Peter Veitch

Professor Peter Veitch

Professor

School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology


Professor Peter Veitch is the leader of the University of Adelaide node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) and a member of the Optics & Photonics research group in the Department of Physics at the University of Adelaide.

He was a co-recipient of the Prime Minister's Prize for Science 2020, was elected a Fellow of the Optical Society of America in 2016 “for development of techniques essential to the successful high optical-power operation of gravitational wave detectors and contributions to Advanced LIGO”, and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics in 2021.

His current research interests includes
• High precision, high accuracy, wavefront sensors and beam profilers for advanced- and next-generation gravitational wave (GW) interferometers;
• High precision measurement of optical absorption in the short-mid wave infrared;
• New techniques for adaptive wavefront control for advanced GW detectors;
• Next-generation phase camera for investigation of wavefront distortion in advanced GW detectors;
• High-power continuous-wave cryogenic mid-infrared lasers;
• Ultra-short-pulsed infrared lasers for industrial, remote sensing and biomedical applications;
• High-precision eye-safe coherent lidar for wind-field mapping; and
• Laser airborne methane differential absorption lidar system.

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2017 - ongoing Professor University of Adelaide
    2007 - 2008 Visiting Associate Caltech
    2006 - 2016 A/Prof University of Adelaide
  • Awards and Achievements

    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2021 Distinction Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics (FAIP) Australian Insititute of Physics Australia -
    2020 Award Prime Ministers Prize for Science 2020 Prime Minister of Austraia Australia -
    2016 Research Award The Gruber Foundation 2016 Cosmology Prize to Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Ronald Drever, and the entire LIGO team for pursuing a vision to observe the universe in gravitational waves, leading to a first detection that emanated from the collision of two black holes. - United States -
    2016 Research Award Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics awarded to LIGO for the detection of gravitational waves - - -
    2016 Award Fellow of the Optical Society of America Optical Society of America United States -
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    University of Western Australia Australia PhD
  • Research Interests

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

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Principal Supervisor Stabilisation of a 2 micron fibre laser for next generation gravitational wave detectors Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Lucas James Kemperman
    2024 Co-Supervisor Development of Optical Wavefront Sensing and Control for Gravitational Wave Detectors Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Thomas James Roocke
    2024 Co-Supervisor Design, fabrication, and characterisation of high-power 2 µm GaSb based diode Lasers Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Jacob Michael Charvetto
    2024 Co-Supervisor Demonstration and optimisation of a continuous wave, high power coupled cavities for next-generation gravitational wave detectors Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sophie Kate Muusse
    2023 Co-Supervisor Birefringence Measurements of Crystalline Silicon Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Mitchell Louis Richardson
    2023 Principal Supervisor Low Noise 2-micron Lasers Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Zachary James Holmes
    2022 Principal Supervisor Advanced Instrumentation for current and next generation gravitational wave detectors Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Madison Dallas Simmonds
    2021 Co-Supervisor 2 micron laser development Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Georgia Nicole Bolingbroke
    2021 Principal Supervisor Real-Time Optically Stimulated Luminescence Fibre-Coupled Dosimetry with Beryllium Oxide Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Miss Erin Jennifer Lukas
    2018 Principal Supervisor Improving high frequency CW searches for gravitational waves Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Deeksha Beniwal
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2021 - 2023 Co-Supervisor Development of a Wideband, High Sensitivity Optical Wavefront Curvature Sensor Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Thomas James Roocke
    2020 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Experimental and Numerical Optimisation of a SESAM Mode-locked Holmium Fibre Laser Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Alexandros Kolovinos
    2020 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Development of a high sensitivity absorption measurement system for low-loss novel glasses Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Ms Sophie Kate Muusse
    2019 - 2024 Co-Supervisor Er:YAG Lasers for Methane and Wind Sensing Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sarah Martha Watzdorf
    2018 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Operating Regimes and Automated Control of Holmium and Thulium Non-linear Polarisation Rotation Mode-locked Fibre Optic Lasers Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr David Michael McAfee
    2017 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Investigation of Narrowband Acousto-Optic Tunable Filters for Semiconductor Laser Tuning Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Adam James Gambell
    2017 - 2020 Principal Supervisor High precision measurement of optical absorption in ultra-low-OH fused silica at wavelengths near 2 µm Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Craig Ingram
    2017 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Wavefront modelling and sensing for advanced gravitational wave detectors Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Alexei Ciobanu
    2016 - 2020 Co-Supervisor A Laser Based Sensor for Airborne Methane Detection Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Joshua Steven Pease
    2016 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Mid-Infrared Fibre Lasers for use in Wavefront Correction in Advanced Gravitational Wave Detectors Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Ms Deeksha Beniwal
    2016 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Development of Technologies for Active Wavefront Control of Advanced Gravitational Wave Detectors Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Huy Tuong Cao
    2015 - 2015 Co-Supervisor Investigation of cryogenic Er:YAG lasers for Gravitational Wave Interferometry Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Miss Sophie Elizabeth Hollitt
    2013 - 2018 Principal Supervisor An Er:YAG Laser for Airborne Methane Detection Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Myles Ray Clark
    2012 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Development of an Er:YAG Laser for Range-finding Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Lachlan Mitchell Harris
    2012 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Characterizing the aLIGO Interferometers Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Eleanor Jean King
    2007 - 2011 Co-Supervisor Microstructured Tellurite Glass Fibre Laser Development Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Michael Oermann
    2005 - 2014 Co-Supervisor Novel methods for the quantification of atmospheric turbulence strength in the atmospheric surface layer. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Raymond James Oermann
    2005 - 2013 Principal Supervisor Eye-safe Er:YAG Lasers for Coherent Remote Sensing Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Nick Weihan Chang
    2004 - 2010 Co-Supervisor 1064 nm Injection Mode-Locked Nd:YAG Laser Optimized for Guide Star Applications Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Thomas Rutten
    2003 - 2008 Principal Supervisor A Study Of Transition Metal Acetylides for Broadband Optical Limiters Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Yvonne Jansen van Galen
    2002 - 2010 Co-Supervisor Development and Testing of an Er:Yb:Glass Coherent Laser Radar for Wind Field Mapping Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Matthew Heintze
    2001 - 2007 Principal Supervisor Hartmann Wavefront Sensors for Advanced Gravitational Wave Interferometers Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Aidan Brooks
    2001 - 2009 Principal Supervisor Deployable Stable Lasers for Gravitational Wave Interferometers Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr David Hosken
    1997 - 2007 Principal Supervisor An instrument for the Measurement of the Spectrum of Thermoelastic Noise in Sapphire Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Christopher Hollitt
  • Position: Professor
  • Phone: 83134270
  • Email: peter.veitch@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 83134380
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Physics, floor G
  • Org Unit: Physics

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