Light Filaments in Air

Jean-Claude Diels is a professor of Physics & EECE at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, USA. He has an M.S. in Physics Engineering and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Brussels. His research areas span experimental investigation of ultrafast phenomena; development of femtosecond laser sources; optical imaging using femtosecond range gating; nonlinear optics; coherent interactions between light and matter; picosecond and subpicosecond technology; multiphoton excitation of molecules and atoms; laser gyroscopes; study of nonlinear interfaces; multiple quantum wells; laser induced discharges; propagation of intense pulses in air, and adaptive optics. He has published several books and book chapters including "Lasers: The Power and Precision of Light" (Wiley VCH,2011, ISBN: 3527410392).

Martin Richardson graduated from Imperial College, London, in Physics (1964) and gained his Ph.D in Photon Physics from London University in 1967 as the first student to graduate in lasers under the advisement of the late Daniel Bradley. Richardson joined one of the first laser groups investigating laser and plasmas in the Division of Gerhardt Herzberg at the National Research Council Laboratories in Ottawa. Mode-locking as a technique for creating ultrashort laser pulses had just been invented, and he was the first to create plasmas in gases by amplified single ultrashort laser pulses. He stayed at NRC until 1979, making contributions to the development of new lasers, including patents on the discharge-pumped CO2 laser that launched the Lumonics corporation, nonlinear optics, mid-IR laser selective dissociation of molecules, the precursor to laser isotope separation, and the development of ultra-fast optical diagnostics. His work on laser-produced plasmas lead to the creation of the first Canadian team focused on laser fusion. Collaborations with the Lebedev Institute resulted in the development of the picosecond streak camera.

Ladan Arissian is Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, USA. She obtained a PhD in Optical science and Engineering, and MSc in Nuclear Engineering (Medical Imaging) and an MSc in Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics from the University of New Mexico in 2007. Besides her interest in research, she has been involved in teaching from high school level physics to graduate courses in Optics.