Lectures on Theoretical Optics

Falk Lederer has been Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Condensed Matter Theory and Solid-State Optics at Friedrich Schiller University Jena since his retirement at the end of 2013. His research has advanced the understanding of light propagation and control in engineered media. His work encompassed the theory of nonlinear guided waves, discrete and dissipative optical solitons, ultrafast all-optical processes, and the intrinsic localization of light in nonlinear materials. Another major focus was on engineered photonic structures, including photonic crystals, nano-optics, and metamaterials. For more than two decades, he taught numerous courses in classical theoretical physics, nonlinear optics, photonic crystals, soliton physics, and all-optical information processing.

Falk Lederer spent most of his academic career at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. He received his Dr. rer. nat. (Ph.D.) in 1977 and worked as a research fellow until 1980. In 1981, he became a senior research fellow and established a group devoted to nonlinear and waveguide optics. In 1986, he obtained his habilitation (Dr. rer. nat. habil.), Germany's highest academic qualification, and was appointed to a position equivalent to assistant professor. Following the political changes in East Germany, he was able to collaborate internationally and held a guest professorship at Université Paris-Sud (Orsay) in 1990 and 1991. In 1992, he was appointed Professor of Theoretical Solid-State Optics at the University of Jena. He coordinated several large-scale collaborative research projects in Germany and across Europe and supervised more than 25 doctoral theses. In 2007, he pioneered the establishment of the Abbe School of Photonics in Jena, which by 2024 had attracted over 1,000 students from 70 countries. In 2011, he co-founded the Abbe Center of Photonics, serving as one of its principal scientists. He delivered numerous invited and keynote lectures at international conferences. He has served as General Chair of Nonlinear Guided Waves and Nonlinear Photonics, as well as Program Chair of CLEO. He also served two terms as a Topical Editor for Optics Letters and was elected a Fellow of the Optical Society of America (now Optica) in 2009. From 2006 to 2008, he was Dean of the Faculty of Physics at Friedrich Schiller University Jena.

Stefan Skupin is directeur de recherche at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), currently working at the Institut Lumière Matière (ILM), Université de Lyon. His research focuses on the theoretical and numerical frontiers of modern optics, with his primary expertise lying in Nonlinear Optics, Laser-Matter Interaction, Laser-Plasma Interaction, Computational Physics, and Photonics. He obtained his foundational education in Physics and Theoretical Physics at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany. He earned his Dr. rer. nat. (Ph.D.) in July 2005 and later completed his Dr. rer. nat. habil. in April 2014, both from the same institution. In his early career he worked as a Post-Doc at the Australian National University in Canberra and at the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA) in Paris. Later, he served as a Junior Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden (2007 - 2014), and as Carl-Zeiss Junior Professor (Assistant Professor) at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (2009 - 2014). In this academic capacity, he was highly active in teaching, among others, courses in Theoretical Optics and Computational Physics. Following his German appointments, he joined the CNRS and worked at the Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications (CELIA) at the University of Bordeaux till 2017, before taking up his current position. In Lyon, he is teaching Ultrafast Nonlinear Optics at Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) Lyon and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1. Since 2013, he is acting as Specialist Editor for the journal Computer Physics Communications (CPC).