African Laser Centre holds 10-year celebration, workshop in Stellenbosch

This evening, ten years of laser research and collaboration among 25 different African countries will be celebrated with a laser demonstration and a special birthday cake.

The African Laser Centre (ALC) was established on 6 November 2003 at a meeting of the African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology (AMCOST) in Johannesburg. The objective of the ALC is to foster laser science in Africa by encouraging laser science and optics-related research collaboration between African researchers and institutions.

Over the past decade, the ALC has awarded 18 postgraduate scholarships, of which five were for MSc and 13 for PhD candidates.

International speakers

This year over 40 students and researchers from 15 different countries will present their research projects to peers and senior researchers. At the same time they will also be exposed to innovative research and brush shoulders with some of the leading experts in the field, explains Dr Paul Motalane, ALC operational manager.

One of the international guest speakers is Prof Tony Parker, former head of the Central Laser Facility at Britain's Science and Technology Facilities Council and a leading researcher in the field of spectroscopy and imaging of complex biological systems such as DNA damage and repair. Prof Parker is also one of the founding members of the ALC and currently an extraordinary professor at the SU Laser Research Institute.

Another leading researcher and guest speaker is Prof Andrew Forbes from the CSIR's National Laser Centre. His research team at the CSIR made headlines earlier this year with the development of the world's first digital laser. This innovation is regarded as a milestone in laser technology and could spur future laser-related innovations. He will deliver a talk on the all-digital control of light

According to Prof Erich Rohwer, head of the Department of Physics at SU, this year's workshop is quite special as several of the founding members of the ALC will be present to deliver lectures. "We are also proud to have one of the first ALC recruits to deliver a guest lecture. Dr Zephania Birech was one of the first African students to receive a bursary from the ALC and recently completed his PhD under Prof Heinrich Schwoerer at SU."

Dr Birech, who now teaches in the Physics Department at the University of Nairobi in Kenya, will deliver a talk on the ultrafast dynamics of excited states in molecular crystals.

The full programme is available at http://academic.sun.ac.za/physics/websites/alc_workshop_2013/