News

B-PHOT will co-organise the fifth edition of the photonics networking event bePOM, hosted at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. On 19 and 20 September 2024, this free two-day event will allow early-career and established researchers to (re)discover and learn about the ongoing research topics in Belgium.

Optica's Sensing and Imaging Congresses brought together the brightest minds in optical science to Toulouse, including four B-PHOT researchers. Prof. Heidi Ottevaere, Prof. Lien Smeesters, Dr. Tatevik Chalyan, and PhD researcher Maria Lopera represented B-PHOT through their compelling presentations and active participation in panel discussions.

The EIC Pathfinder project VortexLC will host a free workshop on the latest advances in microfabrication techniques for polymers, glass and silicon, with a focus on microfluidic devices. The workshop will be held on September 3rd, 2024 at the VUB Photonics Campus in Gooik, Belgium.

B-PHOT and VUB spin-off BIO INX, a leading company in bio-ink technologies, has launched the first biodegradable and biocompatible resin with shape memory properties for light-based (bio)printing. This innovative material can be deformed into a temporary shape after 3D printing and returns to its original printed shape when heated to body temperature.

B-PHOT recently co-hosted the annual Summer Symposium, concluding the academic year for the interuniversity Master of Science in Photonics Engineering programme. In collaboration with UGent, this event showcased the remarkable achievements of second-year master's students and their research findings, concluding an intensive two-year academic journey.

B-PHOT professors Heidi Ottevaere and Nathalie Vermeulen will be serving as programme committee members for, respectively, the MOEMS and Miniaturized Systems XXIV conference and the Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials and Devices XXIV conference at the 2025 edition of SPIE Photonics West.

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, B-PHOT Brussels Photonics, and the City of Halle are collaborating on a new innovative STEM hub (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Starting in 2025 in a 4500m² space near Brussels, the project will address the growing demand for STEM professionals and the need to engage young people early in scientific and technological studies. With over 6,000 secondary school students, Halle is set to become an even more significant education hub.

Artemii Tishchenko has successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled 'Phase Matching Strategies in Nonlinear Frequency Conversion of Short and Ultrashort Pulses: Exploring the Role of Intermodal Interactions in High Index Contrast Double-Clad Optical Fibers' under the supervision of Prof. Francis Berghmans and Prof. Tigran Baghdasaryan.

Francesca Venturini, a distinguished professor of applied optics from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, has joined forces with the B-PHOT researcher Prof. Lien Smeesters to pioneer advancements in the detection of mycotoxins in food.

B-PHOT welcomed professor Carlos Trujillo from EAFIT University in Medellín, Colombia, as part of the 'Global Minds' staff exchange program of VLIR-UOS. Professor Trujillo, a distinguished member of EAFIT’s applied optics group, is engaging in a week-long stay to foster joint research endeavours and academic exchanges.

Robbe de Mey has successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled 'Lasers with Multiple Feedbacks for Wideband Chaos Generation' under the supervision of Prof. Martin Virte and Dr. Spencer W. Jolly.

At the SPIE Photonics Europe 2024 conference, two PhD researchers from B-PHOT were honored with the 'Best Student Paper' award for their exceptional contributions to optics and photonics. Sara Abbasi and Mehrdad Lofti Choobbari both were selected for their contributions at the international conference.