After an interlude as the resident physical chemist with a small medical instrument manufacturer in the U.S.A., Dale earned his Doctorate of Philosophy in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.  At UC Berkeley Dale was responsible for curriculum delivery duties for seven semesters covering first year through graduate level Chemistry subjects for majors and non-majors.Passionate building things for the future and helping others grow to succeed, and in turn helping to grow himself, Dale's door is always open to discuss scientific concepts both difficult and basic.  He loves to see students', colleagues' and friends' understanding flourish as a result of sharing his time and experience, and relishest the opportunity to describe the physics of the world we live in new ways so that anyone might appreciate them.As a long time volunteer as a senior leader in the South Australian State Emergency Service he also contributes to the wellbeing of his community directly, and works hard to share his knowledge and experience with his team to build a more resilient organization.  He directly executes his vision to help transform Adelaide's photonics research strengths into commercially sustainable outcomes as the Managing Director of the startup laser manufacturer Red Chip Photonics and through participation in the photonics startup community in Adelaide.  In previous roles has also been resposible for advanced laser business development throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Year Citation
2024 Fernandez, T. T., Hwang, Y., Mahmodi, H., Otten, D. E., Plenecassagne, L., Cozic, S., . . . Lancaster, D. G. (2024). Ultrafast laser-fabricated fluoride glass waveguides with exceptionally high positive refractive index change for mid-infrared integrated optics. Optics Express, 32(24), 42938-42950.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5
2023 Otten, D. E., Harris, L., Hwang, Y., Stepanov, D. Y., & Lancaster, D. G. (2023). Fiber-Coupled Multiplexed Independent Ho:ZBLAN Waveguide Chip Lasers in a Single Substrate. Photonics, 10(1), 9 pages.
DOI Scopus4 WoS3
2022 Hwang, Y., Phillips, N., Otten, D. E., Riesen, N., & Lancaster, D. G. (2022). Efficient coupling between single mode fibers and glass chip waveguides via graded refractive index fiber tips. Optics Express, 30(8), 12294-12307.
DOI Scopus12 WoS8
2021 Peng, L., Nguyen, L. V., Li, J., Riesen, N., Otten, D., Lancaster, D. G., . . . Warren-Smith, S. C. (2021). Two-dimensional mapping of surface scatterers on an optical fiber core using selective mode launching. APL Photonics, 6(2), 1-8.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2020 Schartner, E. P., Warren-Smith, S. C., Nguyen, L. V., Otten, D., Yu, Z., Lancaster, D. G., & Ebendorff-Heidepriem, H. (2020). Single-peak fiber Bragg gratings in suspended-core optical fibers. Optics Express, 28(16), 23354-23362.
DOI Scopus6 WoS4
2020 Boobhun, J. T., Otten, D. E., Skinner, W., & Lancaster, D. G. (2020). Short-wavelength infrared reflectance spectroscopy of minerals by supercontinuum illumination and speckle reduction. Minerals Engineering, 156(106528), 7 pages.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7
2019 Lancaster, D. G., Otten, D. E., Cernescu, A., Hébert, N. B., Chen, G. Y., Johnson, C. M., . . . Genest, J. (2019). An ultra-stable 2.9 μm guided-wave chip laser and application to nano-spectroscopy. APL Photonics, 4(11), 110802-1-110802-6.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2019 Warren-Smith, S., Schartner, E., Nguyen, L., Otten, D., Yu, Z., Lancaster, D. G., & Ebendorff-Heidepriem, H. (2019). Stability of grating-based optical fiber sensors at high temperature. IEEE Sensors Journal, 19(8), 2978-2983.
DOI Scopus41 WoS34
2018 Chen, G. Y., Piantedosi, F., Otten, D., Kang, Y. Q., Zhang, W. Q., Zhou, X., . . . Lancaster, D. G. (2018). Femtosecond-laser-written microstructured waveguides in BK7 glass. Scientific reports, 8(article no. 10377), 1-7.
DOI Scopus37 WoS31 Europe PMC7
2017 Chen, G. Y., Otten, D., Kang, Y. Q., Monro, T. M., & Lancaster, D. G. (2017). Measuring the radial position of defects within optical fibers using skew rays. Journal of sensors, 2017(4879528), 1-5.
DOI Scopus5
2012 Otten, D. E., Shaffer, P. R., Geissler, P. L., & Saykally, R. J. (2012). Elucidating the mechanism of selective ion adsorption to the liquid water surface. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(3), 701-705.
DOI Scopus195 WoS188 Europe PMC107
2012 Otten, D. E., Onorato, R., Michaels, R., Goodknight, J., & Saykally, R. J. (2012). Strong surface adsorption of aqueous sodium nitrite as an ion pair. Chemical physics letters, 519-520, 45-48.
DOI Scopus25 WoS23
2012 Otten, D. E., Shaffer, P. R., Geissler, P. L., & Saykally, R. J. (2012). Erratum: Elucidating the mechanism of selective ion adsorption to the liquid water surface (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2012) 109, 3, (701-705) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1116169109). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(8), 3190.
DOI Scopus6 WoS6
2010 Onorato, R. M., Otten, D. E., & Saykally, R. J. (2010). Measurement of bromide ion affinities for the air/water and dodecanol/water interfaces at molar concentrations by UV second harmonic generation spectroscopy. Journal of physical chemistry C, 114(32), 13746-13751.
DOI Scopus35 WoS35
2009 Onorato, R. M., Otten, D. E., & Saykally, R. J. (2009). Adsorption of thiocyanate ions to the dodecanol/water interface characterized by UV second harmonic generation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(36), 15176-15180.
DOI Scopus65 WoS60 Europe PMC21
2007 Otten, D. E., Petersen, P. B., & Saykally, R. J. (2007). Observation of nitrate ions at the air/water interface by UV-second harmonic generation. Chemical Physics Letters, 449(4-6), 261-265.
DOI Scopus63 WoS62
2003 Holstein, W., Dobeck, L., Otten, D., Metha, G., & Buntine, M. (2003). Ultraviolet laser irradiation of low concentration liquid microjets: Solute evaporation and solvent initiated reactivity. Australian Journal of Chemistry, 56(5), 481-487.
DOI Scopus5 WoS5
2003 Otten, D., Trevitt, A., Nichols, B., Metha, G., & Buntine, M. (2003). Infrared laser desorption of hydroquinone from a water-ethanol liquid beam. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 107(32), 6130-6135.
DOI Scopus10 WoS10

Year Citation
2015 Otten, D. E., & Saykally, R. J. (2015). Spectroscopy and modeling of aqueous interfaces. In P. G. Debenedetti, M. A. Ricci, & F. Bruni (Eds.), Source details - Title: Water: Fundamentals as the Basis for Understanding the Environment and Promoting Technology (Vol. 187, pp. 137-150). Netherlands: IOS Press.
DOI
2015 Otten, D. E., & Saykally, R. J. (2015). Spectroscopy and modeling of aqueous interfaces. In Water Fundamentals as the Basis for Understanding the Environment and Promoting Technology (Vol. 187, pp. 137-150).
DOI

Year Citation
2025 Jung, J., Hwang, Y., Otten, D. E., Lee, J. H., & Lancaster, D. G. (2025). A ~88% internal slope efficiency of a Ho:ZBLAN waveguide chip laser at 2.1 µm. In 2025 Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics Europe and European Quantum Electronics Conference CLEO Europe Eqec 2025 (pp. 1). IEEE.
DOI
2025 Otten, D. E., Stepanov, D. Y., & Lancaster, D. G. (2025). A fiberized multichannel ~2.1 µm Ho:ZBLAN planar waveguide laser array for atmospheric transmission applications. In 2025 Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics Europe and European Quantum Electronics Conference CLEO Europe Eqec 2025 (pp. 1). IEEE.
DOI
2025 Warren-Smith, S. C., Li, X., Cordeiro, C. M. B., Otten, D. E., Lancaster, D. G., Ebendorff-Heidepriem, H., & Nguyen, L. V. (2025). Beam shaping the evanescent field for distributed fluorescence-based optical fibre sensing. In J. L. Santos, M. L. A. Sainz, & T. Sun (Eds.), Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors (OFS29), as published in Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 13639 (pp. 1363917-1-1363917-4). US: SPIE.
DOI
2025 Lancaster, D. G., Zhang, W., & Otten, D. E. (2025). A Packaged and Ultrastable Passive GHz Comb Waveguide Laser. In W. A. Clarkson, & R. K. Shori (Eds.), Proceedings of SPIE the International Society for Optical Engineering Vol. 13341 (pp. 3 pages). US: SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING.
DOI
2024 Lancaster, D. G., Otten, D. E., Choi, J., & Hall, C. (2024). Short-pulse GHz class chip lasers for comb applications. In Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics Pacific Rim CLEO PR 2024 in Proceedings 2024 Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics Pacific Rim CLEO PR. Korea: IEEE.
2023 Lancaster, D. G., Otten, D. E., Hwang, Y., & Stepanov, D. (2023). A multi-wavelength hybrid waveguide-fiber cavity 2.1 µm laser. In Proceedings of SPIE the International Society for Optical Engineering Vol. 12399 (pp. 1-3). US: SPIE.
DOI
2020 Boobhun, J. T., Otten, D. E., Skinner, W., & Lancaster, D. G. (2020). Supercontinuum laser illumination for NIR reflectance spectroscopy of minerals and speckle reduction. In 2020 Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics Pacific Rim CLEO PR 2020 Proceedings (pp. 2 pages). US: IEEE.
DOI
2020 Peng, L., Nguyen, L. V., Riesen, N., Li, J., Otten, D., Lancaster, D. G., . . . Warren-Smith, S. C. (2020). Towards distributed particle sensing using a few-mode exposed-core optical fibre with a spatially referenced evanescent field. In Proceedings of the 14th Pacific Rim Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO-PR 2020 ) (pp. 1-2). online: OSA/IEEE.
DOI
2019 Schartner, E. P., Nguyen, L. V., Otten, D., Yu, Z., Lancaster, D. G., Ebendorff-Heidepriem, H., & Warren-Smith, S. C. (2019). Multi-point high temperature optical fiber sensor. In A. Mitchell, & H. Rubinsztein-Dunlop (Eds.), AOS Australian Conference on Optical Fibre Technology (ACOFT) and Australian Conference on Optics, Lasers, and Spectroscopy (ACOLS) 2019 Vol. 11200 (pp. 1120038-1-1120038-2). Bellingham, WA: SPIE.
DOI Scopus1
2019 Nguyen, L. V., Schartner, E. P., Otten, D., Yu, Z., Lancaster, D., Ebendorff-Heidepriem, H., & Warren-Smith, S. C. (2019). Multi-point optical fiber pressure sensor. In Proceedings of the Australia and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics (ANZCOP 2019), as published in Proceedings of SPIE - AOS Australian Conference on Optical Fibre Technology (ACOFT) and Australian Conference on Optics, Lasers, and Spectroscopy (ACOLS) 2019 Vol. 11200 (pp. 112000X-1-112000X-2). Bellingham, Washington: SPIE.
DOI Scopus3
2019 Lancaster, D. G., Otten, D., Bourbeau Hébert, N., Piantedosi, F., & Genest, J. (2019). Mode-locked chip-lasers with multiple waveguides. In Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering Vol. 11200 (pp. 1-3). online: SPIE.
DOI
2019 Warren-Smith, S. C., Schartner, E. P., Nguyen, L. V., Otten, D. E., Yu, Z., Lancaster, D. G., & Ebendorff-Heidepriem, H. (2019). Microstructured optical fiber high-temperature sensors. In Proceedings of Applied Industrial Optics: Spectroscopy, Imaging and Metrology (AIO 2019) Vol. Part F167-AIO 2019 (pp. 1-2). online: OSA.
DOI Scopus1
2018 Schartner, E., Warren-Smith, S., Nguyen, L., Otten, D., Lancaster, D., & Ebendorff-Heidepriem, H. (2018). High temperature stability of femtosecond written ablation Fiber Bragg gratings in microstructured optical fibers. In Proceedings: 2018 IEEE SENSORS Vol. 2018 October (pp. 1-4). US: IEEE.
DOI

  • High Power Single Longitudinal 2.1 Um Seed Laser Based on a Hybrid Waveguide / Fiber Cavity, Lockheed Martin Corporation, 22/09/2025 - 22/09/2026

  • Ultrashort-pulse direct laser writing of optical interconnects for 1.3 μm in silica glass: Phase 1, Innolume GmbH, 23/11/2023 - 02/02/2024

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2023 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Rahma Tarek Mohamed Elsebaie

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