Interview with Goëry Genty
Interview with Goëry Genty
Professor at the university of Tampere-Finland, specialist of non-linear optics in optical fibers and integrated photonics.
https:// doi. org / 10.1051 / photon / 202613717
Could you describe your background and how you discovered science? I was born in Bordeaux, where I completed all my schooling up to the end of high school, and I was always drawn to scientific subjects, especially mathematics and physics. I knew early on that I wanted to become an engineer, and after graduating, I joined a scientific preparatory class in Toulouse-France at Lycée Fermat, which had an excellent reputation at the time. I sat the competitive entrance exams like everyone else, and although I had no prior interest in optics, my initial preferences were more aligned with advanced marine engineering, but everything changed when I received the school brochures after the exam results. The Ecole Supérieure d’ Optique in Paris presented optics and photonics as a dynamic, promising field, and that convinced me. Without that brochure, I might have gone in a completely different direction, but that was the turning point that oriented me toward photonics.
How did your training in optics go? Rather well. In the second year, the school strongly encouraged summer internships abroad, using contacts from former students. At that time, many aimed for the United States, but I opted for a more strategic approach: fewer applicants meant greater chances. Finland turned out to be such an option, and since students from the previous year spoke highly of their experience there, a friend and I applied. We were both accepted and spent the summer at Helsinki University of Technology( now Aalto University), which turned out to be a decisive experience.
What was your internship topic? I worked on measuring the linewidth of laser sources using self-homodyne and heterodyne techniques. The internship went well, and I maintained excellent contact with the Finnish laboratory. In my final year, they offered me a PhD position Although I initially hesitated between research and industry, I thought that completing a PhD would allow me to explore research while keeping the option of transitioning to industry later. So I returned to Finland to begin my doctorate.
What was the focus of your PhD? The project initially focused on advanced measurement techniques such as linewidth characterization, fiber dispersion, ultrafast metrology, but a major shift occurred when I spent three months in Denmark and encountered the first photonic crystal fibers produced by a local spin-off. The Danish group gave me samples because our Finnish lab had suitable dispersion measurement tools, and around the same time I attended CLEO, where supercontinuum generation was being presented for the first time. I was fascinated by the idea of generating broadband light from a narrowband input. Once back in Finland, I initiated experiments using the ultrafast laser of a neighboring group led by Prof. Matti Kaivola and, with the freedom given by my supervisor Dr Hanne Ludvigsen, my PhD evolved into a study of ultrafast nonlinear dynamics and supercontinuum generation. I defended my PhD in early 2004.
What did you do after your PhD? I continued for two years as a postdoc in the same lab. Two important events occurred: a late-night call from Prof. John Dudley inviting me to co-author a major Reviews of Modern Physics article, which triggered a long-term collaboration that still lasts today; and a call from Prof. Martti Kauranen in Tampere offering a postdoc position in nonlinear optics. After joining Martti’ s group, I quickly obtained independent funding from the Academy of Finland and was able to build my own research line around nonlinear fiber optics, supercontinuum, and hydrodynamic analogies.
How did you get a permanent position? Before securing a permanent professorship, I received a five-year Academy of Finland“ junior group leader” grant which gave me substantial independence. Shortly before the end of that period, a professorship opened and I was appointed associate professor in 2012, then full professor in 2014. Looking back, my trajectory owes much to timing and opportunity: internships, research stays, and unexpected phone calls all played a decisive role.
What are the main scientific themes that structure your research? My work is structured in several blocks. First, between 2009 and 2015 / 2016, we focused heavily on studying extreme nonlinear dynamics in fibers, special propagation solutions, and the influence of noise and instabilities. In parallel, we launched a second line of research on ghost imaging, translating the concept from spatial to temporal and spectral domains, enabling ultrafast pulse reconstruction, ghost spectroscopy and ghost OCT. A third direction emerged from applying machine learning to nonlinear optics, initially to predict extreme wave events from spectral measurements and later to systematically control nonlinear propagation and supercontinuum generation via feedback optimization. To gain more degrees of freedom, we moved into multimode fibers, exploring active( spatial / spectral modulation) and passive( nonlinear self-organization) control of structured light. We also developed advanced real-time measurement
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