CURRICULUM VITAE-SHARON SHWARTZ *Sharon Schwartz Bio
Sharon Shwartz received his B.A. in Physics from the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology in 2001 and completed his Ph.D. in 2008 under the supervision of Professor Moti Segev. His doctoral research focused on light-induced changes in the optical, mechanical, and electrical properties of the semiconductor CdZnTe. During his doctoral studies he was among the first recipients of the prestigious Adams Fellowship of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
After completing his Ph.D., he joined the group of Professor Stephen Harris at Stanford University as a postdoctoral researcher. During this period he began exploring how concepts from nonlinear and quantum optics, traditionally studied at visible wavelengths, could be extended to the x-ray regime, motivated in part by the emergence of x-ray free-electron laser facilities.
In 2012 he joined the Department of Physics at Bar-Ilan University, where he is currently a Professor. His research focuses on nonlinear and quantum phenomena in the x-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum and on developing new measurement techniques inspired by concepts from quantum and statistical physics. His group investigates the interaction of intense x-ray fields with matter and develops innovative approaches for probing materials with atomic spatial resolution and ultrafast temporal sensitivity.
Over the past decade, Professor Shwartz and his collaborators have made several pioneering contributions to the emerging field of x-ray quantum and nonlinear optics. These include advances in x-ray parametric down-conversion and entangled x-ray photon generation, the demonstration of nonlinear optical processes at x-ray energies, and the development of quantum-inspired imaging methods such as x-ray ghost imaging for applications ranging from elemental mapping to computed tomography using scattered radiation.
Employment :
2024-2024 Full Professor, Physics Department, Bar Ilan University.
2018-2024 Associate Professor, Physics Department, Bar Ilan University.
2012-2018 Senior Lecturer, Physics Department, Bar Ilan University.
Education
Ph.D. in Physics, Technion, Haifa, Israel, 2009
Dissertation title: Nonlinear Optics In CdZnTe:V
http://www.graduate.technion.ac.il/Theses/Abstracts.asp?Id=24375
B.A. in Physics, Technion, Haifa, Israel, 2001
Awards
The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, The Adams Fellowship (2005)
Technion, The Applied Materials Fellowship (2005)
Tecnion, The Miriam and Aharon Gutwirth Fellowship Award (2004)
Technion award for excellence in teaching (2004)
Current Research Interests
► Quantum optics.
► Biphotons generation and manipulation.
► Nonlinear phenomena at x-ray energies.
► Quantum optics in the x-ray regime.
► Second order nonlinear optics in centro-symmetric materials.
Papers published in Refereed Journals
C. Ornelas-Skarin,, T. Bezriadina, M. Fuchs , S. Ghimire, J. B. Hastings ,Q. L. Nguyen, G. de la Peña ,T. Sato , S. Shwartz , M. Trigo , D. Zhu, D. Popova-Gorelova, and D. A. Reis: “Second-Order Microscopic Nonlinear Optical Susceptibility in a Centrosymmetric Material: Application to Imaging Valence Electron Motion“, Physical Review X 16, 011006 (2026).
H. Aknin , O. Sefi , D. Borodin , E. Strizhevsky , J.-P. Rueff, J. M. Ablett and S. Shwartz: “Surface plasmon-enhanced x-ray ultraviolet nonlinear interactions“, Physical Review Research 7, 043226 (2025).
Yishai Klein, Edward Strizhevsky, Haim Aknin, Moshe Deutsch, Eliahu Cohen, Avi Pe’er, Kenji Tamasaku, Tobias Schulli, Ebrahim Karimi, Sharon Shwartz : “X-ray PX-ray phase measurements by time-energy correlated photon pairs “, Science Advances 11, eadw3893 (2025).
1N. J. Hartley, J. Baxter, S. Curtis, O. Daisuke,. A. Halavanau, A. H. Carpenter,. J. Hussain, T. Osaka, N. Ozaki, R. L. Sandberg, S. Shwartz, K. Taketoshi, N. Yamagata, and S. H. Glenzer “X-ray Parametric Down Conversion at an XFEL “, Optica Vol. 12, No. 7 (2025).
This article was highlighted in a news release by the Optical Society online magazine.
S. Shwartz “Observation of strong nonlinear interactions in parametric down-conversion of X-rays into ultraviolet radiation ” Nature Communications, Vol. 10, No.5673 (2019).
The article was highlighted in Physics magazine and the New scientist magazine.
S. Shwartz, “Parametric Down-Conversion of X Rays into the Optical Regime“, Physical Review Letters, 119, 253902 (2017).
Iss. 13, 14822-14828 (2017).
G. Ndabashimiye, P. H. Bucksbaum, Y. Feng, S. Herrmann , G.A. Carini, J. Pines, P. Hart, C. Kenney , S. Guillet , S. Boutet , G. Williams , M. Messerschmidt , M. Seibert , S. Möller , J. B. Hastings and D. A. Reis “Anomalous nonlinear X-ray Compton scattering”, Nature Physics 3452, 10.1038 (2015).
** This article was selected for publication in the most recent issue of the “Virtual Journal for Biomedical” (VJBO), Volume 10, Issue 4.
“X-ray Parametric Down-Conversion in the Langevin Regime”, Physical Review Letters, 109, 013602 (2012).
Conferences
- S. Shwartz,D. Borodin, and A. Schori, “Observation of nearly collinear x-ray pairs”, The Winter Colloquium on the Physics of Quantum Electronics (PQE), Snowbird, UT, USA (2016). (Invited)
- S. Shwartz,”X-Ray Nonlinear Wave-Mixing”, FisMat- Italian National Conference on Condensed Matter Physics, Palermo, Italy, (2015). (Invited)
- S. Shwartz, “Difference-Frequency Generation of Optical Radiation from Two-Color X-Ray Pulses”,22th INTERNATIONAL LASER PHYSICS WORKSHOP, Shanghai, China (2015). (Invited)
- E. Shwartz and S. Shwartz, “Difference-Frequency Generation of Optical Radiation from Two-Color X-Ray Pulses”, Conference on Laser and Electro-Optics (CLEO), San Jose, CA, USA(2015).
- S. Shwartz, “X-Ray Nonlinear Wave-Mixing”, Workshop on Nonlinear X-ray Optics, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland, (2015). (Invited)
- E. Shwartz and S. Shwartz, “Difference-Frequency Generation of Optical Radiation from TwoColor X-Ray Pulses”, Conference on Laser and Electro-Optics (CLEO), San Jose, CA, USA (2015).
- S. Shwartz, M. Fuchs, J. B. Hastings, Y. Inubushi, T. Ishikawa, T. Katayama, D. A. Reis, T. Sato, K. Tono, M. Yabashi, S. Yudovich, and S. E. Harris, “X-Ray Second Harmonic Generation”, 23rd Annual International Laser Physics Workshop (LPHYS), Sofia, Bulgaria(2014). (Invited)
- S. Shwartz, “X-Ray Nonlinear Wave-Mixing”,Jena, Germany, (2014). (Invited)
- S. Shwartz, M. Fuchs, J. B. Hastings, Y. Inubushi, T. Ishikawa, T. Katayama, D. A. Reis, T. Sato, K. Tono, M. Yabashi, S. Yudovich, and S. E. Harris, “X-Ray Second Harmonic Generation”, The Winter Colloquium on the Physics of Quantum Electronics (PQE), Snowbird, UT(2014). (Invited)
- S. Shwartz, M. Fuchs, J. B. Hastings, Y. Inubushi, T. Ishikawa, T. Katayama, D. A. Reis, T. Sato, K. Tono, M. Yabashi, S. Yudovich, and S. E. Harris, “X-Ray Second Harmonic Generation”, OSA Topical Meeting on Nonlinear Optics (NLO),Kohala Coast, Hi (2013). (Invited)
- S. Shwartz, “X-Ray Second Harmonic Generation”,OASIS, Tel Aviv, Israel (2013). (Invited)
- S. Shwartz, “X-Ray Parametric Down-Conversion”,International Workshop on ATOMIC PHYSICS”, Dresden, Germany (2012). (Invited)
- S. E. Harrisand S. Shwartz, “Attosecond Biphotons by Parametric Down Conversion at X-ray wavelengths”, 21th INTERNATIONAL LASER PHYSICS WORKSHOP, Calgary, Canada (2012). (Invited)
- S. Shwartz, “X-Ray Parametric Down-Conversion in The Langevin Regime”, The Winter Colloquium on the Physics of Quantum Electronics (PQE), Snowbird, UT(2012). (Invited)
- S. Shwartz, “X-ray Nonlinear Optics in Crystals “, LCLS/SSRL users’ meeting SLAC, CA(2011). (Invited)
- S. Shwartz, “Generation of Polarization Entangled Photons at X-Ray Energies “, SPRC 2010 Annual Symposium, Stanford, CA(2011). (Invited)
- S. Shwartz and S. E Harris, “Polarization Entangled Photons at X-Ray Energies”, OSA Topical Meeting on Nonlinear Optics (NLO), Kauai, Hi (2011).
- Adarsh, K V, Sharon Shwartz, Mordechai Segev, Lev Chuntonov, Zohar Amitay2, Emil Zolotoyabko, Uri El-Hanany “Light-Induced Tuning and Enhancement of Two Photon Absorption in Bulk Semiconductor Single Crystal”, Frontier in Optics, San Jose, CA, (2009).
- Adarsh, K V,Sharon Shwartz, Mordechai Segev, Emil Zolotoyabko, Uri El-Hanany, “Light-Induced Reversible Shift and Control of the Bandgap of Bulk CdZnTe:V Crystals” ,Conference on Laser and Electro-Optics (CLEO), Baltimore, MD (2009).
- Sharon Shwartz, Mordechai Segev, Emil Zolotoyabko, Uri El-Hanany “Spatial modulation instability driven by light-enhanced nonlinearities in semiconductor CdZnTe:V crystals” ,Conference on Laser and Electro-Optics (CLEO), San Jose,CA (2008)
- Sharon Shwartz, Raoul Weil, Mordechai Segev, Eugene Lakin, Emil Zolotoyabko, Vinod M. Menon, Stephen R. Forrest, and Uri El-Hanany, “Light-Induced Ionic Displacement in CdZnTe:V Crystals Giving Rise to Crystalline Symmetry Breaking and Giant Nonlinearities” Conference on Laser and Electro-Optics (CLEO), Long Beach, CA (2006).
- Sharon Shwartz, Raoul Weil, Mordechai Segev, Eugene Lakin, Emil Zolotoyabko, Vinod M. Menon, Stephen R. Forrest and Uri El-Hanany,”Light-Induced Symmetry Breaking and Related Giant Enhancement of Non-Linear properties in CdZnTe:V Crystals” Conference on Laser and Electro-Optics (CLEO), Baltimore, MD (2005)-Post deadline paper.
- Sharon Shwartz, Mordechai Segev, and Uri El-Hanany, “ Self-deflection and all-optical beam steering in CdZnTe”, Conference on Laser and Electro-Optics (CLEO), San Francisco,CA (2004.(