Skip To Content

Optical Sensors

Optical Sensors

19 July 2021 – 23 July 2021 OSA Virtual Event - Pacific Daylight Time (UTC - 07:00)

However, because of the breadth of applications for optical sensors, the challenges to the design and functioning of an optical sensor for a particular application requires knowledge of optical, material, and environmental properties that affect sensor performance.

The meeting addresses all aspects of optical sensors from source and detection technologies, sensor configurations, and processing approaches to applications. These optical sensors range from micro-probes to large devices used for standoff monitoring of industrial and environmental species.


Topics

1. Laser Based Sensors

  • Laser Based Sensors are based upon direct and indirect detection of laser light interacting with a target object, which inherently allow for non-invasive measurements with high precision and high accuracy as well as fast response. Thus, demands and challenges for laser-based sensors continue to grow in both science and technology. The topics of Laser Based Sensors subcommittee include laser ellipsometry, laser speckle imaging, laser spectroscopy, laser Doppler vibrometry, laser interferometry, laser light detection and ranging and laser-based quantum-enhanced sensing.

2. Nanophotonic and Plasmonic Biosensors

  • This meeting brings together early career and established researchers from academia, industry and government in the rapidly advancing field of nanophotonic biosensors addressing the critical needs in health, environment, food, forensics and security. Nanophotonic devices using plasmonic phenomenon, colloidal nanoparticles, metasurfaces, waveguides and their implementations in quantitative analytical platforms, single-molecule sensors, surface enhanced spectroscopy applications, such as Raman, Mid-IR absorption, fluorescent spectroscopy are within the focus of this meeting.

3. Optical Fiber Sensors

  • Optical fiber sensors, in particular those related to safety, security and defense. These will include both point (interferometric, polarimetric, refractometric and grating based) and distributed sensor. Examples include, but are not restricted to, gyro, current, magnetic field, radiation, bio and chemical, strain, temperature, pressure, vibrations, DAS, OTDR and OFDR.

4. Quantum Sensing

  • Quantum sensors utilize the quantum properties of matter (such as quantized transitions in neutral atoms, ions and spin qubits) or quantum phenomena (including entanglement between different qubits or degrees of freedom) to measure physical quantities with unparalleled sensitivity, precision and accuracy. This meeting aims to cover quantum sensing technologies with real-world applications as well as the development of techniques that will advance sensing performance. Topics include: state-of-the-art quantum sensors for timekeeping, inertial navigation, measurements of temperature, strain or electromagnetic fields; enabling optical technologies to improve the preparation, control and measurement of quantum sensing systems; advanced approaches that will push the sensitivity beyond the standard quantum limit.

5. THz Sensing

  • Innovations in source and detector technologies, tailored electromagnetic materials and computational intelligence are making the terahertz spectral region (0.1 - 30 THz) much more accessible for innovative sensing concepts.  This session will feature contributions in all these areas, with an emphasis on exploring how the terahertz region provides unique capabilities to detect and recognize unique signatures.

6. Chemical and Biological Sensors​

  • This meeting will provide a forum to report the latest advances in optical sensors for chemical and biological detection. Technologies such as fluorescence, Raman and infrared spectroscopy, fiber optics and silicon photonics have all found recent application in chemical and biological sensing. These sensors utilize similar scientific principles to tackle a wide variety of detection challenges across diverse application areas. Applications for these sensors in areas such as environmental sensing, human performance monitoring, continuous medical monitoring and chemical and biological hazard detection are all a focus of this meeting. 

Top


Speakers

  • Brian Cunningham, Univ of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUnited States
    Novel Microscopies and Digital Resolution Biosensor Diagnostics Using Photonic Metamaterial Surfaces Tutorial
  • Jacques Albert, Carleton UniversityCanada
    Multi-resonant Sensing with a High-resolution Fiber Optic Abbe Refractometer
  • Sylvie Buteau, Defence R&D CanadaCanada
    Spectral Laser Induced Fluorescence for Standoff Detection and Classification of Aerosolized Biological Threats
  • Jennifer Dionne, Stanford UniversityUnited States
    High-quality-factor Metasurfaces for Sensitive Detection and Separation of Chiral Molecules
  • Conor Evans, Massachusetts General HospitalUnited States
    Tissue Oxygen Sensing: Bandages, Needles, and Wearable Devices
  • Jaime Garcia-Ruperez, Universitat Politècnica de ValènciaSpain
    Bimodal Interferometric Photonic Sensors Based on Periodic Configurations
  • Elizabeth Goldschmidt, Univ of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUnited States
    Emerging Rare-earth Platforms for Quantum Photonics
  • Miguel Gonzalez-Herraez, Universidad de AlcalaSpain
    Underwater Seismic Tomography with Unprecedented Resolution Using Fiber Optics
  • Theodore Goodson, University of MichiganUnited States
    Time-resolved and Nonlinear Optical Properties of Novel Functional Organic Materials
  • Euan Hendry, University of ExeterUnited Kingdom
    Total Internal Reflection Based Super-resolution Imaging for Sub-IR Frequencies
  • Onur Hosten, IST AustriaAustria
    Quantum Entanglement for Inertial Sensing with Atoms in Cavities
  • Jana Jágerská, UiT The Arctic University of NorwayNorway
    Integrated Nanophotonic Waveguides for Trace Gas Detection
  • Inuk Kang, CACI International, Inc.United States
    SWIR to LWIR Comb System with Standoff Detection and Trained Neural Network Algorithm to Auto-detect Multiple Chemicals
  • Boubacar Kante, University of California BerkeleyUnited States
    Topological Plasmonic Sensor
  • Ali Khalatpour, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States
    Filling the Terahertz Gap: A Promise Renewed
  • Dohun Kim, Seoul National UniversityRepublic Of Korea
    Deep Learning Enhanced Individual Nuclear Spin Detection in diam
  • Shimon Kolkowitz, University of Wisconsin-MadisonUnited States
    Measuring Gravitational Redshift at the Centimeter Scale with a Multiplexed Optical Lattice Clock
  • Thomas Krauss, University of YorkUnited Kingdom
    High Performance, Low-cost Nanophotonic Biosensors
  • Michael Kudenov, North Carolina State UniversityUnited States
    The Trash Can Imaging Spectrometer: Using Absorbing Polymer Films and Neural Networks for Infrared Chemical Sensing
  • Arnaud Landragin, Observatoire de ParisFrance
    Rotation Measurements with a Large-area Dual-axis Cold Atom Gyroscope
  • Lindsay LeBlanc, University of AlbertaCanada
    Microwave and Optical-manipulation of Rubidium Atoms in 3D Microwave Cavities
  • Robert McConnell, Massachusetts Inst of Tech Lincoln LabUnited States
    Technologies for Portable Optical Clocks
  • Jean-Michel Melkonian, Office Natl d'Etudes Rech AerospatialesFrance
    Standoff Detection of Hazardous Gaseous Chemicals in the LWIR with OPO-based Lidars
  • Carlos Meriles, CUNY City CollegeUnited States
    Deep-learning-assisted Noise Spectroscopy via Nitrogen-vacancy Centers in Diamond
  • Kara Peters, North Carolina State UniversityUnited States
    Acoustic-optical Interactions in Optical Fiber Sensors for Ultrasonic Inspection of Structures
  • Zachary Taylor, Aalto Yliopisto
    Corneal Water Content Measurement via Submillimeter Wave Reflectometry
  • Ahmet Yanik, University of California Santa CruzUnited States
    Electro-Plasmonic Biosensors for Ultrasensitive Imaging of Electric Field Dynamics and Bioelectric Cell Signaling

Top


Committee

Paul Pellegrino, US Army Research Laboratory, USAChair  
Gilberto Brambilla, University of Southampton, UK, Program Chair
Frank Vollmer, Max-Planck-Inst Physik des Lichts, GermanyProgram Chair            

Optical Fiber Sensors

Sinead O'KeeffeUniversity of Limerick, IrelandSubcommittee Chair            
Kyriacos Kalli, Cyprus University of Technology, Greece
Jose-Miguel Lopez-Higuera, Universidad de Cantabria, Spain    
Janet Lou, US Naval Research Laboratory, USA 
Charusluk Viphavakit, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Laser Based Sensors

Yoonchan Jeong, Seoul National University, South Korea, Subcommittee Chair 
Peter Dragic, Univerity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA 
Christian Grillet, CNRS, France  
Peter Horak, University of Southampton, UK               
Kwang Jo Lee, Kyung Hee University, South Korea         
Peter Vasil'ev, University of Cambridge, UK        

Optical Chemical and Biological Sensors

Ellen Holthoff, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, USA, Subcommittee Co-Chair
Kevin Majors, US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), USA, Subcommittee Co-Chair             
Elena Benito Peña, Complutense University, Spain
Matthew Coppock, US Army Research Laboratory, USA
Michael Daniele, NC State University, USA​     
Claudio Otón, Scuola Superiore Sant Anna di Pisa​, Italy 
Rosanna Robertson Anderson, U.S. Department of Homeland Security S&T, USA
J. Gonzalo Wangüemert Pérez, ETSI- Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Malaga, Spain

Nanophotonic and Plasmonic Biosensors

Filiz Yesilkoy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, Subcommittee Chair
Marketa Bockova, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechia​
Huilin Shao, National University of Singapore, Singapore​
Wei-Chuan Shih, University of Houston, USA
Misha Sumetsky, Aston University, UK  
Yang Zhao, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA​ 
Peter Zijlstra, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands​

THz Sensing

Henry Everitt, CCDC-Aviation & Missile Center, USA, Subcommittee Chair
Jessica Boland, University of Manchester, UK
Elliott Brown, Wright State University, USA​
Enrique Castro-Camus, Centro de Investigaciones en Optica AC, Mexico​
Qing Hu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA​
Tadao Nagatsuma, University of Osaka, Japan

Quantum Sensing

Jennifer Choy, University of Wisconsin, USA, Subcommittee Chair
Clarice Aiello, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), USA
Kevin Cox, U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), USA​
Connor Hart, University of Maryland, USA
Sara Mouradian, University of California - Berkeley, USA
Matthew Turner, University of Maryland, USA

Top


Plenary Session

Demetri Psaltis

Ecole Polytechnique Fedearale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Optics and Neural Networks

I will describe systems that combine machine learning and optics., In these systems optical devices perform neural computations or neural networks are used to interpret optical signals.

About the Speaker

Demetri Psaltis is Professor of Optics and the Director of the Optics Laboratory at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He was a professor at the California Institute of Technology from 1980 to 2006. He moved to EPFL in 2007. His research interests are imaging, holography, biophotonics, nonlinear optics, and optofluidics. Professor Psaltis is a fellow of the IEEE, the Optical Society of America, the European Optical Society and the Society for Photo-optical Systems Engineering. He received the International Commission of Optics Prize, the Humboldt Award, the Leith Medal, the Gabor Prize and the Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize.

Abbie Watnik

US Naval Research Laboratory, USA

Imaging in Adverse Environments

I will provide an overview of techniques and optical technologies that allow us to see in the midst of challenging conditions including fog, underwater scattering and strong atmospheric turbulence.

About the Speaker

Dr. Abbie Watnik is Head of the Optical Techniques Section in the Optical Sciences Division at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC USA. The focus of Dr. Watnik’s work is active imaging for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems; topics of interest include computational imaging, propagation through the atmosphere, novel airborne and underwater imaging systems as well as adaptive optics and wavefront sensing. Dr. Watnik received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State University and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Optics from the University of Rochester. Dr. Watnik is recipient of the 2016 Delores M. Etter Top Scientists and Engineers Award for Emergent Scientist Investigators, an award recognizing the Department of the Navy’s scientists who have made significant contributions to their field.

Top


Special Events

Meet the Plenary Speaker - Jelena Vučković

Monday, 19 July 10:15 – 10:45

Host: Jennifer Choy, University of Wisconsin, USA

The co-located OSA Optical Sensors and Sensing Congress and OSA Imaging and Applied Optics Congress will feature 4 Plenary Speakers. Following technical talks, join your colleagues for a meet-and-greet and discussion with one of our Optical Sensors and Sensing Congress Plenary Speaker Jelena Vučković, Stanford University, USA.

Successfully Navigate an OSA Virtual Meeting

Monday, 19 July 15:00 – 16:00

The post-COVID world has new challenges in regards to virtual meetings – are you prepared? Listen to Isaiah Hankel, Cheeky Scientist, help guide you through the different platforms OSA uses and how you can effectively network and get the most out of your meeting experience.

AIS Panel: Agri-Photonics Panel Discussion

Monday, 19 July 15:00 – 16:30

Organizers: Gombojav Ariunbold, Mississippi State University, USA; Krishnan Parameswaran, Analog Devices, USA; Amartya Sengupta, Indian Institute of Technology, Dehli, India; Joachim Sacher, Sacher Lasertechnik GmbH, Germany

Spectroscopic techniques have many applications in agriculture and food production. This panel discussion will include presenters from the industrial, academic, and the regulatory communities to complement technical papers on this subject. The different perspectives will enable connection of measurement challenges to solutions and accelerate deployment of optics in the important food production application area.Spectroscopic techniques have many applications in agriculture and food production. This panel discussion will include presenters from the industrial, academic, and the regulatory communities to complement technical papers on this subject. The different perspectives will enable connection of measurement challenges to solutions and accelerate deployment of optics in the important food production application area.

Panelists:

Prof. Aparajita Bandyopadhyay, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India
Dr. Richard Crocombe, Crocombe Spectroscopic Consulting, LLC, UK
Dr. Ellen Miseo, TeakOrigin, USA
Prof. Mohamed Sabsabi, National Research Council, Canada
Dr. Steven Thomson, US Department of Agriculture, USA

Meet the Plenary Speaker - Paolo Gamba

Tuesday, 20 July 09:15 – 09:45

Host: Emmett Ientilucci, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA

The co-located OSA Optical Sensors and Sensing Congress and OSA Imaging and Applied Optics Congress will feature 4 Plenary Speakers. Following technical talks, join your colleagues for a meet-and-greet and discussion with one of our Optical Sensors and Sensing Congress Plenary Speaker Paolo Gamba, University of Pavia, Italy.

OSA Color Technical Group Coffee Break

Tuesday, 20 July 14:30 – 15:30

The OSA Color Technical Group invites you to join them for a virtual coffee break. Grab a cup of coffee, tea or beverage of your choice and join us for a chance to chat with your fellow vision scientists.

Challenges and Opportunities in Imaging with Metasurfaces

Tuesday, 20 July 17:00 – 18:00

You are invited to join the OSA Photonic Metamaterials Technical Group for a special panel discussion exploring the field of imaging metasurfaces. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from prominent members of the photonic metamaterials community as they discuss possible routes of innovation utilizing ultra-thin optics, including but not limited to applications in AR/VR, aerial imaging, microscopy and endoscopy, night vision, and other potential markets for this technology. Our panelists for this event will include Arseniy Kuznetsov, Senior Research Fellow at the Data Storage Institute, and Robert Devlin, founder and CEO of Metalenz.

It’s as easy as pie?: My perspective balancing career, family and society’s expectations

Wednesday, 21 July 08:00 – 09:00

“You are going to have a career, how do you ever expect to have time to make pie?” Jessica never considered that she may have to make choices between this idealized vision in her head and career goals. It can be difficult navigating the “gender stereotypes and expectations” that society subconsciously places on a wife and mother.

In this talk Jessica DeGroote Nelson, Director of Technology and Strategy at Optimax, will share her continuous journey to find balance, between career in strategic planning and technical road mapping, family and the guilt that she’s only able to carve out time to make apple pie for Thanksgiving (and on Pi Day)! Listen to Jessica share her perspective on this balance pre-pandemic, during the pandemic and dream for what post-pandemic expectations might be for the future women engineers and scientists following their passion.

AIS Panel: Microplastics in the Environment: Challenges and Opportunities

Wednesday, 21 July 08:30 – 10:00

This panel discusses the current challenges, spectroscopy methods and related funding opportunities on the topic of microplastics in the environment.

Panelists:

Gombojav O. Arinbold, Mississippi State University, USA
Susanne Brander, Oregon State University, USA
Jeremy Conkle, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, USA
Harry Nelson, Yokogawa Fluid Imaging Technologies, USA
Karl Rockne, National Science Foundation, USA
Matthieu Roussey, University of Eastern Finland, Finland
Leah Thornton Hampton, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, USA

OSA NonImaging Optical Design Technical Group Coffee Break

Wednesday, 21 July 15:00 – 16:00

Join the OSA NonImaging Optical Design Technical Group for a virtual coffee break. This informal networking session offers attendees the chance to move around Zoom breakout rooms for small group discussions. This will be an excellent opportunity to connect with fellow members of your community, share your research and potentially establish new collaborations.

OSA Imaging Optical Design Technical Group Coffee Break

Thursday, 22 July 13:00 – 14:00

You are invited to join the OSA Imaging Optical Design Technical Group for a virtual coffee break. This informal networking session offers attendees the chance to move around Zoom breakout rooms for small group discussions. This will be an excellent opportunity to connect with fellow members of your community, share your research and potentially establish new collaborations.

Meet the Plenary Speaker - Abbie Watnik

Friday, 23 July 12:15 – 12:45

Host: Vidya Ganapati, Swathmore College, USA

The co-located OSA Optical Sensors and Sensing Congress and OSA Imaging and Applied Optics Congress will feature 4 Plenary Speakers. Following technical talks, join your colleagues for a meet-and-greet and discussion with one of our Imaging and Applied Optics Congress Plenary Speaker Abbie Watnik, US Naval Research Laboratory, USA.

Student Paper Competition: Congratulations to the 2021 Winners and Finalists
3D Imaging Aquisition and Display: Technology, Perception and Applications (3D)

Winner
Elliott Kwan, University of Arizona, USA (3Th2D.6)
Tri-Aperture Monocular Laparoscopic Objective for Stereoscopic and Wide Field of View Acquisition


Finalists
Timothy O'Connor, University of Connecticut, USA (3W5A.3)
Overview on convolutional neural network-based classification of red blood cells in lensless single random phase encoding

Marcos Pérez-Aviñoa, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain (3W3G.2)
3D Degree of Polarization and its Fundamental Limits

Kashif Usmani, University of Connecticut, USA (3F4A.1)
Visible and long-wave infrared imaging in degraded environments using three-dimensional polarimetric integral imaging

Computational Optical Sensing and Imaging (COSI)

Winner
Kevin Zhou, Duke University​, USA (CW4H.1)
Incoherent 3D k-space synthesis with volumetric optical coherence refraction tomography

Finalists
Xiaomeng Liu, Advanced Research Center for Nanolithogr, Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Laserlab, Vrije Universiteit, Netherlands (CTu6A.2)
Tailoring Spatial Entropy in Extreme Ultraviolet Focused Beams for Multispectral Ptychography

Daniel Olesker, University of Glasgow​, United Kingdom (CTu4B.1)
Video-Rate Volumetric Imaging of Extended Structures with Engineered PSFs

Jiazhang Wang, Northwestern UniversityUSA  ( CF2E.3)
VR Eye-Tracking using Deflectometry

Digital Holography and Three-Dimensional Imaging (DH)

Winner
Myeong-ho Choi, Inha University, South Korea (DF2F.5)
Waveguide-type optical see-through Maxwellian near-eye display with expanded eyebox using multiplexed holographic optical element and polarization gratings


Finalists
Haiyun Guo, University of DaytonUSA (DTh5C.4)
Surface Shape Reconstruction of Transparent Objects using Structured Light

Manami Ohta, The University of Electro-Communications, Japan (DM5E.2)
Three-dimensional imaging through thick phase-fluctuating medium based on phase-shift digital holography with two adjacent light sources for common-path geometry

Imaging Systems and Applications (IS)

Winner
Chiara Bonati, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland  (ITh1B.4)
Lock-In Amplified Differential Phase Contrast

Finalists
Ruipeng Guo, University of UtahUSA (ITh5D.3)
Needle-based deep-neural-network imaging method

Alice Ruget, Heriot Watt University, UK  (ITh5D.4)
Robust and Guided Super-resolution for Single-Photon Depth Imaging via a Deep Network

Chaowei Zhuang, Tsinghua University, China (ITu7A.7)
Simultaneous superficial cortex and deep brain imaging in mice brain using wide-field microscope through implanting custom-built cranial window

Propagation through and Characterization of Atmospheric and Oceanic Phenomena (pcAOP)

Winner
Derek Burrell, Air Force Research Laboratory and University of Arizona, United States (PW4F.5)
Fast Statistical Testing of Scintillated, Speckled Irradiance

Finalist
Pedro Salcedo Serrano, University of Málaga, Spain (PM2G.2)
Outage capacity of underwater FSO systems over scattering-induced fading channels

Top

Image for keeping the session alive