Photonics: future or an opportunity for now?

Photonics is the technology concerned with generating, transporting and detecting light waves or light particles. Photonics is seen as a key technology for the 21st century. How does photonics play a role in the laboratory and how will this develop in the coming years? During the seminar Photonics: future or an opportunity for now? These questions will be discussed on Tuesday, October 2. Background stories about the use of photonics to improve Food Safety and medical photonics are on the programme.

Ron van der Kolk from PhotonicsNL kicks off the seminar with a presentation about the backgrounds and application areas of Photonics.

Medical photonics is a multidisciplinary field where physicists collaborate with biologists and physicians to optimally utilize the properties of light for medical purposes. Light offers countless possibilities to collect diagnostically relevant information about biological tissue in a non- or minimally invasive manner. TNO's research focuses primarily on photonics-based diagnostic devices for use throughout the entire health chain: for prevention in the 0th line, for diagnostics in the 1st and 2nd line, and for therapy effectiveness monitoring in the 0th to 2nd line. . In his presentation light Arjen Amelink explains some of these applications of light in medicine.

Lien Smeesters from VU Brussels discusses photonics technologies that improve food safety. The interaction of laser light with food products makes it possible to detect the presence of harmful elements, without affecting the products themselves. As an example, we focus on monitoring acrylamide formation during the production of fries and on the detection of mycotoxins in grains. The integration of the optical sensing technologies into laser-based scanning systems, lab-on-a-chip configurations and robotics paves the way to industrial implementation, contributing to increased food safety.

The seminar will take place on Tuesday, October 2 between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM. You can Register now for free for participating in this seminar.