LINE OF RESEARCH
Photonic lattices and Pattern formation
Nonlinear optics is one of the most active research fields in the natural sciences. Its development involves fundamental research in the study of interactions between light and matter, and applied research in innovative areas of future technologies, such as photonics, optical communication, information technology, storage and interconnections, biomedical and astronomical imaging, etc.
In the last five years, we have developed a new laboratory (LAFER) of 40 square meters at the University of Chile, acquired equipment, trained human capital and carried out several experiments devoted to studying nonlinear optics and liquid crystals optics. Out of equilibrium systems respond by forming dissipative structures such as oscillations, spatiotemporal patterns, turbulence, spatiotemporal chaos, and intermittence, among others.
A very specific and concrete goal for the first five years of the Center was to implement a fabrication setup based on a femtosecond laser writing technique and to produce high quality samples for their study. This goal was crucial because it led to a completely independent group while continuing international collaborations.
By designing, fabricating and measuring different photonic lattices, we can indeed study several problems coming from solid-state physics, which are not accessible in real electronic systems. Specifically: we worked in Flat band localization and dynamics in linear and nonlinear lattices, Rogue waves in linear and nonlinear systems, Chaos in saturable arrays, Topological surface states in quasi-1D lattices, Multi-orbital interactions, Aharonov-Bohm (AB) caging, and Transport of linear localized compact modes.
Dr. Marcel Clerc 
Dr. Aldo Delgado