Principal Investigator
Jean-Claude Diels started his career in research constructing a CO2 laser as part of his one year military service (too long) in Belgium. He went then for 5 years (much too long) as a Research Scientist in the fundamental research laboratories of “Philips Gloelampenfabrik” in Eindhoven, with assignment to “do modern research” with “unlimited budget" (which was soon exceeded). He spent the next 3 years (way too short) to do Ph.D. thesis research on coherent pulse propagation in two level systems with Professor Erwin L. Hahn at UC Berkeley. The next two years (too long) were spent at the Max Plank Institute with Professor Fritz Schaefer, the colorful (usually covered with red) father of dye lasers. He got an appointment as an Associate Research Professor at the University of Southern California (“What??? I have to raise my own salary?”). After experiencing the “Centre d’Energie Atomique” of Saclay near Paris (not the Texan Paris), and before the collapse of the Center for Laser Studies at USC, he moved to the CAQE (Center for Applied Quantum Electronics) of the University of North Texas in Denton, where he stayed for 5 years (too long), interrupted by a sabbatical at the University of Bordeaux, France. He has been since … (much too long) at the University of New Mexico, where he graduated more than 50 PhD students.
He co-authored with Wolfgang Rudolph the graduate textbook Ultrashort Laser Pulse Phenomena: Fundamentals, Techniques and Applications on a Femtosecond Time Scale and with Ladan Arrisian the book, Lasers: The Power and Precision of Light, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the laser, and published 5 book chapters.
He is the recipient of the 51st Annual Research Lecturer Award (April 2006), and of the 2006 Engineering Excellence Award of the Optical Society of America.
Contact Telephone: (505) 272-7830
Email: jcdiels@unm.edu
Research Associate Professor
Ladan Arissian holds the appointments of Associated research Professor at the University of New Mexico (CHTM) and Adjunct Professor at the University of Ottawa in the group of Professor Paul Corkum. She was previously Research Associate of the Physics Department of Texas A&M University, performing research in attosecond science at the National Research Council of Canada. She obtained graduate degrees in various physics disciplines, a Ph.D. in Optical science and Engineering from the University of New Mexico in 2007, an M.Sc. in Nuclear Engineering (Medical Imaging) and an M.Sc. in Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics. Besides her interest in research she has been involved in teaching from high school level physics to graduate courses in Optics. Dr. Arissian has published a book intended for the general public for the 50th anniversary of the laser (“The Power and Precision of Light”), 4 book chapters, 40 refereed articles, 46 invited papers, 67 contributed conference presentations, and holds 7 patents in various areas of laser physics
