GREAT · Grating Reflectors Enabled laser Applications and Training

The overall aim of the GREAT (Grating Reflectors Enabled laser Applications and Training) project is to train a cohort of 15ESRs through the completion of interconnected individual projects which will deliver innovative approaches for developmentand use of Grating Waveguide Structures (GWS), from design to implementation in several laser systems. GWS results fromthe combination of sub-wavelength gratings and planar waveguides. This combination results, by means of an appropriatedesign of the overall GWS, in resonances which can be used for many applications that are more efficient than currentgrating-only devices. The young will be trained to work collaboratively to deliver systems and solutions responding to realworld problems. This is crucial since there is an overall lack of qualified specialized personnel in this field, with a limitednumber of companies active worldwide. Crucially, this lack of skilled workforce has been identified by the ETP Photonics21(Photonics21 (2013) Towards 2020 – Photonics driving economic growth in Europe-Multiannual Strategic Roadmap 2014 –2020) as a major challenge for the photonics community. Moreover, GREAT gathers Photonics, Micro-Nano technologies,Advanced materials as well as Nanotechnologies which are among the Key technologies defined within the H2020 projectfor the competitiveness and renewal of European manufacturing. Lasers are also defined as an important industrial sector,where the European Community is a key player which aims to keep its competitive position (http://www.strategies-u.com/lasers-photonics.html). Therefore, GREAT will provide important modelling methods and fabrication tools that allow thedevelopment of GWS to consolidate and expand their use in several applications in the laser field like pulse compression,spectral stabilization and wavelength multiplexing, as well as polarization shaping (generation of beams with radial and azimuthal polarization