From UV-Photons to Terahertz-Lightwaves: The Nature of Light and Novel Concepts for Ultra-fast Measurements

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Georg Herink, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Assistant Professor for Experimental Physics, University of Bayreuth, Germany

Hosted by IEEE Photonics Society Los Angeles Chapter

Abstract: The fascinating nature of light arises from its complementary quantum and wave behavior. Ultrafast interactions with matter can generate particle dynamics from waves and lightwave dynamics from quantum leaps. At first, I will recall our basic understanding of light in view of the physical pictures and their historic evolution. Next, I will present our recent experimental observations in ultra-fast light-matter interactions in the infrared and Terahertz spectral range. Strong-field dynamics at nanostructures are demonstrated to yield ultra-fast interactions with electrons and provide new ways to control ultra-short electrons pulses with potential applications for electronics and ultra-fast instruments. In a different regime, conversely, light pulses may interact with each other, collide or assemble in stable femtosecond light patterns – so called “Soliton Molecules”. We can track their formation via real-time spectroscopy and demonstrate unprecedented means of their dynamic control. Harnessing these interactions might enable novel schemes of rapid femtosecond spectroscopy.

Biography: Georg Herink received his diploma in physics at Georg-August-University Göttingen from 2003-2010. He did a research internship at Coherent Inc., Santa Clara, USA, in the R&D unit for diode-pumped solid-state lasers in 2007. He was a student research assistant at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, under the guidance of Prof. Stefan W. Hell in 2008. His diploma thesis was on fiber laser dynamics at the Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH). He PhD thesis was on “the developments in Femtosecond Nanoelectronics – Ultrafast Emission and Control of Electrons in Optical Near-Fields,” under the supervision of Prof. Claus Ropers at the Georg-August-University Göttingen from 2010-2015. From 2015-2017, he worked as a scientist at University of Göttingen, IV. Physics Institute (Solids and Nanostructures) and also as a guest scientist at UCLA, Department of Electrical Engineering, with Prof. Bahram Jalali. From 2017 onward, he has been working as an assistant professor for experimental physics at University of Bayreuth, Germany. His research interests include field-driven processes in the nanoscale, nonlinear optics and real-time spectroscopy, and Terahertz spectroscopy.

For more information, contact Cejo K. Lonappan, IEEE Photonics Society Los Angeles Chapter (cejo@ucla.edu)

Date/Time:
Date(s) - Aug 16, 2019
3:45 pm - 5:00 pm

Location:
E-IV Faraday Room #67-124
420 Westwood Plaza - 6th Flr., Los Angeles CA 90095