Find out who were the former students and graduates of GoLP and where they are now. Alumni
Gonçalo Figueira
Hugo Terças
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Principal Investigators
José Tito da Luz Mendonça
Nelson Lopes
Nelson Lopes is a researcher at GoLP - IPFN since 2005. NL is a PhD in Physics from IST (2002) and works mainly in the development of Plasma Accelerators, its technology and applications. He is currently working on betatron x-ray sources for imaging of Biological samples using the laser Astra-Gemini @ RAL.
Latest Publications:- Proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration in AWAKE, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 377 (2019) p. 2151
- Experimental observation of plasma wakefield growth driven by the seeded self-modulation of a proton bunch, Physical Review Letters 122 (2019) p. 054801
- An ultra-high gain and efficient amplifier based on Raman amplification in plasma, Scientific Reports 7 (2017) p. 2399
Marta Fajardo
Associate Professor at the Physics Department of IST since April 2022, Marta Fajardo is a researcher at GoLP since 2007. After her PhD in Plasma Atomic Physics at IST and Ecole Polytechnique in 2001, she was a post-doc at CNRS in France where she studied X-ray lasers and their applications. Back to Portugal, she started a Coherent X-rays research area in X-GoLP, studying X-ray lasers, X-ray laser-plasma interaction, and other coherent x-ray sources such as High Harmonic Generation and applications in imaging. She is currently developing new x-ray diagnostics for Warm Dense Matter and novel imaging techniques with applications in biological imaging.
Latest Publications:- X-ray generation by fs-laser processing of biological material, Biomedical Optics Express 14 (2023) p. 5656
- Non-linear propagation effects of intense femtosecond pulses on below bandgap harmonics in solids, Journal of Modern Optics 1 (2023) p. 1
- Self-probed ptychography from semiconductor high-harmonic generation, Optics Letters 47 (2022) p. 4865-4868
João Mendanha Dias
Assistant Professor at the IST Physics Dept. and researcher at IPFN. He obtained his degrees (Lic. 1992, MSc 1996 and PhD 2001) from IST. His interests are focused on secondary radiation sources and optical diagnostics in laser-plasma interaction field. He has also devoted significant work to optical applications in medicine (eye optical modeling) and in industry (spectroscopy and laser metrology).
At the Physics Dept. he is currently the vice-director of the Engineering Physics Integrated Master Course. In 2012 he was awarded along with his PhD student the Seed of Science Award for exact sciences from the scientific outreach portuguese journal “Jornal Ciência Hoje”.
Latest Publications:- Direct refractive index retrieval from interferometry measurements, Review of Scientific Instruments 91 (2020) p. 045111
- An ultra-high gain and efficient amplifier based on Raman amplification in plasma, Scientific Reports 7 (2017) p. 2399
- Quantitative shadowgraphy for laser-plasma interactions, A. Boné, N. Lemos, G. Figueira and J. M. Dias 49 (2016) p. 155204
Gonçalo Figueira 
Assistant Professor at the Physics Department of IST and researcher at IPFN.
He is a PhD in Physics from the Technical University of Lisbon (2001), specialized in high intensity lasers and ultrashort laser pulses. His research interests include ultrabroadband optical parametric chirped pulse amplification, diode-pumped amplifiers and ultrashort laser diagnostics. He is in charge of laser R&D at IPFN’s Laboratory for Intense Lasers, and coordinates public information activities at IPFN.
Research Interests: Click here for my personal webpage
Latest Publications:- Multi-mJ Scaling of 5-Optical Cycle, 3 μm OPCPA, Photonics 8 (2021) p. 503
- Ultra-broadband near-infrared NOPAs based on the nonlinear crystals BiBO and YCOB, High Power Laser Science and Engineering 8 (2020) p. e29
- Thermal lens analysis in a diode-pumped 10 Hz 100 mJ Yb: YAG amplifier, High Power Laser Science and Engineering 8 (2020) p. 13
PhD Researchers
José António Sequeira de Figueiredo Rodrigues
Hugo Terças
Hugo Terças is an assistant researcher and invited assistant professor of the Physics Department of IST. His research goals consist in describing and exploring quantum matter, both at the fundamental and applied levels. Hugo has makes use of a vast set of theoretical tools, ranging from plasma physics and condensed matter/quantum optics. Currently, he is focused on the dynamics of quantum plasmas in two-dimensional solid-state devices (graphene FETs) and the interaction between axions and plasmons. He also participates in the experiments performed at the MOTLAb, the cold atom facility at X-Golp.
Hugo Pires
Hugo Pires is a post-doc researcher at IPFN's Laser and Plasma Group (GOLP). He focused on high peak and average power OPCPA in his Phd work at IST (Lisbon), and on mid-IR OPCPA in his 1st post-doc at ICFO (Barcelona)
Research Interests: OPCPA, Mid-IR laser systems, laser diagnostics and control
Latest Publications:- Multi-mJ Scaling of 5-Optical Cycle, 3 μm OPCPA, Photonics 8 (2021) p. 503
- Ultra-broadband near-infrared NOPAs based on the nonlinear crystals BiBO and YCOB, High Power Laser Science and Engineering 8 (2020) p. e29
- Thermal lens analysis in a diode-pumped 10 Hz 100 mJ Yb: YAG amplifier, High Power Laser Science and Engineering 8 (2020) p. 13
Gareth Williams
Post-doctoral researcher at IPFN’s Group for Lasers and Plasmas. He obtained his doctorate in short pulse laser plasmas from the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2009. His current research interests include x-ray laser heated warm dense matter, high harmonic generation and application to ultrafast (atto-second) holographic imaging.
Latest Publications:- Demonstration of nonperturbative and perturbative third-harmonic generation in MgO by altering the electronic structure, Physical Review A 105 (2022) p. 053103
- Spectral control of high order harmonics through non-linear propagation effects, Applied Physics Letters 119 (2021) p. 071101
- Lithium fluoride detectors for high spatial resolution imaging of tabletop XUV from high harmonic generation in gases, Journal of the Optical Society of America B 38 (2021) p. 2234-2238
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Pablo San Miguel Claveria
Dr. Pablo San Miguel Claveria’s career has been devoted to High Energy Density physics, involving experimental campaigns in ultra-high intensity laser facilities as well as particle accelerators. He carried out his PhD in Laboratoire d’Optique Appliquée in France, and obtained his PhD from Ecole Polytechnique in 2021. During this time, he also was a visiting scientist at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the USA. After obtaining his PhD, he was hired for a 1 year appointment as an assistant professor in Ecole Polytechnique. He is now working as a postdoctoral researcher at Instituto Superior Tecnico in Lisbon.
Graduate Students
pedro.cosme.e.silva
Pedro completed his Engineering Physics Masters in 2019, with a thesis dissertation about graphene plasmonics and electrohydrodynamics. In the present day, he is pursuing his PhD on plasma physics under the supervision of Prof. Hugo Terças in the APPLAuSE program.
During his academic path, he developed his interest in the fields of plasma physics, particularly on the cross-over to condensed matter physics, nonlinear phenomena and dynamical systems.
Currently, his research focuses on plasmonics of graphene and other 2D materials, notably studying its wave instabilities as an active medium for the generation of radiation in the THz range.
Patrícia Estrela
Latest Publications:
- Lithium fluoride detectors for high spatial resolution imaging of tabletop XUV from high harmonic generation in gases, Journal of the Optical Society of America B 38 (2021) p. 2234-2238
lucasansia
Lucas was born in the small town of Ourense, Galicia. As a master student, he worked at the Fusion Institute of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, where he obtained his Master's degree in Nuclear Science and Technology in 2021. His thesis focused on the development of multi-material hydrodynamic codes.
In 2022 he joined the APPLAuSE program and started his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Gareth Williams and Prof. Marta Fajardo. Currently, Lucas works on modelling X-ray driven solid-density plasmas.
José Figueiredo
José was born in 1997, in Aveiro. He graduated from the IST in 2021, with a master’s degree in Engineering Physics. During his undergraduate years, he has been part of several research groups, including the AMS group at LIP and the VOXEL group at IPFN. Currently, he is doing a PhD in the Laboratory for Quantum Plasmas, under the supervision of Dr. Hugo Terças. His work focus on the study of kinetic models to understand the behavior of cold matter, including Bose-Einstein condensates, superfluids and nanoelectronic systems. His research interests include plasma physics, condensed matter systems, quantum information and nanoelectronics.
Gonçalo Vaz
Gonçalo Vaz was born in 1998, in Guarda, Portugal. In 2021 he completed an Integrated Master's in Engineering Physics at IST with a thesis titled Nonlinear optics with ultrashort mid-infrared laser pulses.
Presently he is enrolled in the APPLAuSE PhD working at the Laboratory of Intense Lasers (L2I) under the supervison of. Dr. Hugo Pires. His focus is on the exploring the capabilities of high-power laser sources and nonlinear optics. In particular to develop an amplifier for a 3 micron laser system based on optical parametric amplification .
MSc. Students
Nuno Torrado
Nuno is an electrical engineering PhD student in GoLP and CERN. His
research is focused on the design, development, and testing of AWAKE’s
Discharge Plasma Source.
Silveira Marques
Matilde Ferreira da Costa
Luís Veloso
alexandru.ciobanu
Alexandru Ciobanu was born in Moldova 1998. Finished BsC in Engineering Physics at IST in 2020. He is currently working on his Msc thesis -" topological waves in 2D plasmas" , under the supervision of Dr. Hugo Terças.
David Cristino
Alexandre Ferreira
Alexandre joined GoLP in March 2023 when he started his Msc thesis as a Data Science and Engineering student under the supervision of Marta Fajardo and Diogo Ferreira. Alexandre, who concluded his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at IST is developing machine learning methods for maximizing efficiency in the generation of attosecond pulses using a phase only SLM to control and focus aberrated beams.
