Photonics for a Better World

"Naturally, a deep-UV spectroscopy lab has to have  cool purple lights." -Joby This week on the SPIE Faces of Photonics series, we interviewed UK native Joseph Razzell Hollis. Joseph, better known as Joby, is a postdoc at NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), working on the Mars 2020 rover mission. His passions include knitting, Raman microscopy, and advocating for greater LGBT+ inclusivity in STEM. He is a trustee for Pride in STEM , an award-nominated charitable trust that supports LGBT+ people in the STEM field. In addition, you can find Joby tweeting from the @LGBT_Physics account , which celebrates diversity in science. Enjoy the interview with Joby, and don't forget to follow him on Twitter! 1. Tell us about when you first became interested in optics and photonics. I studied chemistry as an undergraduate, and it was synthesising quantum dots that made me realise the incredible beauty of how atoms and light interact. It was all downhill from there! I quickly be...

Beginning in 2020, three new annual SPIE awards will honor iconic leaders of optics and photonics, as well as those following in their footsteps: the second female winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, a pioneer of image science, and a timely recognition of proactive diversity initiatives in optics. In a rapidly-changing research landscape, these awards showcase two of SPIE’s key technical communities, and reflect the Society’s ongoing commitment to advocate for diversity and inclusion on a global level. Named for one of three 1963 Nobel Prize for Physics winners – and the second woman to win that accolade after Marie Curie – the SPIE Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award in Photonics recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of photonics and the development of innovative, high impact technologies. Goeppert-Mayer, who won the Nobel alongside J. Hans D. Jensen for proposing the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus, also outlined the possibility of two-photon absorption by atoms ...

Jonghee Yoon SPIE's #FacesofPhotonics is sharing the story of Jonghee Yoon. Jonghee is a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge in Dr. Sarah Bohndiek’s VISIONLab. He is originally from South Korea, and his current research involves using hyperspectral imaging to identify and diagnosis oesophageal cancer. Enjoy the interview with Jonghee. 1. Tell us about when you first became interested in optics and photonics. When I was a high-school student, I had a great opportunity to attend a summer camp held in South Korea's Postech University. The camp program introduced various research areas, and provided lab tours to students. ⠀ One of laboratories I visited was doing biochemical research. The researchers showed me microscopic images of a chicken eggshell captured by scanning electron microscopy. At that time I had no idea about optics and microscopy, but I was hooked on the microscopic images. Since then I have become interested in microscopic imaging and op...