I - 34151 Trieste Italy
(+39) 040 2240 111
pio@ictp.it
The Optics Program provides advanced research training for many of ICTP’s TRIL Fellows and Associates. The research is inherently interdisciplinary and covers applications to nuclear physics, health, food science, chemical, environmental research and materials science using a number of approaches and laboratories. It maintains strong working collaborations with INFN Trieste, INFN Frascati, the University of Nova Gorica in Slovenia, and the National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It receives substantial operating funds through contributions from SPIE, the International Society of Optics and Photonics, through its Anchor Research Program with ICTP. There are several laboratories, both at Elettra Synchrotron Facility and the ICTP Optics Laboratory on the ICTP campus. The latter is currently situated in the Enrico Fermi building and coordinated by Dr. Humberto Cabrera.
The ICTP Optics Laboratory enables training as well as scientific collaboration of students and visitors and has two separate directions: photothermal spectroscopy and a quantum cascade laser coupled to cavity ring down spectroscopy for trace gas detection. Research is carried out in a number of areas, including material characterization, environmental and analytical chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, and ecology. Currently, activities of the laboratory are directed to
Scientific Advisory Board
The optics program at ICTP reports to an external advisory board, the Trieste System Optical Sciences and Applications board (TSOSA). TSOSA is composed of representatives of the major optics organizations globally including The Optical Society (OSA) , SPIE, The International Society for Optics and Photonics, the International Commission for Optics (ICO), IEEE Photonics Society, Sincrotrone Trieste (Elettra), the European Optical Society (EOS), the African LAM Network, the Tunisian Optical Society, and INFN Trieste. The TSOSA board meets annually at the ICTP during the annual Winter College in Optics and advises on all aspects of the program.
Among the main research facilities, we have a highly sensitive analytical method based on on line detection by thermal lens spectrometry, which is coupled to an electrophoresis technique for biotechnology and nanotechnology applications. During separation each component can be detected on line by a thermal lens microscope.
In the field of material characterization the laboratory is equipped with a beam deflection spectroscopy technique for determination of thermo-optical properties of opaque samples. The research is focused on determination of thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity of 2D materials and photonic crystals.
There are two distinct threads in the area of high power, mid-IR low bandwidth signals. The first involves a quantum cascade laser (QCL) to perform spectroscopy of trace gases. A second fork is a project to measure fundamental properties of the proton using similarly high power, mid-IR, low bandwidth signals derived from difference frequency generation. This experimental apparatus is situated at the Elettra Synchrotron Facility.
The QCL project is located on the ICTP campus together with the thermal lens spectroscopy apparatus. Currently, the principal user of this experimental equipment is Komlan GADEDJISSO-TOSSOU from Togo. Komlan has utilized the ICTP TRIL program to make frequent visits to Trieste and leads the experimental efforts in QCL trace gas detection. The system was demonstrated to be a high-resolution spectrometer able to analyze experimentally the absorption line of the ν4 fundamental vibrational band of ammonia centered at 1468.898 cm−1 (6.807 µm).
This work is being carried out locally at Elettra (Sincrotrone Trieste) for the laser development and with collaborators at Rutherford Laboratories in Oxford, UK to provide pulsed muon beams.
Specifically, within the Fisica degli Atomi MUonici (FAMU) project, which involves 13 institutions from across Europe, we are developing a spectroscopic mid-infrared laser source with difference frequency generation, for high precision measurements of muonic atom spectroscopic transitions. This research line has the following key objectives:
We are currently working to develop two projects focused on optical cryptography and photothermal spectroscopy coupled to gel electrophoresis.