Roberto Morandotti, Professor at INRS-EMT since 2008, has a broad knowledge in the field of photonics, ranging from the fabrication of integrated devices to the use of state-of-the-art optical characterization techniques in the Infrared and Terahertz frequency domains. During the last years, he has established a novel and very successful line of research in nonlinear optics and integrated photonics. Some of his most important realizations are related to the demonstration of discrete solitons in an array of optical waveguides, as well as, more recently, the realization of integrated classical and quantum frequency combs.
Yoann Jestin received his PhD (2002) in solid state chemistry from the “Université du Maine” (France) working on a project supported by the French National Network in Research and Telecommunications. His work was related to the design, manufacturing and testing of large numerical aperture fluoride based optical fibers for the realization of an optical amplifier prototype working in the S-band telecommunication window. In 2003 he joined the research center on laser and application at the University of Lille as a postdoctoral student to study and characterize semiconductor quantum dots in amorphous thin films. After this period he joined the CNR-IFN (Trento, Italy) with a grant from the local government of province of Trento, to work on the development of ultra-transparent glass ceramics waveguides for the demonstration of an optical single frequency amplifier in the C-band telecommunication window. In 2009 he worked as a researcher at the Bruno Kessler Foundation (Trento, Italy) to conduct research on the micro-fabrication of nanocrystalline based silicon solar cells. Since 2013 he won a mobility fellowship to visit the INRS-EMT and experiment new materials and structures for integrated nonlinear optics.
Rob Helsten completed a BSc in physics from the University of Waterloo in 2004. Upon obtaining that degree he relocated to Montreal to study under the supervision of professor Roberto Morandotti. In 2007 he received a MSc degree for his work entitled “Characterization of the Electro-Optical Effect in CBN Thin Films”. He is currently employed by the UOP group as the research technician.
Aadhi received his Master's degree in Physics from Gandhigram Rural University, India in 2009. After completing his degree, he joined as a junior research fellow at the Photonics Science Lab, Physical Research Laboratory, India to pursue his PhD. In August 2016, he successfully defended his PhD thesis on the generation of tunable spectral and spatial beams in optical parametric oscillators (OPO) at IIT Gandhinagar, India. During his PhD, he has demonstrated various optical beams such as vortex beams, Airy beams, vector beams in OPO. Since January 2017, he is working as a Mitacs Elevate Postdoctoral Fellow in the Nonlinear Photonics group of Prof. Roberto Morandotti at INRS-EMT. His current research mainly focuses on the demonstration of mode-locked lasers and frequency combs using on-chip integrated photonics platform such as spiral waveguides and microring resonators.
Alessandro Tomasino started his studies in Electronics Engineering at the University of Palermo (Italy) in 2006, gaining its Bachelor Degree (Magna cum Laude) in February 2010. He received its Master Degree (Magna cum Laude) in Electronics and Photonics Engineering in May 2012, from the University of Palermo (Palermo, Italy), defending an experimental thesis titled “Implementation of numerical algorithms to study and simulate optical propagation problems”. In 2013, he worked for one year as Research Collaborator at the University of Palermo, joining the group of Prof. Busacca and dealing with the implementation of an electronic embedded system for functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), with applications within the biomedical area.
Domenico Bongiovanni obtained his Bachelor and Master degrees in Electronics Engineering at the University of Palermo (Italy), defending a thesis entitled "Silicon Photomultiplier Circuit Model." His thesis work was focused on developing an electrical circuit model for a silicon photomultiplier, used in nuclear physics. This work was carried out during an internship of two year at the Sensor Design Group of the STMicroelectronics of Catania. Since September 2011 he is a PhD student at l’Institut National de Recherche Scientifique – Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications (INRS-EMT), under the supervision of Prof. R. Morandotti. His research work aims at investigating the propagation of Airy Beams into nonlinear media.
Fuyong Yue received his Master’s degree in 2014 from Beijing Institute of Technology in China, specializing in solid-state lasers and optical phase locked loop (OPLL). Then he won the James Watt Scholarship to pursue his PhD at Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, supervised by Prof. Xianzhong Chen. His PhD study was focused on the development of geometric metasurfaces to control phase and polarization of light in subwavelength scale for novel applications, such as polarization-controlled hologram generation, superposition of orbital angular momentum states, and structured beam generation. In October 2017, he obtained his PhD degree with thesis titled ‘Geometric Optical Metasurface for Polarization Control’, which was awarded one of the ‘EPS Postgraduate Research Thesis Prizes’ in Heriot-Watt University for 2017. In December 2017, he joined the Nonlinear Photonics Group at INRS-EMT in Canada, led by Prof. Roberto Morandotti. His current research focuses on plasmonics for quantum applications, linear and nonlinear metasurfaces, orbital angular momentum, and flat devices with novel functionalities.
Junliang Dong received his Master degree in Control Science and Engineering in 2011, from Tsinghua University, China. His Master dissertation focused on ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation. In August 2013, He started to pursue his Ph.D. related to terahertz imaging and spectroscopy in Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, under the supervision of Prof. D. S. Citrin. In June 2017, he successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis on terahertz imaging. Since August 2017, he joined the Nonlinear Photonics group of Prof. R. Morandotti as a postdoctoral research fellow, where he is investigating terahertz generation, detection, as well as terahertz imaging and spectroscopy for biomedical applications.
Luigi Di Lauro started his studies in Physics at the University of Salerno (Italy) in 2006, gaining a strong background in Condensate Matter Physics. He received his Master’s degree (summa cum laude) in 2013, discussing the thesis: “Electron-Hole Correlations Induced by Retroreflection in Ferromagnet-Superconductor Junctions", under the supervision of Prof. Canio Noce. His research interests then moved to the field of Nonlinear Photonics, joining the “Emergent Photonics laboratory” (EPic) at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Sussex (UK), where he obtained his doctoral degree in 2018, under the supervision of Dr Alessia Pasquazi. His thesis, entitled: “Control of Dynamical Regimes in Optical Microresonators Exploiting Parametric Interaction”, demonstrated a scheme for the control of nonlinear regimes in microresonators, assuming an interplay between the ultra-fast Kerr effect and slow intensity-dependent nonlinearities, in presence of parametric interaction. In 2018, he covered a short-term position as Research Fellow at the University of Sussex, performing market research on “Atomic Cocks for Precision Timing Applications”, for commercial exploitation of a portable optical frequency standard. In January 2019 Luigi moved to Canada, where is working as Postdoctoral researcher in the Nonlinear Photonics group of Prof. Roberto Morandotti, at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique-Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications (INRS-EMT). His current research is focussed on microresonators and integrated optics for reservoir computing applications.
Mario Chemnitz is a trained physicist specialized in integrated nonlinear optics. He obtained his diploma degree in physics (Master’s equivalent) at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany, end 2011. In his diploma project he designed and implemented tuneable dual-wavelength fiber laser sources based on four-wave mixing for coherent Anti-Stokes Raman microscopy in the research group of Prof. Jens Limpert at the Institute of Applied Physics in Jena. After his graduation, he joined a postgraduate study program at the University of Cambridge, UK, which he completed in 2013 upon acceptance of his thesis „novel supercontinuum source for improved time-resolved spectroscopic sensing“. Back at the University of Jena, Mario started his doctoral studies in the research group of Prof. Markus Schmidt at the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology. His theoretical studies and experimental work revealed unprecedented coherence properties of supercontinuum spectra generated in highly noninstantaneous nonlinear liquid-core fibers as result of a modified (hybrid) soliton fission dynamics, indeed demonstrating a superior operation domain over nonlinear glass fibers. He received his PhD degree (suma cum laude) in early 2019, after successfully defending his PhD thesis entitled „soliton dynamics in liquid-core optical fibers“. Shortly after, he joined the research team of Prof. Roberto Morandotti as postdoctoral fellow, where he is now bringing in his expertise to develop novel telecom-compatible entangled photon sources.
Nicola Montaut graduated from Amity University, India in 2014 with a Bachelor’s + Master’s degree in Nanotechnology with a specialization in Nanophotonics and Renewable Energy sources. Her thesis work focussed on the investigation of photorefraction in lithium niobate during her Master’s and the development of anti-reflective coatings for solar applications during her Bachelor’s. In late 2014, she was awarded a Marie Curie fellowship to conduct her Ph.D. research in the field of quantum optics, supervised by Prof. Dr. Christine Silberhorn of Paderborn University, Germany. Her work aimed to realize high efficiency heralded single-photon sources on a fiber-integrated lithium niobate platform and benchmark its quantum characteristics. During her stay at Paderborn, she also worked on several inter-departmental projects as well as joint-collaborative work with the University of Oxford, CNRS Nice, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and IdQuantique. She successfully defended her Ph.D. in November 2019 with a magna cum laude. Since February 2020, she has been working as a post-doctoral researcher in the Nonlinear Photonics group of Prof. Roberto Morandotti.
Stefania Sciara obtained her Bachelor Degree (110/110 cum Laude) in Physical Sciences in 2014 and the Master Degree in Theoretical Physics (110/110 cum Laude) in 2015, both at the University of Palermo. Stefania focused her academic studies on quantum mechanics, with specific attention to the theoretical investigation of the entanglement phenomenon. In her Master thesis, titled “Schmidt-like decomposition for systems of identical particle”, she explored entanglement in systems of identical particles. From 2016 to 2020, she was a PhD student at the UOP group focusing on quantum optics, in particular on the theoretical investigation of complex entangled photon systems, as well as on deriving a universal technique capable of detecting their entanglement. Following this research direction, the aim of her studies was the exploitation of the entanglement phenomenon for both fundamental physics and quantum applications (e.g., quantum communications). Stefania is currently a Post-Doc Fellow in Prof. Morandotti’s group. Following the research lines pursued during her PhD, she is focusing on the generation and processing of complex entangled photon states towards their use for quantum technology applications, such as quantum communications and quantum teleportation.
Agnes George received her Bachelor's degree in Physics from Mahatma Gandhi University (Kerala, India) in 2015 and her Master's from Christ University (Karnataka, India) in 2017. During her studies, she worked on projects in Materials Science and Optics, including thin film and nanoparticle preparation and their characterization such as the emission lifetime of fluorescent molecules. Later, she joined the Light and Matter Physics (LAMP) group in the Raman Research Institute (Bangalore, India) to work in Ultrafast and Nonlinear Optics under the supervision of Prof. Reji Philip. Her project focused on the nonlinear optical characterization of materials and laser produced plasma. Agnes is an INSPIRE scholar. She joined the group Nonlinear Photonics group as a doctoral student under the supervision of Prof. Roberto Morandotti. Her work will focus on the characterization of nanolasers.
Andrea Rovere started his studies in physics at La Sapienza – University of Rome (Italy) in 2009, and he obtained its Bachelor Degree in December 2012. Then he specialized in condensed matter physics at the same University. Part of the experimental work of his thesis has took place at the National Laboratories of Frascati, under the supervision of the Prof. Stefano Lupi (Department of physics, La Sapienza) and the Dr. Enrica Chiadroni (SPARC-lab, LNF). He achieved the Master Degree in Physics in October 2014, defending an experimental thesis titled “Nonlinear THz Spectroscopy on Topological Insulator”.
Bennet Fischer received his Bachelor and Master of Science degree in Engineering Physics and Photonics from the Munich University of Applied Sciences (MUAS) in 2015 and 2017, respectively. During his studies, he specialized himself in fiber optics and fiber optical sensing. During his Master’s thesis, which was conducted in collaboration with the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique-Centre Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications (INRS-EMT) under the supervision of Prof. Roths (MUAS) and Prof. Ruediger (INRS-EMT), he investigated the structural behavior of fiber Bragg gratings exposed to higher temperatures via Raman spectroscopy. In October 2017, he joined the INRS-EMT as a PhD student under supervision of Prof. Morandotti where he is investigating neuromorphic photonic platforms and their applications.
Giacomo Balistreri started his studies in Electronics Engineering at the University of Palermo (Italy) in 2007. He took his Bachelor of Science Degree in October 2013. He continued his studies at the University of Palermo. In October 2015, he received his Master of Science Degree (Magna cum Laude) in Electronics and Photonics Engineering, defending and experimental thesis titled “Terahertz radiation generation and detection methods, for spectroscopic applications, based on photoconductive antennas”. In November 2015, he started his PhD studies with a jointed supervision of the University of Palermo and the INRS-EMT, about the design and implementation of a new class of devices for Terahertz radiation, aimed at Terahertz signal processing operations.
Piotr Roztocki is a physicist with a broad interdisciplinary background, interested in applied and fundamental research in the fields of nonlinear, integrated, and quantum optics. Piotr graduated with distinction in May 2014 from McMaster University in Hamilton (Canada) with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Integrated Science & Physics. This mixed degree offered him the opportunity to focus his studies on physics and photonics, while also providing considerable exposure to other disciplines (biology, chemistry, geology, etc.) valuable in bridging optics to its industrial applications. Piotr was the recipient of two NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards, holding research positions at Ryerson University (2012) and the University of Toronto (2013). His work in medical physics, focused on accounting for respiratory motion during radiotherapy (Prof. Emily Heath), and his work in quantum information, focused on numerical approaches to measurement device independent quantum key distribution (Prof. Hoi-Kwong Lo) have been recognized on a national and international scale at undergraduate conferences.
Pavel Dmitriev obtained his Bachelor's degree in physics at the Saint Petersburg state university in 2017. Moving to the ITMO University, he changed his field of studies of the nonlinear optics and laser dynamics successfully receiving a Master's degree in laser technology by defending a thesis "Bursting phenomena in a Hybrid Photonic Crystal Laser" in 2019. He started his Ph.D. studies in 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Morandotti on reservoir computing techniques using a semiconductor laser.
Hao Yu received his Bachelor’s of Information Engineering in School of Information and Optoelectronic Science and Engineering from the South China Normal University in 2018. During his Bachelor’s thesis, under the supervision of Prof. Liyun Zhong, he investigated the optimized 3-dimensional reconstruction algorithm based on dual-frequency phase-shift technology in fringe projection profilometry. In September 2018, he started a Ph.D. in the University of Electronic and Science Technology of China (UESTC) under the supervision of Prof. Zhiming Wang and focused on quantum optics, in particular, investigating heralded single-photon source in multiplexing way. In February 2020, he joined the INRS-EMT as a joint-PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Morandotti where he is investigating non-classical light sources and their applications.
Benjamin MacLellan earned his Honours Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Waterloo (Canada) in 2018, with a Minor in Biophysics. Throughout his undergraduate degree, he worked with the Optical Biomedical Imaging Group at the University of Waterloo on the development of ultra-high resolution Optical Coherence Tomography systems and used these systems to investigate the progress of ophthalmic diseases. He first joined the Nonlinear Photonics Group as a recipient of the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award, working on using phase modulation to control high-dimensional, frequency-bin photons. In 2018, he returned to begin his Masters of Science at INRS, continuing his investigation into the design of high-dimensional quantum logic gates and using machine-learning techniques to design new experiments in optical signal processing.
Diego Caraffini graduated in particle physics in 2000, at “Università degli studi di Perugia”, where he also obtained his Ph.D. for a thesis titled “Anti-proton Flux Detection and Indirect Search for Dark Matter with the AMS-02 Experiment.” The thesis used the experiment Monte Carlo production, to study the rejection power for misidentified electrons and protons, that constitute the principal background in the measurement of the antiproton flux. The evaluated level of contamination, was used to assess the experiment capability to identify different Super Symmetric Dark Matter signatures as excess components in the cosmic antiproton flux. During his Ph.D., Dr. Caraffini developed a laser system dedicated to the evaluation “on bench” of the resistance to radiation damage (radiation hardness) of integrated circuits, intended to perform preliminary characterization of alternative components for the experimental apparatus, that was under construction at the time.
Shashwath Bharadwaj is a Computer Science graduate with a vast research background in multi-disciplinary domains such as Robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning, Signal Processing and Applied Photonics. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering with distinction from PES Institute of Technology, Bangalore, India, in August 2017. During his Bachelor’s, he conducted high impact research at reputed institutions such as the Microsoft Innovation Lab of Bangalore, where he directed a team on a project to develop a wearable device for use in remote physiotherapy treatments, and the Indian Institute of Science where he reverse engineered a proprietary sound system to work as a 24-bit parallel optical A2D converter for use in a Near Infrared Imaging system for the early detection of breast cancer. Shashwath received several national and international awards such as the INSPIRE scholarship, Mitacs Globalink Research Internship and most recently, the Globalink Graduate Fellowship for his academic and research merit. His Master’s study at INRS focuses on the development of next generation computing platforms through research in Quantum Optics and Integrated Photonics.