Photonics for a Better World

Meet this week's SPIE Faces of Photonics feature, Arfa Karani. Arfa is a physics PhD student at the University of Cambridge, studying the  physics of solar cells . She is originally from India, but has lived outside her home country for many years while pursuing her education.  Arfa was also President of the SPIE Student Chapter at the University of Cambridge in 2017-18, and continues to remain involved with the chapter when she's not hard at work in the university's Cavendish Lab. Enjoy her interview! (SOLAR) POWER UP: Arfa holds an organic LED with a small, yellow, brightly it pixel. Part of her work involves understanding the reverse mechanism of converting electricity to light. 1. How did you become interested in the optics and photonics field? Was there a person who  inspired you? My physics teacher at school inspired me. I got interested in studying optics because my curiosity was satisfied by this teacher, who was extremely enthusiastic about what t...

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...