ENIneering MAterial properties with advanced laser direct writing

Ultrafast laser material processing is approaching its limits in terms of ability to produce innovative materials withcompositional and structural consistency. The main idea of this project is to remove barriers to product development and gobeyond state-of-the-art by applying tailored and few-cycle laser pulses (FCLPs) for engineering of materials.In this project I will investigate the interaction between intense ultra-short light pulses and matter at or below the wavelengthscale reaching states of matter found only deep planetary conditions.A key goal of the project is to exploit these extremeconditions for synthesising unique material phases with on-demand optical and electronic properties, and progress photonicdevices with utilizing FCLP advantages: control over the bond scissoring density; efficient and highly localized energydeposition; seeding of self-organized nanostructures; manipulation of spatio-temporal coupling.Currently, a key limitation is plasma scattering that diminishes the performance of engineered materials. The question I willaddress is whether control of ultra-short pulses can lead to ways around this limitation. The control of self-organizationprocess will revolutionize the field of data storage by achieving record high 100 TB/cm3 densities, high writing speed andpractically unlimited lifetime. I will radically improve the performance of printed flat optics with perfected nanostructuresengineered from nano- to macro-scale and capable of replacing conventional optics significantly advancing photonic devicesused in high-resolution microscopy, consumer electronics, and high-power laser applications. I envisage obtaining exoticmaterial phases such as metallic phases of silicon and tailored metallic nanoparticles in silicate glass. Hence this project willpush the frontiers of laser material processing to unprecedented precision and will develop novel family of devices that willfeed into the future of optics, electronics and computing