FastPix is a reconfigurable low light-level (LLL) hybrid sensor that can be scaled to arbitrarily large areas and that aims to detect the time of arrival of single photons with a time resolution (SPTR) close to 10 ps. The FastPix performance will be at least one order of magnitude better than any existing technology in time, spatial...
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...
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...
Lighting is present in most indoor areas. Apart from illumination, lighting infrastructure can be used for data communication using Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology. VLC encodes the dta into fast changes on the intensity of the LED light and, at the receiver, these intensity fluctuations are detected using a Photodiode. So far, the presence of opaque objects inside...
The main objective is to design and build the innovative CORaHE (COld Raman Head) sensor for Deep-UV Raman spectroscopy, to operate under cold environments between -30 and -5 oC. This portable sensor will perform non-destructive micro-Raman measurements of cold samples, without any limitation in size. The CORaHE sensor has been designed to cover the absence of technology to...
With PHIL we are proposing to design, build and evaluate a system for liquid biopsy (LB). Liquid biopsy, or the capacity to noninvasively isolate and analyse plasma tumour DNA (ptDNA) in blood samples, represents an important tool for modern oncology that enables increasingly safe, personalised, and robust cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, the very low concentration of ptDNA...
Glioblastoma (GB) is the major aggressive primary brain tumour in adults showing disproportion between high mortality compared to low overall incidence. Survival after detection is below 18 months even after standard aggressive treatment and no cure has been reported. Novel therapies (e.g. immunotherapy) may be very expensive and it may be relevant to have in...
