INESC TEC research awarded at international optics and photonics conference

The research work developed by Paulo Santos and Tiago Ferreira, INESC TEC researchers, was acknowledged at the International Conference AOP 2022 – 5^th International Conference on Application of Optics and Photonics, promoted by the Portuguese Society of Optics and Photonics (SPOF). André Gomes, former INESC TEC researcher, received the awards for best PhD thesis at the conference.

Paulo Santos, researcher at INESC TEC Centre for Applied Photonics (CAP), received the “Best Talk” award by MDPI Journal “Sensors”, thanks to his paper “Strongly coupled plasmonic systems on optical fiber sensors“. The work presents a new approach to the development of fibre optic plasmonic sensors, through the creation of nanocavities between nanoparticles and thin films. “These nanocavities generate a significant electromagnetic field increase between the nanostructures, leading to a significant improvement in refractometric sensitivity. With this work, it’s possible to obtain plasmonic bands in the near infrared with wavelength adjustment capacity varying the size of the nanoparticles”, explained the researcher. This configuration will enable more efficient plasmonic sensors operating at wavelengths compatible with conventional single-mode optical fibres.

Paulo Santos is also a PhD student, at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), under the scientific supervision of Luís Coelho, researcher at INESC TEC, and co-supervision of José de Almeida, also a researcher at INESC TEC and professor at UTAD, and Isabel Pastoriza-Santos, professor at the University of Vigo. This work, developed within the scope of his thesis, also included contributions from João Mendes and Bernardo Dias, researchers at INESC TEC.

Tiago Ferreira (CAP) won the second prize “Best Student Poster Presentation” from SPIE, thanks to his poster “Reservoir computing with nonlinear optical media“. The presentation focuses on the research work exploring the possibility of implementing a computing system using reservoir computing principles. “This work lays the foundations for the development of information processing systems in the optical field, which will allow these operations to be carried out in a parallel, fast and low-energy consumption manner,” said the researcher. This work was developed within the scope of the LightBrain project, also featuring the support by Nuno Silva, Duarte Silva and Carla Rosa, researchers at INESC TEC. Tiago Ferreira is a PhD student at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP), with Ariel Guerreiro, researcher at INESC TEC and professor at FCUP as scientific supervisor.

André Gomes received the “Best PhD Thesis in Optics and Photonics in Portugal in 2021” award for his PhD thesis “Advanced fiber sensing technologies using microstructures and Vernier effect“. The research work developed at CAP focused on the development of advanced fibre optic sensing technologies. The Vernier effect applied to optical fibres enables the development of optic sensors with a sensitivity up to 1000 times higher than the values currently obtained with conventional sensors.

“The sensing elements were designed with improved sensing capabilities, namely the ability to achieve high sensitivity values. The structures developed were based on two main components: the creation of interferometric microstructures in optic microfibers and microfiber probes, and the application of the Vernier effect”, explained André Gomes, a PhD student at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP). This research work was developed under the scientific supervision of Orlando Frazão, a researcher at INESC TEC, and co-supervision of Hartmut Bartelt, a researcher at IPHT Jena.

The triennial AOP Conference took place in Guimarães, at the Hotel de Guimarães Business & SPA, between July 18 and 22, 2022.

The INESC TEC researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC, UP-FCUP and UP-FEUP