Rakitzis Theodore

Peter Rakitzis is a Professor at the Department of Physics, University of Crete, and affiliated with FORTH/IESL. He holds an ERC Starting Grant (2008) for the TRICEPS project. His research focuses on spin-polarized particles, molecular photodissociation dynamics, and quantum mechanics applications in plasma and fusion physics.

Education: Ph.D. from Stanford University (1997), specializing in atomic and molecular angular momentum. Career highlights include roles at Stanford University (1997–1998), FORTH/IESL (1999–2000), and promotions to Lecturer (2001), Assistant Professor (2006), and Professor (2016).

Research Interests: Interference phenomena in molecular photodissociation, production of spin-polarized atoms, angular momentum dynamics, and cavity-enhanced spectroscopy. His work bridges fundamental quantum mechanics with applied fields like nuclear fusion and laser-driven systems.

Articles Trends: Recent work emphasizes spin manipulation in plasmas, cavity ring-down spectroscopy for material characterization, and chiral sensing using PT-symmetric systems. His 2025 papers explore high-energy electron beams and spin-polarized molecular beams.

• ERC Starting Grant (2008): 'TRICEPS' for time-resolved spectroscopy
• PREFER Collaboration: Polarized fuel research for fusion reactors

Advising & Grants: Leads the PREFER collaboration and has secured major grants. His lab develops novel techniques for spin-polarized particle production and optical sensing.

Labs/Teams: Active in FORTH/IESL’s research groups and collaborates internationally on fusion and quantum optics projects.