Supported by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the overall aim of the GREAT (Grating Reflectors Enabled laser Applications and Training) project is to train a cohort of 15 ESRs through the completion of interconnected individual projects which will deliver innovative approaches for development and use of Grating Waveguide Structures (GWS), from design to implementation in several laser systems. The young will be trained to work collaboratively to deliver systems and solutions responding to realworld problems.

GWS result from the combination of sub-wavelength gratings and planar waveguides. This combination results, by means of an appropriate design of the overall GWS, in resonances which can be used for many applications that are more efficient than current grating-only devices.  There is an overall lack of qualified specialized personnel in this field, with a limited number of companies active worldwide.  Moreover, GREAT gathers Photonics, Micro-Nano technologies, Advanced materials as well as Nanotechnologies. GREAT will provide important modelling methods and fabrication tools that allow the development of GWS to consolidate and expand their use in several applications in the laser field like pulse compression, spectral stabilization and wavelength multiplexing, as well as polarization shaping (generation of beams with radial and azimuthal polarization.