Laserlab-Europe Talk: Materials and post-processes for multi-photon lithography, 29 April 2026
2026-04-29 16:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Berlin)
Title: Materials and post-processes for multi-photon lithographySpeaker: Dimitra Ladika (VULRC)Date: Wednesday, 29 April 2026, 16:00-17:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST)
Multi-photon lithography (MPL) enables the fabrication of true 3D micro- and nanostructures without the need for masks or complex tooling, directly from computer-aided designs. Owing to these unique capabilities, MPL has emerged as a powerful manufacturing technique across a wide range of disciplines. The ongoing growth of MPL is closely linked to advances in material design and post-processing strategies.
In particular, the composition of MPL photoresists, including the presence or absence of photoinitiators, plays a critical role in defining fabrication thresholds, resolution, and the optical properties of the resulting structures. While photoinitiators can enhance polymerization efficiency, they may also introduce fluorescence and coloration, limiting their use in certain applications. In contrast, photoinitiator-free and doped systems offer alternative pathways toward improved optical performance. The interaction of these materials with femtosecond laser irradiation across multiple wavelengths provides additional flexibility for controlling polymerization and tailoring spectral response.
Additionally, post-processing approaches, such as calcination and surface coatings, further extend the capabilities of MPL by enabling the fabrication of fully inorganic and spectrally adaptable architectures. These strategies enhance the functionality and stability of the fabricated 3D structures without fundamentally altering the initial material platform.
Overall, these developments demonstrate the potential of material-driven approaches in MPL for applications in photonics and optoelectronics.

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Lasers4EU Access Board meeting, 5 May 2026
2026-05-05 14:30 - 16:30
The Access Board of the Lasers4EU project will meet on 5 May 2026, 14:30-16:30 CEST.
The link to connect will be shared by the Laserlab-Europe office.

This is a project internal event.

Laserlab-Europe Talk: Elucidating the Photon Migration Effects in Incubated Chicken Eggs using Time-Domain Diffuse Optics, 20 May 2026
2026-05-20 16:00 - 17:00
Title: Elucidating the Photon Migration Effects in Incubated Chicken Eggs using Time-Domain Diffuse Optics Speaker: Lennard van den Tweel (Wageningen University and Research) Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2026, 16:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST)
The early and non-invasive assessment of chicken embryonic sex and viability is of great interest. This interest is driven by the ethical dilemma surrounding the culling of non-productive day-old male chicks in layer-hen production and by the need to improve hatchery efficiency. Optical techniques are widely investigated for these applications, but are challenged by the complex optical properties and heterogeneous structure of avian eggs. Here, we show that chicken eggs display unusual photon trapping behavior due to the eggshell behaving like an integrating sphere, considerably extending photon time-of-flight. Time-domain diffuse optical spectroscopy (TD-DOS) on egg phantoms, supported by Monte Carlo simulations and post-dispersive filtering experiments, rule out fluorescence as the source for the long photon time-of-flight. These results point to diffuse reflections at the inner surface of the eggshell as the source of the long photon time-of-flight. Despite these boundary effects, the retrieval of internal bulk optical properties remains feasible via inversion of the diffusion approximation after selection of appropriate boundary conditions, as was demonstrated in incubated eggs. Finally, phantom experiments illustrate how the integrating sphere affects the temporal response of time-resolved Raman and fluorescence measurements, highlighting critical challenges in non-invasive optical characterization of avian embryos.

Laserlab-Europe and Lasers4EU Annual and Users Meeting 2026, 26-29 May 2026
2026-05-26 - 2026-05-29 | HiLASE, Dolni Břežany, Czech Republic

Lasers4EU Online Training on Femtosecond & Attosecond Spectroscopy, 9-11 June 2026
2026-06-09 - 2026-06-11 | Online
About the workshop
This online training workshop, organised as part of the Lasers4EU project, aims to equip early-stage researchers and PhD students with advanced experimental and data analysis skills in femtosecond and attosecond spectroscopy. Participants will be introduced to state-of-the-art techniques available at European laser research infrastructures and gain practical experience through guided data analysis sessions.A main focus is placed on data analysis, often the critical bottleneck that limits the scientific value of high-quality experimental data. By strengthening these skills, the training enables participants to fully exploit world-class laser facilities offered through the Lasers4EU Transnational Access (TNA) scheme.The programme combines live lectures, virtual laboratory tours and guided hands-on data analysis sessions. Lectures on Day 1 are open to a broader audience to maximize outreach; interactive sessions on Days 2–3 are limited to 20 participants.
Who should apply
The workshop is primarily aimed at early-career researchers and PhD students working in physics, chemistry, and related fields who are interested in ultrafast laser-based spectroscopies and are potential future users of the Lasers4EU Transnational Access scheme.
We particularly encourage applications from:– Researchers from institutions with limited local access to advanced laser infrastructures– PhD students seeking to prepare a competitive Lasers4EU TA proposal– Scientists who have recently acquired or plan to acquire data at ultrafast laser facilities and wish to strengthen their data analysis skills– Researchers from across Europe and beyond interested in attosecond physics, XUV spectroscopy, or transient absorption spectroscopy

What will you learn

Programme overview

How to participate
Applicants must submit:

A Curriculum Vitae, via e-mail to alina.khodko@mbi-berlin.de
A statement of purpose, outlining the motivation for attending the training, in the registration form below.

Participation in the Day 1 lecture sessions is open to all interested researchers. Interactive sessions on Days 2–3, including virtual laboratory tours and guided data analysis, are limited to 20 participants to ensure effective individual support.
The workshop is delivered fully online. No travel costs are required for participants.
Deadline for application: 1 June 2026Successful applicants will be notified during the week of June 6, 2026 and will receive access to data analysis software and datasets in advance of the workshop.

Laserlab-Europe Talk: Medical Radionuclide Production by Laser Wakefield Acceleration, 10 June 2026
2026-06-10 16:00 - 17:00 | Online
Title: Medical Radionuclide Production by Laser Wakefield Acceleration Speaker: Dino Jaroszynski (University of Strathclyde) Date: Wednesday, 10 June 2026, 16:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST)
We present a study of the production of 67Cu medical radioisotopes using bremsstrahlung radiation produced by 150 pC bunches of high energy electrons from a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) when they interact with dense convertor material. The experiments demonstrating photonuclear production of radioisotopes have been carried out at the Scottish Centre for the Application of Plasma-based accelerators (SCAPA). 10 kBq of 67Cu was produced by irradiating enriched 68Zn over a five-hour irradiation period at approximately 1 Hz repetition rate, which provides an important experimental benchmark. This work assesses the performance of current LWFA systems and establishes the requirements of future commercial LWFA-based systems and extrapolations suggests that the next stage of development. A facility based on optically pumped CO2 laser technologies could potentially achieve clinically relevant activity levels of 67Cu. The project is part of the MedRadLaser collaboration between the University of Strathclyde, National Physical Laboratory, the University of the West of Scotland, and the UK Atomic Energy Authority. The studies will be extended and form part of the newly funded EUPOPA project.
The MedRadLaser collaboration involves Giuseppe Lorusso[1], Dino A. Jaroszynski[2], David O’Donnell[3], S. Mark Wiggins[2], Baris Bingol[2], Peter Ivanov[1], Ben Russel[1], and Lanre Yusuf[1]
[1] NPL Science and Engineering Directorate, UK[2] Department of Physics, Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK[3] School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences, Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, UK

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Laserlab-Europe Talk: Frequency Comb Interferometry, 1 July 2026
2026-07-01 16:00 - 17:00
Title: Frequency Comb InterferometrySpeaker: Nathalie Picqué (Max Born Institute Berlin)Date: Wednesday, 1 July 2026, 16:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST)
Optical frequency combs, generated by mode-locked femtosecond lasers, have made it possible to count the frequency of light. They now enable powerful techniques such as dual-comb interferometry. These motion-free interferometers use two combs with slightly different line spacings to achieve exceptional accuracy, speed and resolution. They enable compact integrated photonic devices and advanced applications in spectroscopy, sensing and imaging.

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Lasers4EU Training | Hands-on Course on MINDLAB: Manipulating and Investigating Neural Dynamics for Learning and Ageing in the Brain, 13-17 July 2026
2026-07-13 - 2026-07-17 | Castelldefels, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain
The core faculty of the ICFO-MINDLAB, a think tank working jointly towards a transdisciplinary understanding of the brain, offers a school to introduce cutting edge technologies to study neuroscience at the molecular, cellular and systems level to students in a combination of lectures and hands-on experience leading to group projects.
What is MINDLAB?
MINDLAB stands for “Manipulating and Investigating Neural Dynamics for Learning and Ageing in the Brain” and is an interdisciplinary creative playground rooted squarely in academic rigor, comprising of research groups from ICFO and beyond. We focus on advancing fundamental knowledge on how the mind emerges from the behavior of individual molecules, neurons and brain networks but also creating and commercializing transformational future technologies with outstanding potential to impact our society for good.
Hence, this course will expose participants to the state-of-the-art of photonics-based technologies tailored to monitor a hierarchy of scales in the study of the brain: i.e. from single molecules up to the whole organism.
The MINDLAB faculty includes world leading experts in their fields. The expertise of the core faculty is complemented by a diverse set of affiliated adjunct faculty from various research centres in Barcelona but also through clinical and corporate partners.
This year’s school coincide with the arrival of ICFO’s Summer Fellows, a group of highly motivated master-level or engineering students in their final years of study, who join ICFO research groups for three-month internships (July-September)
Hands-on sessions
Participants will engage in lab sessions focused on the latest photonics technologies. Each lab session will provide participants with an opportunity to work directly with advanced equipment and gain valuable practical skills.
The sessions will take place in the following labs:

Super resolution Light microscopy and Nanoscopy
Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology
Medical Optics
Photon Harvesting in Plants and Biomolecules
Single Molecules Biophotonics

More information

Lasers4EU Activity Board meeting, 10 September 2026
2026-09-10 15:00 - 16:30
The Activity Board of the Lasers4EU project will hold its next meeting on 10 September from 15:00 to 16:30 CEST.
Login details will be provided by the Laserlab-Europe Office.
Please note: this is an internal project event.

360 Carla Training: Quantum Materials — from ARPES to trARPES
2026-09-16 | Online
360Carla training “Quantum Materials — from ARPES to trARPES“ will be held on 16 September 2026 online. This event is organised by Max Born Institute, the Institute of Physics of the NAS of Ukraine and the Kyiv Academic University.
The training is funded by the Horizon Europe project 360 Carla and delivered in collaboration with Lasers4EU and the German-Ukrainian Centre for Research on Quantum Materials (GU-QuMat).

Target audience:The workshop is primarily aimed at MSc students, PhD students and early-career researchers working in physics, materials science and related fields who are interested in quantum materials and ultrafast spectroscopy. We particularly encourage applications from researchers from countries and institutions with limited local access to advanced laser and photoemission infrastructures.
Topics covered during the training:– Introduction to quantum materials and their key phenomena– Fundamentals of ARPES: mapping the electronic band structure of solids– Ultrafast lasers and XUV sources: taking ARPES into the time domain– From ARPES to trARPES: probing ultrafast electron dynamics– How to gain fully funded access to trARPES facilities (e.g. at LACUS) via the Lasers4EU TNA programme, and how to connect with experts and future collaborators across European laser labs.
Check the detailed programme here
Deadline for application: September 4, 2026
Selected participants will be notified during the week of September 7, 2026
Participation is free of charge.

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Laserlab-Europe Talk: Femtosecond laser fabricated glass photonic integrated circuits for stuctured illumination microscopy, 16 September 2026
2026-09-16 16:00 - 17:00 | Online
Title: Femtosecond laser fabricated glass photonic integrated circuits for stuctured illumination microscopySpeaker: Francesca Bragheri (The Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies, National Research Council)Date: Wednesday, 16 September, 16:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST)

Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is a powerful imaging technique that enables resolution enhancement beyond the diffraction limit while preserving low phototoxicity and compatibility with conventional fluorescence microscopy. Traditional SIM implementations, however, typically rely on complex and bulky optical systems, limiting their robustness and widespread adoption.
In this talk, femtosecond laser micromachining (FLM) will be presented as a versatile enabling technology for the fabrication of three-dimensional integrated photonic circuits in glass for structured illumination microscopy. By inducing localized refractive index modifications inside transparent materials, FLM enables the direct writing of buried optical waveguides, directional couplers, and interferometric structures with true three-dimensional design freedom and micrometric precision. When combined with selective chemical etching (FLICE), the same technology also allows the fabrication of reflective micro-optical elements, including flat and curved mirrors, which are subsequently metal-coated to guide the beams and generate structured illumination patterns. Thermal phase shifters integrated onto the chip surface provide fast, dynamic control of the relative phase between the interfering beams without mechanical movement, enabling the pattern translation required for SIM image reconstruction.
Different device architectures will be presented, ranging from compact two-output interferometers to more sophisticated multi-beam photonic circuits capable of generating both two- and three-dimensional interference patterns. The resulting glass chips can be directly interfaced with conventional widefield microscopes, transforming them into compact and reconfigurable SIM platforms. Overall, the presented work highlights the unique capabilities of femtosecond laser micromachining for the rapid prototyping and fabrication of complex three dimensional integrated photonic systems, opening new opportunities for compact, alignment-free, and field deployable super-resolution imaging devices.

Register here

Lasers4EU Webinar: The use and impact of artificial intelligence in research and innovation, 24 Sept 2026
2026-09-24 14:30 - 16:30
This webinar will look at how AI is becoming an integral part of the research process, from accelerating discovery through intelligent data analysis to supporting researchers as a ‘scientific co-pilot’ in design and decision-making. The speakers will also address the practical and legal implications of this shift, including licensing and data-sharing issues, and concrete applications of machine learning in experimental physics.

The use and impact of artificial intelligence in research and innovation
Speakers and titles:Michael Bussmann (HZDR): The Use and Impact of AI in R&D, and Creative Commons Licences in R&DSlav Ivanov (University of Strathclyde): The Scientific Copilot, the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Design and DiscoveryBaptiste Fabre (CELIA): The Use of Machine Learning for the Photoionisation Analysis of Chiral MoleculesDate: Thursday, 24 September 2026, 14:30 – 16:30 CEST

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