Events and congress

Researchers from the ALF group at USAL participated in the HILAS congress

Researchers from the ALF group at USAL, including Carlos Hernández García, Marina Fernández Galán, and Rodrigo Hernández Martín, participated in the High-Intensity Lasers and High-Field Phenomena (HILAS) congress, which took place from March 12th to March 14th in Vienna.

HILAS serves as a prominent platform for scientists and researchers to explore cutting-edge advancements and discoveries in the field of high-intensity lasers and high-field phenomena. The congress provides a forum for discussions, presentations, and collaborations among experts in various disciplines, including physics, optics, engineering, and materials science. Through keynote speeches, panel sessions, and workshops, HILAS facilitates the exchange of knowledge and fosters innovation in this rapidly evolving field.

The following works have been presented:

Simulating Macroscopic High-order Harmonic Generation Driven by Structured Laser Beams Using Artificial Intelligence, Carlos Hernandez-Garcia; Universidad de Salamanca, Spain.

Compact Generation of Isolated Attosecond Pulses Driven by Self-compressed Subcycle Waveforms, Marina F. Galán¹, Javier Serrano¹, Enrique Conejero Jarque¹, Rocío Borrego-Varillas², Matteo Lucchini³, Maurizio Reduzzi³ , Mauro Nisoli³ , Christian Brahms⁴, John C. Travers⁴, Carlos Hernandez-Garcia¹, Julio San Roman¹; 1 Universidad de Salamanca, Spain; 2 IFN-CNR, Italy; 3 Politecnico di Milano, Italy; 4 Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom.

We theoretically demonstrate a compact and robust scheme for the direct generation of extreme ultraviolet isolated attosecond pulses from high-order harmonics driven by self-compressed subcycle waveforms produced in a gas-filled hollow capillary fiber.

Generation of high-order harmonic spatiotemporal optical vortices, Rodrigo Martín Hernández^1,2, Guan Gui³, Luis Plaja^1,2, Henry K. Kapteyn³, Margaret M. Murnane³, Miguel A. Porras⁴, Chen-Ting Liao^3,5, Carlos Hernandez-Garcia^1,2; 1 Grupo de Investigación en Aplicaciones del Láser y Fotónica. Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain; 2 Unidad de Excelencia en Luz y Materia Estructuradas (LUMES), Universidad de Salamanca, Spain; 3 JILA and Department of Physics, University of Colorado and NIST, USA; 4 Grupo de Sistemas Complejos, ETSIME, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain; 5 Department of Physics, Indiana University, USA.

We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate the generation of high-topological charge, extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) spatiotemporal optical vortices (STOV) from high-order harmonic generation. EUV-STOVs are unique structured light tools for exploring ultrafast topological laser-matter interactions.

15 March, 2024 admin ALF results, Events and congress No comments

Researchers from the ALF USAL group attend the congress OPA 2023

Luis Plaja and Carlos Hernández García researchers from the Laser and Photonics Applications group (ALF – USAL) have attended and participated in the Optics & Photonics Africa OPA 2023 congress that took place from November 6 to 10 in White River – South Africa.

They presented the contributions titled:

Topological high-harmonic spectroscopy: observing matter response from the topology of the harmonic field.
Short Wavelength Structured Light for Attosecond Science

At this link you can consult the press release published by the International Commission for Optics with all the information about the congress.

13 November, 2023 admin Events and congress No comments

ALF-USAL researchers participate in the annual meeting of the European Optical Society (EOSAM 2022)

From September 12 to 16, the annual meeting of the European Optical Society (EOSAM 2022) was held in Porto (Portugal). The Laser and Photonics Applications group (ALF – USAL) has participated in this conference presenting some of the most recent results of the research it is currently carrying out.

The works presented were:

Marina Fernández Galán, Enrique Conejero Jarque, Julio San Román. Pulse self-compression down to the sub-cycle regime in hollow capillary fibers with decreasing pressure gradients. TOM 8 Non-linear and Quantum Optics – Oral contribution (Abstract).
Miguel López Ripa, Iñigo J. Sola, Benjamín Alonso. Ultraestable spatiotemporal characterization of optical vortices in the visible and near infrared. TOM 13 Advances And Applications of Optics and Photonics – Oral contribution (Abstract).
Rodrigo Martín Hernández, Luis Plaja, Carlos Hernández García. Fourier-limited attosecond pulse generation with magnetically pumped high-order harmonic generation. TOM 8 Non-linear and Quantum Optics – Oral contribution (Abstract)
Luis Plaja, Ana García Cabrera, Roberto Boyero-García, Óscar Zurrón, Julio San Román, Carlos Hernández García. Multi-beam vortex generation induced by the non-linear optical anisotropy of graphene. TOM 8 Non-linear and Quantum Optics – Poster (Abstract)
Victor W. Segundo Staels, Enrique Conejero Jarque, Daniel Carlson, Michaël Hemmer, Henry C. Kapteyn, Margaret M. Murnane, Julio San Román. Supercontinuum generation in the enhanced frequency chirp regime in multipass cells. TOM 8 Non-linear and Quantum Optics – Oral contribution (Abstract)
Carlos Hernández García. Novel ultrafast structured EUV/x-ray sources from nonlinear optics. TOM 13 Advances And Applications of Optics and Photonics – Oral contribution (Abstract).

25 October, 2022 admin ALF results, Events and congress, Scientific outreach No comments

ALF-USAL researchers participate in the XXXVIII Biennial Meeting of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics (Murcia)

From July 11 to 15, the XXXVIII Biennial Meeting of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics was held. The Laser and Photonics Applications group (ALF – USAL) has participated in said biennial, presenting some of the most recent results of the research it is currently carrying out.

The works presented were:

Luis Sánchez-Tejerina, Rodrigo Martín-Hernández, Rocío Yanes, Luis Plaja, Luis López-Díaz, Carlos Hernández-García. “Magnetic order excitation by magnetic fields from sub-picosecond structured laser pulses”. S15 Novel frontiers and challenges in magnetism – Oral contribution. (Abstract)
Rodrigo Martín-Hernández, Luis Sánchez-Tejerina, Enrique Conejero Jarque, Luis Plaja , Carlos Hernández-García. “Spatial isolation of femtosecond magnetic needles driven by azimuthally-polarized laser beams“, S15 Novel frontiers and challenges in magnetism – Oral contribution. (Abstract). Prize for the best oral contribution in the Symposium “Novel Frontiers and Challenges in Magnetism” awarded by the Spanish chapter of IEEE Magnetics.
Miguel López-Ripa, Íñigo J. Sola, Benjamín Alonso. “In-line and ultraestable spatiotemporal characterization of constant and time-varying optical vortices“, S9 Quantum Optics and Nonlinear Optics – Oral contribution (Abstract)
V. W. Segundo Staels, E. Conejero Jarque, J. San Roman. “Use of gas-filled multipass cells to generate clean supercontinuum spectra“, S9 Quantum Optics and Nonlinear Optics – Oral contribution. (Abstract)
Luis Sánchez-Tejerina, Rodrigo Martín-Hernández, Rocío Yanes, Luis Plaja, Luis López-Díaz, Carlos Hernández-García. “Non-linear, purely magnetic magnetization response to femtosecond structured laser pulses“, S9 Quantum Optics and Nonlinear Optics – Oral contribution. (Abstract)
Rodrigo Martín-Hernández,Luis Plaja, Carlos Hernández-García. “Magnetically-pumped High Harmonic Generation with circularly polarized driving fields”, S9 Quantum Optics and Nonlinear Optics – Oral contribution. (Abstract)
Ana García-Cabrera, Roberto Boyero-García, Óscar Zurrón Cifuentes, Julio San Román, Carlos Hernández-García, Luis Plaja. “Multi-vortex high-harmonic beams from graphene’s anisotropy“, S9 Quantum Optics and Nonlinear Optics – Oral contribution. (Abstract)
Alba de las Heras, Alok Kumar Pandey, Julio San Román, Javier Serrano, Luis Plaja. “Extreme-ultraviolet scalar and vectorial vortices with very high topological charge“, S9 Quantum Optics and Nonlinear Optics – Oral contributionl. (Abstract). Winner of the “Young Researchers” contest in the student category.
Ignacio Lopez-Quintas, Warein Holgado, Rokas Drevinskas, Peter G. Kazansky, Íñigo J. Sola, Benjamín Alonso. “Collinear optical vortices with tailored topological charge generated by angular momentum transfer“, S9 Quantum Optics and Nonlinear Optics – Poster. (Abstract)
Javier Serrano, Carlos Hernández-García. “High-performance simulations of high-order harmonic generation based on artificial intelligence“, S9 Quantum Optics and Nonlinear Optics – Poster. (Abstract)
Rosa Ana Pérez-Herrera, Alba de las Heras, María-Baralida Tomás, Beatriz Santamaría, Clara Benedí-García, Ana I. Gómez-Varela, Verónica González-Fernández, Martina Delgado-Pinar. “The future researchers in Optics and Photonics: gender bias in the PhD theses defended in Spain in 2015-2020“, S2 Women in Physics – Oral contribution. (Abstract).

In addition, Carlos Hernández García participated in the organization of the congress as part of the scientific committee.

25 July, 2022 admin ALF results, Awards and honours, Events and congress, Scientific outreach No comments

RNO2021 – Ana García Cabrera awarded with one of the awards of this edition

The XIII National Meeting of Optics (#RNO2021) ended last week after three days full of interesting contributions and work.

It is with great regret that we say goodbye to this edition, although we do so with a bittersweet feeling since Ana García Cabrera, doctoral student and member of the GIR Aplicaciones Lásica y Fótonica was chosen as the winner of the RNO2021 award in the category of Quantum and Nonlinear Optics.

Ana presented her work “Ultrafast Talbot Spectroscopy” of which she is co-author along with Carlos Hernández – García and Luis Plaja. You can read the summary below.

Abstract:

High-order harmonic generation is an extraordinary tool that allows for the production of high-frequency coherent radiation in the form of very short pulses that can be used to unveil the properties of matter at the nanoscale. High-order harmonic generation occurs during the interaction of an intense laser with the atoms in matter. First, the laser distorts the atomic potential, releasing the electron through tunnel ionization. Then, the electron is accelerated by the laser field and redirected to rescatter with its parent ion, leading to the emission of radiation in the form of harmonics of the incident laser’s frequency. In the spatial scale where this process occurs, the electrons behave as waves and, therefore, they experience some phenomena that are typically observed in light, like the Talbot effect. The (optical) Talbot effect leads to the formation of a series of self-images of a periodic field distribution —like that in a diffraction grating— at regular distances.

In this work, we simulate an experiment of matter Talbot imaging with the ionized electronic wavefunction in a crystal during the high-order harmonic generation. The periodic wavefunction in the crystal is released by the laser field and, upon its evolution, it experiences the formation of Talbot self-images over time. The temporal modulations in the harmonic signal, caused by the matter Talbot effect, leave a trace in the harmonic spectrum that depends on the band occupation of the crystal. Therefore, we propose a new spectroscopic tool, ultrafast Talbot spectroscopy, based on the already known Talbot -Lau interferometry.

You can consult the article that she has published about this same work in the following link or download it from the institutional repository of the University of Salamanca GREDOS.

Ana García-Cabrera et al 2021 New J. Phys. 23 093011

We congratulate Ana and the rest of the congress winners and finalists!

All the details of the congress can be consulted on its website and its Twitter account (hashtag #RNO2021)

23 November, 2021 admin Awards and honours, Events and congress No comments

ALF-USAL Participation in RNO2021 – Poster Session

Several members of the Group of Applications Laser and Photonics (ALF – USAL) present the results of their research in the Poster Sessions organized during the XIII National Meeting of Optics (RNO 2021) that is taking place virtually from November 22 to 24 of 2021.

The works presented are included below:

All the details of the congress can be consulted on its website. You can also follow the event through the Twitter account of the XIII National Optics Meeting and the hashtag #RNO2021.

Structuring XUV Vector-Vortex Beams via High Harmonic Generation

Authors: Alba de las Heras, Alok Kumar Pandey, Julio San Román, Javier Serrano, Elsa Baynard, Guillaume Dovillaire, Moana Pittman, Charles G. Durfee, Luis Plaja, Sophie Kazamias, Olivier Guilbaud, y Carlos Hernández–García

Abstract: Structured light in the short-wavelength regime is emerging as a paramount tool to explore ultrafast spin and electronic dynamics. In this work, we demonstrate experimentally and theoretically the up-conversion of Vector-Vortex Beams (VVB) from the IR to the XUV regime, introducing a unique configuration of XUV coherent radiation spatially structured in its polarization and phase. The build-up of high-order harmonic generation driven by VVB is governed by the conservation of the Pancharatnam topological charge, which considers the intertwined spin and orbital angular momentum properties. The selection rule results in harmonic VVB with a high topological charge and smooth propagation dynamics.

A new post-compression scheme: nonlinear propagation in multipass cells.

Authors: Victor Segundo-Staels, Enrique Conejero Jarque y Julio San Roman1.

Abstract: The development of short, pulsed lasers has paved the way of new scientific disciplines such as the femtochemistry or the attoscience. There are several well-known schemes to generate extremely short pulses, such as the post-compression techniques. One of the most used post-compression methods consists of the spectral broadening of the pulse via its nonlinear propagation through a hollow-core capillary filled with a gas. The post-compressed pulse obtained, after passing a phase compensation stage, can reach the few- and even single-cycle regime.

We have developed a numerical model to study the nonlinear propagation of a laser pulse in an MPC. It is based on the standard Split-Step Fourier scheme in 4 dimensions, namely 3 cartesian coordinates plus the time dimension, as done by M. Hanna and co-workers7. As usual, the nonlinearities are processed in the space-time domain and linear effects in the frequency domain. Our code is written in MATLAB, employing some recent storage functions that allow us to work with big amounts of data. Normally we use a resolution grid of 128x128x512x𝑍 points, where 𝑍 is the propagation coordinate, which could be adjusted with adaptative steps based on the nonlinearity demands. With this precision we solve the propagation of tens of roundtrips in short amounts of time, which allows us to have bigger accuracy in transversal or temporal coordinates. Currently, we are able to retrieve previous results from the literature of spectral broadening in MPCs. This will allow us to study the behaviour of MPCs in different scenarios and to study the role of other nonlinear terms that could be relevant in some situations.

Generación de armónicos de orden elevado en presencia de campos magnéticos ultraintensos.

Authors: Rodrigo Martín, Luis Plaja y Carlos Hernández – García.

Abstract: El auge del estudio de haces de luz estructurados en los últimos años ha permitido demostrar nuevos esquemas en los procesos de interacción láser-materia. Un ejemplo son los haces de luz vectoriales con polarización azimutal, mostrando un campo magnético longitudinal oscilante a frecuencias ópticas. Estos campos magnéticos pueden llegar a ser del orden de giga-Tesla para intensidades máximas del haz vectorial en el rango de 10²¹ W/cm². En este trabajo se ha estudiado cómo estos campos magnéticos pueden afectar al proceso de generación de armónicos de orden elevado. Hemos observado cómo los espectros mejoran de manera notable tanto en eficiencia como en la frecuencia máxima que puede llegar a generarse. Además hemos dado una explicación desde un punto de vista fundamental de la dinámica que sufre el electrón durante su excursión por el continuo bajo el efecto del campo magnético. Por un lado, se produce una reestructuración de los niveles del continuo de manera análoga a un hilo cuántico, debido al confinamiento transversal del campo magnético. Por otro lado, la función de onda del electrón, tras la fotoionización, sufre de una dinámica de revivals o sucesivas focalizaciones que permite entender el aumento de las eficiencias y las frecuencias máximas que pueden obtenerse. Este trabajo presenta un nuevo esquema de la interacción láser-materia con la nueva generación de láseres de petavatio actualmente en construcción.

Pressures gradients in the compression of few-cycle pulses in gas filled hollow-core fibers.

Authors: Marina Fernández Galan, Julio San Román y Enrique Conejero Jarque.

Abstract: Gas-filled hollow-core fibers (HCFs) have been extensively used for generating intense ultrashort laser pulses, which are now essential tools in disciplines such as ultrafast spectroscopy or attosecond science. In this work, we have studied the generation of few-cycle pulses in HCF compressors with non-uniform pressure along the fiber. Varying the gas pressure, both dispersion and nonlinearity can be easily tuned, yielding output pulses with extremely short durations and a clean temporal profile.

Caracterización espacio temporal de vórtices ópticos ultracortos

Authors: Miguel López-Ripa, Íñigo Sola y Benjamín Alonso

Abstract: Las técnicas de caracterización espaciotemporal de pulsos ultracortos han ganado gran importancia a lo largo de las últimas décadas. En este trabajo hemos implementado un sistema de caracterización espaciotemporal compacto y ultraestable basado en interferometría por desplazamiento lateral en un montaje monolítico. Además, lo hemos empleado para caracterizar vórtices ópticos ultracortos generados usando láminas nanoestructuradas, demostrando su viabilidad y abriendo la puerta a explorar y optimizar nuevos casos de interés en aplicaciones de óptica ultrarrápida.

23 November, 2021 admin Attostructura_En, Events and congress No comments

XIII NATIONAL OPTICAL MEETING – ALF Participation

The National Meeting of Optics of the year 2021 (RNO2021) will take place next week from November 22 to 24. In this online event that has more than 240 registered people and 19 sponsors, more than 200 scientific contributions will be presented.

The National Meeting of Optics (RNO) is a triennial congress organized by the Spanish Society of Optics (SEDOPTICA), which has a long history of more than 30 years. An average of 200 professionals from different specialties of Optics and Photonics in Spain converge in each RNO and it is where the latest scientific and technological advances in this field are presented.

The XIII RNO 2021, organized this year by the SEDOPTICA Women, Optics and Photonics Area, aims to maintain the high quality standards of this conference, placing special emphasis on creating a parity and attractive congress for younger researchers.

Being one of the main events related to research in the field of optics and photonics, it is an essential appointment in the calendar of the members of the Laser and Photonics Applications Group.

This year, the Laser and Photonics Applications Group present the following contributions:

Oral Contribution: “Dispersive wave emission at a fixed wavelength through parameter scaling” (#53), A. Crego, E. Conejero Jarque and J. San Roman. Wednesday 24th (15:00 h).
Oral: Contribution: «Ultrafast Talbot Spectroscopy», Ana García-Cabrera, Carlos Hernández-García y Luis Plaja. Wednesday 24th (15:00 h).
Poster: “Caracterización espaciotemporal de vórtices ópticos ultracortos” (#127), Miguel López-Ripa, Íñigo J. Sola & Benjamín Alonso. Monday 22nd (17:30-18:30h) and Tuesday 23rd (17:00-18:00h)
Poster: “Structuring XUV Vector-Vortex Beams via High Harmonic Generation“, (#71). Alba de las Heras, Alok Kumar Pandey, Julio San Román, Javier Serrano, Elsa Baynard, Guillaume Dovillaire, Moana Pittman, Charles G. Durfee, Luis Plaja, Sophie Kazamias, Olivier Guilbaud, and Carlos Hernández–García. Monday 22nd (17:30-18:30h) and Tuesday 23rd (17:00-18:00h)
Poster: «Pressure gradients in the compression of few-cycle pulses y gas-filled hollow-core fibers». Marina Fernández Galán, Julio San Román y Enrique Conejero Jarque. Monday 22nd (17:30-18:30h) and Tuesday 23rd (17:00-18:00h)
Poster: «Divulgación de la óptica en tiempos de pandemia: actividades online realizadas por la OSAL student chapter.» Ana García-Cabrera, Víctor W. Segundo-Staels, Javier Prada-Rodrigo, Daniel García Carracedo, Alba de las Heras y Laura Rego. Monday 22nd (17:30-18:30h) and Tuesday 23rd (17:00-18:00h)
Póster. «SEDOPTICA–MOF: fomentando la igualdad de género«. Rosa Ana Pérez, Ana I. Gómez, Francesca Gallazzi, Beatriz Santamaria, Alba de las Heras, María Baralida Tomás, Verónica González, Martina Delgado, y María Viñas. Monday 22nd (17:30-18:30h) and Tuesday 23rd (17:00-18:00h)

In addition, several members of the GIR Laser and Photonics Applications participate in the following spaces within RNO2021:

Assembly of the Committee of Quantum Optics and Nonlinear Optics. Monday 22nd (19:30-20:30h). During this assembly, the new Board of Directors of the Committee will be elected. Carlos Hernández – Garcia and Alba de las Heras appear as members of the committee, as president and student member respectively.
Round table: Ibero-American Meeting of OPTICA chapters. Wednesday 24th (17:00- 18:00h)
RNO Young. Activity «Óptica sin limites«. Tuesday 23rd (14:05-14:55h) (Ana García Cabrera)
RNO Young. Activity «Conecta y LúZete«. Tuesday 23rd (14:55-16:00h) (Miguel López Ripa)

All the details of the congress can be consulted on its website. You can also follow the event through the Twitter account of the XIII National Optics Meeting and the hashtag #RNO2021.

19 November, 2021 admin Attostructura_En, Events and congress No comments

EUCYS 2021 – Winners and videos of the event

The 32nd edition of the European Competition for Young Researchers (EUCYS 2020 – 2021) has ended up being a great success. Congratulations to all the winners!

You can check the complete list of winners at this link.

For all those who could not follow the different events and ceremonies live, or want to see it again, we include below the video of each event. In addition, the program of activities and the videos and posters of all the works that participated in the contest will continue to be available on the contest website.

20 September, 2021 admin Attostructura_En, Events and congress, Video No comments

EUCYS 2021 – ALF-USAL PRESENTATION VIDEO

From September 16 to 19, 2021, the University of Salamanca will host the 32nd edition of the European Competition for Young Researchers (EUCYS 2020 – 2021).

For this reason, several of the recognized research groups of the University of Salamanca have prepared a video in which they present the group and its main lines of research. Below you can see the video recorded by the GIR of Laser and Photonics Applications (ALF – USAL).

On the website of the contest you can consult the program of activities and see all the events and conferences that are going to be held and the presentation videos of other recognized research groups of the University of Salamanca.

16 September, 2021 admin Events and congress, Video No comments

EUCYS 2021 – European Union Competition for Young Scientists (September 16 – 19, 2021)

The European Union Competition for Young Scientists, better known as “EUCYS”, awards and celebrates the best young scientific talent in Europe. Every year, the contest brings together promising young scientists from across Europe and beyond to present their projects to an international jury.

Although the 32nd edition should have been held in Salamanca in 2020, the global COVID 19 pandemic forced the European Commission to make the decision to postpone it. From September 16 to 19, the University of Salamanca will host the 32nd edition that combines the 2020 and 2021 competitions, which takes place semi-face-to-face.

All the works that are presented in the competition are available on the event’s website.

On the website of the contest you can consult the program of activities and see all the events and conferences that are going to be held. You can also follow the events in streaming through the YouTube channel of the University of Salamanca.

Carlos Hernández-García, member of the ALF-USAL group, belongs to the organizing committee of the event.

10 September, 2021 admin Attostructura_En, Events and congress No comments