Events
2022 Siegman International School on Lasers
25 June 2022 – 02 July 2022 University of Warsaw, Chęciny, Poland
The Siegman International School is a week-long program that exposes students to in-depth learning of lasers and their applications from internationally recognized academic and industry leaders in the field.
The Siegman International School on Lasers covers all aspects of lasers and photonics. Each summer up to 100 graduate students are invited to participate in a week-long program to learn from pioneering laser researchers and experts from leading laser companies, highly-regarded professors and fellow students. Attendees are asked to present their own research, which provides valuable experience in building exposure for their work all while building lifelong colleagues and friends.
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Host Institution
The University of Warsaw, with its 21 faculties, 58 thousand students and 3.6 thousand research and teaching staff, is the largest university in Poland. From its foundation in 1816 it has produced multiple notable alumni, including 6 Nobel Prize laureates. It ranks among the top 3% of World’s best universities. One of the most significant contributors to the success of the University is the Faculty of Physics, which is the leading research and educational institution in physics and astronomy. The Faculty belongs to the group of 75 top physics departments in the world according to the Shanghai's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects and maintains collaborations with top research groups worldwide. Research areas and courses available for undergraduate and graduate students include many fields of physics such as theoretical and experimental physics, geophysics, biophysics and medical physics. The research topics in optics range from biomedical optics, through modern spectroscopy, atom optics, plasmonics, nanophotonics, nonlinear optics, computational imaging, all the way to optical quantum technologies, with all experiments conducted in high quality, state-of-the-art laboratories.
The University of Warsaw belongs to the 4EU+ European University alliance, grouping key universities from across the European Union. To learn more about the University of Warsaw click here.
Topics:
Imaging with scattered light: exploiting speckles to see deeper and sharper
Ultrafast laser processing of materials: from science to industrial applications
From organs to cells - the challenges of modern biomedical imaging
Integrated photonics technologies for ultrafast quantum optics; Generation and characterization of ultrafast photons with integrated quantum photonics
Integrated photonics is the enabling technology of our modern data society. Light is guided in optical fibres and manipulated with integrated devices such as electro-optic modulators. Integrated photonics chips provide many functionalities in a small and robust package. However, integrated photonics devices are often not compatible with the stringent requirements of optical quantum technologies––most prominent among them the requirement for low losses––and optimization is time consuming.
In this lecture, I will give an introduction into the working principles of typical integrated photonic devices. Further, I will explain the fabrication technology using the example of titanium-indiffusion in lithium niobate, one of the staple technologies at Paderborn. Towards the end of the lecture, I will present our HOM-on-a-chip demonstrator, an integrated quantum photonics circuit that realizes one of the hallmark quantum optical experiments on one single chip.
Nonlinear Dynamics and Supercontinuum Generation in Optical Fibres; Real-Time Measurements of Ultrafast Dynamics
Imaging with scattered light: exploiting speckles to see deeper and sharper
SESAM modelocking of diode-pumped solid-state and semiconductor lasers; Dual comb modelocking and applications
A comprehensive introduction to passive modelocking is presented, mainly based on the Haus master equation approach. There has been tremendous progress with regard to the performance frontier in passively modelocked solid-state lasers in terms of pulse duration, pulse energy, average power, and pulse repetition rates. In the introduction a short historical overview is given, with updates of the current performance frontiers. The following techniques are introduced: coupled-cavity modelocking, passive modelocking with a slow saturable absorber and dynamic gain saturation (such as colliding pulse modelocking), passive modelocking with a fast saturable absorber (such as Kerr lens modelocking), and passive modelocking with a slow saturable absorber without dynamic gain saturation (such as soliton modelocking). Q-switching instabilities for passively modelocked solid-state lasers are discussed and solutions are provided with special cavity designs and negative SPM. Passively modelocked optically-pumped semiconductor and diode-pumped solid-state lasers are used to give more detailed examples. This lecture does not cover ultrafast fiber lasers.
Reference:
Chapter 9 in “Ultrafast Lasers: a comprehensive introduction to fundamental principles with practical applications”
Graduate Text in Physics, Springer Verlag, 800 pages, published March 2022
ISBN Hardcover book 978-3-030-82531-7, Ebook: 978-3-030-82532-4
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-82532-4
Boosting Optical Network Operation with Machine Learning; Automation and Telemetry in Optical Networks
Introduction to optical frequency combs; Fiber-based optical frequency combs in the mid-infrared for laser spectroscopy
An optical frequency comb (OFC), introduced in the late 90’s of the XX century has revolutionized the field of precise measurements of time, frequency and dimensions. The “heart” of the frequency comb – a mode-locked laser, forms in the spectral domain a regular structure of thousands of modes, equally spaced by the pulse repetition frequency. Optical frequency combs have enabled the development of e.g. ultra-precise optical-atomic clocks, which are currently the most accurate known time standards. They find applications in precise frequency measurements, laser spectroscopy, precise dimensional metrology, or calibration of spectrographs for extra-solar planet search. They have also emerged as ideal sources for molecular spectroscopy, due to their high brightness, broad spectral coverage and compatibility with enhancement cavities. Laser-based detection of most important molecules (e.g. greenhouse gases, explosives, air pollutants, etc.) requires a source which covers the mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral region, where the strongest fundamental vibrational transitions are present. The development of robust and field-deployable gas detection platforms relies on the development of compact, environmentally stable laser sources. The lecture will cover the fundamentals and recent achievements of in near- and mid-infrared fiber-based frequency combs and their applications, especially in molecular spectroscopy and greenhouse gas sensing.
Ultrafast laser processing of materials: from science to industrial applications
Modern high power ultrafast lasers can be used in an unlimited number of applications. The flexibility of pulse adjustment enables deep process optimization achievable with a single laser source. Furthermore, the exceptional advantages of ultrafast lasers are now accessible in the industry thanks to fiber-based laser design providing stable performance in harsh environmental conditions. Processing by ultrashort pulses is material-independent. Any solid target can be processed with ultrashort pulses due to their high peak intensity. This leads to efficient ablation of wide bandgap materials, semiconductors, metals, or polymers, including biological tissues. The lecture will cover the basics of ultrashort pulse material excitation and ablation timescales. First, the influence of pulse duration and laser fluence on materials processing will be described. The role of spatial and temporal pulse shaping on ablation rates and surface quality will also be discussed. Lastly, the advantages of USP based on several applications will be presented. These applications include transparent material processing, Bessel beam glass cleaving, surface modification, milling, cutting, and drilling.
A gentle introduction to Photonic Quantum Information; The light fantastic: creating, detecting, & using photons
The photon has come a long way since it was first defined as a particle that spends “only a minute fraction of its existence as a carrier of radiant energy”.Inthe first lecture we will: discuss the difference between classical andquantum information; introduce quantum computing and touch upon the
implications of the Extended Church-Turing thesis; introduce singlephotons and how they are used as qubits; understand the mechanisms of photonic entangling gates, both those that work without and with opticalnolinearities; and introduce quantum state and process tomography.Inthe second lecture we will look at how to make photons, and why you might want to; how to count photons, and why you might want to; and how to entangle photons—either with each other, or with other particles suchas phonons—and why you might want to. On the way we will encounter confusion, drums, hypercubes, and if we have time, ignorance.
Generation of Ultrashort Pulses in Fiber Lasers; Generation of Ultrashort Pulses in Fiber Lasers – Recent Advances
Short-pulse (picosecond and femtosecond) fiber lasers have increasing impact in applications, owing to their practical benefits. The combination of a waveguide medium and diode pumping allows the design of robust, high-power (above 1000 watts) instruments. However, the waveguide medium also enhances nonlinear optical effects, and these often limit the performance of short-pulse fiber lasers. The goal of these lectures is to provide an introduction to short-pulse generation in fiber lasers and amplifiers. The lectures will begin with a tutorial and introductory description of the fundamental linear and nonlinear processes that underlie short-pulse generation in optical fiber. The most-important techniques for short-pulse generation will be discussed, and the performance will be compared to that offered by other technologies. The lectures will end with a brief introduction to recent advances in this area.
From organs to cells - the challenges of modern biomedical imaging
One of the still unresolved problems in biological and medical imaging is the possibility of non-invasive visualization of living tissue (latin in vivo) with the accuracy of microscopic examination. This is particularly emphasized in the age of innovative microscopic techniques, which have the ability to optically select axial layers without the need to take and prepare samples. The main physical limitation of in vivo microscopic imaging is related to the light scattering introduced by the irregular and often discontinuous distribution of the refractive index. Light scattering induces strong modulation of the wavefront of the light back-scattered from the sample. As a consequence, the contrast of the reconstructed images is dramatically decreased by increased noise. Other side effects of the uneven distribution of the refractive index are significant deformations of measured objects on the reconstructed images. In addition, in the case of consistent laser illumination, there are so-called speckles - strong changes in the intensity of recorded light caused by interference of transverse modes of the laser beam. Speckle noise adversely affects system resolution and reduces image quality. Adding all these effects results in a serious loss of image information. In our work we try to solve these basic physical limitations by developing new imaging techniques that use partially coherent light with spatial-time modulation of the phase of the radiation used. Our research activities focus on developing new optical methods that enable biological objects to be imaged live and in a minimally invasive manner. We have come a long way in developing techniques for imaging objects of different sizes - from the scale of organs to the internal structure of a single cell.
Top
Program Committee:
- Michał Karpiński, University of Warsaw, Poland
- Carlos Lopez Mariscal, Appalachian State University, USA
- Christine Silberhorn, Paderborn University, Germany
- Anna Szkulmowska, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland
- Andrew Weiner, Purdue University, USA
- Maciej Wojtkowski, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Organizing Committee:
- Michał Karpiński, University of Warsaw, Poland
- Katarzyna Krupa, Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS, Poland
- Agata Kramek, University of Warsaw, Poland
- Marcia Lesky, Optica, USA
- Carlos Lopez Mariscal, Appalachian State University, USA
- Jen Mehltretter, Optica, USA
- Sarah Moore, Optica, USA
- Anna Szkulmowska, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland
- Piotr Węgrzyn, Candela Foundation, Poland
Program
Saturday, 25 June
15:00 Welcome at Faculty of Physics
16:30 Transfer to Chęciny - bus 1
16:45 Transfer to Chęciny - bus 2
17:00 Transfer to Chęciny - bus 3
19:00 Check- In
19:30 Dinner
Sunday, 26 June
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Welcoming Remarks
09:15 SESAM modelocking of diodepumped solid-state and semiconductor lasers
- Speaker: Ursula Keller
10:15 Break
10:30 Poster Session I
12:00 Generation of ultrashort pulses in fiber lasers - basic processes and single-mode fiberoscilators
- Speaker: Frank Wise
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Social Time
15:00 Introduction to optical frequency combs
- Speaker: Grzegorz Soboń
16:00 Poster Session II
17:30 The role of lasers in optical imaging methods
- Speaker: Maciej Wojtkowski
18:30 Break
19:00 BBQ/Bonfire
Monday, 27 June
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Generation of ultrashort pulses in fiber lasers - recent advances
- Speaker: Frank Wise
10:00 Poster Session III
11:30 Break
12:00 A gentle introduction to photonic quantum information
- Speaker: Andrew White
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Social Time
15:00 Dual comb modelocking and applications
- Speaker: Ursula Keller
16:00 Break
16:30 Ask Me Anything Session with the Lecturers
17:30 Break
18:00 Dinner/SilentDisco
Tuesday, 28 June
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 The light fantastic: creating, detecting & using photons
- Speaker: Andrew White
10:00 Break
10:30 Can light coherence provide meaningful imaging information?
- Speaker: Maciej Wojtkowski
11:30 Break
12:00 Fiber-based optical frequency combs in the mid-infrared for laser spectroscopy
- Speaker: Grzegorz Soboń
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Social Time
16:30 Ultrafast laser processing of materials: from science to industrial applications
- Speaker: Bogusz Stępak
17:30 Break
18:00 Dinner
19:30 Break
20:30 PubQuiz by Lecturers
Wednesday, 29 June
07:45 Trip to Kraków
Activities will include:
- Pierogi Workshop
- Walking Tour
- Boat Ride
- Dinner
- Transfer to Chęciny (late evening)
Thursday, 30 June
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Imaging with scattered light: exploiting speckles to see deeper and sharper - part 1
- Speaker: Ori Katz
10:00 Break
10:30 Panel Discussion: Professional societies in the career development of young researchers
11:45 Break
12:15 Boosting optical network operation with machine learning
- Speaker: Jelena Pesic
13:15 Lunch
14:00 Social Time
15:30 Workshop I
16:45 Break
17:15 Workshop II
18:30 Dinner
20:00 Evening Movie
Friday, 01 July
07:30 Breakfast
09:00 Imaging with scattered light: exploiting speckles to see deeper and sharper - part 2
- Speaker: Ori Katz
10:00 Break
10:30 Nonlinear dynamics and supercontinuum generation in optical fibres
- Speaker: Goëry Genty
11:00 Break
12:00 Automation and telemetry in optical networks\
- Speaker: Jelena Pesic
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Social Time
15:00 Real-time measurements of ultrafast dynamics
- Speaker: Goëry Genty
16:00 Break
16:30 Poster Session Prize Talks
17:30 Break
18:30 Closing Reception, Sponsored by NLPQT
Saturday, 02 July
07:30 Breakfest
09:00 Check-out
08:00 First bus depratures to Warsaw
10:00 Second bus departures to Warsaw
10:30 Third bus departures to Warsaw
Lectures
Benjamin Brecht
Integrated Quantum Optics, Paderborn University
Goëry Genty
Tempere University
Goëry Genty obtained his MSc from Ecole Supérieure d’Optique (France) in 1998 and PhD degree from Aalto University (Finland) in 2004. He has been Professor at Tampere University since 2014. His interest ranges from the study of ultrafast dynamics and instabilities, supercontinuum generation, to real-time measurement techniques, machine learning and applications in sensing and imaging. Awards include the IUPAP Young Scientist International Prize in Optics in 2011 and the Physics Prize of Finnish Academy of Science and Letters in 2019. He is Fellow of the Optical Society of America and has published more than 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Goëry Genty is also the director of the Flagship for Photonics Research and Innovation and director of the Finnish national research infrastructure for light-based technologies, two of the most prestigious research programs funded by the Academy of Finland.
Ori Katz
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ursula Keller
ETH Zurich
Ursula Keller has been a tenured professor of physics at ETH Zurich since 1993 (www.ulp.ethz.ch) and also a director of the Swiss multi-institute NCCR MUST program in ultrafast science since 2010 (www.nccr-must.ch). She received the Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1989 and the Physics "Diplom" from ETH in 1984. She was a Member of Technical Staff (MTS) at AT&T Bell Laboratories from 1989 to 1993, a “Visiting Miller Professor” at UC Berkeley 2006 and a visiting professor at the Lund Institute of Technologies 2001. She has been a co-founder and board member for Time-Bandwidth Products (acquired by JDSU in 2014) and for a venture capital funded telecom company GigaTera (acquired by Time-Bandwidth in 2003). She was a member of the research council of the Swiss National Science Foundation from 2014-2018. She is the founding president of the ETH Women Professors Forum (WPF). The focus of her group (foto) in research is exploring and pushing the frontiers in ultrafast science and technology (online info). Awards include the OSA Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize (2020) – OSA’s (resp. OPTICA’s) highest award for overall distinction in optics, SPIE Gold Medal (2020) – SPIE’s highest honor, IEEE Edison Medal (2019), European Inventor Award for lifetime achievement (2018), two ERC advanced grants (2012 and 2018), member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, German Academy Leopoldina and Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences. She supervised and graduated 90 Ph.D. students (list), published >490 journal publications (list) and according to Google Scholar an h-index of 114 with more than 49000 citations.
Jelena Pesic
Nokia Bell Labs
Jelena Pesic is a research engineer with NOKIA Bell Labs, based in Paris, France. After receiving a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from the faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Belgrade in Serbia, she completed a 6 month internship with the engineering school of Telecom Bretagne, located in Brest, France. This involved working on the optical access network, GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) under the supervision of profs. Annie Gravey and Philippe Gravey. This rich experience encouraged her passion for research and subsequent enrolment into optics. Jelena then completed her PhD in the subject of proactive restoration of backbone optical networks, with the French operator Orange Labs, under the supervision of Esther Le Rouzic and prof. Laurent Dupont. In recognition of this work, she received the award of best paper at the conference ONDM2011 (Optical Network Design and Modelling) Following her PhD, she carried out two postdoctoral studies. During the first of these, she worked for INRIA (French National Research Institute) on the European project SASER, designing MAC layer for TWIN optical networks. During the second, she worked with Telecom Bretagne. Jelena’s current position with Nokia Bell Labs affords her the opportunity to be part of future product innovation, as well as several European projects like SENDATE and ORCHESTRA. She has served as a technical committee member for OSA and IEEE international conferences, reviewed articles submitted for peer-review and accepted invitations to write and publish articles at various international worldwide conferences.
Grzegorz Soboń
Wrocław University of Science and Technology
Grzegorz Soboń is an associate professor at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. He received his doctoral degree and habilitation in 2013 and 2018, respectively. His research interests focus on ultrafast fiber lasers, nonlinear fiber optics, optical frequency combs and laser spectroscopy. He is a co-author of many original constructions of laser systems, e.g. ultrafast graphene-based fiber lasers, compact fiber-based mid-infrared frequency combs for spectroscopy and femtosecond fiber lasers in the visible spectral region for biomedical imaging. He is an author/co-author of more than 100 papers in JCR-indexed journals (cited >3500 times). In 2018, he established the Optical Frequency Comb Spectroscopy Group at Wrocław University of Science and Technology, a research group which develops novel types of compact fiber-based optical frequency combs in the mid-infrared spectral range, suitable for field deployment and outside-lab operation.
Bogusz Stępak
Fluence.technology
Grzegorz Soboń
Wrocław University of Science and Technology
Bogusz received his PhD from Wrocław University of Science and Technology (Poland) in 2017. He has been working in the field of laser materials processing for more than 10 years now. During his PhD studies, he worked at Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS (Dresden, Germany) in the Laser Micro Processing group. There, his work focused on transparent material processing for biomedical device fabrication and ultrafast laser surface modification. After receiving his PhD, he continued his work on applications of ultrafast lasers in micromachining as an assistant professor at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. He is the author of more than 20 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. In 2019, he joined Fluence and established a new Ultrafast Laser Application Laboratory based on Fluence’s femtosecond lasers. Currently, he is the company’s R&D Director of Laser Microprocessing.
Andrew White
University of Queensland
Andrew was raised in a Queensland dairy town, before heading south to the big smoke of Brisbane to study chemistry, maths, physics and, during the World Expo, the effects of alcohol on uni students from around the world. Deciding he wanted to know what the cold felt like, he first moved to Canberra, then Germany—completing his PhD in quantum physics—before moving on to Los Alamos National Labs in New Mexico where he quickly discovered that there is more than enough snow to hide a cactus, but not nearly enough to prevent amusing your friends when you sit down. Over the years he has conducted research on various topics including shrimp eyes, nuclear physics, optical vortices, and quantum computers. He likes quantum weirdness for its own sake, but his current research aims to explore and exploit the full range of quantum behaviors—notably entanglement—with an eye to engineering new technologies and scientific applications. He is currently Director of the Centre of Engineered Quantum Systems, an Australia-wide, 14-year long, research effort by 180 scientists to build quantum machines that harness the quantum world for practical applications.
Frank Wise
Cornell University
Short-pulse (picosecond and femtosecond) fiber lasers have increasing impact in applications, owing to their practical benefits. The combination of a waveguide medium and diode pumping allows the design of robust, high-power (above 1000 watts) instruments. However, the waveguide medium also enhances nonlinear optical effects, and these often limit the performance of short-pulse fiber lasers. The goal of these lectures is to provide an introduction to short-pulse generation in fiber lasers and amplifiers. The lectures will begin with a tutorial and introductory description of the fundamental linear and nonlinear processes that underlie short-pulse generation in optical fiber. The most-important techniques for short-pulse generation will be discussed, and the performance will be compared to that offered by other technologies. The lectures will end with a brief introduction to recent advances in this area.
Frank Wise received a BS degree in Engineering Physics from Princeton University, an MS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, and a PhD in Applied Physics from Cornell University. Before PhD studies, he worked on advanced integrated circuits at Bell Laboratories. Since receiving the PhD in 1988, he has been on the faculty in Applied Physics at Cornell.
Maciej Wojtkowski
Institute of Physical Chemistry, Poland
From organs to cells - the challenges of modern biomedical imaging
One of the still unresolved problems in biological and medical imaging is the possibility of non-invasive visualization of living tissue (latin in vivo) with the accuracy of microscopic examination. This is particularly emphasized in the age of innovative microscopic techniques, which have the ability to optically select axial layers without the need to take and prepare samples. The main physical limitation of in vivo microscopic imaging is related to the light scattering introduced by the irregular and often discontinuous distribution of the refractive index. Light scattering induces strong modulation of the wavefront of the light back-scattered from the sample. As a consequence, the contrast of the reconstructed images is dramatically decreased by increased noise. Other side effects of the uneven distribution of the refractive index are significant deformations of measured objects on the reconstructed images. In addition, in the case of consistent laser illumination, there are so-called speckles - strong changes in the intensity of recorded light caused by interference of transverse modes of the laser beam. Speckle noise adversely affects system resolution and reduces image quality. Adding all these effects results in a serious loss of image information. In our work we try to solve these basic physical limitations by developing new imaging techniques that use partially coherent light with spatial-time modulation of the phase of the radiation used. Our research activities focus on developing new optical methods that enable biological objects to be imaged live and in a minimally invasive manner. We have come a long way in developing techniques for imaging objects of different sizes - from the scale of organs to the internal structure of a single cell.
Maciej Wojtkowski (b.1975) is active in the field of biomedical imaging. His research interest includes optical coherence tomography and low coherence interferometry applied to biomedical imaging. Dr Wojtkowski has significant impact on development of Fourier domain OCT (FdOCT) technique. The first FdOCT instrument for in vivo retinal imaging was designed and constructed by dr Wojtkowski and his colleagues from the Medical Physics Group at Nicolaus Copernicus University Poland in 2001. Dr Wojtkowski also contributed in development and construction of three clinical prototype high speed and high resolution OCT instruments which are in use in ophthalmology clinics: in Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Poland, New England Eye Center, Boston, USA, and UPMC Pittsburgh. He is an author of more than 160 publications including 90 full papers in peer reviewed journals. During his academic career Maciej Wojtkowski served short internships in Vienna University and University of Kent. He also worked for two years as postdoctoral fellow in joint project between Massachusetts Institute of Technology and New England Eye Center. Currently prof Wojtkowski is a head of the Department of Physical Chemistry of Biological Systems at Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences where he also leads his own research team (Physical Optics and Biophotonics Group).
