Confirmed Speakers

The development of modern laser technologies opened the way to new and exciting research fields focusing on testing quantum theory and searching for new physics beyond the standard model. On the one hand, the key technological components are continuous wave laser systems, spectrally very narrow, with a wide modulation band, which allows them to be tightly locked to ultrahigh finesse optical cavities. This provides the technological possibility of generating a laser field with very high power packed into an extremely narrow spectral range. The second key component is femtosecond lasers operating in the optical frequency comb configuration, which enable the measurement of optical frequencies with an accuracy exceeding 1 Hz. The combination of these two technologies provides an ideal tool for ultra-accurate atomic and molecular spectroscopy, i.e. it allows for generating an electromagnetic wave with a very well-defined frequency (not only spectrally narrow, but also with the controlled absolute frequency). I will talk about our projects that use these technologies for the purpose of testing quantum theory and searching for new physics. I will show the results of a project aimed at searching for dark matter and the variability of fundamental constants using optical atomic clocks [1, 2]. I will present the progress in the project aiming at testing quantum electrodynamics with ultra-accurate spectroscopy of molecular hydrogen [3, 4].

References
[1] P. Wcisło, et al., Nature Astronomy 1, 0009 (2016).
[2] P. Wcisło, et al., Science Advances 4, eaau4869 (2018).
[3] M. Zaborowski, et al., Optics Letters 45, 1603 (2020).
[4] K. Stolarczyk, et al., https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.12703 (2025).

Piotr Wcisło is a physicist specializing in high-precision spectroscopy and quantum optics. He earned his PhD from the Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU) in Toruń in 2015, with a dissertation on molecular collisions and optical resonance line shapes. He has been working at the university’s Institute of Physics ever since, where he now leads a research group focused on high-precision spectroscopy, fundamental tests of physics and experimental approaches to probing dark matter. The group applies advanced optical methods and collaborates internationally on precision measurements, particularly in molecular hydrogen systems and atomic clocks.

Prof. Wcisło has received numerous awards for his scientific achievements, including the Prof. Stanisław Pieńkowski Award Achievements in Experimental Physics, the Polish Physical Society Award for his master’s thesis, and the Prime Minister’s Award for his doctoral dissertation.

Navigating academia in your own country can already be tedious, but moving abroad as a student or researcher can bring both challenges and wonderful unique experiences in equal parts. Although never planned this way, my career has taken me through several different countries, cultures and academic fields, with just an idea of optics at its center. In this talk, I follow my own career path in optical design and imaging, to dive into how you can create new opportunities to follow, as well as the main aspects to consider when making big decisions in your professional career.

Dr. Alessandra Carmichael-Martins, originally from Cádiz, Spain, works at the European Southern Observatory as an Adaptive Optics Physicist for new imaging instruments being developed to be used with the Extremely Large Telescope being built in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Alessandra is a physicist from the University of Sevilla, Spain, specialized in Optics and Photonics at Imperial College London, UK, with a keen interest in optical systems and optical design. She completed her PhD in physics at University College Dublin, Ireland in 2019 where she focused on developing novel testing instrumentation for vision science. As a postdoc at Indiana University, USA, she specialized in the design and implementation of adaptive optics imaging systems for the human eye in-vivo and was awarded two fellowship grants to focus on her own research projects. Alessandra continued working on design and development of optical devices as diagnostic tools for vision science at the University Hospital Bonn, Germany, before transferring her experience in adaptive optics to the field of astronomy. Parallel to her dedication to research, she was elected a 2022 OPTICA Ambassador and has focused on helping minority groups in STEM, international students and giving visibility to mental health in academia.

Scientists agree that ultrashort laser pulses are the shortest phenomena ever observed in nature. The current state-of-the-art laser systems can generate pulses as short as a few tens of femtoseconds routinely (a femtosecond is one-millionth of a billionth of a second, i.e., 1 fs = 10-15 s). Such short pulses fascinate scientists from almost all areas of technical and life sciences. They allow us to observe phenomena so fast that we cannot follow them using any other method. Unfortunately, lasers capable of emitting pulses that short are usually quite complicated and expensive setups, absolutely not designed to be used outside the scientific laboratory. Scientists using such lasers very often spend long hours (and sometimes even months!) on them to squeeze out another femtosecond.

The presentation will introduce you to the fundamentals of ultrashort laser pulse generation, focusing on the most simple, straightforward, and robust approach – based on optical fibers. We will discuss the potential application of AI to optimize femtosecond lasers, and our journey toward a “smart laser”.

Grzegorz Soboń received his doctoral degree in 2013 and his habilitation in 2018. Since 2019, he has been an associate professor at Wrocław University of Science and Technology, where he serves as Principal Investigator of the Optical Frequency Comb Spectroscopy Group.

His research interests focus on ultrafast fiber lasers, optical frequency combs, nonlinear fiber optics, and laser spectroscopy. Dr. Soboń’s scientific work has been recognized with numerous honors and awards. He is a two-time START scholarship recipient from the Foundation for Polish Science (2013 with distinction, and 2014), and a laureate of the ABB Prize, the Prime Minister’s Award for his PhD thesis, and the Minister of Science and Higher Education Award for outstanding achievements in fundamental research.

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Soboń is also involved in technology development and commercialization. He is a co-founder and board member of Mode-Locked Technology Sp. z o.o., a company established in 2021 that specializes in designing advanced laser systems for use in science and industry.

This is the talk my colleagues and I wish we had heard when we were students. I’ll guide you on how to shape a career in academia, balancing between research, teaching, and academic visibility. I’ll cover fundamental aspects of the key factors of a good research group, how to find a mentor, what strategies to adopt to increase your chances of being hired, and finally, how to increase your chances of staying in academia if that’s your long-term goal. Stipends, scholarships, contracts, side incomes, funding bodies, and their programs. There is no universal formula, but knowing the rules can help you make informed decisions and avoid the most common pitfalls.

Mateusz Szatkowski is an Assistant Professor at Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Poland, with a research focus on laser beam shaping and its various applications. Presently, he is leading two projects focused on wavefront sensing and communication, both of which leverage the benefits of structured light. In addition to his research, he also maintains an active involvement in scientific societies.

He currently serves as an Optica Ambassador, is a member of the SPIE Scholarship Subcommittee, and is a program committee member of the Laser Beam Shaping conference at SPIE Optics and Photonics. Besides his international activity, since 2021, he has been a member of the Young Scientists Council, an advisory board at the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.