Keynotes

Keynotes

Several Keynote talks will be given during ISOT2021 to highlight several topics of general interest. Time slots for Keynote talks will be 45 minutes including 35 minutes talk and 10 minutes questions.

 

European Laboratory for Non Linear- Spectroscopy
University of Florence, UNIFI - Chemistry Department, Italy.

Parmeggiani Camilla has completed her PhD in Chemical Science at the University of Florence with Prof. A. Goti and she was recently awarded as researcher at the Chemistry Department of the University of Florence. Since 2010 she is associate at the European Laboratory for Non Linear- Spectroscopy. In 2016 she was awarded with the “Organic Chemistry for environment, energy and nanosciences” prize from the Organic Chemistry Division of the SCI and she was a finalist of the European Young Chemist Award. She authored 52 papers, 1 book and 3 patents (h-index 24), on smart materials, stereoselective synthesis of iminosugars and new green oxidation methods that have been cited over 2300 times. She is now focusing her research on light-responsive materials for microrobotics, photonics and biomedical applications.

Liquid Crystal Elastomers: the new frontiers of light-driven actuators?

The ability to control the shape of micrometric objects by means of light is an appealing opportunity to develop robotic devices on such length scale. In this field, we recently demonstrated how it is possible to fabricate Liquid Crystalline Elastomeric microstructures with nanometric resolution and to control their shape by light irradiation. LCEs, materials well known as artificial muscles, are able to perform different reversible deformations due to a liquid crystalline alignment variation in response to an external stimulus.

Among the different synthetic strategies, photopolymerization of acrylate based mesogens enables to structure LCEs on the microscale by the use of Direct Laser Writing (DLW) (Zeng, Adv. Mater. 2014). This methodology has been applied to develop the first example of light driven microrobots: a two-step procedure allowed to fabricate a microwalker able to walk, crawl and jump under light irradiation (Martella Adv. Mater 2017) or a microgripper able to catch a microparticle (Zeng Adv. Mater.2015). This communication will show comprehensively our results, focusing on the design of liquid crystalline photoresists suitable for DLW and their patterning in the microscale, demonstrating how, starting from simple mesogenic monomers, it is possible to create polymeric microrobots with different abilities.

 

Université Grenoble Alpes
Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique (LIPhy), in Grenoble France.

Emmanuel Bossy is currently a Professor at Université Grenoble Alpes and a researcher at the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique (LIPhy), in Grenoble France. His general research field is wave propagation and imaging in complex media, including optical, photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging. He holds a PhD from the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris (2003), and has been successively a post-doctoral research researcher (2003-2004) at Boston University and an Associate Professor (2004-2016) at Institut Langevin, ESPCI Paris, France.

Multi-modal minimally invasive endoscopy through multi-mode fiber

Abstract: Diffraction-limited optical microscopy in biological tissue is limited to shallow depths due to the multiple scattering of light. Currently, obtaining high-resolution optical images deep into tissue requires endoscopic devices, that are inserted either into natural tracks or directly into tissue with obvious damages. For brain imaging in vivo for instance, it is thus crucial to minimize the invasiveness of endoscopic devices which are directly inserted into the brain.  Because multi-mode fibers (MMF) are much smaller than bundles of single mode fibers, for an given number of modes, they are optimal for endoscopy in terms of minimal invasiveness. However, because different modes propagate with different velocities, there is a very complex relationship between light patterns at the input and output facets of a MMF, which makes it challenging to design MMF-based endoscopes for several reasons including the need of pre-calibration steps. In this presentation, I will start with an overview of the various methods that have been proposed over the past decade to perform optical imaging through multimode fibers. I will then focus on more specific methods developed in our group in this field. I will first illustrate how most methods are well suited to multi-modal imaging through multi-mode fibers, including fluorescence and photoacoustic imaging. I will then focus on imaging methods based on speckle illumination, with a perspective towards calibration-free imaging approaches.

ETH Zurich, Department of Physics
Institute for Quantum Electronics, Optical Nanomaterial Group, Switzerland,

Since 2021, Rachel Grange is an associate professor in the field of integrated and nanophotonics in the Department of Physics at ETH Zurich (Switzerland). She has been Assistant Professor at ETH Zurich since 2015. From 2011 to 2014, she was junior group leader at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (Germany). During her post-doc at EPFL (Switzerland), she worked on nonlinear bioimaging with metal-oxides nanoparticles from 2007-2010. She received her Ph.D. in 2006 from ETH Zurich on ultrafast laser physics. Her research covers material investigations at the nanoscale, top-down and bottom-up fabricated nanostructures with metal-oxides, mainly lithium niobate and barium titanate. Recently, she worked on an integrated electro-optic spectrometer and on random quasi-phase matching phenomena in complex assemblies of nanocrystals.

Nonlinear and Electro-Optic Metal-Oxides for Active Photonic Devices

Abstract: Nonlinear and electro-optic devices are widespread as light sources for microsurgery, green laser pointers, or modulators for telecommunication. Most of them use bulk materials such as glass fibres or high-quality crystals, hardly integrable or scalable due to low signal and difficult fabrication. Here I will show several strategies to enhance optical signals by engineering metal-oxides at the nanoscale with the goal of developing nonlinear and electro-optic photonics devices for a broad spectral range and over large surface area. We use metal-oxides such as barium titanate and lithium niobate as a platform for integrated photonics. I will present innovative fabrication approaches of metal-oxides materials that are very different from standard semiconductors or metals. First, solution-processing and bottom-up assemblies of nano-oxides may solve, at the same time, the low nonlinear signal and the low throughput of photonic device to obtain cost-effective disposable devices. Then, I will focus on lithography processes to obtain lithium niobate electro-optic metasurface or microspectrometer.

Department of Physical Sciences, Head, Bio-Optics and Nano-photonics (BioNap) Laboratory,
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, Mohanpur – India.

Nirmalya Ghosh is a physicist with specialization in optical physics and photonics. He received his PhD degree from Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), a Department of atomic energy unit, India, where he had also held the position of Scientist during 1998 - 2007. Subsequently, he conducted his postdoctoral research at University of Toronto, Canada. He then joined Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, India in 2010 and is currently Professor in the Department of Physical Sciences and Centre of Excellence in Space sciences India (CESSI), IISER Kolkata. At IISER Kolkata, Prof. Ghosh developed and runs bio-optics & Nano-photonics (bioNap), an optics and photonics research laboratory with a particular focus of research on spin polarization optics, nano-optics and biophotonics. Prof. Ghosh has made several important contributions in the forefront areas of spin (polarization) optics, weak measurements, plasmonics and biophotonics. He has received the G. G. Stokes Award in Optical Polarization 2021 given by SPIE. He has authored over hundred papers in peer-reviewed international journals, which have received over three thousand five hundred citations with h-index of thirty three. He has also written several invited reviews, book chapters and a text book in the area of optics and photonics. He has served as editorial board member of a number of international journals including Scientific Reports, Current Nanomaterials etc.

Precision metrology using optical weak measurements

Abstract: The extraordinary concept of weak value amplification (WVA) is not only fundamentally important but also has numerous metrological applications. This quantum mechanical concept is based on wave interference phenomena and can therefore be realized in both classical and quantum optical settings. In this talk, I shall illustrate how WVA can be formulated within the realm of classical electromagnetic theory of light and discuss its applications for the amplification of tiny spin-orbit photonic effects of classical light beam. In this regard, I shall highlight our recent work on extending weak measurements into the domain of plasmonics and nano optics, on demonstrating weak measurements using spectral line shape of resonance as pointer in precisely designed metamaterials, enabling weak value amplification beyond the conventional limit, demonstrating natural weak value amplification in Fano resonances from hybrid magneto-plasmonic systems and so forth. The implications of these findings and their potential applications in high precision optical metrology will be discussed.

Harvard University, Capasso group
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Dr. Ileana-Cristina Benea-Chelmus is a SNF Fellow and a junior PI supported by a Hans-Eggenberger grant at John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. Her current work focusses on hybrid silicon-organic flat optics that change their optical functionality by electro-optic transduction. In parallel, over the last years, she has been developing on-chip integrated electro-optic devices that can be utilized for terahertz field metrology. In this framework, she has been exploring their performance down to the quantum level both experimentally and theoretically. Overall, her postdoctoral and doctoral work have received several recognitions from the Hans Eggenberger foundation, as well as the European Physical Society and the Swiss Physical Society. Aside from science, she strives to contribute positively to the community she’s a part of, e.g by serving on the Metamaterials Technical Group of OSA among other activities.

Metrology of terahertz fields in integrated photonics

Abstract: The metrology of terahertz waves is a prerequisite for future quantum and classical applications in communications, sensing or spectroscopy. Electro-optic transduction, the technique by which a terahertz signal is mapped onto an optical or near-infrared signal, has emerged as one of the most sensitive metrology techniques that achieves sub-picosecond temporal resolution and sub-micrometer spatial resolution. As such, it has been employed to detect quantum terahertz fields for the first time. Recent advances in the miniaturization of these transducers target increased sensitivities, a small footprint and compatibility with large photonic architectures. In this talk, I will outline the basics of electric field metrology at the quantum limit and discuss how integrated photonics could open entirely new avenues in the area of spatially and temporally multiplexed terahertz detection. Engineering these systems can enable applications well beyond the quantum sciences, in active photonics, terahertz spectroscopy and high-end instrumentation.

LightOn, Paris - France 

Laurent Daudet is currently employed as CTO at LightOn, a startup he co-founded in 2016, where he manages cross-disciplinary R&D projects, involving machine learning, optics, signal processing, electronics, and software engineering. Laurent is a recognized expert in signal processing and wave physics, and is currently on leave from his position of Professor of Physics at the Université de Paris. Prior to that or in parallel, he has held various academic positions: fellow of the Institut Universitaire de France, associate professor at Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Visiting Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, UK, Visiting Professor at the National Institute for Informatics in Tokyo, Japan. Laurent has authored or co-authored more than 200 scientific publications, has been a consultant to various small and large companies, and is a co-inventor in several patents. He is a graduate in physics from Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, and holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Marseille University.

Photonic computing for massively parallel AI. 

Abstract: Recent large-scale AI models, in the wake of OpenAi’s GPT-3 model for NLP, offer tremendous potential for applications. However, training such models requires massive amounts of computing resources, already challenging the capacity of some of the largest supercomputing architectures. In this talk I will present LightOn’s view on how future AI hardware should be designed, to address some of the hardest computing challenges, such as language models, recommender systems, or graph neural networks. In particular, I will discuss how LightOn Optical Processing Units (OPUs) can be seamlessly integrated into a variety of hybrid photonics / silicon pipelines implementing state-of-the-art Machine Learning algorithms. 

SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy
University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, UK

Andrea Di Falco is professor of nanophotonics and leader of the Synthetic Optics group in the School of Physics and Astronomy, at the University of St Andrews. His research interests focus on the development of advanced photonic platforms based on random media, photonic crystals and metamaterials technology, for applications including nonlinear optics, imaging and biophotonics.

All optical manipulation of metasurfaces for biophotonics applications

Abstract: Optical metasurfaces are one of the most advanced photonic devices available to date. They can be considered as artificial two-dimensional interfaces that permit to control with unprecedented accuracy the scattering of light. This is achieved by patterning metallic or dielectric nanofeatures on their surface. Here I will show that flexible metasurfaces can be optically trapped and manipulated in microfluidic environments, thus complementing and extending the existing range of optically actuated microtools and their photonic functions. I will also show that the complex photonic response of the metasurfaces is coupled with a very high mechanical stability, which further validates them as a powerful and versatile biohotonic platform.

EPFL, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,
Microengineering department, Switzerland

Christophe Moser is Associate Professor of Optics and Section Director in the Microengineering department at EPFL. He obtained his PhD at the California Institute of Technology in optical information processing in 2000. He co-founded and was the CEO of Ondax Inc (acquired by Coherent Inc.), Monrovia California for 10 years before joining EPFL in 2010. His current interests are ultra-compact endoscopic optical imaging through multimode fibers, retinal imaging, volumetric additive manufacturing with light. He is also the co-founder of Composyt light lab in the field of head worn displays in 2014 (acquired by Intel Corp), Earlysight in 2019 , Readily3D in 2020 and Modendo Inc in 2021. He is the author and co-author of over 90 peer reviewed publications and over 50 patents.

Advances in Volumetric 3D Printing

Abstract: 3D printing has revolutionized the manufacturing of volumetric components and structures for use in various fields. Owing to the advent of photocurable resins, several fully volumetric light-based techniques have been recently developed to push further the resolution and speed limitations of 3D printing. In my talk, I will review these techniques and highlight their advantages and limitations. In particular, these techniques only work with homogeneous and relatively transparent resins so that the incident light patterns used for photo-polymerization are not impacted along their propagation through the material. Herein, we present a method to address this problem which enables volumetric printing in scattering materials. It consists of characterizing how light is distorted by the curable resin and then applying a digital correction to the light patterns to counteract the effect of scattering. I will show experimental results using a tomographic volumetric printer to demonstrate the importance of taking light scattering into account when computing the projected patterns and show that our applied correction significantly improves printability, even when the object size exceeds the scattering mean free path of light.

FEMTO-ST Institute, CNRS, UBFC, Optic department, Besançon, France

Maria-Pilar Bernal received her B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the University of Zaragoza, Spain, in 1993 and 1998, respectively. From 1994 to 1998, she participated in a joint study between the University of Zaragoza and the IBM Almaden Research Center, where she worked in the field of holographic data storage. Subsequently, she was a research assistant at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (Switzerland), where she worked on scanning near-field optical microscopy. She obtained a CNRS research position in 2003 assigned to work at the Institute FEMTO-ST in order to developpe a new research axe on active nanophotonics. She is a specialist in lithium niobate nanophotonics, topic where she is author and co-author of more than 200 contributions in journals & conference proceedings and has more than 3000 citations.

Lithium Niobate Nanophotonics: Giving a second youth to an old material

Abstract: Due to its properties, lithium niobate is one of the most suitable material platforms for the implementation of integrated and nanophotonic optical circuits. With the commercialization of lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) substrates in the recent years, the lithium niobate nanostructuring technology has progressed immensely. In this talk I will talk about the new achievements obtained in the last years in this topic and I will focus on the classical as well as the unexpected applications that can see the light thanks to the unprecedented optical properties that nanostructured thin film lithium niobite offers.