The adoption of ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths (200-400 nm) in optical applications like microscopy is driven by the need for improved resolution and specificity. UV light's shorter wavelength allows for finer detail resolution, essential for examining subcellular structures, molecular interactions, and nanoscale material properties.
However, bulk optics for UV are rare, costly, and cannot offer the fine manipulation of UV light beams necessary for high-resolution imaging. Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) combine all key optical functions into a single chip, but do not currently cover the UV range.
Imec researchers at Ghent University have now, for the first time, developed UV-PICs that operate at 360nm, thereby providing unprecedented control and manipulation of UV light. The new UV PICs achieve low propagation losses using alumina as core waveguide material. The article shows how the new technology enhances resolution and field-of view in super-resolution microscopy applications.
Dive into the cutting-edge world of UV PICs with our latest article published in Photonics Spectra!
Nicolas Le Thomas received a degree in engineering from "Ecole National Superieure de Physique de Grenoble" (ENSPG) in 1998 and a PhD degree from "Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble" (INPG) in 2002. He carried out his PhD thesis at CEA/Grenoble.
During 2002 and 2005, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Dortmund, working on the optical spectroscopy of semiconductor nanocrystals. From 2005 to 2011, he was a research associate at "Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne" (EPFL), working on the optical characterization of photonic crystal structures. In 2012, he was appointed professor in the Engineering Faculty of Ghent University.
His main interests include on-chip high-resolved microscopy, integrated photonic sensors, biological applications of sub-wavelength photonic structures, optical spectroscopy of nanostructures, and semiconductor lasers.
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Published on:
22 July 2024
