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Associate Professor

Department of Theoretical Physics
Instituto de Física

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

(Institute of Physics, National Autonomous University of Mexico)

Version en Español

E-mail: karen@fisica.unam.mx

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Leader of the Optical Micromanipulation Lab of IFUNAM

The optical micromanipulation lab was created in 2004 by Karen Volke and Rocío Jáuregui, researchers of the Institute of Physics of UNAM (IFUNAM). Since then it has been a research and teaching space, where over 15 students have graduated at different levels.

We constantly have open positions for Ph.D. students. Posdoc positions are also available (please ask for application dates).

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We investigate the physics of light propagation and the optical forces using both theory (analytical and numerical methods) and experiments, with special emphasis in structured light beams, which possess interesting topological and dynamical properties, such as phase or polarization singularities and orbital angular momentum. Likewise, we implement optical micromanipulation systems as experimental models to study the non-linear dynamics of complex systems in colloidal media. The main goal is to study the interaction of optical and acoustic fields with matter and develop devices with potential (and real!) multidisciplinary applications in different areas.
The main research lines can be summarized as follows:

• Development of new optical micromanipulation techniques and multidisciplinary applications.
• Experimental generation and study of structured light beams.
• Singular optics: Study of optical and acoustic vortices and their interaction with matter.
• Study of nonlinear optical properties of nano-suspensions.
• Implementation of optical imaging techniques applied biological sciences.

There are open Ph.D. positions in all of these lines.

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Students

Former members of the group (Graduated and postgraduated students)

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UNAM

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External

• Prof. Kishan Dholakia
  Leader of the Optical Micromanipulation Group, of the University of St. Andrews in Scottland, UK.


• Dr. Rubén Ramos García
  Researcher of the Optics Department at INAOE (Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica), in Puebla Mexico.


• Dr. Arturo O. Santillán
  Institute of Sensors, Signals and Electrotechnics, University of Southern Denmark, en Dinamarca.

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1. Roland A. Terborg, Juan P. Torres and Karen Volke-Sepúlveda, Steering and guiding light with light in a nanosuspension, Opt. Lett. 38: 5284-5287 (2013). (Download file)
2. Alejandro V. Arzola, Karen Volke-Sepúlveda, José L. Mateos, Dynamical analysis of an optical rocking ratchet: Theory and experiment, Phys. Rev. E 87: 062910 (2013). (Download file)
3. U. Ruiz, P. Pagliusi, C. Provenzano, K. Volke-Sepúlveda and Gabriella Cipparrone, Polarization holograms allow highly efficient generation of complex light beams, Opt. Express 21 (6):7505-7510 (2013).
4. Roland A. Terborg and Karen Volke-Sepúlveda, Quantitative characterization of the energy circulation in helical beams by means of near-field diffraction, Opt. Express 21: 3379-3387 (2013).
5. Raúl Josué Hernández, Alfredo Mazzulla, Alfredo Pane, Karen Volke-Sepúlveda and Gabriella Cipparrone, Attractive-repulsive dynamics on light-responsive chiral microparticles induced by polarized tweezers, Lab on a Chip 13: 459-467 (2013). (Download file)
6. Carmelo Rosales-Guzmán, Karen Volke-Sepúlveda and Juan P. Torres, Light with enhanced optical chirality, Opt. Lett. 37: 3486-3488 (2012). (Download file)
7. A. V. Arzola, K. Volke-Sepúlveda and J. L. Mateos, Experimental Control of Transport and Current Reversals in a Deterministic Optical Rocking Ratchet , Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 : 168104 (2011). (Download file)
8. R. J. Hernández-Hernández, R. A. Terborg, I. Ricárdez-Vargas and K. Volke-Sepúlveda, Experimental generation of Mathieu-Gauss beams with a phase spatial light modulator , Appl. Opt. 49: 6903-6909 (2010). (Download file)
9. I. Ricárdez-Vargas and K. Volke-Sepúlveda, Experimental generation and dynamical reconfiguration of different circular optical lattices for applications in atom trapping, J.O.S.A. B 27: 948-955 (2010). (Download file)
10. K. Volke-Sepúlveda, R. Jauregui, All-optical 3D atomic loops generated with Bessel light fields, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 42: 085303 (2009). (Download file)
11. A. O. Santillán, K. Volke-Sepúlveda and A. Flores-Pérez, Wave fields with an orbital angular momentum gradient along a single axis: A Chain of vortices, New Journal of Physics 11: 043004 (2009).
12. A. V. Arzola, K. Volke-Sepúlveda and J. L. Mateos, Force mapping of an extended light pattern in an inclined plane: Deterministic regime, Opt. Express 17: 3429-3440 (2009).
13. A. O. Santillán and K. Volke-Sepúlveda, A demonstration of rotating and standing sound waves and the transfer of angular momentum to matter, Am. J. Phys. 77: 209-215 (2009). (Download file)
14. K. Volke-Sepúlveda, A. O. Santillán and R. R. Boullosa, Transfer of angular momentum to matter from acoustical vortices in free field, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 : 024302 (2008). (Download file)
15. G. Milne, K. Dholakia, D. McGloin, K. Volke-Sepúlveda, P. Zemanek, Transverse particle dynamics in a Bessel beam, Opt. Express 15: 13972-13987 (2007).
16. K. Volke-Sepúlveda, E. Ley-Koo, General construction and connections of vector propagation invariant optical fields: TE and TM modes and polarization states, J. Opt. A: Pure and Applied Optics 8: 867-877 (2006). (Download file)
17. P. Fischer, A. E. Carruthers, K. Volke-Sepúlveda, E. M. Wright, C.T.A Brown, W. Sibbett and K. Dholakia, Enhanced optical guiding using a supercontinuum light source, Opt. Express 14: 5792-5802 (2006).
18. A. Flores-Pérez, J. Hernández-Hernández, R. Jáuregui, K. Volke-Sepúlveda, Experimental generation and analysis of higher-order TE and TM Bessel modes in free-space, Opt. Lett. 31: 1732-1734 (2006). (Download file)
19. I. Ricárdez-Vargas, P. Rodríguez-Montero, R. Ramos-García, K. Volke-Sepúlveda, A modulated optical sieve for sorting of polydisperse microparticles, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88: 121116 (2006). (Download file)
20. I. Ricárdez-Vargas, M. D. Iturbe-Castillo, R. Ramos-García, K. Volke-Sepúlveda, V. Ruiz-Cortés, Hollow spheres as individual movable micromirrors in optical tweezers, Opt. Express 13: 968-976 (2005).
21. K. Volke-Sepúlveda, S. Chávez-Cerda, V. Garcés-Chávez and K. Dholakia. Three dimensional optical forces and transfer of orbital angular momentum from multi-ringed light beams to spherical microparticles, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 21: 1749-1757 (2004). (Download file)
22. V. Garcés-Chávez, K. Volke-Sepúlveda, S. Chávez-Cerda, W. Sibbett, K. Dholakia, Transfer of angular momentum to an optically trapped low-index particle, Phys. Rev. A 66: 063402 (2002). (Download file)
23. J. Arlt, M. MacDonald, L. Paterson, W. Sibbett, K. Dholakia, K. Volke-Sepúlveda, Moving interference patterns created using the angular Doppler effect, Opt. Express 10: 844-852 (2002).
24. M. P. MacDonald, L. Paterson, K. Volke-Sepúlveda, J. Arlt, W. Sibbett, K. Dholakia, Creation and manipulation of three dimensional optically trapped structures, Science 296 (5570): 1101-1103 (2002). (Download file)
25. K. Volke-Sepúlveda, V. Garcés-Chávez, S. Chávez-Cerda, J. Arlt, K. Dholakia, Orbital angular momentum of a high-order Bessel light beam, J. Opt. B: Quantum Semiclass. Opt. 4: S82-S89 (2002). (Download file)
26. M.P. MacDonald, K. Volke-Sepúlveda, L. Paterson, J. Arlt, W. Sibbett and K. Dholakia, Revolving interference patterns for the rotation of optically trapped particles, Opt. Commun. 201: 21-28 (2002). (Download file)
27. E. Ley-Koo, K. VolkeSepúlveda, The Helium Atom in a Semi-Infinite Space Limited by a Paraboloidal Boundary, International Journal of Quantum Chemistry 65: 269-275 (1997).

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• Institute of Physics, UNAM
• Department of Theoretical Physics, IFUNAM

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