Majid Ebrahim-Zadeh [Image: ICFO]
The 2020 High-brightness Sources and Light-driven Interactions Congress kicks off in March in Prague, Czech Republic. The congress, which comprises three topical meetings—Compact (EUV and X-Ray) Light Sources, High-Intensity Lasers and High-Field Phenomena (HILAS), and Mid-Infrared Coherent Sources (MICS)—aims to inspire thoughtful discourse among leaders in the field as congress attendees discuss technical challenges and recent developments.
OPN spoke with Majid Ebrahim-Zadeh, ICFO—The Institute of Photonic Sciences, Spain, who is co-chairing MICS 2020, about his vision for the event and the current landscape of mid-IR research.
You have quite a long history with this conference, isn’t that right?
The very first conference in the MICS series was actually organized in the summer of 1998 in Corsica, and I was an invited speaker because of my work in the field of optical parametric devices.
What I have found over the years is that mid-IR science and technology has become increasingly encompassing of so many different topics in photonics—nonlinear materials, sources, and even high-intensity physics and attoscience—that it can synergistically bring together so many different topics in one conference. From 1998 until now, the range of topics has really grown, and I think that it will continue to diversify; it has been remarkable.
What are some hot topics in mid-IR right now?
For many topics in photonics, the infrared component of that research is really a hot topic at the moment, so the scope is diverse. To encourage the participation of different communities in this conference, we have tried to divide the topics between materials, sources and applications.
In terms of materials, I would say the hot topics are specialty fibers and new non-oxide birefringent and quasi-phase-matched materials with transparency up to wavelengths beyond 4 μm and up to even 14 μm. And then you have the structured fibers that can now generate broadband radiation, supercontinuum generation at very long wavelengths. There have also been advances in fiber lasers that operate above 4 μm.
On the side of sources, the new nonlinear materials have allowed us to develop a new class of ultrafast femtosecond and picosecond optical parametric oscillator and amplifier (OPO and OPA) systems, as well as few-cycle mid-IR sources for high-harmonic generation. On the applications front, important topics include mid-IR upconversion imaging, frequency-comb generation and spectroscopy. We have also included terahertz sources and quantum cascade lasers in this meeting, as we have in the past.
What were your priorities when organizing this meeting?
Essentially, the process requires people who really believe in this topic. My motivation has been to make this meeting as strong as possible and include the topics that are really relevant to infrared, and mid-IR can act as a bridge to bring a lot of these topics together into one forum.
Our goal is to organize a conference of very high technical quality and enhance the profile of mid-IR science and technology in photonics because, in some ways, the topic is dispersed. The support of OSA in this respect has been tremendous. There seems to be a burgeoning interest in mid-IR science and technology. We hope that this conference continues to highlight and strengthen this field.
Your current research at ICFO is in the mid-IR, correct?
I’m working on nonlinear optical technology, which is strongly focused toward the mid-infrared. Much of my research is developing frequency conversion sources and OPO technology for the mid-IR based on new nonlinear materials and novel design concepts. And my work really encompasses all timescales.
Ultimately, these new sources are geared toward applications. For example, we recently used a mid-IR OPO to demonstrate a wide field-of-view upconversion imaging system. We’ve further developed OPO sources for neurosurgery and new types of frequency comb sources based on OPO technology. Also, we’ve demonstrated molecular spectroscopy with some of these OPO systems.
We have also advanced mid-IR technology from the research lab to industry. I created Radiantis about 15 years ago, where we have developed a number of cutting-edge OPO systems for the commercial market. This demonstrates that mid-IR sources are not just a scientific research topic—they are practical systems that can be developed into viable tools for many applications. This is why I believe that the interest in this conference will continue to increase.
Read more about the congress in OPN’s Q&A with Constantin Haefner.