Ultrafast and Twisted: alternative approaches to frequency conversion, chiral photonics and high harmonic generation
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Ultrafast and Twisted: alternative approaches to frequency conversion, chiral photonics and high harmonic generation
Wed, 19/06/2024 - 14:00 to 15:00
Location:
Speaker:
Dr Francesco Tani
Affiliation:
CNRS (Lille)
Synopsis:
I will present the recent research activity of the group focusing on our work on ultrafast nonlinear fibre optics, twisted fibres, and high harmonic generation (without fibres).
I will start discussing frequency downshift in gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibres (HC-PCFs) – a versatile, efficient and robust alternative to optical parametric amplifiers – and the use of it for generating broadband THz radiation. I will continue discussing twisted HC-PCFs and show that these can be designed to exhibit unprecedently strong and broadband helical dichroism in the visible spectral range. Finally, I will report the first observation of non-perturbative high-harmonics generated by bright squeezed vacuum – a macroscopic quantum state of light – and discuss the comparison with classical light-driven harmonics.
[1] M. Lippl et al., “Soliton Self-Frequency Shift of µJ-Level Pulse at MHz Repetition Rates for Tunable and Broadband THz Generation Using an Organic Crystal”, CLEO US, SF2Q.7 (2024).
[2] A. Rasputnyi et al., “High Harmonic Generation by Bright Squeezed Vacuum”, arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.15337 (2024).
Biography:
Francesco Tani is a Junior Chair Professor at the PhLAM laboratory of the CNRS in Lille, France, and research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, Germany.
He has investigated a wide range of nonlinear dynamics in photonic crystal fibres (PCFs), combined fibre optics with high-field laser science and pioneered the study of filamentation-like and long-lived dynamics in fibres. Building on his research, he has developed novel sources of ultrashort laser pulses for fundamental, applied science and industrial applications. He has authored 37 scientific articles and over 60 conference contributions and has served as a reviewer for numerous scientific journals and conferences.
He received his master's degree in theoretical physics from the University of Rome La Sapienza in 2010 with a thesis on laser-plasma acceleration. In 2011, he moved to Erlangen to join the Russell division at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Ligh and work on his PhD on nonlinear optics in PCFs under the supervision of John Travers. In 2016, after two years as a postdoctoral research fellow in the division, he replaced John as the lead of the ultrafast nonlinear optics group. In 2021, he received a Pathfinder grant from the European Innovation Council and started an independent research group on ultrafast optics and chiroptical spectroscopy. In 2023, he moved to Lille to start a new research group at the PhLAM laboratory of the CNRS.