In the UNIS group we are working in the field of intense ultrashort laser pulse interaction with matter. Our activities are grouped in 3 directions.

We study the nonlinear propagation of intense ultrashort laser pulses in transparent media and related filamentation processes. We develop experimental tools to monitor the interaction of the strong laser fields with the matter and also ways to control the nonlinear propagation through the use of "exotic" wavepackets or photonic lattices.

In the second direction we develop novel strong field THz sources. We are investigating mainly filamentation based approaches and explore novel ways for increasing the source peak power. We are proposing ways of taming the source properties through filamentation tailoring methods or using novel artificial materials like metamaterials and eutectics. With the available THz intensities we explore the new era of nonlinear THz optics.

Finally, in the third direction we use photonic lattices for a number of applications. From the control of the nonlinear propagation, to the study of complexity physics and quantum information and quantum analogs.

In our research we are dealing with both fundamental science aspects as well as technological applications. The polyvalent nature of our facility allows studies in cross-disciplinary science including physics, chemistry, materials science and bio-medicine.

HIGHLIGHTS

Awards

•  Rozhdestvensky honorary medal from the Russian Optical Society (2013) for Prof. Stelios Tzortzakis

•  Marie Curie Excellence Grant (~2M€ ; 2006-2010)  Prof. Stelios Tzortzakis

Research Highlights

• Demonstration of a sub-picosecond all-optical THz switch based on three-dimensional (3D) terahertz meta-atoms (link)

• Development of a novel THz source that exceeds in power performance and conversion efficiency any other THz source known to date (link)

• Crossing the threshold of ultrafast 3D laser writing in bulk silicon (link)

• Generation of highly efficient broadband terahertz pulses from ultrashort laser filamentation in liquids (link)

• Theoretical and experimental demonstration that the harmonics from abruptly autofocusing ring-Airy beams preserve the phase distribution of the fundamental beam. even after focusing these beams still spatially overlap, surprisingly over elongated focal volumes (link)

• Numerical and experimental demonstrations of the accelerating Airy and ring-Airy beams that show that the waves are a superposition of twin waves, which are conjugate to each other under inversion of the propagation direction, known as Janus Waves (link)

• Generation of THz waves that has more than 5 times the pulse energy of THz waves created with standard Gaussian beams, by using ring-Airy beams (link)

• Accessing Extreme Spatiotemporal Localization of High-Power Laser Radiation through Transformation Optics and Scalar Wave Equations (link)

• Demonstration that the focus position of abruptly autofocusing ring Airy beams can be tailored to cover an extended range, maintaining at the same time an almost invariant focal voxel (link)

•  First demonstration of nonlinear intense “light bullets” in normal dispersion media (link)

• First demonstrations of dynamical filamentation tailoring in various media and photonic lattices (link)

For more info, please don't hesitate to visit our group web page https://unis.iesl.forth.gr/