12-14-16 Optical Structures in Biology – A Closer Look Reveals Insights! 

The biological world has many specialized optical structures for unique purposes. Both the structures and their purposes are being discovered in the last few decades, including work done in the Morse Lab at UCSB. Our speaker will describe insights into the optics used by diverse animals ranging from squids and clams to moths, and their applications in biology. These lead to possible applications in materials science--including improving solar cell efficiency and improving light throughput in infra-red systems. See UCSB's press release about bio-inspired technology for an introduction to his work.

Our Speaker
Dr. Amitabh Ghoshal, Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies: Amitabh is an Optical Engineer with interests and contributions in a variety of fields. His journey into optics began with designing tail-lights at Grote Industries while earning his BA in 2001 from Hanover College with majors in physics and computer science. His work as a graduate student involved thin-film nanophotonics. Dr. Ghoshal has a PhD in Optics from the University of Central Florida. Most recently, Dr. Ghoshal worked in elucidating the much debated optical properties of structures in marine animals and opening up various applications of the results. Having moved all over the country, he fell in love with Santa Barbara and hopes to continue enjoying the technology, weather, and people!