Lasers can now generate light pulses down to 100 attoseconds thereby enabling real-time measurements on ultrashort time scales that are inaccessible by any other methods.
Led by the UPC's Centre for Sensors, Instruments and Systems Development, an international consortium of universities, hospitals and companies is developing new technologies based on light and AI to improve the diagnosis of several diseases.
Since the emergence of nonlinear optics in the 1960s, significant progress has been made in photonic technologies and their applications. This has led to the development of several materials that have nonlinear interactions with matter.
In the past 50 years, the pursuit of shorter laser pulses has been the driving force in advancing ultrafast science, with laser pulse compression techniques now enabling the generation of single-digit femtoseconds and even attosecond pulse durations.
For the study of such interactions leading to changes in the optical properties of photonic crystals, a high-intensity emitting medium such as high-energy lasers is required.