Members

Luca Razzari received his M.Sc (2001) and Ph.D (2004) degrees in Electronic Engineering from the University of Pavia (Italy). He completed part of his Ph.D research at the Institut d’Optique in Orsay, France (2004). He then had several postdoctoral experiences: from 2005 to 2006, he worked in the Optical Spectroscopy Group (Institute for Complex Systems, CNR) in Rome, Italy. From 2006 to 2010, he made his first move to Canada as a Marie Curie Fellow in the Ultrafast Optical Processing Group at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique – Centre Energie, Matériaux et Télécommunications (INRS-EMT). From 2010 to 2012, he was with the Nanostructures Department at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genoa, Italy.

In November 2012, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor at INRS-EMT, where he is now (as of June 2020) a Full Professor.

YoungGyun received his PhD in physics from the Seoul National University in 2014. From March 2016, he has been a postdoctoral fellow at INRS‐EMT. His research activities are in a broad range of light–matter interactions encompassing plasmonics, THz photonics, and ultrafast optics. 

Maksym received his PhD in Physics from Vilnius University (Lithuania) in 2019. During his doctoral dissertation he was working on nonlinear frequency conversion of beams carrying orbital angular momentum, and their extension to THz frequencies. From October 2019 he is a postdoctoral researcher at INRS-EMT working in the field of ultrafast optics and high power hollow core fiber pulse compression in industrial collaboration with few-cycle Inc. 

Giacomo Balistreri started his academic studies in Electronics Engineering at the University of Palermo (Italy) in 2007. He obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in October 2013. After that, he continued his studies at the University of Palermo. In October 2015, he received his Master of Science Degree (Magna cum Laude) in Electronics and Photonics Engineering, defending an experimental thesis titled "Terahertz radiation generation and detection methods, for spectroscopic applications, based on photoconductive antennas". In November 2015 he started his PhD studies with a jointed supervision between the University of Palermo and the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique. During his studies, the main goal was the design and implementation of waveguide-embedded signal-processing devices for the Terahertz range. He obtained his international Ph.D. (double degree) in November 2020. Giacomo is currently a Post-Doc Fellow at Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, under the supervision of Prof. Roberto Morandotti and Prof. Luca Razzari. During this period, he is focusing on the design and implementation of low-loss metasurfaces for the spectral tuning of optically-induced resonances at telecom wavelengths.

Luca received his Bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Padova (Italy) in October 2013 and his Master's degree in physics in October 2015, from the same university.

In April 2017, he joined the group of Prof. Luca Razzari at INRS-EMT and received his PhD in October 2022. His research focuses on the study of terahertz radiation and its applications for imaging and spectroscopy, as well as nonlinear optical effects in hollow-core fibers.

Mostafa received his Master's degree in Physics from the University of Sheffield in July 2020 where he worked on the optical properties of nanophotonic structures.

He joined the group in September 2020 to study strong coupling in 2D materials and how that affects optical and charge carrying characteristics.

Andreea Aura obtained her Master’s degree in condensed matter physics at Sapienza- University of Rome (Italy) in 2020 with the thesis entitled “THz spectroscopy of molecular crystals: experimental and theoretical approach.” In 2021 she joined the group of Prof. Luca Razzari at INRS-EMT as a PhD student. Her research is focused on developing new THz technologies by exploiting the properties of nanostructures and plasmonic metasurfaces.

Email: andreea.aura.paraipan@inrs.ca

Merlyn earned her master's degree in Physical Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 2023, specializing in the study of surface plasmons. Her thesis, titled "Co-acceleration of Surface Plasmons with Charged Particles," showcased her research in this area.

In 2024, she joined Prof. Luca Razzari's research group as a PhD student. Her doctoral research focuses on the field of Nanophotonics, in particular, the investigation of nonlinear light generation and manipulation using dielectric metasurfaces.

Xin joined the Razzari Lab in September 2014 and received his Ph.D. in Energy and Materials Science at INRS-EMT in November 2019. His research focuses on the design of novel photonic devices in the context of intensified light-matter interaction, nanoplasmonics, and terahertz technology. Particularly, his primary focus was on strong light-matter interaction in terahertz plasmonic nanocavities. In this context, he fulfilled the first observation of plasmon-phonon strong coupling in a nanocavity system via Raman spectroscopy. He also has substantial experience in multiphysics simulations. During his Ph.D. study, he received several scholarships and awards such as Merit Scholarship Program for Foreign Students (PBEEE-V1) from Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies (FRQNT); CREATE – Guided Light from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada; Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad awarded by China Scholarship Council (CSC); EPS-QEOD Travel Grant Student Awards awarded by “CLEO/Europe- EQEC 2019,” European Physical Society (EPS). He was also a postdoctoral fellow funded by FRQNT at Concordia University.

Email: xin.jin@inrs.ca 

Postdoc (2018.06-2022.07)

Atiye received her PhD from Yonsei University in 2016. During her Ph.D., she worked on novel 2D semiconductors for nanoelectronics and optelectronics applications. She joined the group in June 2018, to work on light-matter interactions in novel organic and 2D semiconducting materials for application in electronics and optoelectronics. In addition, she likes to read, hike, and listen to music.

Andrea obtained his Master’s degree in condensed matter physics at Sapienza - University of Rome (Italy) in 2014, with an experimental thesis about the nonlinear THz response of Topological Insulators.

From 2015 to 2020 he joined the group of Prof. Razzari at INRS-EMT for a PhD program, later on continuing to work in the same group as a postdoc. His research project regarded the generation of intense ultrafast THz sources and their application to deep sub-wavelength nonlinear studies. In particular, he has explored THz field-driven photoemission from a novel generation of resonant photocathodes.     

Vincenzo received his Bachelor’s (October 2013) and Master’s (October 2015) Degrees in Electronic Engineering from Università degli Studi di Palermo (Italy). In November 2015, he passed the national examination (Esame di Stato – Sezione A) required for pursuing the profession of Engineer. Concurrently, he started a joint Ph.D. program in “Information and Communication Technologies” at the Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Palermo (Italy), under the supervision of Prof. Roberto Macaluso, and in “Energy and Material Science” at the Energy, Material and Telecommunication department, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (Canada), under the supervision of Prof. Luca Razzari. His research was financially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC CREATE – Guided Light program). Currently, he is a Post Doc at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italy), under the supervision of Dr. Andrea Toma.

Vincenzo is a Process Engineer with expertise in micro- and nano-fabrication technology. He does research in optics, plasmonics, and memristive devices. 

MSc Student (2018.09-2020.6)

Postdoc (2015.02-2020.02)

Riccardo received his Bachelor’s Degree in Electronic Engineering from University of Pavia (Italy) in July 2009, a Diploma in Piano from the Academy of Music in 2010 and Master’s Degree in Optoelectronic Engineering in July 2011. In November 2011 he started a PhD related to the design, development and characterization of ultrafast passively mode-locked Yb-doped oscillators and amplifiers at the same university. He also investigated frequency down conversion in the mid-IR via parametric generation (OPG/OPA) as application of pulsed fiber lasers in MOPA configuration in collaboration with Max Born Institute (Prof. V. Petrov, Berlin). He then did a period abroad at Swansea University (Wales, Uk), Multidipliscinary Nanotechnology Center, under the supervision of Prof. S. Taccheo, where he studied Photodarkening effect in aluminosilicate highly Yb-doped fibers. 

Since February 2015, he joined INRS-EMT as a Postdoctoral Fellow under the supervision of Prof. R. Morandotti and Prof. L. Razzari, where he investigated phenomena in THz photonics, nanoplasmonics and quantum optics. Currently he works at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

PhD Student (2017.09-2020.2)

Postdoc (2019.01-2019.12)

Yuechen Jia received degrees of B.Sc. (2010) and Ph.D. (2015) at Shandong University, China. His Ph.D. work focused on waveguide-based solid-state lasers and nonlinear optical frequency converters realized by ion beam technology and femtosecond laser micromachining. From 2016 to 2018, he worked on crystalline whispering gallery resonators and epitaxial ferroelectric thin films for applications in nonlinear optics at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany, as an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow. In 2019, he researched on resonant all-dielectric nanostructures for strong light-matter interactions at Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), Canada, as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. In 2020, he was appointed Professor of Optics at Shandong University, China. He has more than 40 papers published in peer-reviewed journals.

Postdoc (2018.09-2019.7)

Internship Student (2019.05-2019.08)

NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA).
Original affiliation: Polytechnique Montreal, Canada. 

Internship Student (2018.07-2018.10)

Mitacs Globalink Scholarship.
Original affiliation: Tianjin University, China.

Internship Student (2017.09-2017.12)

F17 Nanophotonic Co-op Opportunity.
Original affiliation: University of British Columbia, Canada.

Internship Student (2017.05-2017.08)

Mitacs Globalink Scholarship.
Original affiliation: University of Monterrey, Mexico.

Internship Student (2016.05-2016.09)

NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA).
Original affiliation: Polytechnique Montreal, Canada.

Internship Student (2015.05-2015.09)

Mitacs Globalink Scholarship.
Original affiliation: Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico.

PhD Student (2012.01-2015.4)

MSc Student (2013.01-2015.4)