I work for a company that designs and builds lasers: we make small ones, like the pointers you can buy in the neighborhood store, or industrial lasers that can accurately cut all kinds of material or even weld metals.
I really like my job because our products can meet the very different demands of our customers: there are some that need extreme precision to be able to manufacture the microcircuits that are inside our smartphones and tablets, and others that require high power to weld the components of a car or make incisions in pistons of aircraft engines in a precise and reproducible way to increase their efficiency.

We couldn’t understand modern medicine without photons as a tool to diagnose and treat patients. In the hospital where I work as a physician, thanks to the optical fibers of endoscopes, we can access places hidden inside the bodies of our patients without the need for invasive procedures. Various sensors and imaging techniques allow us to see and obtain information from within the bodies to be able to diagnose more accurately. In recent years, lasers have become an essential tool in many operating rooms for extreme precision surgery. And we haven’t even started talking about the therapies that nanophotonics enables!

A few weeks ago I got the job of my dreams: I’m working at a maker space, where I can tinker with all the machines they have. I love the flexible structures that can be obtained by cutting wood: without the precision of lasers, they wouldn’t be so easy to do! I’m also fascinated by the new 3D printer: thanks to its laser, we can quickly reproduce plastic parts that makers on the other side of the world have designed. It’s almost like the teleporters of science fiction movies!

ICFO is a research center of excellence with research lines that encompass diverse areas in which photonics plays a decisive role.

Theoretical and experimental scientists come together in our facility located in the Mediterranean Technology Park in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. They work in 80 state-of-the-art research laboratories with an emphasis on basic and applied themes relevant to medicine and biology, advanced imaging techniques, information technologies and a range of environmental sensors, tunable and ultra-fast lasers, quantum science, photovoltaics and the properties and applications of nano-materials such as graphene, among others.

ICFO puts the maximum effort in transforming the knowledge generated there into a positive impact on society in the form of products and technologies in collaboration with the industry or through the creation of spin-offs.

ICFO has obtained more than 100* patent families in the fields of health, information and energy. These include innovations in microscopy and optical manipulation, nanotechnology devices, solar cells, graphene sensors, laser systems, advanced displays, 3D printing, wearable devices, quantum technologies and compact sensors for use in hostile environments.

ICFO has surrounded itself by an ecosystem of companies with which it collaborates in different industrial projects, many involving its 9* spin-offs and as well as others still in the incubation stage.

(*) data updated on October 2020

Some organisms can transform sunlight into the energy they need to live with photosynthesis. This process, resulting of millions of years of evolution, is incredibly efficient: they can transform 95% of the light that reaches them into energy. In contrast, the best solar commercial panels today translate only 20% of energy into electricity.

At ICFO, we use ultrafast laser pulses to "photograph" the molecules responsible for capturing light energy found in photosynthetic organisms in order to better understand this process and improve the efficiency of solar panels.

Photo: Experimental setup to study some of the relevant molecules for photosynthesis

In order to push the limits of knowledge in the field of nanotechnology as it’s done at ICFO, you need exceptional instruments, which allow scientists, for example, to evaporate metals or make extremely tiny incisions with electron beams.

With these instruments, ICFO scientists manufacture samples and devices that – thanks to their nanometric structure - allow them to observe new phenomena or to obtain innovative products. In order to do this, they need an extremely clean space, as a single grain of dust could spoil their research. That’s why there is a clean room at ICFO, where different scientific groups can work together to better understand the nanoworld.

Photo: Person observing a sample inside ICFO’s clean room.

In order to express critical opinions about the news that we receive through the media outlets, advertising, social media... and avoid falling into scams or misunderstandings, it is important to keep up-to-date about the latest news in science and technology. Sometimes, however, the information comes from pseudoscientific sources of dubious reliability.

How do we handle this often questionable flow of information?

Fundamental research, such as that in certain fields of quantum physics, requires economic resources that do not translate into short-term applications. On the other hand, if we limit research to sectors that can give a rapid economic return, it is difficult to reach the solid general scientific basis that underpins technological progress.

How can we solve this "circle"?

The pandemic that arose in 2020 taught us that public health is an important sector that affects many more aspects of society. A tiny virus can affect the lives of millions of people in all its aspects, not only health, but also the economy, industrial structure, labor market ...

That’s why it’s important to focus most of our efforts on research projects that can improve and care for people’s health.

We live in the information age. More and more companies and institutions are collecting and analyzing large amounts of data to improve industrial processes and services for the population. In addition, digital technologies are essential to communicate with each other, whether for work or fun. If information systems fail, strategic structures such as energy networks, traffic control, hospitals, governments, etc. fail, too. Thus, ensuring data security for quick and massive data transfer is of fundamental importance for a digitized society like ours.

That is why it is important to focus most of our efforts on research projects that can improve data collection, analysis, transmission and security.

We are in the middle of a climate emergency: to be able to solve it we need new environmental policies and the commitment of society as a whole. Science and technology can accelerate the change of paradigm that we need to save the planet with discoveries and innovative technologies. If we do nothing now, the Earth will be uninhabitable and unsustainable, but there’s still time.

That’s why it’s important to focus most of our efforts on research projects that can help us take care of our planet.

Photonics is everywhere and has a positive impact in many different aspects of our lives. Sometimes, the same technology (such as the laser) can improve health, information and care for the environment at the same time. There are many global issues and it is difficult to set a priority, especially because they are interconnected.

That’s why it’s important not to focus our efforts on a single field of application: it’s better to diversify our efforts to have more chances of success.