Lasers at Winter College

Students at the 2013 Winter College on Optics will explore trends in laser development and participate in hands-on sessions covering lab laser safety and methods for using the laser for high-precision measurements and investigation of material properties and radiation-matter interaction.

The theme of the annual event at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, 4-15 February, is “Trends in Laser Development and Multidisciplinary Applications to Science and Industry.”

Lectures at the Winter College on Optics will focus on emerging schemes and materials for developing laser sources, including new laser media and laser regimes.

The second half of the course will be dedicated to laser applications such as advanced micromachining with femtosecond laser pulses for the realization of photonic and micro-optofluidic devices with intrinsic 3D capabilities. Instructors will cover the impact of lasers in information and communication technologies, life science, domotics, the environment, energy production security, and related fields, with particular attention paid to technology-transfer issues and industrial applications.

Attendees are encouraged to present their research, with poster prizes sponsored by SPIE and free access to the SPIE Digital Library during the two-week session.

SPIE supports the ICTP Winter College on Optics, along with the International Commission for Optics, OSA, European Optical Society, Società Italiana di Ottica e Fotonica, U.S. National Academy of Science, IEEE Photonics Society, and International Society on Optics Within Life Sciences.

In addition to the Winter College, SPIE provides $30,000 annually to support an optics staff position at an ICTP laboratory pursuing novel research in spectroscopy with quantum cascade lasers, available to participants from developing nations. The lab is housed at the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nuclear (INFN) and run in collaboration with the Institute for Nanoelectronics, Technische Universität München.

In conjunction with ICTP, SPIE provides free SPIE Digital Library access in participating countries through the eJDS program.

Directors for the 2013 event are SPIE Fellow Fernando Mendoza Santoyo, general director of Centro de Investigaciones en Optica (Mexico); Roberta Ramponi, professor at Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (Italy); and Fredrik Laurell of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden.)

Local organizers are Joseph Niemela from the ICTP and Miltcho Danailov of the Elettra-Sincrotrone in Trieste.

For more information on Winter College.

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