Bio-inspired photonics for sensing and imaging
Prof. Mathias Kolle's lab - MIT
Prof. Silvia Vignolini's lab - University of Cambridge
Related publications:
Chazot, C. A. C., Nagelberg, S. N. , Rowlands, C. J. , Scherer, M. R. J. , Coropceanu, I., Broderick, K. , Kim, Y. , Bawendi, M.G., So, P. and Kolle, M., Luminescent Surfaces with Tailored Angular Emission for Compact Dark-Field Imaging Devices, Nature Photonics, 14:310-315, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-020-0593-1
During my time in Prof. Kolle’s lab, I led the development of a compact dark-field imaging device inspired by the microstructure found on the wings of the Papilio Blumei butterfly. The chip I designed used the bioinspired photonic structure to recycle and amplify light within the device, providing a low-cost energy-effective solution to teachers and field biologists for high-resolution visualization of difficult-to-image biological samples.
I next continued my work with bioinspired optical materials as a visiting student in Dr. Silvia Vignolini’s group for bioinspired photonics in the Chemistry Department of the University of Cambridge. There, I studied biocompatible sensors based on polymers derived from cellulose, an abundant biodegradable material produced by plants. I worked in collaboration with physicists and chemists on the early development and optical characterization of touch-responsive photonic sensors out of hydroxypropyl cellulose for sports apparel and medical devices.