admin

Myriam Boduelle research visit

The researcher Myriam Boduelle, a doctoral student at the Université Grenoble Alpes, carries out a two-week experimental campaign at the ALF group’s Laser Laboratory.

Myriam, directed by Professor Guillermo Martin, works on the development of optical devices applied to astrophotonics, to obtain detectors and miniaturized optical equipment that can be integrated into aerospace missions.

During her stay, she will use the microprocessing stations for materials with ultrashort pulse lasers, and the laboratory’s diagnostic and optical characterization equipment.

27 May, 2022 admin News No comments

Published the list of winners of the VI Photo Contest “Dia de la Luz”

On the occasion of the celebration on May 16 of the International Day of Light, the list of winners of the IV “Day of Light” Photographic Contest organized by the Master’s Degree in Physics and Technology of Lasers (USAL – UVA) has been published. These entities and organizations also collaborate:

the ATTOSTRUCTURA project (funded by the European Innovation Council in the framework of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research program on innovation under the grant agreement ERC 851201).
the Salamanca Local Section of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics.
the Spanish Society of Optics SEDOPTICA.
the magazine Óptica Pura y Aplicada.
the University Association OSAL Student Chapter.
the Supernova University Association.
the Physics League University Association.

The complete verdict can be read on the website of the Master’s Degree in Physics and Technology of Lasers.

Below you can see the 4 award-winning photographs.

Arte y Optica

Primer premio en la categoría Tecnología de la Luz y Fenómenos Ópticos, para la fotografía "Arte y Optica" realizada por Irene de Juan Urién.

Pantalla led

Segundo premio en la categoría Tecnología de la Luz y Fenómenos Ópticos, para la fotografía "Pantalla LED" realizada por Carlos Luengo Gutierrez.

Imagen por textura optica

Primer premio en la categoría El Láser, para la fotografía "Imagen por textura óptica" realizada por María Sánchez Hernández.

El agua tambien funciona como espejo

Segundo premio en la categoría El Láser, para la fotografía "El agua también funciona como un espejo" realizada por Mario Guerras Rodríguez.

Many thanks to all the participants and congratulations to the winners.

18 May, 2022 admin Awards and honours, News No comments

The OSAL Student Chapter of Salamanca winner of the second Foton 2022 prize awarded by the CSIC

The OSAL Student Chapter of the University of Salamanca has been awarded second place at the Foton 2022 Awards in the Foton Emitted category, for its informative video “The colors in soap bubbles”.

The jury has positively valued “his ability to disclose to the general public, explaining the operation of the phenomenon of interference of light with an accessible and attractive example” in addition to his creativity when showing the colors that are produced in the bubbles.

The video explains the thin film interference phenomenon, which is responsible for the appearance of colors in soap bubbles and which also appears in other situations such as puddles or butterfly wings.

You can see this video (and other very interesting ones too) on the page of the OSAL Student Chapter of Salamanca and read the complete review of the award on the CSIC website.

13 May, 2022 admin Awards and honours, Press release, Video No comments

Cover in the Spanish magazine of physics

The Spanish Journal of Physics carries on the cover of its most recent issue (Vol 36, No (2022)) the illustration by Alba de las Heras in which it is represented the generation of ultraviolet light laser beams with a double structure: vectorial by its azimuthal polarization distribution, and vortex by its transverse phase distribution

These properties are transferred to the high-frequency domain from the high-order harmonic generation process, triggered by an intense structured laser radiating from a gas jet.

You can consult more information about these properties in the “Points of interest” section of this issue of the Spanish Journal of Physics or in an article published about it:

A. de las Heras, A. K. Pandey, J. San Román, J. Serrano, E. Baynard, G. Dovillaire, M. Pittman, C. G. Durfee, L. Plaja, S. Kazamias, O. Guilbaud y C. Hernández-García, “Extreme-ultraviolet Vector-vortex Beams from High Harmonic Generation”, Optica 9, 71-79 (2022).

9 May, 2022 admin Press release No comments

OP Session – Laser-Plasma X-Ray Sources… and how to improve them with machine learning methods

Andreas Döpp, from Ludwing-Maximilians Universität München, will give the seminar entitled “Laser-plasma X-ray sources… and how to improve them with machine learning methods” next May 19 at 09:30.

The seminar will be in English, and will take place in room 0-01 of the Merced Building at the University of Salamanca.

9 May, 2022 admin OP Session No comments

OP Session -Tracking ultrafast structural dynamics in condensed phase matter using X-ray free electron lasers

Wojciech Gawelda, member of IMDEA-Nanociencia (Faculty of Sciences of the Autonomous University of Madrid), will give the seminar entitled “Tracking ultrafast structural dynamics in condensed phase matter using X-ray free electron lasers” on May 16 at 12:00 p.m.

The seminar will be in English and will take place in Classroom E2 of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Salamanca.

Abstract:

With the advent of soft- and hard X-ray Free Electron Lasers (XFEL) sources, entirely new scientific opportunities and prospects have been become available in the field of structural studies. One of the most unprecedented features of XFELs is their ability to produce high intensity and fully coherent pulsed X-ray beams, with single pulse duration well below 100 femtoseconds (1 fs =10^-15 s). This property allows dynamical studies of light-matter interactions virtually in any medium on the very fundamental timescales of interatomic motions, from gas-phase to complex strongly correlated solids, high-temperature superconductors, biomolecules and various nanomaterials.

In this seminar I will present a state-of-the-art overview of the abovementioned research venues, which highly benefit from the continuous progress in the field of XFEL technology. In particular, I will focus on those aspects, which profit most from the very high temporal resolution achievable in time-resolved XFEL experiments on combination with atomic spatial resolution.

3 May, 2022 admin OP Session No comments

High fashion jewelry in non-linear optics

Sterling silver jewelry, rose gold with exclusive designs, rings, earrings, bracelets… made out of light? Like a high fashion jewelry workshop, the Laser and Photonics Applications research group of the University of Salamanca (ALF-USAL) focuses its efforts on designing light jewels through non-linear optics. Jewels, not only for their beauty in the form of high-frequency lasers, but also for their usefulness in observing and controlling unknown processes in nature. In fact, the design of coherent and high-frequency laser light beams (towards the X-rays) has become a unique tool to access processes that take place in very small sizes (nanometers) and in very short times (trillionths of seconds).

The theoretical-experimental collaboration between ALF-USAL and the group of Profs. Murnane and Kapteyn at the University of Colorado at Boulder (USA) have been developing fine jewelry for the last few years. After generating high-frequency rings with properties never seen before (see references [1,2]), the researchers have gone a step further, entering the world of necklaces. The design of an infrared laser in the form of a necklace allows to control the frequency and divergence (or spatial size) of the X-rays that are produced after the non-linear process of high-order harmonic generation. In this work, published in the journal Science Advances, the researchers also demonstrate that the spectral content of these X-ray lasers can be calibrated by means of the number of beads in the necklace. One more step in the high fashion jewelry with lasers that tries to help in the understanding of the fastest processes of nature.

More information in:

“Necklace-structured high harmonic generation for low-divergence, soft X-ray harmonic combs with tunable line spacing”, Laura Rego, Nathan J. Brooks, Quynh L. D. Nguyen, Julio San Román, Iona Binnie, Luis Plaja, Henry C. Kapteyn, Margaret M. Murnane, Carlos Hernández-García, Science Advances 8, eabj7380 (2022).

References::

[1] “Generation of extreme-ultraviolet beams with time-varying orbital angular momentum”, Laura Rego, Kevin M Dorney, Nathan J Brooks, Quynh Nguyen, Chen-Ting Liao, Julio San Román, David E Couch, Allison Liu, Emilio Pisanty, Maciej Lewenstein, Luis Plaja, Henry C Kapteyn, Margaret M Murnane, Carlos Hernández-García, Science 364, eaaw9486 (2019).

[2] “Controlling the polarization and vortex charge of attosecond high-harmonic beams via simultaneous spin-orbit momentum conservation”, Kevin M. Dorney, Laura Rego, Nathan J. Brooks, Julio San Román, Chen-Ting Liao, Jennifer L. Ellis, Dmitriy Zusin, Christian Gentry, Quynh L. Nguyen, Justin. M. Shaw, Antonio Picón, Luis Plaja, Henry C. Kapteyn, Margaret M. Murnane, Carlos Hernández-García, Nature Photonics 13, 123–130 (2019).

25 April, 2022 admin ALF results, Review No comments

OP Session – Applications of photo-registration laser for astrophotonics and spectrometry

Guillermo Martin, from the Institut de Planetologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (FRANCE), will give the Seminar “Applications of photo-registration laser for astrophotonics and spectrometry“.

The seminar will take place on Tuesday, April 5 at 12:00 in E2 room in the Sciences School of the University of Salamanca

31 March, 2022 admin OP Session No comments

IV Photo Contest “Day of Light”

On the occasion of the proclamation of May 16 as “International Day of Light and Light-Based Technologies” by the United Nations Organization, the Master’s Degree in Laser Physics and Technology” announces the IV edition of the Photo Contest “Day of the light”.

In the organization of the contest and formation of the jury participate:

the ATTOSTRUCTURA project (funded by the European Innovation Council in the framework of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research program on innovation under the grant agreement ERC 851201).
the Salamanca Local Section of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics.
the Spanish Society of Optics SEDOPTICA.
the magazine Óptica Pura y Aplicada.
the University Association OSAL Student Chapter.
the Supernova University Association.
the Physics League University Association.

The contest is open to undergraduate, master’s or doctoral students, professors and members of the university community of the University of Salamanca and the University of Valladolid, as well as graduates of the Master’s Degree in Laser Physics and Technology who are not part of the jur

The participation period is open until May 3. Each participant can send up to two photographs to each of the established categories:

Technologies of light and Optical Phenomena
The laser

4 prizes will be awarded:

First prize in the Light Technologies and Optical Phenomena category: 200 euros.
Second prize in the Light Technologies and Optical Phenomena category: 100 euros.
First prize in the Laser category: 200 euros.
Second prize in the Laser category: 100 euros.

In addition, all the winners will receive one year of free subscription to the Royal Spanish Physics Society with online access to the Physics Journal. The winning photographs will be published in the Pure and Applied Optics magazine of the Spanish Optical Society (SEDOPTICA).

The complete rules of the competition are available on the website of the Master’s Degree in Physics and Technology of Lasers (laser.usal.es/posgrado)

21 March, 2022 admin News, Scientific outreach No comments

Jila Press Release – A Necklace Made of Doughnuts

Our friends and frequent collaborators from JILA (University of Colorado) echo the paper “Necklace-structured high-harmonic generation for low-divergence, soft x-ray harmonic combs with tunable line spacing” recently published in ScienceAdvances.

You can read his review at the following link: https://jila.colorado.edu/news-events/articles/necklace-made-doughnuts

More information at:

Rego, L., Brooks, N. J., Nguyen, Q. L. D., San Roman, J., Binnie, I., Plaja, I., Kapteyn, H. C., Murnane, M. M., & Hernández-García, C. (2022). Necklace-structured high-harmonic generation for low-divergence, soft x-ray harmonic combs with tunable line spacing. Science Advances, 8(5), eabj7380. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abj7380

24 February, 2022 admin ALF results, Press release No comments