PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Prof. Tenio POPMINTCHEV
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID B-6715-2008 | ORCHID ID 0000-0002-2023-2226 | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID 6505901364
Assistant Professor
University of California San Diego, Physics Department and Center for Advanced Nanoscience, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 3641
Mayer Hall Labs 1113, 1117, 1125, 1133, 1134
tenio.popmintchev@physics.ucsd.edu
Research Interests: Coherent soft and hard X-ray generation. Coherent EUV generation. Medical coherent X-ray imaging. Extreme high harmonic generation. Attosecond and zeptosecond pulses. Femtosecond UV-Visible-Infrared laser systems. 5D dynamic imaging of bio systems and quantum nano systems with high spatio-temporal resolution, and element specificity.
Scientific Background: PhD work, Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Professor in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics with specialization in Ultrafast Lasers and Coherent X-ray Science at JILA Institute and University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA. Undergraduate work in Quantum Electronics and Laser Physics at Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria. Leading expert in coherent, laser-like, EUV and X-ray generation. Quantum design of EUV and X-ray light with tunable spatial, spectral, temporal shape, and angular momentum for 5D nano- and bio-imaging at the space time resolution extreme. Femtosecond-to-attosecond-to-zeptosecond X-rays. Ultrafast femtosecond-to-attosecond lasers. Pioneering contributions to Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics and X-ray Science with patented technologies.
FINANCIAL and ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS
Jacob DING
Financial and Administrative Officer
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Urey Hall Office 107
+1-858-534-3560
ading@physics.ucsd.edu
Erin Gerlach
Assistant Financial and Administrative Officer
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Mayer Hall Office 3226
+1-619-276-0152
egerlach@physics.ucsd.edu
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS
Currently hiring PhDs in Physics, Applied Physics, and Engineering. Postdocs with fellowships – NRC Postdoctoral Fellowships, Marie Curie Fellowships, Fulbright – are welcome.
Location: University of California San Diego, USA, and Technical University of Vienna, Austria.
Research Focus: Coherent soft and hard X-ray generation. Coherent extreme UV generation. Medical coherent X-rays. Extreme high harmonic generation. Attosecond and zeptosecond pulses. Femtosecond UV-VIS-IR laser systems. 5D dynamic imaging with element specificity.
Requirements: A Ph.D. degree and an option for external funding if no opening is posted. Please email your CV to the Principal Investigator.
Dr. Mengqi DU
MARIE SKLODOWSKA-CURIE Fellow
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID X-5818-2019 | ORCHID ID 0000-0002-2698-0372 | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
Postdoctoral Scientist (Ph.D. in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam andAdvanced Research Center for Nanolithography, Netherlands)
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
med012@ucsd.edu
BIO: Mengqi Du received her PhD from the Vrije Universities Amsterdam, where she conducted research on computational depth-resolved imaging and metrology. She subsequently completed postdoctoral research at the Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography (ARCNL), focusing on coherent diffractive imaging and wavefront sensing using tabletop extreme ultraviolet (EUV) source based on high-harmonic generation. In 2025, she was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie global postdoctoral fellowship to carry out research at Delft University of Technology and University of California, San Diego. Her current work explores both fundamental and applied challenges in the field of table-top EUV and soft X-ray microscopy.
Dr. Sotir CHERVENKOV
FULBRIGHT FOUNDATION Fellow
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID X-5818-2019 | ORCHID ID 0000-0003-1636-8734 | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
Postdoctoral Scientist (Ph.D. in Atomic, Molecular, Optical Physics, Technical University of Munich and Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics)
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
schervenkov@ucsd.edu
BIO:
Dr. Dimitar POPMINTCHEV
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID R-8291-2016 | ORCHID ID 0000-0001-8203-4703 | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID 36614383400
Laboratory Manager, Popmintchev LABS – TU Wien
Postdoctoral Scientist (Ph.D. in Atomic, Molecular, Optical Physics, JILA Institute, University of Colorado at Boulder)
TU Wien, Photonics Institute, Vienna, Austria.
Photonics Institute Office CB EG 18
dimitar.popmintchev@tuwien.ac.at
BIO:
Dr. Tobias FLÖRY
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
Postdoctoral Scientist (Ph.D., Photonics Institute, TU Wien)
TU Wien, Photonics Institute, Vienna, Austria.
Photonics Institute Office CB U1 11
tobias.floery@tuwien.ac.at
BIO:
Dr. Xiaoshi ZHANG
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
Postdoctoral Scientist (Ph.D. in Atomic, Molecular, Optical Physics, JILA Institute, University of Colorado at Boulder)
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
xiaoshi.zhang@physics.ucsd.edu
BIO:
PHD AND MASTER’S STUDENTS
Currently hiring Bachelor and Master Students with background in Physics, Applied Physics and Engineering majors and admitted to a PhD program of the same scope.
Location: University of California San Diego, USA, and Technical University of Vienna, Austria.
Useful Experience: Ultrafast Optics. Ultrafast UV-VIS-IR Lasers. Nonlinear Optics. Ultrahigh vacuum. Coherent Diffractive Imaging. Materials Science.
Requirements: You must have been admitted to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences or Engineering. Please email your CV to the Principal Investigator.
Dr. Siyang WANG
Founder – “Light Quantum” OPTICA Student Chapter, UC San Diego
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID 0000-0003-2583-7061 | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
Ph.D. Student Atomic, Molecular, Optical Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Mayer Hall Office 1641
siyangwang@ucsd.edu
BIO: Siyang got his B.S. in Physics from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Currently he is pursuing Ph.D. in Physics at University of California San Diego. He is interested in Atomic, Molecular, Optical Physics research and eager to make contribution to the new revolution in X-ray science.
Jerry (Jieyu) YAN
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
Ph.D. Student Atomic, Molecular, Optical Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Mayer Hall Office 1641
jieyuyan@ucsd.edu
BIO: Jerry received his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from University of California, Santa Barbara, and M.Sc. in Physics at University of California, San Diego. He is currently pursing Ph.D. in Physics and is interested in the field of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical physics research. He also likes to talk about Mathematics and Machine Learning in his spare time.
Daiwei WANG
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
M.Sc. Student Biology
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
daw008@ucsd.edu
BIO: Daiwei received his B.S. in Neurobiology in 2025. He is a currently a BS/MS Student in the Biological Sciences in University of California, San Diego. During his Bachelors he completed an Honors Thesis on the propagation of Laguerre-Gaussian beams through waveguides. In his Masters thesis, he will apply more advanced methodology to characterize of the wavefront of these beams. Following his Masters will enroll in the DO Medical program at Des Moines University, Iowa. His passion is coherent light sources in the medical field for bioimaging and surgical applications.
Qingyi ZHU
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
M.Sc. Chemistry
University of California San Diego, Chemistry Department, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Mayer Hall Office 1641
q1zhu@ucsd.edu
BIO:
BACHELOR’S STUDENTS
Currently hiring Master’s and Bachelor’s Students with background in Physics, Applied Physics and Engineering majors and admitted to a graduate program of the same scope.
Location: University of California San Diego, USA, and Technical University of Vienna, Austria.
Useful Experience: Ultrafast Optics. Ultrafast UV-VIS-IR Lasers. Nonlinear Optics. Ultrahigh vacuum. Coherent Diffractive Imaging. Materials Science.
Requirements: You must have been admitted to the School of Arts and Sciences or Engineering. Please email your CV to the Principal Investigator.
Dylan THOMAS
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
d5thomas@ucsd.edu
BIO: Dylan Thomas is a physics student at the University of California, San Diego, where he conducts research in ultrafast optics and strong-field light–matter interactions. In the Popmintchev Laboratory, his work focuses on high-harmonic generation, optical vortices, and electron correlation dynamics, including studies of topological charge in optical waveguides and correlation effects in high-harmonic emission. He has also performed research in precision ultrafast imaging at the University of Tokyo, investigating laser-induced plasma and shockwave dynamics using synchronized pump pulses and single-shot imaging techniques. His research interests center on atomic, molecular, and optical physics, strong-field phenomena, quantum computing, and quantum foundations.
Ashna SHIVA
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
ashiva@ucsd.edu
BIO: Ashna Shiva is an undergraduate physics student at the University of California, San Diego, where her research focuses on Simulations for High Harmonic Generation. She has research interests in atomic, molecular, and optical physics, laser physics, and quantum computing.
Addie CANON
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
acanon@ucsd.edu
BIO: Addie Canon is a recent graduate from the University of California, San Diego with a B.S. in Physics. His research focuses on characterization of laser beams with orbital angular momentum and propagation in hollow and antiresonant waveguides. He has research interests in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, Extreme Nonlinear Optics, Attosecond Science, and EUV – X-ray Coherent Diffractive Imaging.
Sirius SONG
2022 Undergraduate Summer Research Award
2022-2023 Dean’s Undergraduate Excellence Award
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641
yus039@ucsd.edu
BIO:
Aleksandar PRODANOV
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics
Sofia University, Physics Department, Sofia, Bulgaria
Mayer Hall Office 1641
aprodanov@ucsd.edu
BIO:
Kinson MITCHELL
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Biology
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641
kwmitchell@ucsd.edu
BIO:
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Currently hiring High School Students with background in Science.
Location: University of California San Diego, USA, and Technical University of Vienna, Austria.
Useful Experience: Science Advanced Placement Classes and basic experimental skills.
Requirements: Please email your CV to the Principal Investigator.
David VASILEV
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
High School Student
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1642
dvasilev@ucsd.edu
BIO:
Abraham BERKE
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
High School Student
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1642
aberke@ucsd.edu
BIO:
Yulian GOGOV
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
High School Student
Torrey Pines High School, La Jolla, CA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
BIO:
Nicholas MOLINA
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
High School Student
The Bishop’s School, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
molinan@bishops.com
BIO:
VISITING SCIENTISTS
Visiting scientists can be affiliated with the group. Please contact the Principal Investigator for more information.
Prof. Carlos HERNANDEZ-GARCIA
Assistant Professor
Physics Department, University of Salamanca, Spain
Prof. Ming-Chang CHEN
Assistant Professor
Institute of Photonics Technologies, National Tsung Hua University, Taiwan
Prof. Mariusz KLIMCZAK
Assistant Professor
Physics Department, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
COLLABORATORS
Martin Aeschlimann (U. Kaiserslautern); Sterling Backus (KMLabs); Andrius Baltuska (Tech. U. Vienna); Andreas Becker (JILA); Ivan Buchvarov (Sofia U.); Ivan Christov (Sofia U.); Oren Cohen (Technion); Mark Foord (LLNL); Alexander Gaeta (Cornell); Jim Gaffney (LLNL); Carlos Hernandez-Carcia (U. Salamanca); Agnieszka Jaron-Becker (JILA); Henry Kapteyn (JILA); Robert Levis (Temple U.). Stephen Libby (LLNL); Stefan Mathias (U. Göttingen); John W Miao (UCLA); Ian McNulty (ANL); Oliver Muecke (Vienna U. Tech.); Margaret Murnane (JILA); Hans Nembach (NIST); Luis Plaja (U. Salamanca); Predrag Ranitovic (ETH); Jorge J. Rocca (CSU); William Roquemore (AFRL OH); Dmitri Romanov (Temple U.); Thomas J Silva (NIST); Justin Shaw (NIST); Bonggu Shim (Cornell); Oleg Sphyrko (UCSD); Xiao-Ming Tong (U. Tsukuba); Barry Walker (U. Delaware); David Windt (Columbia); Ping Zhang (AFRL OH).
ALUMNI
Will BRUNNER
Ticho Award Recipient
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
Ph.D. Student Atomic, Molecular, Optical Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Mayer Hall Office 1642
wbrunner@ucsd.edu
BIO: Will received his bachelor’s degree in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is in the Physics Ph.D. program at the University of California San Diego. He is interested in the field of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical physics research. Will is a recipient of the Ticho Award for 2021.
Garrett PONCE
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641
gponce@ucsd.edu
BIO:
Laura JIAN
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID 0000-0003-3948-8173 | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641
ljian@ucsd.edu
BIO: Laura is a Physics student interested in Nuclear and Condensed Matter Physics. Outside of academia, she enjoys reading webtoons and listening to BlackPink.
Zhihan WU
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1642
z6wu@ucsd.edu
BIO: Zhihan is a Physics student interested in Optical Physics and Dark Matter. Outside of Academia, she enjoys watching films and reading.
Shiwen AN
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
sha020@ucsd.edu
BIO: Shiwen is a Physics student interested in Atomic, Molecular, Optical Physics. Outside of Academia, he enjoys scuba diving, surfing, and camping.
Yingying CUI
HONORS THESIS Student
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics and Computer Science
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
yic372@ucsd.edu
BIO: Yingying is interested in Biophysics and Optics. Outside of academia, she enjoys reading literature, playing piano, and cooking.
Meghan SHEN
TRELS Scholar – Triton Research & Experiential Learning Scholar
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Material Science and Nanoengineering
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
mshen@ucsd.edu
BIO: Meghan is a third-year NanoEngineering student interested in Materials Science and Photonics. She enjoys adventuring, reading comics, and learning songs on the piano and ukulele.
Peter FRAME
B.Sc. Student
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
pframe@ucsd.edu
BIO: Peter FRAME is a third year Physics major with an interest in Atomic, Molecular, Optical Physics and its applications. Outside of academia he enjoys hiking and rock climbing.
Fangjie ZHOU
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
f1zhou@ucsd.edu
BIO:
Ziyi ZHAO
William A. Lee Undergraduate Research Fellow
B.Sc. Student Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
ziz133@ucsd.edu
BIO: Ziyi is an undergraduate Physics student with interests in Atomic, Molecular, Optical Physics.
Lu CHAI
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
luchai@ucsd.edu
BIO: Lu is a Physics student interested in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics. He enjoys cycling and hiking in sunny southern California.
Abdullah BAWAZIR
KAUST Gifted Student Fellow (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)
GOOGLE SCHOLAR | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHER ID | ORCHID ID | SCOPUS AUTHOR ID
B.Sc. Student Physics
University of California San Diego, Physics Department, La Jolla, CA, USA
Mayer Hall Office 1641, 1642
abawazir@ucsd.edu
BIO:
| Team Position | Current Position | |
|---|---|---|
Nicholas MOLINA |
Research Assistant | BSc, Cornell University, USA |
Fangjie ZHOU |
Research Assistant | PhD, University of Central Florida, USA |
Ziyi ZHAO |
Research Assistant | PhD, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA |