Head of Research

Prof. Dr. Jens Biegert

Phone: +34 93 553 4059

Fax: +34 93 553 4000

E-mail: jens.biegert@icfo.eu

ICFO Contact:

Mrs. Sabina Semeraro

Phone: +34 93 553 4088

Fax: +34 93 553 4000

E-mail: sabina.semeraro@icfo.eu

Biography (short)

Jens Biegert is ICREA professor at ICFO and heads the Attoscience and Ultrafast Optics group. He received his PhD from the Technical University Munich in 2001 and led research on ultrafast pulse generation and strong field physics during his Habilitation at ETH Zurich from 2001 until 2006. Since 2007 at ICFO, his research focus lies on the investigation of the real-time quantum dynamics of electrons and nuclei in atoms, molecules and solids. This research employs home-built cutting-edge laser technology, attosecond soft x-ray pulses and electron diffraction for atomic-scale imaging of molecular dynamics and to unravel the interplay between carriers and the lattice in quantum solids. He holds an appointment as adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico in the USA, is associate editor of APL Photonics, a fellow of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation and the Optical Society of America, recipient of the OSA Allen Prize and the Bessel Prize of the Humboldt Foundation, and ERC Advanced Grant holder.

Honors and Awards

2018 Chairman – Board of Meetings, The Optical Society of America

2018 Advanced Grant of the European Research Council

2015 Fellow of the Optical Society of America for “pioneering work in the development of ultrashort and intense few cycle pulses in the midinfrared, and their use in analyzing the structure of molecules”.

2015 Division Chair – Optical Interaction Science Division of the Optical Society of America and Board of Meetings at Optical Society of America.

2007 Allen Award of the Optical Society of America for “exceptional interdisciplinary contribution combining the field of coherent interactions and adaptive optics, leading to multiple wavelength guidestars”.

2001 Marie Curie Fellowship of the European Union for “Ultrashort laser pulses through pulse compression in harmonic generation” at the Ecole Polytechnique; declined because of ETH employment.

1999 – 2001 Dissertation Fellowship, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German National Academic Foundation)

for “Two-color coherent multiphoton excitation of sodium”.

1995-1996 DAAD Foreign Exchange Fellowship with the University of New Mexico, U.S.A.

Teaching Activities

2008-presentThe Optical Society (OSA) Traveling Lecturer

2008-present Barcelona Master and Ph.D. in Photonics – “Ultrafast and Ultraintense Laser Light”, “Ultrafast Laser Physics”

2001-present Lecturer in 15 international workshops and schools; Lausanne (2003), Alagoas (2007), Obergurgl (2008), El Escorial (2008), Vilnius (2010), Wuhan (2011), Erice (2011), Santa Fe (2012), Erice (2013), Latvia (2014), Hunter Valley (2015), Erlangen (2016), Rostock (2016), Crete (2016), Crete (2018)

2001-2006 Organization of the exams and problem courses for lectures in Quantum Electronics and Ultrafast Laser Physics.

2001-2006 Part-time lecturing in Quantum Electronics, Ultrafast Laser Physics and Experimental Physics

1998-2001 Graduate level optics laboratory – lab assistant

Professional Activities

Delegations Management Board Laserlab-Europe AISBL; Management Board Laserlab-Europe; EU ESF COST MP1203; Networking Coordinator for Laserlab-Europe, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, OSA Board of Meetings, OSA Division Head Optical Interaction Science; OSA Chairman Board of Meetings

Counseling Faculty Advisor for OSA Student Chapter ICONS; OSA Traveling Lecturer (2015 – present)

Conference Chair Frontier School on Attosecond Science (2019); Laserlab-Europe Foresight Workshop (2018); Int. Laser Physics Conference (2009); OSA HILAS (2012, 2014); OSA Siegmann School (2016)

Program Committee EQEC (2005, 2011, 2013,2019), CLEO (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014,2019), ICONO/LAT (2010, 2013), Strong field Attosecond Science (2010), NLO50 (2012), Ultrafast Phenomena – UP (2012, 2014), SILAP (2009,2012, 2015,2018), Ultrafast Optics – UFO (2013, 2015); OSA Siegmann School (2016); Nonlinear and Ultrafast Optics IEEE Photonics Conference (2017, 2019); International Commission for Optics (ICO-24, 2017); 26th International Conference on Atomic Physics (ICAP 2018).

Steering/Advisory Committee Int. Laser Physics Conference (2006 – present, annually), FEMTO (2012), SILAP (2012,2015,2018)

Editorial Boards Associate Editor AIP Photonics (2015 – present); J. Modern Optics (2010); Int. Journal on Atomic Molecular, Condensate & Nano Physics (2012 – 2017); Optics (2012 – 2017)

Contributions

World record shortest laser pulse – Opt. Lett. 28, 1987 (2003)
Single shot amplitude and phase pulse characterization at 1 kHz – Opt. Lett. 28, 281 (2003)
Pioneered mid-IR OPCPA – Opt. Lett. 28, 1987 (2003)
Amplification without gain narrowing – Opt. Lett. 29, 201 (2004)
Demonstrated CEP stable OPCPA – Opt. Lett., 29, 1 (2004)
Filamentation for pulse shortening – Opt. Exp. 13, 7541 (2005)
Strong field quantum control – Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 023003 (2004)
Measurement of HHG chirp – Phys. Rev. A. 70, 021801R (2004)
Self-compression in filamentation – Opt. Lett. 30, 2657 (2005)
Broadband mid-IR DFG – Opt. Lett. 32, 1138 (2007)
Quantum Path Interference – Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 143902 (2008)
Attoclock method – Nature Phys. 4, 565 (2008)
Tuneable HHG enhancement – Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 073901 (2010)
3D pulse diagnostics – Opt. Lett. 63, 2803 (2011)
First fully coherent supercontinuum – Nature Commun. 3, 807, (2012)
Few cycle self compression – Opt. Exp. 21, 28095 (2013)
First 6 μm frequency comb – Opt. Lett. 39, 6883, (2014)
First XAFS measurement from a harmonics source – Opt. Lett. 39, 5383, (2014)
2 μm high energy pump for OPCPA – Opt. Lett. 40, 451 (2014)
First isolation of attosecond pulses in the water window – Nature Commun. 6, 6611 (2015)
Laser electron diffraction imaging of polyatomic structure – Nature Commun. 6, 7273 (2015)
First deep infrared frequency comb – Nature Photonics 9, 721 (2015)