Ton van Leeuwen has been awarded funding from NWO and the National Growth Fund for his research project Quantitative volumetric spectroscopy for complex material characterization. This funding is part of the PhotonDelta program, which aims to strengthen the Netherlands as a global leader in the chip industry.
New method to measure optical properties
In this project, Mitra Almasian, Xavier Attendu and Ton van Leeuwen, together with Nienke Bosschaart at the University Twente and two commercial partners, will develop a new technology that allows scientists to look inside complex materials and tissues without damaging them. Today, it is still difficult to study materials that scatter light, such as human tissue or certain industrial products. The new method will make it possible to measure many more optical properties than ever before, and to do so at high resolution and across a wide range of light wavelengths.
Meaningful information
These measurements can reveal meaningful information. In human tissue, for example, they can show changes in cells that may be linked to disease. In materials, the measurements can help determine chemical properties such as water content or composition.
Impact and understanding
This new technology could have an impact on several fields, including health care, cultural heritage preservation, forensic science and industrial inspection, offering a safer and more precise way to understand what materials are made of and how they change.
PhotonDelta
This call for proposals is part of the National Growth Fund programme PhotonDelta. This programme aims to make the Netherlands the leader in the global chip industry, with hundreds of companies and customers around the world. Photonic chips enable the development of smaller, faster and energy-efficient devices. These chips also enable earlier diagnosis of diseases, safe self-driving vehicles and more efficient food production. Eighteen projects have been rewarded with a grant. For more information in the projects and the programme, see the NWO website.