Biography:

Javier García de Abajo received his PhD from the University of the Basque Country (1993) and then visited Berkeley National Lab for three years. He was a Research Professor at the Spanish CSIC and in 2013 moved to ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques (Barcelona) as an ICREA Research Professor and Group Leader. He is a Fellow of both the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America. García de Abajo has co-authored 400+ articles cited 58,000+ times with an h index of 118 (Sept. 2023 Google Scholar data), including contributions on different aspects of surface science, nanophotonics, and electron microscope spectroscopies.

Lecture: "Quantum Aspects of the Interaction between Free Electrons, Light, and Photonic Nanostructures"

Electron beams offer a unique additial element in the quantum photonic Lego. The control over the longitudinal and transverse properties of electron beams has recently experienced an impressive boost because of the combination of new advances in electron microscope instrumentation, in particular with the use of ultrafast light pulses, and the ability to synthesize femtosecond electron wave packets. In this talk, we will overview key concepts describing the associated interactions between free electrons, light, and photonic nanostructures, making emphasis on quantum aspects and exploring several exciting challenges and emerging opportunities. We will further discuss potential applications in noninvasive spectroscopy and microscopy, the possibility of sampling the nonlinear optical response at the nanoscale, the manipulation of the density matrices associated with free electrons and optical modes in a specimen, optical modulation of electron beams, and improved schemes for electron-driven light emission over a wide range of photon energies.