Three new team members for ERC project COLOR'UP
B-PHOT welcomes three new team members to the research group. Post-doc researchers Spencer Jolly and Pablo Marin-Palomo, and PhD student Shahab Abdollahi have joined the team in the past months. They will all be part of COLOR'UP, the project of Prof. Dr. Martin Virte. Prof. Virte received an ERC Starting Grant to assemble a team to investigate how multi-color lasers could be exploited to perform all-optical processing of sub-THz signals.
Spencer Jolly
Spencer studied optics and laser physics in Michigan and Texas, USA and proceeded to move to Europe. After achieving his PhD in Hamburg, Germany on Terahertz generation with high-power lasers, he worked as a post-doc at the CEA south of Paris. There he studied fundamental space-time couplings in ultrafast lasers but also worked on devices for space-time characterization of exotic laser pulses. Now at VUB, he works in the team of Prof. Martin Virte, studying nonlinear laser dynamics and feedback, with the goal to also find synergies at B-PHOT with his past ultrafast optics experiences.
Spencer: "Coming to B-PHOT has allowed me to explore the topics of semiconductor lasers and integrated photonics, two fields that are growing immensely in the past years. Getting to challenge myself with topics that are at the same time very relevant for applications, but also require many fundamental tools is a joy, and being part of this growing team is the cherry on top."
Pablo Marin-Palomo
Pablo's research focuses on integrated multi-wavelength lasers and their use for THz signal processing. He received his B.S. degree in Physics in 2012 from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain, and obtained his master’s degree in Optics and Photonics in 2014 from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). He obtained his PhD in 2021 from KIT for his work on massively parallel coherent communications with integrated frequency comb sources. His research interests include nonlinear optics, frequency combs, laser diodes, photonic integration, and optical communications.
Pablo: "In B-PHOT I found a great opportunity to enhance my career due to its strong research-oriented mindset, well-equipped facilities, and ambitious and pioneering projects. Here, I aim at finding my niche in the field of integrated photonics and build collaborations with other researchers in this dynamic and international institute."
Shahab Abdollahi
Mohammadshahab 'Shahab' Abdollahi is a PhD candidate at B-PHOT. He started his PhD on May 15th 2021 under the supervision of Dr. Martin Virte. Shahab obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees both in Electrical engineering from Iran. He has had extensive experience in the design, modulation, and characterization of optical devices during his MSc.
Shahab: "Andre Gide once said: 'Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore'. B-PHOT gave me this courage and liberty. There is an abundance of experience in this group. Doing research in advanced research labs and interaction with elite researchers would be a significant step towards my long-term goal: to be an influential scholar and a creative researcher."
