26th Australian Institute of Physics Congress and the Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics

Session

ANZCOP: Fibre, Distributed & Remote Sensing

ANZCOP

10 Dec 2026, 16:30

Belinda Hutchinson Building (The University of Sydney )

729. Fibre-integrated optomechanical magnetometry demonstrating sub-picotesla sensitivity

David John

10/12/2026, 16:30

ANZOS | Photonics and Optics (ANZCOP)

Invited talk

High-sensitivity magnetometry enables applications ranging from magnetoencephalography and magnetic anomaly detection to geological surveying and searches for dark matter and other exotic particles. Though SQUIDs and SERF atomic magnetometers offer benchmark sensitivities, their dependence on cryogenics or near-zero-field operation limits deployability, prompting room-temperature alternatives...

527. The Fast and the Fibrillar: Polarisation Sensitive OCT and Raman Spectroscopy Based Mechanical Testing of Cartilage to Detect Degeneration

Mr Darven Murali Tharan (Department of Physics, The University of Auckland; Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, New Zealand)

10/12/2026, 17:00

ANZOS | Photonics and Optics (ANZCOP)

Contributed Oral

Articular cartilage is a fibrillar load-bearing tissue whose exceptional mechanical properties arise from coupled biomechanical and biochemical processes. In osteoarthritis (OA), this coupling progressively deteriorates, leading to irreversible tissue degeneration. OA has no cure, making early diagnosis and understanding of degeneration critical. We hypothesise that mechanical loading reveals...

489. Pseudo-random Frequency Shift Encoding Scheme for Distributed Acoustic Sensing

Keshu Huang (The Australian National University)

10/12/2026, 17:15

ANZOS | Photonics and Optics (ANZCOP)

Contributed Oral

Phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (ϕ-OTDR) enables distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) by tracking the phase of Rayleigh backscattered light from an optical fibre [1]. DAS systems resolve both vibration over time, and signal location along the sensing fibre by tracking pulse return times, and phase respectively [1].

One challenge for DAS systems is the pulse return time,...

210. Field Validation of Laser-Written Fibre Bragg Grating Humidity Sensors in a Wastewater Odour Control Unit

Dr Martin Ams (Macquarie University)

10/12/2026, 17:30

ANZOS | Photonics and Optics (ANZCOP)

Contributed Oral

Many industrial environments remain challenging for optical humidity sensing due to prolonged exposure to high humidity, corrosive gases, high temperatures, or contamination. We present a field validation of optical fibre Bragg grating (FBG) temperature and humidity sensors deployed for continuous psychrometric monitoring within an operational activated-carbon wastewater odour control unit...

516. Broadband Nanocavity Imaging for Rapid Screening of Genetic Biomarkers

Yu-Cheng Chen (Nanyang Technological University)

10/12/2026, 17:45

ANZOS | Photonics and Optics (ANZCOP)

Contributed Oral

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are extremely short noncoding RNA molecules which plays an important roles in many biological processes. Changes in miRNA expression are closely related to cancer and other diseases, making them useful biomarkers for molecular diagnosis. However, sensitive miRNA detection is still challenging because of their low abundance, short sequence length, and high similarity among...