Dr. Ali Rastegari - 2024 OSE Best Dissertation Award Winner
Departmental News
Posted: May 10, 2024
Dr. Ali Rastegari is a recent Ph.D. graduate of the Optical Science and Engineering (OSE) Program and did his work in the research group of Prof. Jean Claude Diels. Dr. Rastegari’s dissertation, “Filaments and their application to air lasing, spectroscopy, and guided discharge,” received distinction.
Dr. Rastegari's work on Directed energy, high-power beam propagation and laser induced discharge, laser filamentation and associated shock waves have been instrumental. Dr. Rastegari has maintained a 3.82 GPA; published a book chapter, seven peer-reviewed papers journal articles (first author in 4), contributed to eleven peer reviewed conference presentations and six invited papers.
Ali obtained his Bachelor of Science in physics from the University of Tehran. Later, he also obtained his Master of Science in atomic and molecular physics from the same university. During his master's degree, he worked on the design and development of two Transversely Excited (TE) CO2 lasers, in which a new pre-ionization technique was introduced. He also received his Master of Science in Optical Science and Engineering (OSE) from University of New Mexico. Since beginning his PhD at UNM, Ali has been a member of Dr. Diels' research group working on laser filamentation and its applications. Among them the demonstration of remote spectroscopy of heavy elements with picometer resolution at atmospheric pressure. He contributed to the understanding of lasing in air, and the establishment of air waveguides through filament induced shock waves. Congratulations to Dr. Rastegari!
