Group of Lasers and Plasmas

GoLP's work is featured in jornal Público — it highlights collaborative efforts at CERN with Carolina Amoedo, Nelson Lopes and Luís Oliveira e Silva for the AWAKE collaboration and the ☄️ Fireball experiment: https://www.publico.pt/2026/06/01/ciencia/depoimento/cientista-ilha-precisa-comunidade-2173809



Instituto Superior Técnico
IPFN - Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear

Nenhum cientista é uma ilha, precisa de comunidade Como trabalham os cientistas em equipa? Como nascem as ideias, como se tratam os dados, como se decidem que é o autor? Conversámos com Guilherme Milhano, que trabalha em física de partículas.

🎓✨ Big congratulations to Dr. Chiara Badiali! ✨🎓

Chiara has successfully defended her PhD with Distinction and Honour — what an incredible achievement! 👏

Her research explored advanced approaches to plasma acceleration, contributing valuable insights to the field of high-energy physics.

"I am incredibly happy to have successfully defended my PhD.

I am deeply grateful to my supervisors, Thales Silva and Jorge Vieira, for their guidance, support, and encouragement throughout this journey. I would also like to thank Patric Muggli for his mentorship both during my time with the AWAKE experiment at CERN and beyond.

Finally, I am immensely thankful to all members of the GoLP group for their support, collaboration, and friendship over the years. This achievement would not have been possible without them."

We wish Chiara all the best for the future — this is just the beginning of an exciting journey! 🚀

://www.facebook.com/tecnico.ulisboa.pt

IPFN - Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear

In last week's seminar Hugo Pires presented results on Interface and surface characterization via SHG:

🔬 Exploring silicon surfaces with light

How can we “see” what’s happening at the very surface of a material 🧐? One powerful method is second-harmonic generation (SHG)—a nonlinear optical technique sensitive to interfaces.

In their latest work, Pires et al discovered something new: a previously unreported higher-order nonlinear contribution emerging at silicon (Si(111)–SiO₂) interfaces.

✨ The SHG signal doesn’t just scale normally—it shows both quadratic and quartic behavior, with the quartic part revealing a unique threefold symmetry 🪞 pattern layered on top of the usual sixfold structure.

This opens the door🚪 to new ways of probing and understanding semiconductor surfaces, which are essential in modern electronics and photonics 💡


IPFN - Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear
Instituto Superior Técnico

Congratulations to GoLP team members honored with teaching and academic awards by Instituto Superior Técnico — recognition of their dedication, commitment and excellence. 🏅 🎓️

📸 Pictured: G. Figueira, B. Barbosa, R. Almeida and J. Joaquim.
Also acknowledged, though not pictured, are A. Santos, D. Faustino, J. Vieira and J. Mariano.

Thank you for advancing education and research through outstanding teaching 👏




IPFN - Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear

Last week we welcomed Yutong He, a new postdoctoral researcher at GoLP, who presented his work on “Linear Breit-Wheeler Pair Creation and Positron Dynamics in Laser‑Irradiated Plasmas.” ⚡️

The LBW process (𝛾𝛾 → e⁻e⁺) is a cornerstone prediction of QED, proposed in 1934 but not yet directly observed with real photons in the lab. Yutong described promising simulation results: a single state‑of‑the‑art laser pulse could produce ~10⁷ LBW pairs, with in‑situ fields collimating positrons and an anticipated backward signal of ~10⁶ MeV⁻¹ sr⁻¹, bringing experimental detection within reach. 💡

followed by discussion&coffee&cookies ☕️ 🍪




Instituto Superior Técnico
IPFN - Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear

Highlights from weekly seminars ✨

J. Joaquim presented groundbreaking work on radiative cooling in neutron star magnetospheres 🧲 ⭐️ , showing how strong gravity and intense fields create plasma conditions ripe for coherent emission ⚡️ .Curved spacetime turns out to make these instabilities even stronger 💪 and longer‑lived—great news for synchrotron radiation models!

Discussion continued over coffee ☕️





Instituto Superior Técnico
IPFN - Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear

To mark World Health Day 🏥 , Instituto Superior Técnico launched a campaign 💡 highlighting innovative projects currently under development and their present or future impact on the health sector.

IPFN - Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear took part in this initiative, with Marta Fajardo showcasing how the NanoXCAN project is advancing future imaging technologies with strong potential relevance for healthcare.



Instituto Superior Técnico

IPFN - Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1830951634268370

☄️ GoLP participated in Técnico Open Day at the IPFN stand, showcasing "The Journey of Lasers and Plasmas."

Visitors tried GoLP’s interactive VR 👀 🥽 demos of plasma-driven particle accelerators, astrophysical plasmas 🪐, and light–matter interactions ⚡️💥.

The display also included a 3D model of the VOXEL Lab, detailing parts of a next‑generation X‑ray imaging 🩻 🔬 system designed for finer spatial resolution with lower radiation dose—offering encouraging medical prospects (NanoXcan project).

We warmly thank all GoLP volunteers whose passion and energy made the day truly brilliant.

Read more: https://buff.ly/sQF6dvR

Instituto Superior Técnico
IPFN - Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear

At last week’s seminar, Gareth Williams presented "From 🩻 X-ray to optical lasers: what can these sources teach us about dense plasma physics" examining how dense plasmas in 🔋 HEDP labs and compact astrophysical objects 🕳️ ⭐️ are shaped by strong Coulomb coupling, 💥 collisions and 🐈‍⬛ 📦️ quantum degeneracy, and the experimental hurdles in isolating their behavior. He highlighted the VOXEL team’s GoLP work using short laser pulses, XFELs and combined optical/XUV probes to constrain ionization and recombination rates and refine models.

Instituto Superior Técnico
IPFN - Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear

☀️ 🗓️ Closing another week with our group seminar.

Last friday Xuezhi Wu presented his work "From generalized superradiance to coherent betatron emission: a quasiparticle perspective," offering a quasiparticle-based view on radiation mechanisms in accelerators and potential implications for compact light sources and beam diagnostics. Lively Q&A and fruitful discussions continued over coffee and networking.☕️


Instituto Superior Técnico
IPFN - Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear