Last month, doctoral candidate Alejandra Alarcon undertook a research visit to EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she joined Professor Tobias Kippenberg’s group to carry out collaborative research into lithium tantalate photonic devices and to attend the INGEN-2026 conference.
During her stay, Alejandra gained practical experience in characterising lithium tantalate devices for laser applications, working under the supervision of Hugo Larocque. A significant part of her work focused on testing various devices to identify suitable methods for mitigating the photorefractive effect in lithium tantalate chips. The visit also provided an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas on the design of photonic devices; she worked with Shivaprasad Umesh Hulyal on the design of arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) and discussed various approaches with researchers from the Kippenberg group.
In addition to her research activities at EPFL, Alejandra attended the INGEN 2026 conference, where she presented her research in a poster session and had the opportunity to discuss her work with other researchers in the field. The combination of practical laboratory work, scientific exchange and participation in the conference provided valuable new insights and broadened her perspective on both research and collaboration.
The visit was funded by the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 101119968 (MicrocombSys) and provided a fantastic opportunity to develop new ideas, strengthen research links and explore opportunities for future collaboration. Alejandra is looking forward to building on the experiences and contacts she made during her time at EPFL.
