As the NANO-GLASS project nears completion, three of its early-stage researchers (ESRs) have embarked on their third and final secondment at Corning’s Sullivan Park Research and Development facility in NY, USA. Alessia Mezzadrelli (ESR2), Davide Rizzotti (ESR3), and Susana Plascencia (ESR4) are leveraging this experience to deepen their knowledge and refine their research before concluding their work within the project.
Alessia and Davide started their third secondment at Corning in January 2025, and they will complete it in June 2025.
Davide is working on optical fiber-based devices for quantum applications. He is being supervised by Stuart Gray and Karl Koch. This time, Davide’s work is focused on fabricating and characterizing new switches and quantum sources.
As Davide explained, “this stay offers me the opportunity to continue my research on quantum devices that show extremely low optical losses, a critical parameter for many critical quantum applications.”

Under the supervision of Prantik Mazumder, Alessia’s current secondment is primarily focused on Ultra-Thin Metal Films to be used in transparent electrodes applications. Different materials and different combinations of them are being studied, also considering different patterns. Through the optimization of both fabrication process and geometry design through opto-electronic simulations, compromise between transparency and conductivity wants to be found depending on the specific application.
“This year’s secondment is providing me with the chance to explore in detail the properties of different materials in the ultra-thin film regime where optical and electrical properties defer from the bulk ones. An insight into pattering techniques for nanofabrication will be also a useful knowledge from this secondment” Alessia noted.
Susana joined Davide and Alessia later. She started her secondment at the end of January 2025. Her stay at Corning will extend until June 2025. “During these months here, and being supervised by Stuart Gray and Karl Koch, I will be studying doped glasses which are fabricated with different composition to determine if the Zeeman states lifetime is much larger than the optical lifetime in these materials which is a crucial condition to perform the quantum memory protocol know as atomic frequency comb”, explained Susana.
Through these secondments, ESRs gain invaluable hands-on experience, immersing themselves in diverse research environments, refining their technical expertise, and broadening their scientific perspectives and visions.

Participation in CLEO 2025
Beyond their work at Corning, both Alessia and Davide will take part in the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) 2025, which will be held from May 4 to May 9 in Long Beach, California. Recognized as one of the world’s leading international forum for laser science and electro-optics, CLEO brings together cutting-edge research and technological advancements spanning a wide range of applications, from quantum computing to advanced imaging technologies. Davide will present a poster with the latest results on his work about a quantum source based on a silicon core fiber (https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0220647). Meanwhile, Alessia will give a talk regarding the work on transparent antimicrobial surfaces for touch-screen displays. (https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-024-00472-w). Both Alessia and Davide will have the opportunity to discuss their present research work and its future with experts in the field.

Susana Plascencia, an early-stage researcher (ESR 4) within the NANOGLASS project, has joined LuxQuanta for a three-month secondment, her third secondment since she joined the NANOGLASS project. This stay will provide Susana with the opportunity to make significant progress in her individual research project on “Quantum memories based on rare-earth doped materials.”
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A team of researchers from ICFO and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) from Sweden reports on APL Photonics the first demonstration of a photon pair source based on a silicon core fiber. The novel platform offers a unique combination of low propagation losses, high nonlinearity and compactness making it a promising candidate for scalable quantum applications.
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A team of ICFO and Corning Incorporated researchers  reports in Communications Materials journal the development of a durable and transparent antimicrobial surface containing copper nanoparticles. The nanostructured surface was obtained by dewetting ultrathin metal copper films on a glass substrate.

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