Category Archives: People Map

Kostas Poulios

day11/2014 – 07/2017 : postdoc on BEC 1 and Space Optics

Kostas got his Bachelor’s Degree in Physics at the Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he majored on Solid State Physics and Optics.

He then started his PhD in 2009 at the Centre for Quantum Photonics, University of Bristol, under the supervision of Prof. Jeremy O’Brien, where he did experimental research on integrated quantum photonics for quantum information and quantum computation science. His main focus was on implementation of multi-photon integrated quantum walks, with dissertation titled: Integrated Photonic Continuous-Time Quantum Walks.

He then did a short post-doc in 2014 still with Prof. Jeremy O’Brien at the Centre for Quantum Photonics, working in a collaboration with Prof. Axel Kuhn’s Atom-Photon Connection group at Oxford University. He was also a visiting post-doctoral research assistant (early 2015) at the Atom-Photon Connection group, Oxford University. The scope of the collaboration was to use a deterministic single photon source (single Rb87 atoms in a cavity) to perform quantum logic experiments on integrated photonic devices.

In November 2014 he joined the Cretan Matter-Waves / Bose-Einstein Condensation group, I.E.S.L., FO.R.T.H. in Heraklion, Crete, Greece, where he is since working as a post-doctoral researcher. His main project is the implementation of a fully-guided, ring-shaped, Sagnac-type atom-interferometer using time-averaged adiabatic potentials (TAAPs) and Rb87 Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs).

In summer 2017, Kostas joined the cold atoms group of Thomas Fernholz at Nottingham University.

Benjamin Sherlock

04/2012-05/2013 Postdoc on BEC 1

Before joining us at the Cretan Matter-Waves Ben his D.Phil. at Oxford University and before this M.Sci. at Hatfield College, University of Durham. Ben is one of the pioneers of Time-Averaged-Adiabatic Potentials with the first demonstration of the double TAAP and the TAAP ring.  Ben is now a Lecturer in Translational Biophotonics at the University of Exeter, England, United Kingdom.

Michael Morrissey

 09/2009 – 08/2011 Postdoc on BEC2

Before coming to Crete I graduated from Cork Insitutute of Technology (CIT) with a B.Sc. in “Applied Physics and Instrumentation” in 2004. As part of completeing the B.Sc. a five month project was undertaken. This project, entitled “Quality Surveillance Algorithms for Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifiers”, was carried out in the Information and Communication Network (ICN) Department at Siemens AG research facility in Munich. The project entailed research into how the aging of components with the EDFA can be monitored using algorithms. From a mathematical model, the key parameters needed to detect the degradation/aging of the EDFA were determined. In addition to theoretical work, optical experiments were carried out to determine a technique to measure the required parapeters. A procedure was developed to test the feasibility and accuracy of the EDFA model.

From my experience in Siemens AG, I developed an interest in optics and decided to pursue this interest. I started my PhD in September 2004 with the Quantum Optics Group under the supervision of Dr. Síle Nic Chormaic, in the area of “Control of cold rubidium atoms“.

I built the first cold atom experiment in South-Africa at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and then moved on to work at Extreme Light Infrastructure in Prague

Grigoris Konstantinidis

09/2007 to 01/2012 PhD Student on BEC1
11/2006 to 08/2007 Master Student on BEC1

Grigoris joined the Cretan Matter-Waves Group in November 2006 as a Master student. He graduated from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. October 2005 he came to the Physics Departement of the University of Crete to do a Master in General Physics with a specialization in Condensed Matter Physics.

Gregory succesfully defended his thesis (link to pdf) on the 25. January 2012.

 

Olivier Morizot

Daniel Sahagún Sánchez

10/2006-05/2010 PostDoc on BEC1
03/2014-06/2014 PostDoc on BEC1

Daniel did his undergraduate studies in the National University of Mexico (UNAM). After that he carried out a PhD studying the fundamental limitations of atom chips at the Centre for Cold Matter at Imperial College London lead by Ed Hinds in Imperial College, London. In 2006 he joined the Cretan Matter Waves as a postdoc for four years during the lab setup and first BEC experiments. He made a second postdoctoral stay at group of Bjorn Hessmo , part of the Centre for Quantum Technologies, at the National University of Singapore (NUS). In Singapore he worked on fiber optic integration onto atom chips and prepared experiments to study the interaction of micro-nano fibers with cold atoms. During his stay in Singapore Daniel continued to collaborate with the Cretan Matter Waves in experiments related to atom interferometry and lasers.

From June 2014 he has researcher position (tenure track) at UNAM, Mexico City. There he is a founding member of the Laboratory for Quantum Matter of the Physics Institute and has started his own research group

06/2014 to to date Research Group Leader

From June 2014 he has researcher position (tenure track) at UNAM, Mexico City. There he is a founding member of the Laboratory for Quantum Matter of the Physics Institute and has started his own research group.

06/2010 to 06/2014 PostDoc in Singapore

He made a second postdoctoral stay at group of Bjorn Hessmo , part of the Centre for Quantum Technologies, at the National University of Singapore (NUS). In Singapore he worked on fiber optic integration onto atom chips and prepared experiments to study the interaction of micro-nano fibers with cold atoms. During his stay in Singapore Daniel continued to collaborate with the Cretan Matter Waves in experiments related to atom interferometry and lasers.

10/2006 to 05/2010 PostDoc on BEC1

Nicolas Lagos

08/2006 – 09/2007 Master Student

Nick joined the Cretan Matter-Waves Group in August 2006 as a Master student. He then did his mandatory service in the Greek army. Nick is now doing a PhD at the University of Patras in Department of Materials Science and also at the Institute of Materials in E.K.E.F.E at the Demokritos Institute in Athens. He is currently working on the theory of nanowires and nanoparticles structures.

Lykourgos Bougas

03/2006 to 05/2014 PhD student on parity violation
05/2004 to 05/2006 Master student on parity violation

Lykourgos received his PhD from the Physics Department of the University of Crete. His thesis was supervised by Peter Rakitzis and Wolf von Klitzing.

 

His first postdoc at Berkeley was on a parity violation. He is now doing a second postdoc with Dmitry Budker’s Group in Mainz.

 

His motto is

Improving your self, is the only thing you can do to improve the world.

Ludwig Wittgenstein