2nd International Summer School on Structured Light and Matter LUMES | USAL – Salamanca, Spain – July 6-10, 2026 Applications are open now! Welcome to the second edition of the International Summer School on Structured Light and Matter, organized by the LUMES Research Centre at the University of Salamanca. The school will take place from July 6 to 10 in Salamanca, Spain. Deadline: April 10th Apply here Download the poster in pdf here! Time remaining until the start of school: 00Days 00Hours 00Minutes 00Seconds presentation   The Summer School offers a week of intensive, interdisciplinary training in three key areas of current research:    Structured light Structured matter Light-matter interaction   The school features 11 courses spread over 36 teaching hours, carefully structured to offer participants an advanced and practical introduction to these topics.   The program combines:   theoretical sessions practical modules three keynote lectures given by international experts 21 researchers from Universidad de Salamanca a special visit to the Center for Pulsed Lasers (CLPU).   overview The Summer School is open to a maximum of 15 participants, preferably undergraduate students in the final years of Physics, Chemistry, or Engineering, as well as Master’s students, and first-year PhD students in related fields. Selected participants will receive: Free accommodation and meals for the full duration of the school. 2 ECTS credits for USAL students enrolled in Physics, Chemistry, or Chemical Engineering programs. Travel grants to partially cover international transportation to Salamanca (fixed amount, limited number of grants). These grants are available to international applicants who justify their request in the motivation letter included with the application form.   All activities will be conducted in English. TOPICS Topic 1: Structured light 1.1 Keynote Lecture on Structured Light Soon 1.2 Hands on Python – Structured Light, by Luis Plaja Rustein, Carlos Hernández-García, Rodrigo Martín Hernández After a brief introduction to the Python programming language and the Jupyter Notebooks environment, we will proceed to develop a simple yet illustrative code designed to visualize structured light beams. The code we will implement will enable us to explore the rich and intricate spatiotemporal patterns of the optical fields, focusing on both their amplitude and phase characteristics. Furthermore, we will examine how polarization—an essential property of light—manifests and evolves across the beam’s profile. This computational approach offers an accessible way to study structured light, providing insights that are often difficult to obtain through purely experimental means.   1.3 Experimental Structured Light, by Ignacio López Quintás, Aurora Crego García, David Marco Castillo From the experimental point of view, structured light (in terms of spatial energy distribution, polarization…) finds multiple applications, from telecommunications to spectroscopy and microscopy, among others. Structured light beams, either in CW or pulsed, can be generated using different methods, involving the most common the use of phase plates or spatial light modulators (SLMs). The main objective of this course is to get acquainted with some of those methods. For that purpose, we will generate different types of structured beams, such as vector beams (radial and azimuthal) and vortex beams with optical angular momentum (OAM), and will characterize their exotic features. 1.4 Ultrashort Laser Pulses, by Benjamín Alonso Fernández, Enrique Conejero Jarque This course offers a brief introduction to the generation of ultrashort laser pulses. In the theoretical section, we will first cover the fundamental concepts of ultrafast optics, including the requirements for producing such pulses and the techniques available for their generation. We will also discuss how these pulses can be amplified to enhance their usefulness for various applications.   The experimental session will include a visit to the high-power laser systems at the Ultrafast Optics Laboratory of the USAL, where participants will gain an overview of various applications. Special emphasis will be placed on the measurement of ultrashort light pulses on the femtosecond timescale, and attendees will have the opportunity to observe and take part in an actual measurement in the lab. Topic 2: Structured matter 2.1 Keynote Lecture on Structured Matter Soon 2.2 Fabrication of 2D quantum materials and van der Waals heterostructures, by Juan A. Delgado-Notario, Namrata Saha Two-dimensional (2D) materials are intriguing, atomically-thin systems with special quantum properties that make them useful in applications such as emerging electronics, batteries, and novel sensors.  In this workshop, the students will learn how to fabricate high-quality two-dimensional quantum materials (e.g. graphene, hexagonal boron nitride) and stack them to form the so-called van der Waals heterostructures using state-of-the-art techniques.  2.3 Hands-on Tutorial on Magnetic Nanostructures, by Eduardo Martínez, Víctor Raposo, Rocío Yanes The control of magnetic properties at the nanoscale is at the heart of the rapidly emerging field of spintronics. This tutorial is intended as a practical introduction to the world of magnetic nanostructures. In the first part we will present the theoretical framework used to investigate the magnetic response at the nanoscale, the equation that governs magnetization dynamics and the different interactions that come into play. In the second part we will use the simulation package mumax3 to investigate some basic phenomena in magnetic nanostructures, such as hysteresis loops, domain wall motion, spin waves, etc. 2.4 Nanoarchitectures and Material Design, by Roberto de Guzmán, Jorge Bautista In this course, we will show you different nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, nanoparticles, and how to take advantage of their properties. Inspired by biological micro and nanostructures, we will learn how to produce materials with enhanced mechanical and multifunctional properties.   Topic 3: Light-matter interaction 3.1 Keynote Lecture on Light-Matter Interaction Soon 3.2 Optoelectronic Measurements of Quantum Devices, by José M. Caridad Hernández, Óscar Castelló Nieto Quantum materials are systems with intriguing properties that make them useful in applications such as emerging electronics, batteries, and novel sensing technologies.  In this workshop, the students will learn how to measure the electrical and optoelectronic properties of devices made from quantum materials at visible and infrared frequencies. Students will also learn how to relate these exciting device responses to specific electronic properties of the actual constituting material (e.g. with their electronic bandstructure). 3.3 Material Processing with Ultrashort Laser Pulses, by Carolina Romero Vázquez, Javier Rodríguez Vázquez de Aldana, Pablo Moreno … Continue reading 2nd International Summer School on Structured Light and Matter (6-10 July, 2026)