Physics of laser-matter interaction

10305 Fluids and plasma physics (including surface physics)
20501 Materials engineering
10306 Optics (including laser optics and quantum optics)

The main directions of the research are

Precise and efficient surface texturing and ablation of different materials (metals, semiconductors, and dielectrics); producing surfaces with novel intelligent functionalities on nanoscale for applications in science and industry.
Exploring extreme conditions of matter by efficient coupling of laser energy with bulk dielectrics and organic liquids.
Designing new nanostructured materials using pulsed laser deposition in ambient gases and liquids.
Using tunable mid-IR laser sources for exploring new perspectives for 3D structuring of bulk semiconductors and for controlled gentle modification of bio-tissues.

In all these directions, the Department is targeting on proposing novel, original solutions.

The theoretical support of the experiments is based on the experience of team members in:

one- and two-temperature modelling, including electron photoemission with charge separation and non-congruent vaporization of compound materials;
FDTD simulations of propagation of laser beam focused inside transparent materials;
gasdynamic modelling of laser ablation plume expansion in vacuum and ambient gases;
TD-DFT simulations of laser action on band-gap crystals;
analytical methods of plasma physics and plasmonics.