Category Archives: People

Pedro Rivero Antunez

5/2024 – today Postdoc on BEC

Pedro obtained a 4-year Physics degree in 2016 from the University of Seville (Spain), and a master’s degree in Particle Physics and Astrophysics from the University of Granada (2017), finishing his master thesis entitled «Axial Anomaly in the 5d-Anti-deSitter /4d-Conformal Field Theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence».

His academic journey continued with a PhD focusing on fabrication and characterization of nanostructured ceramics at the Department of Condensed Matter Physics of the University of Seville, where he graduated in June 2023.

In May 2024, he joined the Cretan Matter Waves group as a postdoc researcher for the BEC2 project.

Theodoros Kapnas

12/2023 – today Undergraduate Student

06/2023 – 08/2023 Intern on a demonstration project

Theodoros Kapnas is currently in his final year of her undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of Crete. During the summer period of 2023 he worked on a demonstration project for the 2023 Researcher’s Night. He built and demonstrated (together with Afroditi Aretakis) a single photon interferometer. In order to make the concept of interferometry more comprehensible, they built acoustic interferometers. Currently, he is working on her thesis which is on a laser Amplifier to be used in a BEC/MOT experiment.

Minoas Chairetis

01/2024 – today Technician of the BEC and Space-Optics Groups

Minoas joined us beginning of 2024 as a technician. He hold bachelor and master diplomas on Material Science and Technology that both took place in Heraklion Crete. Before joining us, he did his Master’s Degree (9/2021 – 9/2023) in the Nanoscale Optoelectronics Lab of Prof Savvidis. He worked on Perovskite crystal synthesis and optical characterization for Polaritonic Devices.

Afroditi Aretakis

12/2023 – today Undergraduate Student

06/2023 – 08/2023 Intern on a demonstration project

Afroditi Aretaki is currently in her final year of her undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of Crete. During the summer period of 2023 she worked on a demonstration project for the 2023 Researcher’s Night. She built and demonstrated (together with Theodoros Kapnas) a single photon interferometer. In order to make the concept of interferometry more comprehensible, they also built acoustic interferometers. Currently, he is working on her thesis which is on a laser Amplifier to be used in a BEC/MOT experiment.

Marcel Morillas

11/2023 Visiting Student on BEC1

I am Marcel Morillas, I completed my undergraduate studies at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Then, I pursued an MSc. in Photonics at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, where I did my Master’s Thesis on simulating one and two-mode squeezed light in topological photonic lattices as a member of the Quantum and Atom Optics Group (QAOS) at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Beyond my scientific pursuits, I enjoy watching and playing sports, especially American football and playing the bass guitar.

Mary Georgousi

12/2022 – today PhD Student on Space Optics
09/2021 – 10/2022 MSci Student on Space Optics

Mary joined us in September 2021 to work on a novel spectroscopy model for quantum space missions.

Mary Georgousi is a PhD student in the Space–Optics Group in IESL. She completed her undergraduate studies in Physics at the Physics Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. As member of the  Gravitational Waves Group – AUTh, she has worked on  probing the properties of our Galaxy based on the detection of gravitational waves from LISA. She then obtained her MSc diploma on Advanced Physics, focusing on astrophysics and space applications, in the Physics Department of University of Crete. She is also a member of SpaceDot  team, participating in Fly your satellite! 3 program for CubeSats.

Email: georgousi@iesl.forth.gr

Linkedin:  www.linkedin.com/in/mary-georgousi