Ultrafast Laser Physics

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Semester & Master Thesis

We regularly offer various projects within the field of laser development and laser application. If you would like to build your own laser or if you are interested in the optoelectronic properties of technologically relevant semiconductors, this is the place to ask! There is furthermore the possibility to work on more theoretical projects, either analytical or computer simulation based. We also seek students who would like to design electronic circuits and systems for data readout.

We caught your interest?
Drop by or get in touch with Moritz!
Please include a CV and a transcript of records (i.e. from MyStudies) such that we can find a matching project for you.

Important: Please note that we cannot provide any scholarships or other types of financial support for students.

If you are not enrolled at a Swiss university, please carefully consult this webpage for more information about the general admission criteria.

Moritz Seidel
HPT E 16.3

(in German) Wir bieten regelmässing vielfältige Projekte in den Bereichen Lasertechnologie
 und -anwendung an. Wenn Du gerne mal einen Laser selber bauen möchtest oder Dich die optoelektronischen 
Eigenschaften von technologisch relevanten Halbleitern interessieren,
 bist Du hier richtig! Ausserdem werden theoretisch orientierte Arbeiten vergeben, sowohl
 analytisch als auch Computer-basiert. Bei Interesse kannst Du bei uns 
auch elektronische Schaltungen und Systeme zur Datenerfassung entwickeln.

Wir haben dein Interesse geweckt? 
Komm doch einfach mal bei uns vorbei oder melde Dich bei Moritz! 
Schicke doch bitte auch einen kurzen Lebenslauf und einen Leistungsüberblick (z.B. aus MyStudies) damit wir ein passendes Projekt für Dich finden können.

Wichtig: Bitte beachte, dass wir keine Stipendien oder anderweitige finanzielle Unterstützung für Masterstudenten anbieten. 

Falls Du nicht an einer Schweizer Universität immatrikuliert bist, findest Du unter folgendem Link Informationen zu den allgemeinen Aufnahmekriterien für externe Studierende.

Moritz Seidel
HPT E 16.3

 

Semester & Master Thesis Projects Examples

Additionally we have regular openings for master thesis projects in several areas:

Attosecond Science

With our experiments we aim to improve the understanding of electronic dynamics in solid-state materials on an ultrafast timescale. We gain this knowledge from energy-resolved transmission experiments on our attosecond beamline where we use laser pulses as short as a few tens of attoseconds (1 as = 10-18 s) to resolve these dynamics.

Potential projects include

  • Nano-scale sample preparation in ETH’s cleanroom facilities
  • Conducting pump-probe measurements in the beamline
  • Improving the experimental setup

High power ultrafast laser sources

Here we can offer projects on various topics relating to our high power, high-intensity laser research. Our goal is to develop a new class of powerful laser sources for attosecond science at ultra-high repetition rates, allowing for new studies beyond the reach of current technologies. Potential projects include

  • exploring novel regimes of laser modelocking,
  • nonlinear optics systems and devices,
  • compression of ultrashort pulses,
  • and the generation of coherent extreme ultraviolet light via high harmonic generation.

Compact ultrashort lasers for spectroscopy

We are developing a variety of approaches for performing applied spectroscopy, in particular dual-comb gas spectroscopy, with compact and robust modelocked laser sources. By developing novel oscillator and nonlinear-optical devices, we target practical systems to bring this type of sensing out of the lab and into real-world settings. Potential projects include

  • modelocked laser development based on solid-state gain media or optically pumped semiconductors,
  • nonlinear-optical frequency conversion to access new wavelength regimes such as the so-called molecular fingerprint region,
  • and frequency comb stabilization for precision measurements.

If any of these topics, or other topics related to our ongoing research efforts in other areas interest you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us for more information.

Example Projects

Dual-comb techniques are used to convert the optical frequencies down to electronically accessible frequencies, allowing for direct measurements. Mutual stability of the two involved pulse trains is crucial for the success of these techniques. Generating both pulses in the same laser cavity offers mutual stability without the need for a complex stabilisation procedure.
This master thesis aimed at transferring this concept from semiconductor to solid-state gain materials. The idea is to spatially split the two polarisations within the gain to pump them independently. Therefore the potential laser crystal needs to have similar gain cross-sections for both polarisations and have no birefringence on its own. To maintain the optical isotropy of the laser crystal also under lasing conditions, effective heat removal was crucial. A new type of crystal mount was investigated together with different approaches for the thermal interface. Thermal images were used to identify the conditions for best thermal behaviour.

(Spring Semester 2019)

Many applications such as biomedical imaging, super-continuum generation or frequency metrology require high-power femtosecond pulses. However, in previous studies with modelocked vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting-lasers (VECSELs) a trade-off between pulse duration and output power was observed. This Semester project aims at investigating the regime of chirped pulse modelocking which might allow to overcome this trade-off. The basic principle relies on chirping the pulse inside the cavity and a subsequent external compression. One part of this project involves an experimental study of the dependency of the pulse duration on intra-cavity GDD. The goal of this project is to get a better understanding of the limiting factors which prevented the research community so far from getting short pulses in the femtosecond regime with high output power and use these findings to potentially push the limits of recent studies to higher output power.

(Spring Semester 2019)

This project demonstrates a compact preamplifier system for a full high-power optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) system, designed for use with various picosecond high power thin-disk lasers. Currently, a 3.92MHz repetition rate thin-disk laser, with average power of 5.6W and pulse durations of 950fs was used to generate mid-IR pulses with 7mW average power, through a preamplifcation stage with more than 20dB gain. The output pulses have a full spectral bandwidth of 850nm centred around 2.1μm, which is sufficient to support pulses within the few-cycle regime. The set-up incorporates a series of components designed for transferring the picosecond pump pulses into few-cycle mid-IR pulse. This includes pulse compression via a large-mode area fibre, supercontinuum generation in a bulk crystal, dispersion management and pulse shaping, difference frequency generation, and optical parametric amplification (OPA). For this OPA, a novel quasi-phase-matching (QPM) scheme, based on the use of periodically polled LiNbO3 (PPLN) with a QPM grating that is at an angle to beam propagation direction, has been implemented. This allows for a collinear OPA scheme in which the generated idler propagates at an angle to the signal pulse, and is thus much more compact and simpler to align than those in standard systems utilizing birefringent phase-matching crystals.

(Spring Semester 2016)

Previous Diploma & Master theses

[71] Joel Biedermann, „Ultrafast gigahertz solid-state lasers with passive crystals as Q-switching limiters“ (Mar. – Sep. 2022, supervised by Dr. Christopher Phillips, Prof. Ursula Keller)

[70] Wenxiang Hu, „High-sensitivity pump-probe apparatus for rapid sampling applications” (Feb. – Sep. 2022, supervised by Dr. Justinas Pupeikis, Prof. Ursula Keller)

[69] Tolga Sevim, „The Development of a Yb-based Fiber Amplifier for ultrashort Laser Pulses“ (May – Oct. 2021, supervised by Dr. Christopher Phillips, Prof. Ursula Keller)

[68] Nicolas Huwyler, „Fabrication and thermal management for GaSb based VECSEL“ (Mar. – Oct. 2021, supervised by Marco Gaulke, Dr. Behcet Özgur Alaydin, Prof. Ursula Keller)

[67] Daniel Koenen, „Single-mode pumped dual-comb solid-state laser“ (Nov. 2020 – Apr. 2021, supervised by Dr. Christopher Phillips, Dr. Benjamin Willenberg, Dr. Justinas Pupeikis, Prof. Ursula Keller)

[66] Constantin Krüger, "Free running attosecond interferometric measurements and their application to small organic molecules", (Feb. – Jul. 2020, supervised by Jaco Fuchs, Dr. Laura Cattaneo, Prof. Ulrich Lorenz (EPFL, Lausanne), Prof. Ursula Keller)

[65] Florian Koch, “Towards a femtosecond dual-comb from a single solid-state laser oscillator” (April – Oct. 2019, supervised by Léonard Krüger, Dr. Christopher Phillips)

[64] Miguel Angel Silva Toledo, “Towards few-femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron angular distribution experiments” (Jan. – Aug. 2018, supervised by PhD student Vit Svoboda, Prof. Hans Jakob Wörner)

[63] Léonard Krüger,  “Prototype development of a 10-GHz femtosecond straight-cavity Yb:CALGO laser” (May – Nov. 2017, supervised by Aline Mayer, Dr. Christopher Phillips)

[62] Fabian Brunner
“Focus optimization of intense attosecond XUV pulses” (April – Oct. 2017, supervised by Prof. Anne L’Huillier, Lund University, Sweden)

[61] Joel Winiger
“Room Temperature Micro Cavity Lasers directly grown on Si”, (March-Oct. 2017, supervised by Dr. Benedikt Mayer at IBM Rüschlikon, Prof. Jürg Leuthold)

[60] Florence Leyvraz
“On-chip Second Harmonic Generation in 2D Crystals” (Jan-July 2016, supervisors Wolfgang Heni, Christian Haffner, Dr. Yuriy Fedorsyshyn, Prof. Jürg Leuthold)

[59] Stefan Hrisafov
“Flexible thin-disk laser pumped mid-infrared OPCPA preamplifier with novel quasi-phase-matching scheme” (March - August 2016, supervisors Nicolas Bigler, Dr. Christopher Phillips)

[58] Ivan Graumann
“Towards higher average powers with sub-100-fs modelocked thin-disk lasers based on Yb:CALGO” (March - August 2015, supervisors Andreas Diebold, Florian Emaury, Dr. Christopher Phillips, Dr. Clara Saraceno)

[57] Thomas Zengerle
“Novel optimized SESAMs for kilowatt ultrafast lasers” (Nov. 2014 – March 2015,  supervisor Andreas Diebold)

[56] Matthias Schnaubelt
“Towards Attosecond Optical Spectroscopy in Solid–State Systems” (March - July 2014, supervisors Jens Herrmann and Dr. Matteo Lucchini)

[55] Aline Mayer
“Soliton Modelocking by Cascading of Second-Order Nonlinearities” (July - November 2013, supervisors Alexander Klenner, Dr. Christopher Phillips)

[54] Sandro Link
“Noise characterization of prototype integrated MIXSEL” (March - July 2013, supervisor Mario Mangold)

[53] Andreas Diebold
“Development of a SESAM modelocked Yb:CALGO thin disk laser: exploring short pulse durations” (March – July 2013, supervisors Florian Emaury, Cinia Schriber and Dr. Clara Saraceno)

[52] Cornelia Hofmann
“Electron dynamics after strong field tunnel ionization” (26. March – 25. July 2012, supervisor Dr. Alexandra Landsman)

[51] Robert van der Linden, TU Eindhoven
“Active stabilization of a SESAM-modelocked VECSEL” (start 21. Feb. 2011, internship for 3.5 months, supervisor Valentin Wittwer)

[50] Nick Hartmann
“CPOPA” (20. June - 22. Nov. 2011, supervisor Bill White, SLAC, Stanford University, Clemens Heese, ETH Zurich)

[49] Mario Mangold
“Characterization of gain parameters in VECSEL structures” (18. Oct. 2010 – 21. Feb. 2011, supervisor Oliver Sieber and Valentin Wittwer)

[48] Cinia Schriber
“Polarized Michelson interferometer to characterize the lens of thin-disk crystals” (4. Oct. 2010 – 14. Feb. 2011, supervisor Oliver Heckl)

[47] Daniel Streuli
“Modelocked Er:Yb:glass laser with high repetition rate” (9. Nov. 2009 – 19. March 2010 , supervisor Selina Pekarek)

[46] Christian Zaugg
“Noise characterization of a modelocked VECSEL” (16. Sep. 2009 – 29. Jan. 2010, supervisor Valentin Wittwer)

[45] Camille Estienne
“A pulsed dye laser for photo-ionization of magnesium atoms”, (2. Feb. – 31. May 2009, supervisors Valentin Batteiger and Dr. Thomas Udem, MPQ Garching, Germany)

[44] Oliver Sieber
“GDD in ML VECSEL”, (1. Sep. 2008 – 10. Jan. 2009, supervisor Martin Hoffmann)

[43] Johannes Herrnsdorf
“Optimization of VECSEL gain structures,” (25. Feb. – 24. June 2008, supervisor Aude-Reine Bellancourt)

[42] Martin Haag
"Mid-IR FROG", Master thesis project, University of Lund, Sweden (Jan. 2007 to May 2007, Supervisor Christian Erny)

[41] Martin Hoffmann
“Passively modelocked Yb:KYW waveguide laser,” Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zurich (30. Oct. 2006 bis 10. März 2007, Betreuer Max Stumpf)

[40] Michael Ruosch
“Aufbau einer Multipass-Zelle für den Einsatz in einem Yb:YAG Scheibenlaser,” Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zurich (23. Okt. 2006 bis 2. März 2007, Betreuer Sergio Marchese)

[39] Daniel Iwaniuk
“Neue Laseranordnung für hochpräzise Messungen nichtlinearer Reflektivitäten über einem grossen, dynamischen Bereich,” Diplomarbeit, Department Physikalische Chemie, ETH Zürich (bis Aug. 2006, Betreuer Deran Maas)

[38] Elena Mengotti
“Towards time resolved XUV digital in-line holography” Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich (24. April bis 23. Aug. 2006, Betreuerin Prof. Anne L’Huillier, Lund)

[37] Guillaume Genoud
“Towards time resolved XUV digital in-line holography” Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich (15. April bis 30. Sept. 2006, Betreuerin Prof. Anne L’Huillier, Lund)

[36] Mirko Holler
“Coherent Control of High Harmonic Generation using Attosecond Pulse Trains“, Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich (12. April 2004 bis 2. Aug. 2005, Betreuer Dr. Jens Biegert und Arne Heinrich)

[35] Florian Zäh
“Light ion implantation in KYW,“ Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich (25. Okt. 2004 bis 24. Feb. 2005, Betreuer Dr. Markus Pollnau)

[34] Peter Kaspar
“Dependence of HHG on the duration of few cycle laser pulses,“ Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich (25. Okt. 2004 bis 25. Feb. 2005, Betreuer Arne Heinrich)

[33] Christian Walther
“High precision wide dynamic range nonlinear reflectivity measurements,“ Diplomarbeit, ETH Zürich, März 2005 (18. Okt. 2004 bis 18. Feb. 2005, Betreuer Dr. Markus Haiml und Rachel Grange)

[32] Benjamin Rudin
“Rausch-Messungen an modengekoppelten Festkörper-Lasern,“ Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, Okt. 2004 (7. Juni bis 8. Okt. 2004, Betreuer PD Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta and Dr. Gabriel Spühler)

[31] Matthias Raunhardt
“Thermo-Optische Schalter./Abschächer mit Polymerwellenleitern,“ Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, März 2004 (10. Nov. 2003 bis 15. März 2004, Betreuer PD Dr. Bossard)

[30] Gustavo Aeppli
“Faserkopplung und Packaging von integrierten Polymerkomponenten,“ Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, März 2004 (10. Nov. 2003 bis 15. März 2004, Betreuer PD Dr. Bossard)

[29] Christian Erny
“Repetitionsraten abstimmbarer 10-GHz Er:Yb:Glas Laser,” Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, März 2004 (1. Nov. 2003 bis 12. März 2004, Betreuer Dr. Gabriel Spühler und Dr. Lukas Krainer)

[28] Andreas Rutz
“Beeinflussung des Anwachsverhaltens beim epitaktischen Wachstum von GaAs auf CaF2 mittels niedrigenergetischer Elektronenbestrahlung,” Materials Science Department, ETH Zürich, März
2004 (10. Nov. 2003 bis 1. März 2004, Betreuerin Dr. Silke Schön)

[27] Sergio Vincenzo Marchese
“Nichtlineare frequenzkonversion mit modengekoppelten Hochleistungslasern,” Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, Aug. 2003 (April – Sept. 2003, Betreuer Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta und Thomas Südmeyer)

[26] Markus Kalisch
“Aufbau eines diodengepumpten, passiv modengekoppelten Nd:YVO4-Lasers bei 1064 nm mit 40-GHz Repetitionrate,” Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, März 2003 (Oct. 2002 bis März 2003, Betreuer Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta und Steve Lecomte)

[25] Jochen Sturm
“High-Precision Wide-Dynamic-Range Nonlinear Reflectivity Measurement, ? Diplomarbeit, Fachhochschule für Elektrotechnik, Konstanz (28. Okt. 2002 – März/April 2003, Betreuer Dr. Markus Haiml und Rachel Grange, Betreuer an der FH Konstanz: Prof. Dieter Schaal)

[24] Jens Rauschenberger
Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, 25. Sept. 2002 (Betreuer Steven Cundiff, JILA, Boulder USA).

[23] Adrian Schlatter
“Untersuchungen zur Stabilität von modengekoppelten Lasern,“ Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, Aug. 2002 (2. April – 2. Aug. 2002, Betreuer Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta)

[22] Simon Zeller
“Entwicklungen eines modengekoppelten 1.3 µm lasers,“ Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, Aug. 2002 (2. April – 2. Aug. 2002, Betreuer Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta)

[21] Laurent Balet
(11. Feb. – 10. Juni 2002, Betreuer Dr. Markus Haiml) – in Zusammenarbeit mit Prof. Gerd Marowski, Laser-Laboratorium Göttingen e.V. und Zeptosens AG, Schweiz (Novartis Spin-off Firma)

[20] Mathis Bruck
“Absolute laser beam stabilization at a kHz rate,“ Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, März 2002 (31. Okt. – 28. Feb. 2002, Betreuer Jens Biegert)

[19] Isabell Thomann
“Aufbau eines Stretcher-Kompressor Systems zur Dispersionskompensation eines Breitbandspektrums,“ Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, Sept. 2001 (Betreuer Lukas Gallmann und Günter Steinmeyer)

[18] Martin Steiger
“Zeit- und Ortsaufgelöste Zwei-Farben-Pump-Probenmessungen von Halbleiternanostrukturen,“ Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, Juni 2001 (1. Feb. – 1. Juni 2001, Betreuer Marc Achermann)

[17] Christoph Hauri
“Aufbau eines adaptiven akusto-optischen Systems zur Reduktion der Bandbreitebegrenzung von Ti:Saphir-Verstärkern,“ Diplomarbeit, Department Physik, ETH Zürich, März 2001

[16] Edith Innerhofer
“High-power diode-pumped femtosecond Yb:KGW laser,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, Sept. 2000

[15] Thomas Fritsche
“Erzeugung und Charakterisierung von frequenzverdoppelten sub-10-fs Ti:Saphir-Pulsen,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, Aug. 2000

[14] Felix Brunner
“Aufbau und Charakterisierung von modengekoppelten diodengepumpten Festkörperlasern,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, März 2000

[13] Benedict J. Baumann
“Femtosecond pulse shaping,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, September 1999

[12] Marcel Graf
“Characterisierung ytterbiumdotierter Gläser im passiv modengekoppelten Laser,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, Juli 1998

[11] Lukas Gallmann
“Characterizierung von ultrakurzen Laserpulsen,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, März 1998

[10] Dominik Zumbühl
“Stabilitätsuntersuchungen von modengekoppelten Ti:Saphir-Laser,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, Nov. 1997

[9] Reto Häring
“Pulsed Pumping of Passively Q-switched Microchip Lasers,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, June 1997

[8] Ryan Held
“Breitbandige Messung der Gruppenlaufzeit-Dispersion im fs-Bereich,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, Okt. 1996

[7] Rene Tschaggelar
“Synchronisierte Femtosekunden-Laser,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, Okt. 1996

[6] Gabriel Spühler
“Diodengepumpte modengekoppelte 1.5 µm-Lasersysteme,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, Okt. 1996

[5] Jürg aus der Au
“Femtosekunden Nd:Glas-Laser,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, Okt. 1996

[4] Franz Häller
“Interferometrische Untersuchung des Einflusses der Dispersion auf Amplitude und Phase ultrakurzer Laserpulse,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, März 1996

[3] B. Cappelli
“Dynamik von Solitonen in fast integrablen Systemen,“ Diplomarbeit in Theoretischer Physik, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, Okt. 1995

[2] I. G. Calasso
“Q-switching-Instabiltät in passiv-modengekoppelten Festkörperlaser,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, Okt. 1994

[1] M. Lanker
“Aktive Modenkopplung eines Nd:YLF Lasers mit Quantum-Well Modulatoren,“ Diplomarbeit, Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, Okt. 1994

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