Science News has a delightful profile of Senior Research Associate Tenio Popmintchev as part of the magazines annual feature: The SN10: Meet the scientists making the next big discoveries.
The magazine showcases Popmintchev’s accomplishments at JILA as a laser physicist, including his having played a key role in the invention of the world’s first tabletop x-ray laser. The magazine dubbed this invention a “Swiss army knife made of light.”
The goal of Popmintchev’s research now is to push the frontiers of the tabletop x-ray laser into higher and higher energies of x-rays. To learn more about how he plans to accomplish this goal and find out how he came to JILA from Bulgaria, check out his profile.
Principal Investigators
The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students. PFCs also include creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, broadening participation of traditionally underrepresented groups, and outreach to the scientific community and general public.