Dr Florian Englich

Biography/ Background

Dr. Englich was born in Hamburg, Germany. He received his Dipl.-Ing. (Applied Laser Technology) from the University of Applied Sciences, Emden, Germany in 2001. His undergraduate thesis research was performed at Rice University, Houston, TX, USA under supervision of Prof. Frank K. Tittel and Prof. Walter Neu in collaboration with Life Support Systems Branch at NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. During this time he helped to develop a portable diode laser-based sensor for ammonia and carbon dioxide using overtone infrared laser absorption spectroscopy. The sensor successfully passed field-tests in a bioreactor being developed at Johnson Space Center for biological water recovery to support long-duration space missions. As recognition of his research and its presentation he was awarded the Australian Optical Society (AOS) best student presentation award for 2002, presented by the Optical Society of America (OSA) and the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE).

In 2007 he completed his Ph.D. research under the supervision of Prof. Brian J. Orr and Associate Prof. David W. Coutts in the Molecular & Optical Physics Laboratory within the Centre for Lasers & Applications (now MQ Photonics Research Centre) at Macquarie University Sydney. Dr. Englich’s doctoral research focused on continuous-wave cavity ringdown spectroscopy, which was extended for the first time from its conventional optical-absorption mode of operation into the regime of coherent Raman spectroscopy. This novel cavity-ringdown realisation of coherent Raman spectroscopy broadens the scope of cavity ringdown techniques for spectroscopic sensing and complements more conventional forms of stimulated Raman gain spectroscopy. This research was recently published as an Invited Paper in Applied Physics B 94, 1-27 (2009).

In 2008, Dr. Englich was awarded a NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for postdoctoral research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, USA. From Jan. 2008 – Apr. 2009 he was developing a mid-infrared gas sensor for the detection of gaseous methane and its isotopologues for in situ planetary applications (e.g., future cryobot exploration missions on Mars).

In May 2009, he joined Prof. Tanya Monro’s research group at the Institute for Photonics & Advanced Sensing (IPAS) as a postdoctoral researcher, pursuing research and sensor development in the area of optical biosensing.

Qualifications

Ph.D. in Physics, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia (2008).
Dipl.-Ing. (Applied Laser Technology), University of Applied Sciences Emden, Germany (2001).

Publications

Entry last updated: Thursday, 20 Sep 2012