The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is unique in its atomic resolution. The objective of the research is to develop an STM technique that will provide an NMR signal for each atom that the STM observe. This is possible using the hyperfine coupling between an electron which will be injected into the molecule and the nearby...
Harsh-environment sensors are key elements for the development of smart sensor networks. They enable extending the boundaries of such networks to the most inaccessible parts of human infrastructures. For the same reason, the design of harsh-environment sensors poses multiple material challenges, since these devices must survive in a hostile environment, while at the same time facilitate data acquisition...
Silicon based single photon avalanche diodes (SPAD) are already a valuable technological solution to detect and accurately measure photons. Arranged in in extended arrays as Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM), they can provide both single-photon counting sensitivity and fast responsivity in large-area detectors. However, some of their promising applications (LiDAR and 3D-ranging imaging at 850÷950 nm wavelengths, spectroscopy with red and...
Macular pigment is a yellowish pigment found at the central part of the retina of the human eye. It is believed to have two distinct roles: it protects the photoreceptors from photochemical damage by blocking high energy blue light, and it acts as an anti-oxidant, dealing with the harmful free radicals in the retina. It consists of three...
Micro-CT scanners create 3D images of small specimens’ X-ray attenuation. However, when attenuation is low, or there is little difference in attenuation between adjacent features, such scanners may provide insufficient image contrast. X-ray Phase Contrast Imaging (XPCI), originally introduced in synchrotron systems, is a method of imaging the refractive index of the specimen and is...
Positron emission tomography (PET) is used to non-invasively visualise and quantify cellular function and molecular processes in vivo. This enables better clinical decision making and health outcomes. PET is already used in clinical routine, for example in the treatment of cancer. One of the crucial performance parameters of a PET system is its sensitivity. This...
We aim to develop multilayer structures that alternate dielectric and metallic layers with nanoscale thickness for extremely high resolution imaging and optical sensing. Such structures constitute hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) that can act as super-lenses with a spatial resolution of some tens of nanometers, thus well below the diffraction limit. The layered geometry and fabrication, that...
The project is generically related to advanced optical microscopy and more particularly to fluorescence superresolution microscopy. For many years, optical microscopy has been troubled by an apparently insurmountable obstacle: the diffraction limit imposed by the wave nature of light, which restricts its capacity to resolve sample details below 200 nm, an increasingly inadequate size limit. It is then...
The socio-economic impact of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in Europe is around €175B annually. There is no cure today but pharmaceutical companies invest heavily in developing new drugs. However, each newly developed drug has to be assessed through a series of clinical trials. This demands major resources in the lifecycle of a new drug. Within the...
The SPHINX project aims building an ultrafast X-ray holographic camera able to record images of microscopic samples and of their internal parts with nanometer resolution. The proposal is based on a new implementation of the phase-contrast holography, that overcomes the main limitations encountered in the current systems (mostly based on absorption-contrast), namely the low energy...
Nowadays, mammography screening is the most effective tool to fight breast cancer. Still, more than 30% of cancers are not detected, in particular in case of dense breast tissue. Today, X-ray detectors for mammography are optimised for resolution but still lack in sensitivity if compared to angiography systems. Reason is the different technology they rely on. Mammography is...
IMAGO project has the ambitious objective to develop nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a resolution down to the micron scale. Considering that currently, the resolution of clinical MRI is about 1mm while the intrinsic resolution of molecular diffusion MRI (DMRI) is about 10-20 micrometres, the technology proposed to represent a clear advance on the state of the...
Many aspects of modern life can be improved by rapid, non-contact identification of chemicals. To control and understand harmful gasses we need to detect transport emissions in real city environments and also map them across continents. To keep European citizens and infrastructure safe we need to be able to scan for traces of explosive or...
Sensor technology impacts almost all major technologies and new and improved sensor systems will continue to be needed in the future. This project will develop a new paradigm for ultra-high-speed laser manufacturing of low-cost novel micro- and nano-sensor structures and smart 2-D sensory materials that could be even flexible and wearable. These could lead to...
Glass is one of the oldest materials used by mankind. In terms of its optical properties as well as mechanical, chemical and physical resilience, glass remains unmatched and significantly outperforms polymers in most applications in academia and industry. However, glass is notoriously difficult to shape and thus is often disfavoured over polymers. For novel, innovative...
The plastics industry is a major player in the European economy, and has an important role to play in the ecological transition into an energy-efficient and waste-free society. In addition to a higher recycling rate, a better design of plastic products is critical to reach Europe’s sustainable development goals as well as to stay competitive. The present project...
The Internet of Things (IoT) is widely predicted to cause a profound technological and societal transformation, on a par with the technological innovations of microelectronics and the internet that will underpin it. The number of IoT devices increased 31% year-on-year to reach 8.4 billion by 2017, and it is estimated that there will be in excess of...
Cancer is among the main causes for death in the EU. According to Eurostat more than 350,000 cancer-related surgeries in Germany and France were carried out in 2016 only. All surgeries face the same challenge: Was all cancerous tissue removed from the patient? Answering this question reliably during the surgery itself is vital, but unfortunately not possible...
The GP2 Module will be a state-of-the-art detector for imaging and 3D reconstruction within the emergent field of energy-resolved neutron imaging (ERNI). Neutron imaging is a well-established technique in which a beam of neutrons is used to record a radiograph of a sample, the neutronic equivalent to the familiar hospital x-ray of a broken bone. However, the full...
A challenge in cancer patient care is to monitor the response to treatment. Nowadays, most of the established approaches use tissue staining, which implies their invasive collection through, e.g., biopsies of the primary tumour. Patient follow-up therefore requires serial biopsies, making it very unpleasant for the patient. Alternatively, in vivo imaging approaches using MRI and...
