MPSP Lecture Series 2022

Firsthand photonics research news - join the free lectures of our Fellows!

The science of light has just as many facets as light itself - from nanophotonics to quantum optics or strongfield physics there are countless interesting fields of research. Our MPSP Fellows, i.e. researchers, are active in many of them. At universities and non-university research institutions, they work to elicit all the secrets of light and to make it usable for mankind in a wide variety of ways.

And now you can get some insights into this research! From end of August to November 2022 we’ll again have an exciting MPSP Lecture Series for you (almost) every Wednesday at 5 p.m. CET (= 3 p.m. UTC | 11 a.m. EDT | 8.30 p.m. IST). A MPSP Fellow reports 45 minutes on her/his research. Afterwards, you can ask and discuss questions for 15 minutes.

The lecture series is completely free and takes place virtually via Zoom.

MPSP Lecture Series with Prof. Carsten Rockstuhl | 
28.09.2022 - 5 p.m. CEST

Lecture Topic: A T-matrix approach to describe them all: materials, metamaterials, and metasurfaces
A T-matrix, also called transition matrix, expresses how an object converts an incident into a scattered field. The object can be classical, like a traditional scatterer for which the T-matrix can be obtained from Maxwell’s equations, or a molecule, which prompts a quantum-chemical treatment to capture its T-matrix. When combined with a renormalization of the T-matrix upon periodically arranging the object, many properties can be analytically expressed. Examples of such properties are effective material parameters or expressions of how a metasurface diffracts light. Both can be used to design optical materials inversely. In this contribution, I describe the latest developments along these lines and emphasize the combined consideration of ordinary molecular materials and materials. more

MPSP Lecture Series with Prof. Florian Marquardt |
12.10.2022 - 5 p.m. CEST

Lecture topic: Neuromorphic computing: how to turn a physical system into a learning machine

Machine Learning represents a set of powerful tools, which are revolutionizing science and technology in many areas.
However, there is an urgent need to find better hardware that is  both energy-efficient and fast. In this talk, I will present our ideas on neuromorphic computing, introducing the first general-purpose learning procedure that relies only on physical dynamics. Possible implementation platforms include in particular low-loss nonlinear optical devices. more

MPSP Lecture Series with Prof. Jürgen Popp |
19.10.2022 - 5 p.m. CEST

Research topic: Coherent biomedical Raman imaging by means of ultrafast tunable laser sources
Prof. Jürgen Popp, head of the Leibnitz Institute for Photonic Technologies and professor at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and his research groups are particularly interested in the development and application of innovative Raman-based methods to answer biomedical questions. Raman spectroscopy and the various Raman-based technologies such as Raman microscopy, SERS or CARS are powerful tools for addressing a wide range of bioanalytical and biomedical problems such as the rapid identification of pathogens, the sensitive monitoring of low-concentration molecules (for example drugs or metabolites) or the objective clinical assessment of cell and tissue samples for early cancer detection. more

MPSP Lecture Series with Prof. Gerhard G. Paulus |
26.10.2022 - 5 p.m. CET

Lecture Topic: Coss-sectional nano-scale imaging by extreme UV coherence tomography (XCT)
Short wavelength, broad bandwidth, and high penetration make XUV radiation an exciting messenger for unique imaging modalities. I will explain the concept and a few results on XCT showing that the depth structure and the material of samples can non-destructively be analyzed with nanometer resolution.

Prof. Paulus is Chair of Experimental Physics/Nonlinear Optics at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and member of the Board of Directors of Helmholz Institute Jena. Together with his research groups he is working on many exciting topics in the field of strong-field physics and X-ray optics, such as ultrafast molecular dynamics, strong-field photoionization & carrier-envelope phasemeters and high-precision X-ray polarimetry. more

MPSP Lecture Series with Prof. Constantin Häfner |
02.11.2022 - 5 p.m. CET

Research Topic: Advanced Laser Technologies for research and industry
Prof. Häfner is director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT and professor at RWTH Aachen University. Together with its employees he conducts basic and advance industrial research to innovate and advance modern laser sources, laser and digital photonics applications and laser science. In the realm of Digital Photonic Production their goal is to harvest synergies from combining modern computational tools and methods and our deep knowledge of lasers and laser production.  more

MPSP Lecture Series with Dr. Falk Eilenberger |
09.11.2022 - 5 p.m. CET

Research Topic: Photonics in 2D Materials
2D-Materials consist only of a single layer of atoms and exhibit unique optical phenomena. They are direct semiconductors, have intrinsic chiral symmetry breaking and host to single photon emitters. Dr. Eilenberger’s team is researching methods to integrate these novel materials in micro- and nanooptical systems, e.g. optical fibers, waveguides, and resonators and techniques to characterize their behaviour. This helps understanding their phenomena and harness them for nextgeneration devices in nonlinear photonics, sensing, and quantum communication. more

CANCELLED DUE TO ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE -
MPSP Lecture Series with Prof. Thomas Pertsch |
16.11.2022 - 5 p.m. CET

Research Topic: Nanoscale photon control for next generation ultrafast integrated quantum systems
Prof. Pertsch’s research targets the control of light at the nanoscale and at the quantum level using nanostructured materials and ultrafast nonlinear optical effects. His research interests include among others ultrafast light-matter interactions and optical quantum phenomena in nanostructured matter, nonlinear spatio-temporal dynamics, plasmonics, near field optics, high-Q nonlinear optical microresonators, opto-optical processes in integrated optics, and alloptical signal processing, integrated quantum optics, quantum imaging, and quantum sensing as well as the application of photonic nanostructures for multifunctional diffractive optical elements.

MPSP Lecture Series with Dr. Vladislav S. Yakovlev |
23.11.2022 - 5 p.m. CET

Lecture topic: Tracking electron motion with optical-field sampling
Nonlinear photo injection of charge carriers by a few-cycle laser pulse can be confined to its single half-cycle, in which case a solid's optical and electric properties radically change within a time interval as short as a femtosecond. This extreme temporal confinement enables measurements with an attosecond temporal resolution without the necessity to generate attosecond light pulses. This experimental approach is a powerful tool for studying ultrafast electron dynamics in solids. more

MPSP Lecture Series Dr. Steffen Sahl |
30.11.2022 - 5 p.m. CET

Lecture Topic: Fluorescence Nanoscopy - What's New?
The lecture introduces several recently completed projects, discussing selected new capabilities of optical imaging methods with nanometer-scale resolution.

Research Topic: Nanoscopic Analysis of Neurodegenerative Disease Proteins
Dr. Steffen J. Sahl researches at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen. His research interests are in biophysical imaging and spectroscopy at high resolution and sensitivity, in particular the further development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy (nanoscopy), and applying these methods to analyze the intracellular pathogenic events involving aggregation-prone proteins and their fragments in neurodegenerative disorders, notably Huntington's and prion diseases. more

MPSP Lecture Series with Prof. Nina Rohringer |
07.12.2022 - 5 p.m. CEST

Research topic: Theory of ultrafast processes with X-ray light
Prof. Rohringer is Leading Scientist at DESY and Professor of Physics at the University of Hamburg. Her research includes fundamental processes of the interaction of ultrashort X-ray pulses from X-ray free-electron lasers with matter.  more