Gérard Mourou’s Nobel lasers

My passion for lasers started when I entered for the first time in a laser laboratory in 1967. So it was a long time ago. At that moment, I understood how much I could do, even if at the beginning you can’t see the results, which arrive years later; but I immediately understood that for me all this was exciting. I’ve been working with lasers ever since I’ve never stopped.

I wanted to do something important, but it wasn’t clear to me at the time what that was. At that time, we were still trying to study the laser spectrum over a given time frame. But at that time, we were working on a scale of 50 nanoseconds. I could not have imagined reaching femtosecond pulses, and Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA), through which we can generate ultra-intense laser pulses with a peak power of a few Terawatts.

No, not much has changed. Life has changed maybe because I have to travel a lot, we went from one airport to another and travelled around for conferences, awards or lessons. And then COVID hit and we had to stop, that allowed us to rest.

Oh yes, especially with Donna. The thing to mention is that Donna was the third woman to win the Nobel Prize for physics. I also consider this great achievement for me. When I received the call from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in addition to personal emotion, I was happy to hear that I would share it with one of my former students. I was very proud to have been the advisor to the third female Nobel laureate.

We are trying to transfer the knowledge and technologies studied up to now into nuclear physics. One of the most important applications could be energy. Nuclear energy with femtosecond pulses, so very short pulses. Nuclear energy is powerful if you know how to make it safe and clean. And so, at the moment, I’m studying a new way to do all of this. Nuclear energy with femtosecond pulses, very short pulses.

That’s why I love to research. I love research because it leads to unexpected results. In Medicine, my research led to the development of photorefractive keratectomy and precision laser surgery. To correct both myopia and astigmatism of the human eye. Well, that discovery was completely accidental, it wasn’t foreseen. It all happened because, whilst working, one of my students was hit by a laser in the eye. The doctors who examined him noticed that the damage to the cornea was defined and clean, it was then that we understood that it could have an application in ophthalmology. This is precisely what we call serendipity. Like Christopher Columbus: he was looking for the Indies and found America.

It’s just a matter of passion. You have to be passionate about it. Once you’re passionate about something, you can do anything. Nothing can stand in your way. This is how it works for every aspect of life.

These accolades are crucial because that’s how I feel valued. When you receive an award like this, you feel good because you admire the people who give it to you. The photonics researchers at the Politecnico di Milano are among the best in the world, so this is an honour for me.