Researchers from the Centre for Photonics and Photonic Materials at the University of Bath have attended a workshop hosted by the Tel Aviv University Center for Light-Matter Interaction, aimed at fostering new collaborations, and developing existing ones, between the two institutions.

The four-day trip saw researchers attend talks covering a range of photonic and metamaterial systems, followed by visits to various laboratories across the Tel Aviv Campus. The visit is the second of its kind, with the previous 2016 event leading to several joint papers and grant applications in soliton photonics, quantum and chiral optics.

Professor Ventsislav Valev, lead organiser from the University of Bath of this year’s trip, said, “This was a great opportunity to see some fantastic science and generate new ideas between our diverse and active research centres. We are extremely grateful to our hosts at Tel-Aviv University, who organised the local programme and provided many opportunities for fruitful discussions. I am confident that the visit will lead to tangible research outputs between the two universities.”

Professor Ady Arie, who led the organisation from Tel Aviv University, said: “We were delighted to host our colleagues from the University of Bath. The visit provided exposure to the current research in topics of joint interest and will further strengthen the successful collaboration between researchers from the two institutes.”

The workshop covered a broad range of topics on the science of light, including solitons, microstructured fibre, advanced non-linear optics, optical computing, and optical chiral materials. Contributions from the University of Bath included talks from Dmitry Skryabin, Euan Allen, Peter Mosely, Kristina Rusimova, and Ventsislav Valev. Contributions from Tel Aviv University included Itai Epstein, Tal Carmon, Haim Suchowski, Ady Arie, Boris Malomed, Gil Markovich, Tal Ellenbogen, Sharly Fleischer, and Pavel Ginzburg. The day also saw attendance from Karen Shurkin, head of UK Science & Innovation Network Israel at the British Embassy.

It is anticipated that this trip will result in even more research collaborations forming between the two centres, with a further follow-up return visit to Bath within the next two or three years.

The workshop was sponsored by the Academic Study Group on Israel and the Middle East and by the Tel Aviv University Center for Light-Matter Interaction.