Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem

Professor Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem is a Professor in the School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences at the University of Adelaide. She serves as Deputy Director of the Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) and Director of the Optofab Adelaide Hub within the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF). Her research focuses on advanced optical fiber fabrication, materials science, and photonics applications, including high-precision glass extrusion, exposed-core fibers, and quantum sensing. She leads a multidisciplinary team of over 20 researchers and has secured >$20M in funding, collaborating with global industry and academic partners. Her work spans fiber lasers, mid-infrared photonics, and sensor technologies, with significant contributions to nanomaterial integration and plasmonic processes. She has supervised 12 PhD and 5 HDR students over 15 years, emphasizing mentorship in photonics and materials innovation.

Research Interests: Professor Ebendorff-Heidepriem specializes in developing novel optical fibers and glasses for applications such as high-power laser delivery, nonlinear optics, and evanescent field sensing. Her team pioneers fabrication techniques like billet extrusion and ultrasonic milling, enabling structures like suspended nanowire-core fibers and diamond-doped sensors. Key areas include mid-infrared materials (tellurite, fluoride glasses), plasmonic nanoparticle embedded glasses, and portable sensing solutions for mining and biomedical fields.

Labs/Teams: IPAS and Optofab Adelaide Hub provide advanced facilities for fiber fabrication, laser development, and materials characterization. Her collaborations include 82 university groups and 30 industry/defense partners, driving commercialization of technologies like gold nanoparticle-based colored glass and diamond-doped fiber sensors.