About me
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16 Jan 2010. The results from my work at the University of Zurich have been published in Optics Letters. In this article we describe a new type of fluorescence microscope that looks right through thin layers of very turbid (=non-transparent) material. The images are as sharp as if the layer wasn't there at all! This work was discussed in the Research Highlights of the famous journal Nature. |
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16 Jan 2010. I started working as a postdoc at the California Institute of Technology in the Biophotonics laboratory led by Dr. Changhuei Yang. |
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We are listed in the The Top Ten Physics News Stories of 2008 ('Light Passes through Opaque Matter') |
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Sir John Pendry wrote a very accessible viewpoint in 'Physics' that highlights our research. |
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The popular physics magazine 'Physics Today' wrote an article discussing our work (again). The article is available online. |
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23 April 2008. I defended my PhD thesis on controlling the propagation of light in scattering media. The full text of my thesis can be found here, or on the COPS website. |
Welcome to my homepage. On this site, you will find information about my research, my curriculum vitae, and a selection of my pictures and animation movies.
My research focuses on controlling the propagation of light in white materials, such as a sheet of paper. Normally, a light beam cannot pass through the paper. Tiny particles in the paper scatter the light out of the beam. This way, any well-defined incoming beam is transformed into a diffuse blob of light.
We have demonstrated that this process can be reversed. Using a liquid crystal microdisplay to shape the incoming beam, we were able to focus light through non-transparent white objects, such as egg shell, teeth, flower petals, white paint and -indeed- sheets of paper.
After getting my PhD in physics with the Complex Photonic Systems (COPS) group at the MESA+ institute of the University of Twente, I worked as a postdoc in the Physical System Biology group of the University of Zurich. Currently, I live in Pasadena, California and work as a postdoc for the Biophotonics laboratory at the California Insitute of Technology.
I hope you enjoy visiting my site,
Ivo