Mathematical optics

Student groups

Cosmas Mafusire Student researcher Cosmas Mafusire investigates optical aberrations using Zernike Polynomials. He is part of the CSIR National Laser Centre’s mathematical optics research group. Mafusire obtained his Master’s degree in applied physics from the University of Zimbabwe. He is busy pursuing his PhD in laser physics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His research interest is on laser beam propagation in random media. He contributed in optical aberrations with on curvature and the beam quality factor theoretically and experimentally. He is a member of the South African Institute of Physics and the SPIE.

Yaseera Ismail Student researcher Yaseera Ismail’s research interests lie in applications of lasers. However, her research focus now is on optical trapping for the manipulation of particles. Ismail is currently a registered student and pursuing her Master’s degree in laser physics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Ismail is a recipient of the African Laser Centre and the South African Institute of Physics awards for the Outstanding Master’s Presentation awards. She is a member of the National Laser Centre Optics Society of America student chapter.

Angela Dudley Angela Dudley’s research involves generating optical vortices, which are light beams that carry orbital angular momentum. This property of carrying orbital angular momentum has led to applications in both classical and quantum optics. An important area in this field is investigating the entanglement of the orbital angular momentum states of photon pairs. Ultimately, researchers – including her – want to be able to predict changes in entanglement during the propagation through turbulent systems, which will allow us to prefer, secure, efficient quantum communication. She has a CSIR PhD studentship after obtaining her MSc in physics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her research interests lie in the experimental realisation of optical fields carrying OAM and the application of these in classical and quantum optics. She has been awarded the South African Institute of Physics Laser, Optics and Spectroscopy Best PhD Student Poster award in both 2008 and 2009. She has also presented at a number of international conferences such as the SPIE Optics and Photonics conference in San Diego, USA in August 2009, the OSA Frontiers in Optics Conference in San Jose, USA in October 2009 and at the International Conference on Optical Angular Momentum at York, UK early this year. She is a member of SPIE and Optics Society of America.