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Welcome


Welcome to the Institute for Optical Sciences, University of Toronto. IOS is a new initiative at the University of Toronto.

The IOS serves as the home for new colloborative undergraduate and graduate programs in Photonics/Optical Sciences that will train intellectually agile students. The intellectual foci of the IOS will be;
  • Artificially structured materials
  • Quantum Information and Control
  • Atomic, Molecular and Electron Optics
  • Complex optical systems and nonlinear processes
  • Biooptics
  • Devices and Enabling Technologies

IOS brings a variety of new initiatives. These include

Undergraduate and graduate programs in Photonics/Optics.

Scientific Entrepreneurship - A weekly series of lectures for aspiring young entrepreneurs. In addition to successful scientists, heads of large Venture Capital firms, Angel Investors and Patent Lawyers share their experience in building up new ventures. The course culminates in the mentorship program.

Distinguished Visiting Scientist Program - World leading researchers are invited for extended stay at the University

Stoicheff Lectures- An annual lecture by a distinguished, internationally renowned optical physicist; the lecture is open to the general public. This year's lecture is by Professor Alan Willner (from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles) on December 14, 2008.

Lecture Tours - IOS faculty going on tour to various universities worldwide. Universities with limited means to bring in outside speakers will be targeted specifically.

Summer Schools in Optical Sciences - Continued education of industrial researchers to enable them to keep current.

We are currently rebuilding these pages. Please visit again. In the meantime, if you have any enquiries, please send us an email.

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Announcements

Prof. Robert Boyd will visit the Institute for Optical Sciences as a Distinguished Visiting Scientist

Professor Robert Boyd, from the University of Rochester, will visit the Institute for Optical Sciences from March 5 to 10, 2010 as a Distinguished Visiting Scientist (DVS) and will give 3 lectures. More information is available here.

Prof. Alain Aspect will visit the Institute for Optical Sciences and will deliver 3 lectures.

Professor Alain Aspect, from the Institut d'Optique, Palaiseau, France, will visit the Institute for Optical Sciences from December 1 to 6 as a Stoicheff Lecturer and a Distinguished Visiting Scientist (DVS). More information on the Stoicheff lecture is available here, and for the DVS lectures here.

Prof. Louis Brus visits the Institute for Optical Sciences

Prof. Louis Brus visits the University of Toronto Institute for Optical Science from March 16 to 19 2009. More information is available here.

Prof. Ignacio Cirac to visit Toronto from February 2 to 6, 2009

Professor Ignacio Cirac, from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, will visit the Institute for Optical Sciences from February 2 to 6, 2009 and will give a series of three lectures. For more details please follow this link.

Prof. Alan Willner to give the 2008 RCI/IOS Stoicheff Lecture

Professor Alan Willner, from the University of Souther California in Los Angeles, will give this year's Stoicheff Lecture, organized by the Institute for Optical Sciences in collaboration with the Royal Canadian Institute. The lecture will take place on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 3 p.m. in the J.J.R. McLeod Auditorium in the Medical Sciences Building. The title of this year's lecture is: "Optical Communications: Innovations (and their Needs) Abound." For more information click here.

Prof. Naomi J. Halas visits the IOS from Oct. 20 to 24, 2008

Prof. Naomi J. Halas, from Rice University in Texas, visited the IOS from Oct. 20 to 24, 2008 and gave a series of 3 lectures on Nanotechnology and Plasmonics.

Collaborative Master's Program in Optics launched

The Collaborative Master's Program in Optics has just been established at the University of Toronto. Starting this September, students enrolled in one of the participating departments (Physics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering), who study optics or photonics may apply for admission to the program. For more details follow this link.

IOS successfully launches Science Rendezvous

The Institute for Optical Sciences has successfully launched Science Rendezvous, a day-long celebration of science in the GTA. The inaugural event took place on May 1, 2008. Over 10,000 visitors attended events at various research institutions across the Greater Toronto Area, including U of T, York University, UOIT, and others. Science Rendezvous will take place again next year on May 9, 2009. For more information visit www.sciencerendezvous.ca.

Nobel Laureate Professor Roy Glauber to visit Toronto March 10 - 14

Professor Roy Glauber will visit the Institute for Optical Sciences from March 10 to 14, 2008 as part of the Institute's Distinguished Visiting Scientists program. He will give 3 lectures, on Monday at 4:30, Tuesday at 3 and Thursday at 3. For more details follow this link.

Professor Wayne Knox delivers the 2007 Stoicheff Lecture

Sunday, December 2, 2007 -- Toronto. Prof. Wayne Knox, Director of the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester described the long and important history of optics, glass and lenses, and gave ideas about what we may expect optics to do for us in the future. He closed the lecture with a series of demonstrations, showing the different colours in white light. Every attendee received a diffraction grating, to investigate other light sources, and a few students also received holographic glasses. Approximately 400 science enthusiasts braved the early winter weather to attend the lectures. You can learn more about the lecture, and access a copy of the slides and a web-cast here.

IOS Launches its Holography course in partneship with OCAD

The IOS will start its holography course this September. Please follow this link for full details.

IOS & IEEE LEOS Lecture: Photon Counting Microdetectors and their Applications

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Prof. Sergio Cova, from Politecnico di Milano, will visit the Institute on Monday, June 11 and will give an IEEE LEOS Distinguished lecture at 4 p.m., co-sponsored by the Institute for Optical Sciences. The topic of the lecture will be photon counting microdetectors.

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Success Story: The IOS/OPC's Industrial Research Fellowship Program

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Tuesday, May 1, 2007, Toronto -- The Industrial Research Fellowship (IRF) program, established by the IOS and funded by the Ontario Photonics Consortium, creates opportunities for graduate students to gain work experience in industry. IRF alumnus Yasser Kerachian’s experience was his key to starting a career in technology transfer.

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Sajeev John receives 2007 IEEE/LEOS Quantum Electronics Award

Sajeev John IOS faculty Prof. Sajeev John has been awarded the 2007 IEEE/LEOS Quantum Electronics Award.

The Quantum Electronics Award is presented annually by the Lasers & Electro-Optics Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to honor an individual or group of individuals for outstanding technical contributions to quantum electronics, either in fundamentals or applications, or both.

Professor David Philips gives 2006 Stoicheff Lecture to capacity audience at MacLeod Auditorium.

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Sunday December 10, 2006, Toronto -- Renowned for his entertaining lectures, exciting demonstrations, and penchant for popularizing science, Professor David Philips was the ideal 2006 Stoicheff Lecturer. Hosted by the Institute for Optical Sciences, the lecture was held December 10, 2006.

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Dr. Cyril Gibbons of Innovations at U of T delivers the keynote presentation at the December IOS Lunch&Learn

Friday, Dec. 1, 2006, Toronto -- Dr. Cyril Gibbons, Director of Commercialization, Physical Sciences and Engineering at Innovations at U of T was our distinguished guest and keynote speaker at the December IOS Faculty Lunch&Learn. Cyril's presentation, Innovations at U of T -- The Business of Ideas is available for download here.

IOS organizes first etiquette training session

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Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006, Toronto -- The IOS organizes the first etiquette training session for students and post-docs. The event took place at the Faculty Club and was lead by The Faculty Club general manager and certified etiquette and protocol consultant Ms. Leanne Pepper, receiving rave reviews from the students in attendance.

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Queen's University's PARTEQ, University of Toronto announce strategic alliance to commercialize research discoveries

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Monday, Nov. 20, 2006, Kingston, ON -- Queen’s University’s PARTEQ Innovations and University of Toronto’s Innovations at U of T (IUT) are pleased to announce a strategic alliance directed at commercializing discoveries generated by university research.

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November EPIC Newsletter Released


November 14, 2006, EPIC Releases its November newsletter, Paris, France. The European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC), an organization representing companies, research institutions and financial partners with the goal of translating industry needs into research and development programs, has released its July newsletter. The newsletter is available in pdf format here.

New tool installed at University of Toronto Institute for Optical Sciences creates fresh opportunities for research teams

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October 16, 2006 – Toronto, ON Canada -- The Institute for Optical Sciences (IOS) accepted the first Canadian installation under the pilot placement program of an exciting new piece of enabling equipment from BioForce Nanoscience of Ames, Iowa. The BioForce Nano eNabler system is a bench top molecular printer that places tiny domains of biological material on a variety of surfaces with nanometer spatial precision.

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