Kestutis Staliunas

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Engineering Sciences

Graduated Theoretical Physics, Vilnius University, Lithuania, 1985. PhD in Physics, Vilnius University, 1989. Habilitation in Physics, Vilnius University, 2001. A.v. Humboldt fellow in Physikalisch-Technische Bundesantstalt (PTB) Braunschweig, Germany, 1991-1992. Between 1993-2003 senior research fellow in Braunschweig PTB and University of Hanover researching on nonlinear pattern formation in laser systems and Bose condensates. Since 2004 ICREA research professor in Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, head of research group on lasers, photonics and meta-photonics, nonlinear laser dynamics. Professional experience: around 250 articles in scientific journals with appr. 5000 citations (h-factor 42); appr. 500 presentations in conferences (more than 100 invited ones); 2 patents, 2 monographs. Up to now directed (or currently directing) 17 PhD projects.


Research interests

Spatial quality of laser beams is of high importance in technologies: good quality beams propagate better collimated, can be more tight focused. Not all lasers, however, produce good beams: the radiation of especially very important semiconductor microlasers, microchips, are too noisy. We develop new physical concepts and new techniques to manipulate the spatial structure of radiation, by using micro-modulated smart photonic materials: photonic crystals, metamaterials, nonhermitian optical materials. We develop these novel light-manipulation techniques in fundamental level and implement them in photonic industry. Also the good quality beams of microwaves, sound waves, or matter waves are required. We apply our experience in "smart manipulation of light patterns" to the other types of waves, to produce "clean" and well directed sound beams by so called "sonic crystals" in acoustics, as well as "clean" matter wave ensembles in modulated Bose condensates.

Selected publications

- Cheng Y-C & Staliunas K 2018, 'Near-field flat focusing mirrors', Applied Physics Reviews, 5, 1, 011101.

- Perego AM, Turitsyn SK & Staliunas K 2018, 'Gain through losses in nonlinear optics', Light-science & Applications, 7, 43.

- Perego AM, Smirnov SV, Staliunas K, Churkin DV & Wabnitz S 2018, "Self-Induced Faraday Instability Laser", Phys. Rev. Letters, 120, 213902 (2018)

- Hayran A, Herrero R, Botey M, Kurt H & Staliunas K 2018, 'Invisibility on demand based on a generalized Hilbert transform', Physical Review A, 98, 1, 013822.

- Jimenez N, Romero-Garcia V, Garcia-Raffi LM, Camarena F & Staliunas K 2018, 'Sharp acoustic vortex focusing by Fresnel-spiral zone plates', Applied Physics Letters, 112, 20, 204101.

- Bor E, Babayigit C, Kurt H, Staliunas K & Turduev M 2018, 'Directional invisibility by genetic optimization', Optics Letters, 43, 23, 5781 - 5784.

- Hayran Z, Kurt H, Herrero R, Botey M & Staliunas K 2018, 'All-Dielectric Self-Cloaked Structures', Acs Photonics, 5, 5, 2068 - 2073.

- Ahmed WW, Herrero R, Botey M, Hayran Z, Kurt H & Staliunas K 2018, 'Directionality fields generated by a local Hilbert transform', Physical Review A, 97, 3, 033824.

- Waseem Ahmed W, Kumar S, Medina J, Botey M, Herrero R & Staliunas K 2018, 'Stabilization of broad-area semiconductor laser sources by simultaneous index and pump modulations', Optics Letters, 43, 11, 2511 - 2514.

- Bor E, Turduev M, Yasa UG, Kurt H & Staliunas K 2018, 'Asymmetric light transmission effect based on an evolutionary optimized semi-Dirac cone dispersion photonic structure', PHYSICAL REVIEW B 98, 245112.

Selected research activities

Invited and plenary talks: ICTON'18 Bucarest, CLEO'18 San Jose, ICLO'19 Sankt Petersburg, Nonlinear Photonics'18 Novosibirsk;

Master course "Optical Materials and Metamaterials" in Europhotonics programme. 

Defended PhD thesis: Auro Perego (Aston University), Zeki Hayran (TOBB University); Waqas Ahmed (UPC)

Committees of PhD Thesis: M. Tamosiunaite (Vilnius University);