LPHYS'25.    Plenary Speakers:

  1. Sub-Atomic Motions: From Capturing Electrons to Probing Human Health

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      Ferenc Krausz

      Nobel Prize Winner 
      Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Garching, Germany, Garching, Germany
      Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany, Munich, Germany
      Center for Molecular Fingerprinting, Budapest, Hungary, Budapest, Hungary
    Biography:

    Ferenc Krausz graduated in electrical engineering from the Budapest University of Technology and completed his studies in theoretical physics at Eötvös Loránd University in 1985. He earned his doctorate in laser physics from the Technische Universität Wien in 1991, where he became a professor in 1998. In 2003–2004, he was appointed director at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching and chair of experimental physics – laser physics at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where he established “Attoworld” at these two sites (attoworld.de).

    In a series of experiments performed between 2001 and 2004, his team succeeded in producing and measuring isolated attosecond pulses of light and applying them to observe sub-atomic motions. Attoworld has been fostering the proliferation of the emerging field, attosecond science, and – since 2015 – exploring its utility for probing human health. For his contributions to establishing the field of attosecond science, Ferenc Krausz has been awarded the King Faisal International Prize for Science (2013), the Wolf Prize in Physics (2022), the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2023), and the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics.

    Abstract:

    Born at the dawn of the new millennium, attosecond “photography” has opened the door for capturing sub-atomic motions as they evolve in time. Control of the oscillating electric field of light has permitted the attosecond control of electrons with unprecedented precision in space and time.

    Fundamental quantum phenomena, such as electron tunnelling and dipole oscillations in atoms or light-electron energy exchange in solids as well as fundamental classical phenomena, such as the field oscillations of visible light, became accessible to human observation in slow-motion replay.

    These capabilities open new avenues for 21st-century science, technology, and medicine. Some of them emerge from the ability to sample light fields with attosecond precision. Possible implications of these advances include hundred thousand times faster electronics and cost-effective monitoring of human health.

  2. Relativistic Catoptrics

    Biography:

    Sergei Bulanov received his PhD in Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and a Doctor of Science degree in Plasma Physics from the A. M. Prokhorov Institute of General Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences. He has worked in the Department of Theoretical Physics at the P. N. Lebedev Institute of Physics and in the Plasma Physics Laboratory at the A. M. Prokhorov Institute of General Physics in Moscow. He was a full professor in Physics and Mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He later worked at the Kansai Photon Science Institute (JAERI, JAEA, and QST) in Japan. He is currently working at ELI-Beamlines in the Czech Republic.

    In these organisations, he has been engaged in the research on cosmic ray astrophysics and solar flare physics, plasma discharge physics, high-power microwave and laser radiation interaction with matter, controlled nuclear fusion, charged particle acceleration, and fundamental physics. For his achievements, he received the USSR State Prize, the Hannes Alfvén Medal and Award from the European Physical Society, and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, awarded by the Emperor of Japan.

    Abstract:

    With his colleagues, S. V. Bulanov formulated the concept of relativistic plasma mirrors, which can be called Relativistic Catoptrics (from Greek: κάτοπτρον katoptron, "mirror"). In the seminal paper published in 1905, A. Einstein used an example of the light reflection from a mirror moving with arbitrarily large velocity to illustrate the basic principles of the special theory of relativity. Nowadays, the electromagnetic field intensification and the frequency upshift during the light reflection from the relativistic mirror are attractive for research on the development of sources of high-brightness radiation with tunable parameters required by various applications, ranging from relatively moderate radiation intensity to those devoted to quantum field theory. In this regard, a question emerges on whether or not it is possible to prepare a relativistic mirror of high enough quality for efficient reflection of light, which can move with a velocity large enough for increasing the light frequency up to the level corresponding to photon energy in the x-ray range. We can find the answer to this question using knowledge in the physics of nonlinear processes in relativistic laser plasmas. Relativistic flying mirrors in laser plasmas are thin, dense electron or electron-ion layers accelerated by high-intensity laser pulses to velocities close to the speed of light. In the head-on-collision configuration, the reflection of the electromagnetic wave from the relativistic mirror leads to the frequency of the reflected wave multiplied by a factor proportional to the square of the mirror Lorentz factor. The expected radiation intensity will reach the level at which the effects predicted by nonlinear quantum electrodynamics start to play a key role. In the co-propagating configuration, the radiation pressure of the electromagnetic wave transfers energy to the mirror, i.e., to the charged particles, providing a highly efficient acceleration mechanism. Here, we overview theoretical and experimental results obtained recently in studying the relativistic mirrors emerging in intense laser-plasma interactions.

  3. Intense Infrared Lasers for Driving Attosecond X-ray Sources

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      Zenghu Chang


      Laboratory for Infrared-driven Intense-field Science (IRIS), University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
    Abstract:

    Attosecond extreme ultraviolet sources based on high harmonic generation (HHG) in gases driven by Ti:Sapphire lasers centered at 800 nm have been the workhorse for studying electron dynamics since 2001. However, the photon energy range with sufficient flux for time-resolved experiments has been limited < 130 eV. It was predicted that the cutoff photon energy of the phase-matched HHG can be extended by increasing the driving laser wavelengths. Significant progress has been made in developing few-cycle, carrier-envelope phase stabilized, high peak-power lasers in the 1.6 to 2 micron that has laid the foundation for tabletop attosecond X-ray sources in the water window (282 – 533 eV), which covers the atomic K-shell excitation of carbon and oxygen. Breakthroughs in ultrafast mid-wave infrared light sources have been made in recent years. Chirped pulse amplifiers centered at 2.5 and 4.1 micron based on Cr:ZnSe and Fe:ZnSe have been developed. In addition, chirped pulse optical parametric amplifiers using ZnGeP2 pumped by 2-micron lasers with high conversion efficiency has been demonstrated. They are emerging as powerful tools for studying wavelength scaling laws in strong-field atomic, molecular, and plasma physics.

  4. Semiconductor Nanolasers

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      Jesper Mørk


      Technical University of Denmark, Department of Photonics Engineering, Denmark
    Abstract:

    The talk will discuss recent progress on semiconductor nanolasers. Besides their interesting physics, such lasers may be applied in future on-chip optical interconnects. Three topics will be covered: electrically-injected lasers with sub-microampere threshold current; lasers exploiting cavities with deep sub-wavelength light confinement for enhanced light-matter interaction; and Fano lasers exploiting strong cavity dispersion for linewidth reduction and enhancement of modulation speed.

  5. Subwavelength-Scale Lasing: Physics and Technology of Nanolasers

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      Cun-Zheng Ning


      Shenzhen Technology University, College of Integrated Circuits and Optoelectronic Chips, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
    Biography:

    Cun-Zheng Ning obtained his PhD in physics from the University of Stuttgart under Hermann Haken. He went to the University of Arizona as a postdoctoral researcher in 1994. He was then a senior scientist, group leader, and Nanotechnology Task Manager at NASA Ames Research Centre for the next 10 years. He was subsequently a full professor of electrical engineering at Arizona State University for 15 years and a Thousand-Talent Professor at Tsinghua University for 8 years, where he was a founding director of the Tsinghua International Centre for Nano-Optoelectronics. In 2022, he was appointed Dean and Chair Professor to establish a new College of Integrated Circuits and Optoelectronic Chips at Shenzhen Tech University.

    Dr Ning's early research in Stuttgart involved laser instabilities, two-photon lasers, the geometric phase, and noise-related phenomena. While studying laser instabilities, he discovered the first example of the Berry phase in a nonlinear dissipative system. His collaboration with others has led to the discovery of a noise-induced oscillation that becomes more coherent with increasing noise, a phenomenon now called coherence resonance that finds applications in numerous systems. His main research activities over the last 20 years involve nanolasers. His group demonstrated various nanowire lasers, including the first dual-colour lasers and the first monolithic white laser. In collaboration with Martin Hill, they demonstrated the first plasmonic nanolaser in 2009 (simultaneously with two other US teams), under electrical injection. Later, in 2013, his group achieved the first room-temperature continuous-wave operation of a nanolaser under electrical injection. For various research accomplishments, he was awarded several international awards, including IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, Best Engineering Invention of the Year by Popular Science, and the Humboldt Research Award. Dr Ning is a fellow of OSA (Optica), IEEE, and the Electromagnetic Academy.

    Abstract:

    Sixty-five years of laser research and applications have pushed the limits of almost all laser parameters to their extremes: from wavelengths, pulse width, and size of a laser, to output power. This talk focuses on recent efforts to shrink the size of a laser down to the smallest limit, at sub-wavelength scales. The question of how small a laser can be made is important both for fundamental laser physics and for many technological applications. The quest for the ultimate size limit of a laser has led to various ideas for confining photons to the smallest possible scales using mechanisms such as surface plasmons. Understanding the behaviour of nanolasers has also led to a re-examination of basic issues in laser physics, such as linewidth, quantum fluctuation, laser threshold, etc. Technologically, nanolasers are expected to become important light sources for future photonic chips or to serve as strongly localised nanoprobes for biomedical or biomolecular applications. The history, current status, and future prospects of many aspects of nanolasers will be discussed in detail.

  6. TBA

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      Joachim Burgdörfer


      Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Department of Theoretical Physics, Vienna, Austria

  7. TBA