Prof. Marco Piccardo from INESC MN and Técnico Lisboa is one of the latest recipients of the prestigious ERC Starting Grant, securing 1.5 million euros to develop the innovative project metaPOWER: “Space-Time and Vectorial Meta-Optics for High-Power Structured Laser-Matter Interactions". Over the next five years, Prof. Piccardo will spearhead this project, which aims to revolutionize the field of high-power laser-plasma interactions.
Plasma, an extreme state of matter, is central to numerous advanced applications such as fusion energy and particle acceleration. High-power lasers, operating at terawatt or petawatt levels, are essential for the creation and control of plasma. However, a significant challenge in Plasma Science and Engineering is the need for advanced beam control at these high-power levels. Project metaPOWER addresses this challenge by developing high-damage-threshold metasurfaces, a cutting-edge nanotechnology in structured light, for high-power lasers.
“We will mold plasma using structured lasers as our sculpting tools, unlocking an unprecedented control over laser-plasma interactions and enabling new possibilities in fusion energy, particle acceleration, and radiation sources”, explains Marco Piccardo.
Marco Piccardo is also a Visiting Professor at Harvard University, has received several awards, including the recent recognition as a Young Scientist by the Portuguese National Academy of Sciences obtained during his first year of faculty appointment in Portugal.
"When joining Técnico and INESC MN around one year ago, I had the dream of unifying metasurfaces and plasma physics to open an entirely new direction in the field," says Prof. Piccardo. "By leveraging the cleanroom capabilities of INESC MN and the expertise in lasers and plasmas at GoLP in Técnico, I am excited to turn this vision into a reality through this ERC, with which we aim to achieve a paradigm shift in structured laser-matter interactions."
This is the first ERC Starting Grant awarded to INESC MN and the second awarded to INESC institutes.