Master students Pedro Martínez and Jordi Gomis successfully defended their respective Master degree thesis on March 3rd 2016, to obtain the Master degree in Solar & Renewable Energy from UMH.

They both developed their master thesis within TecnOpto Lab, supervised by Ignacio Moreno, in the development of a spectral control system based on a super continuum laser source modulated by means of a liquid crystal spatial light modulator. They both received the maximum grade for their work.

Pedro’s work was entitled «Study of liquid crystal modulators for the realization of a digital artificial and solar spectrum generator», while Jordi’s work was entitled «Advanced optical system for the generation of digital spectra. Application as a solar simulator and source for testing detectors».

Pascuala Garcia and Maria del Mar Sanchez met Jocelyn Bell at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Valencia.

Dr. Bell, renown astrophysicist famous for the discovery of pulsars, was invited to Valencia to give a conference within the cycle of seminars of the Faculty of Physics. Dr. Bell was one of the women selected for the Exhibition Women in Light Science and Light Technology. This exhibition coordinated by Pascuala García, and with the participation of María del Mar Sánchez, has been developed by members of the Group of Women in Physics of RSEF –  Real Sociedad Española de Física, and from SEDOPTICA – Sociedad Española de Óptica.

The exhibition was inaugurated in September 2015 at the SEDOPTICA meeting XI Reunión Nacional de Óptica, held in Salamanca, and it has been exhibited at many different locations, including the University of Valencia, and the University Miguel Hernandez, where it can now be visited at the hall of the building Arenales, until April 11th, 2016.

We published a new paper in Optics Express. The paper, entitled «Diffraction gratings generating orders with selective states of polarization» appears in the second issue of the journal in 2016.

In this paper we propose specially designed double anisotropic polarization diffraction gratings capable of producing a selective number of diffraction orders and with selective different states of polarization. Different polarization diffraction gratings are demonstrated, including linear polarization with horizontal, vertical and ± 45° orientations, and circular R and L polarization outputs. When illuminated with an arbitrary state of polarization, the system acts as a complete polarimeter where the intensities of the diffraction orders allow measurement of the Stokes parameters with a single shot. Experimental proof-of-concept is presented using a parallel-aligned liquid crystal display operating in a double pass architecture.

This work has been done in collaboration with our friends at San Diego State University.

A new area has been opened at the MUDIC – the museum of interactive science –, devoted to experiments on the science of light. This museum, located at the UMH campus of Orihuela, is intended to make science of interest for the general public, but mainly to young students, by means of interactive and funny experiences. This new area of the museum is named the «Room of Light» (la Sala de la Luz), and it covers a set of experiences with light and color.

The opening ceremony was organized at EPSO – Escuela Politécnica Superior de Orihuela on December 3th 2015. The event was cochaired by  Prof. Jesús Pastosr Ciurana, Rector of UMH, and D. Emilio Bascuñana, major of Orihuela. Ignacio Moreno presented the opening lecture «Optics & Photonics: MUDIC brings the science and technology of light».  A video of this opening can be viewed at: Video link (in Spanish).

Ignacio Moreno has cooperated with the project as a scientific advisor, and has worked with Jesús Carnicer, the MUDIC pedagogical director, and Rocío Espinosa, one of the MUDIC monitors, in the design and developments of some of the modules.

The 2016 calendar on Women in Light Science and Light Technology has been launched.

Coordinated by Pascuala Garcia and with the participation of Maria del Mar Sánchez, this calendar summarizes the Exhibition on Women in Light Science and Light Technology, developed with the support of SEDOPTICA, RSEF, and SPIE among others, in commemoration of the International Year of Light.

This exhibition promotes the visibility of 12 women who contributed significantly to the development of light science and technology. Each month is devoted to one of these famous researchers.

The calendar can be downloaded at: link

We published a new paper in Optics Letters entitled «Performance of a q-pate tunable retarder in reflection for the switchable generation of both first- and second-order vector beams«. The paper appeared published in the first issue of OL in 2016: link

Here we examine the performance of a tunable liquid crystal q-plate in a reflective geometry. When the device is tuned to a half-wave retardance, it operates as a q-plate with twice the value (2q) by adding a quarter-wave retarder between the mirror and the q-plate. However, when the device is tuned to a quarter-wave retardance, it acts as the original q-plate without the retarder. We show experimental results are shown. Using an input tunable polarization state generator, the system allows the switchable production of all states on both the first- and second-order Poincaré spheres.

This work has been done during the stay of Maria M. Sanchez-López and Ignacio Moreno at SDSU during Summer 2015.

TecnOpto has contributed to the International Year of Light event by bringing to UMH the exhibition  Light Beyond the Bulb. This exhibition was hosted at the entrance of the building «Arenals», at the campus of Elche from 1st to 18th November 2015. 

María M. Sánchez-López translated, in collaboration with SEDOPTICA – the Spanish Optical Society has translated to Spanish the panels developed by SPIE. These panels show impressive images of different optical phenomena in very different fields such as astronomy, biology, or commmunications.

The translated panels can be downloaded freely at: link

These panels were printed at UMH with the support of a project from FECYT – Fundación Española de Ciencia y Tecnología (FECYT-FCT-14-9230), and the exhibition will be located permanently at the MUDIC museum – Museo Didáctico e Interactivo de Ciencias, located at the UMH campus at Orihuela.

UMH Press Release (in Spanish)

María and Ignacio published a new paper in Optics Letters entitled «Nondiffracting Bessel beams with polarization state that varies with propagation distance«. Link

In this work we use a reflective geometry where a single parallel-aligned spatial light modulator device is used to spatially modulate two orthogonal linear polarizations with two axicon phase profiles. Then, by adding an extra phase retardation radial profile between these linear states, we are able to modulate the state of polarization along the line focus of the axicon. We provide experimental results that demonstrate the polarization axial control with zero-order and higher order Bessel beams.

The work was developed during our stay at SDSU, in collaboration with our friends Jeff Davis, Katie Badham, and Don Cottrell.

The first day of publication, the paper was the most downloaded paper in Optics Letters, and it was among the Top10 downloads in Optics Letters in the month of November 2015!

María M. Sánchez-López and Ignacio Moreno stayed three months at the Electro-Optics Lab of San Diego State University (SDSU), in the period July – September 2015.

During their stay, thay worked with Profs. Jeffrey A. Davis and Don M. Cottrell, as well as some of the students, like Katherine Badham and Sam Delaney.

The main focus of research has been devoted to the study of q-plate devices.

The picture shows María with Jeff, Katie and Sam.

Pascuala García (exhibition coordinator) and María del Mar Sánchez (member of the working group) participate in the composition of the exhibition “Mujeres Investigadoras en la Luz” (Women in Light Science), that was launched last September in the XI RNO in Salamanca. The exhibition can be downloaded at: link

Two of the objectives of the United Nations in the declaration of 2015 as the International Year of Light are “to promote women’s empowerment in science” and “to promote education amongst young people”. Following both lines, the WOMEN IN PHYSICS GROUP of RSEF – Real Sociedad Española de Física, in collaboration with SEDOPTICA – the Spanish Optical Society, have composed an exhibition with the life aspects and scientific contribution of 12 women researchers who have contributed to fundamental discoveries in Optics and Photonics.

SPIE is also supporting it:  link

A related video can be found at the International Year of Light webpage: link