International Journal of Optics and Applications

International Journal of Optics and Applications publishes original contributions to optical knowledge from educational institutions, government establishments and industrial R&D groups world-wide. Papers may deal with the applications of optics, considering both experimental and theoretical aspects of contemporary research.

Arkady Major

Editorial Board Member of International Journal of Optics and Applications

Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba, Canada

Research Areas

Laser physics and engineering, Photonics, Biophotonics, Nonlinear optics, Optoelectronics, Laser spectroscopy

Education

1999–2002PhD University of Strathclyde, Department of Physics, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
1997–1999MSc Vilnius University, Department of Quantum Electronics, Vilnius, Lithuania
1993–1997BSc Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vilnius, Lithuania

Experience

2007–presentUniversity of Manitoba, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Assistant Professor
2006-2007University of Toronto at Mississauga, Department of Chemical & Physical Sciences, Research Associate
2004-2006University of Toronto at Mississauga, Department of Chemical & Physical Sciences, Postdoctoral Fellow
2002–2004 University of Toronto, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Postdoctoral Fellow
2000–2002 University of Strathclyde, Department of Physics, Glasgow, UK, Teaching Assistant
1998–1999Light Conversion Ltd., Vilnius, Lithuania, Part-time R&D Engineer
1995–1998 Semiconductor Physics Institute, Optoelectronics Laboratory, Vilnius, Lithuania, Part-time Laboratory Assistant

Academic Achievement

University Postgraduate Studentship to pursue the PhD degree at the University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom, 1999 – 2002
Prestigious 3-year Overseas Research Student (ORS) Award (1-2 given each year in the department) to pursue the PhD degree at the University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom, 1999 – 2002
Highly-competitive Enrico Fermi scholarship by the Italian Physical Society to attend an International School of Physics on Silicon-based Microphotonics, Italy, Jul 1998
Highly-competitive TEMPUS program scholarship (MSc exchange student) to study and conduct research in the Optoelectronics Research Group at City University, London, United Kingdom, Jan 1998-Apr 1998
Graduate Research Studentship Award by Vilnius University to conduct research for the MSc degree thesis, Vilnius, Lithuania, 1997 – 1999
Undergraduate Research Studentship Award by the Semiconductor Physics Institute to conduct research for the BSc degree thesis, Vilnius, Lithuania, 1995 – 1997

Publications: Journals

[1]  L. B. Mostaço-Guidolin, A. C-T Ko, D. P. Popescu, M. S. D. Smith, E. K. Kohlenberg, M. Shiomi, A. Major, M. G. Sowa, "Evaluation of texture parameters for the quantitative description of multimodal nonlinear optical images from atherosclerotic rabbit arteries", Physics in Medicine and Biology, Vol. 56, No. 16, pp. 5319-5334 (2011)
[2]  A. Major, K. Sukhoy, H. Zhao, and I. T. Lima Jr., "Green sub-nanosecond microchip laser based on BiBO crystals", Laser Physics, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 57-60 (2011)
[3]  D. Sandkuijl, R. Cisek, A. Major, and V. Barzda, "Differential microscopy for fluorescence-detected nonlinear absorption anisotropy based on a staggered two-beam femtosecond Yb:KGW oscillator", Biomedical Optics Express, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 895-901 (2010)
[4]  H. Zhao, I. T. Lima Jr., and A. Major, "Near-infrared properties of periodically poled KTiOPO4 and stoichiometric MgO-doped LiTaO3 crystals for high power optical parametric oscillation with femtosecond pulses", Laser Physics, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp. 1404-1409 (2010)
[5]  I. T. Lima Jr., V. Kultavewuti, and A. Major, "Phasematching properties of congruent MgO-doped and undoped periodically poled LiNbO3 for optical parametric oscillation with ultrafast excitation at 1 μm", Laser Physics, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 270-275 (2010)
[6]  N. Prent, C. Greenhalgh, R. Cisek, A. Major, J. Aus der Au, S. Elmore, J. H.G.M. van Beek, B. Stewart, J. A. Squier and V. Barzda, "Second harmonic generation microscopy reveals contraction dynamics in muscle cells", Physics in Canada, Vol. 65, No. 3, pp. 129-132 (2009)
[7]  A. Major, D. Sandkuijl, V. Barzda, "A diode-pumped continuous-wave Yb:KGW laser with Ng-axis polarized output", Laser Physics Letters, Vol. 6, No. 11, pp. 779-781 (2009)
[8]  A. Major, D. Sandkuijl, V. Barzda, "Efficient frequency doubling of a femtosecond Yb:KGW laser in a BiB3O6 crystal", Optics Express, Vol. 17, No. 14, pp. 12039-12042 (2009) selected for Virtual Journal of Ultrafast Science (AIP, American Institute of Physics)
[9]  A. Major, D. Hutchings, N. Langford, A. I. Ferguson, J. S. Aitchison, and P. W. E. Smith, "Two-photon absorption properties of crystalline KNbO3 at 430 nm and efficient high pulse energy blue secondharmonic generation", Laser Physics Letters, Vol. 6, No. 6, pp. 450-453 (2009)
[10]  A. Major, R. Cisek, D. Sandkuijl, and V. Barzda, "Femtosecond Yb:KGd(WO4)2 laser with >100 nJ of pulse energy", Laser Physics Letters, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 272-274 (2009)
[11]  N. Prent, C. Green, C. Greenhalgh, R. Cisek, A. Major, B. Stewart and V. Barzda, "Inter-myofilament dynamics of myocytes revealed by second harmonic generation microscopy", Journal of Biomedical Optics, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 0413181-0413187 (2008) selected for Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research (AIP)
[12]  C. Greenhalgh, N. Prent, C. Green, R. Cisek, A. Major, B. Stewart and V. Barzda, "Influence of semicrystalline order on the second harmonic generation efficiency in the anisotropic bands of myocytes", Applied Optics, Vol. 46, No. 10, pp. 1852-1859 (2007) selected for Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics (OSA) and Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research (AIP)
[13]  A. Major, R. Cisek and V. Barzda, "Femtosecond Yb:KGd(WO4)2 laser oscillator pumped by a high power fiber-coupled diode laser module", Optics Express, Vol. 14, No. 25, pp. 12163-12168 (2006) selected for Virtual Journal of Ultrafast Science (AIP)
[14]  A. Major, P. Piunno, S. Musikhin, U. Krull and V. Barzda, "An extended cavity diode-pumped femtosecond Yb:KGW laser for applications in optical DNA sensor technology based on fluorescence lifetime measurements", Optics Express, Vol. 14, No. 12, pp. 5285-5294 (2006) selected for Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics (OSA), Virtual Journal of Ultrafast Science (AIP), and Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research (AIP)
[15]  A. Major, F. Yoshino, J.S. Aitchison and P.W.E. Smith, "Wide spectral range third-order autocorrelator based on ultrafast nonresonant nonlinear refraction: erratum", Optics Letters, Vol. 30, No. 19, p. 2653 (2005)
[16]  A. Major, J.S. Aitchison, P.W.E. Smith, F. Druon, P. Georges, B. Viana, G.P. Aka "Z-scan measurements of the nonlinear refractive indices of novel Yb-doped laser crystal hosts", Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics, Vol. 80, No. 2, pp. 199-201 (2005)
[17]  A. Major, J.S. Aitchison, P.W.E. Smith, N. Langford, A.I. Ferguson, "Efficient Raman shifting of highenergy picosecond pulses into the eye-safe 1.5 μm spectral region using a KGd(WO4)2 crystal", Optics Letters, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 421-423 (2005) selected for Virtual Journal of Ultrafast Science (AIP)
[18]  A. Major, F. Yoshino, J.S. Aitchison, P.W.E. Smith, E. Sorokin and I.T. Sorokina, "Ultrafast nonresonant third-order optical nonlinearities in ZnSe for all-optical switching at telecom wavelengths", Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 85, No. 20, pp. 4606-4608 (2004) selected for Virtual Journal of Ultrafast Science (AIP)
[19]  A. Major, J.S. Aitchison, P.W.E. Smith, N. Langford, A.I. Ferguson, "Coherent two-photon absorption spectroscopy of the Raman-active KGd(WO4)2 crystal", Optics Letters, Vol. 29, No. 24, pp. 2896-2898 (2004) selected for Virtual Journal of Ultrafast Science (AIP)
[20]  A. Major, F. Yoshino, J.S. Aitchison and P.W.E. Smith, "Wide spectral range third-order autocorrelator based on ultrafast nonresonant nonlinear refraction", Optics Letters, Vol. 29, No. 16, pp. 1945-1947 (2004)
[21]  A. Major, F. Yoshino, I. Nikolakakos, J.S. Aitchison and P.W.E. Smith, "Dispersion of the nonlinear refractive index in sapphire", Optics Letters, Vol. 29, No. 6, pp. 602-604 (2004)
[22]  I.P. Nikolakakos, A. Major, J.S. Aitchison and P.W.E. Smith, "Broadband characterization of the nonlinear optical properties of common reference materials", IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 1164-1170 (2004)
[23]  A. Major, I. Nikolakakos, J.S. Aitchison, A.I. Ferguson, N. Langford and P.W.E. Smith, "Characterization of the nonlinear refractive index of the laser crystal Yb:KGd(WO4)2", Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics, Vol. 77, No. 4, pp. 433-436 (2003)
[24]  A. Major, N. Langford, S.T. Lee, and A.I. Ferguson, "Additive-pulse mode locking of a thin-disk Yb:YAG laser", Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics, Vol. 76, No. 5, pp. 505-508 (2003)
[25]  A. Major, N. Langford, Th. Graf, D. Burns, and A.I. Ferguson, "Diode-pumped passively mode-locked Nd:KGd(WO4)2 laser with 1W average output power", Optics Letters, Vol. 27, No. 16, pp. 1478-1480 (2002)
[26]  A. Major, N. Langford, Th. Graf, and A.I. Ferguson, "Additive-pulse mode locking of a diode-pumped Nd:KGd(WO4)2 laser", Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics, Vol. 75, No. 4-5, pp. 467-469 (2002)
[27]  A. Major, L. Giniunas, N. Langford, A.I. Ferguson, D. Burns, E. Bente, and R. Danielius, "Saturable Bragg reflector-based continuous-wave mode locking of Yb:KGd(WO4)2 laser", Journal of Modern Optics, Vol. 49, No. 5, pp. 787-793 (2002)
[28]  K. Grigoras, A. Major, I. Simkiene, and E. Gaubas, "Application of the doped silicon oxide films in solar cell technology", Semiconductor Science and Technology, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp. 517-522 (1998)

Publications: Conferences/Workshops/Symposiums

[1]  C. Williams, X.-D. Yang, G. Partridge, J. Usiskin-Miller, A. Major, P. Irani, "TZee: Exploiting the Lighting Properties of Multi-touch Tabletops for Tangible 3D Interactions", Proceedings of the 29th Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2011), pp. 1363-1372 (2011)
[2]  H. Zhao, I. T. Lima Jr., and A. Major, "Peculiarities of temperature-dependent Sellmeier equations for periodically poled KTiOPO4 crystal in the near-infrared and visible ranges", International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) Proceedings, Vol. 7750, pp. 77501D1-8 (2010)
[3]  A. Sharapov, A. Major and V. Barzda, "Development of a high power femtosecond optical parametric oscillator for biomedical imaging applications", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 7099, pp. 70992H1-7 (2008)
[4]  A. Major, R. Cisek, A. Tuer, N. Prent and V. Barzda, "Ultrafast Yb:KGd(WO4)2 laser for multimodal biomedical imaging with reduced photodamage", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 6881, pp. 688108-1-7 (2008)
[5]  A. Major, R. Cisek, C.A. Greenhalgh, N. Prent, B. Stewart and V. Barzda, "A diode-pumped highpower extended cavity femtosecond Yb:KGW laser: from development to applications in nonlinear biological microscopy", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 6343, pp. 634345-1-8 (2006)
[6]  R. Cisek, A. Major, N. Prent, C.A. Greenhalgh and V. Barzda, "Optimization of non-linear excitation for reducing light-induced changes in photosynthetic systems during imaging with multimodal microscopy", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 6343, pp. 634307-1-9 (2006)
[7]  C.A. Greenhalgh, B. Stewart, R. Cisek, N. Prent, A. Major and V. Barzda, "Dynamic investigation of Drosophila myocytes with second harmonic generation microscopy", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 6343, pp. 6343408-1-8 (2006)
[8]  A. Major, R. Cisek and V. Barzda, "Development of diode-pumped high average power continuouswave and ultrashort pulse Yb:KGW lasers for nonlinear microscopy", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 6108, pp. 61080Y-1-8 (2006)
[9]  A. Major, J.S. Aitchison, P.W.E. Smith, E. Sorokin and I.T. Sorokina, "Z-scan characterization of the nonlinear refractive index of single crystal ZnSe in the 1.20-1.95 μm wavelength range", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 5971, pp. 59710H-1-8 (2005)
[10]  P.A.E. Piunno, V. Barzda, S.C. Jantzi, C.C. Kotoris, A. Major, S. Musikhin, S. Raha and U.J. Krull, "Optical nucleic acid biosensors based on TIRF and TCSPC for high sensitivity determinations", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 5969, pp. 59690R-1-9 (2005)
[11]  A. Major, V. Barzda, P.A.E. Piunno, S. Musikhin and U.J. Krull, "Development of femtosecond Yb:KGW laser for applications in optical DNA sensor technology", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 5969, pp. 59690Q-1-11 (2005)
[12]  A. Tomalik, R. DeCorby, F. Hegmann, A. Slepkov, A. Major, J.S. Aitchison, P.W.E. Smith, "Ultrafast time-resolved and spectrally-resolved measurements of third-order optical nonlinearities in As2Se3 chalcogenide glass", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 5971, pp. 59710D-1-9 (2005)
[13]  C.A. Greenhalgh, R. Cisek, N. Prent, A. Major, J. Aus der Au, J. Squier and V. Barzda, "Time and structural crosscorrelation image analysis of microscopic volumes simultaneously recorded with second harmonic generation, third harmonic generation, and multiphoton excitation fluorescence microscopy", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 5969, pp. 59692F-1-8 (2005)
[14]  A. Major, F. Yoshino, J.S. Aitchison, P.W.E. Smith, D. Zigmantas, V. Barzda, "Picosecond z-scan measurements of the two-photon absorption in beta-carotene solution over the 590-790 nm wavelength range", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 5724, pp. 269-276 (2005)
[15]  F. Yoshino, A. Major, L. Brzozowski, L. Levina, V. Sukhovatkin and E.H. Sargent, "Picosecondresolved nonlinear absorption of spin-processible Lead Sulfide (PbS) nanocrystals from 1100 to 1600 nm", SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 5361, pp. 142-149 (2004)

Publications: Books/Book Chapters

[1]  R. Cisek, N. Prent, C. Greenhalgh, D. Sandkuij, A. Tuer, A. Major, V. Barzda, "Multicontrast nonlinear imaging microscopy", in Biochemical applications of nonlinear optical spectroscopy, Ed. V. V. Yakovlev (CRC Press, 2009), Ch. 4, pp. 73-103