Miguel Mendes completes his MSc in Physics Engineering

Miguel Mendes (second from the left) successfully defended his MSc thesis in Physics Engineering entitled “Second -order couplings in ultrashort pulses with cylindrical symmetry” on December 5, 2024. He was supervised by Gonçalo Figueira (left).

During his work, Miguel investigated second-order spatiotemporal couplings in ultrashort pulses, a phenomenon that becomes relevant for few-cycle pulses and that has attracted growing attention in recent years.

He developed a numerical code for visualizing and propagating laser pulses with this type of coupling and investigated how their intensity and instantaneous colour change with propagation. The code was then successfully applied to study pulses exhibiting pulse front curvature, radial chirp and other distortions.

The MSc jury, consisting of Marco Piccardo, Jorge Vieira and Marta Fajardo (from the center to right), highlighted the development of the new simulation tool and the challenging nature of the problem studied, and awarded a final grade of 18/20.

The thesis was Miguel’s last step in concluding his MSc in Physics Engineering at IST. Congratulations!