Orazio Svelto vince il premio Italgas nel 2000

Orazio Svelto
Winner for Science and Technology for Information Systems


New Lasers for Optical Communications

Prof. Orazio Svelto: A first scientific enterprise of Prof. Svelto and his colleagues is the invention of the first continuously-operating diode-pumped erbium - ytterbium glass laser which, due to the high quality of the output beam, opens up quite interesting new possibilities for optical communications, in particular for free space communications, and for metrology.

A second scientific enterprise is a scientific discovery that is revolutionizing the field of ultrafast optics. Prof. Svelto has conceived, designed and successfully experimented the novel technique of pulse-compression in a hollow fibre filled with a noble gas, argon or krypton,which represents the non linear element producing pulse-compression.

Using this hollow-fiber compressor he has been able to generate laser pulses with ultrafast duration down to the value of 4.5 femtoseconds, with pulse-energy of 70 microjoules. This is a world record in pulse duration, as recognised by prestigious journals such as Optics Letters (April 1997), which represents the fastest physical phenomenon artificially produced by man; a record of great importance, not only because this result is based on the relatively simple use of hollow fibre, but also because the energy of these ultrafast pulses is about 10,000 times greater than the energy of pulses of the previous record of pulse duration.

The achievement of Prof. Svelto was obtained in the Centre Of Quantum Electronics of the Italian National Research Council at the Department of Physics of Milan Polytechnic, in the period 1995 - 1998. The new technique introduces very important scientific and technological results:

1) in the area of optical communications, utilising optical communication links at very high speeds, in the 0.1 - 1 THz regime, with very promising applications to the Internet of the next generation;

2) in physics research, particularly in optics, with ultrafast and ultra-intense optical pulses and high intensity fields, since it is now possible to obtain, in the focus of a lens, peak intensities up to 1018 W/cm²;

3) in the area of the generation of X-rays, through the high-harmonic generation, obtaining soft X-rays down to the water window (20 - 40 Angström), with a high impact for new technologies for biophysical studies, with applications to extreme UV lithography, with relevant results in the technology of microelectronics and the development of ultra large-scale integrated circuits.

A number of wonderful new discoveries and applications in science, engineering and everyday life will be obtained by using these fundamental new inventions of Prof. Svelto.


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E' stato appena pubblicato un libro di divulgazione scientifica, di Orazio Svelto, dal titolo - Il fascino sottile dei laser - Di Renzo Editore