Goal and background
Measuring the reflectance or transmittance spectrum of organic materials allows determining the composition of key constituents, such as sugar, fat and and protein. This is widely used in the food and chemical industries, but presently requires an analytical lab. The development of cheap, handheld spectral sensors would make them suitable for wide application in the agro-food sector, for example to monitor the growth of plants, the ripeness and aging of fruit, the properties of milk, etc, throughout the entire food production chain (from farms to consumers).
Our group is developing integrated photonic chips, based on advanced nanophotonic structures, which can measure the light spectrum in the near- and mid-infrared. In this project we intend to demonstrate their applicability to spectral sensing for agro-food applications.

Project description
 

Goal and background

Measuring the reflectance or transmittance spectrum of organic materials allows determining the composition of key constituents, such as sugar, fat and and protein. This is widely used in the food and chemical industries, but presently requires an analytical lab. The development of cheap, handheld spectral sensors would make them suitable for wide application in the agro-food sector, for example to monitor the growth of plants, the ripeness and aging of fruit, the properties of milk, etc, throughout the entire food production chain (from farms to consumers).

Our group is developing integrated photonic chips, based on advanced nanophotonic structures, which can measure the light spectrum in the near- and mid-infrared. In this project we intend to demonstrate their applicability to spectral sensing for agro-food applications.

Project description

The selected candidate will perform applied research in spectral sensing. Using nanophotonic spectral sensors fabricated in our group, he/she will build demonstrators which use diffuse reflectance to characterise chemical properties which are relevant for agro-food applications and compare their performance to analytical instruments.

The project will be carried out at the Eindhoven University of Technology, under the supervision of prof. dr. A. Fiore, Dep. Applied Physics, in collaboration with research and industrial partners active in the agro-food sector.

We welcome applications from candidates with a recent PhD degree in Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry or Food Science. A background and previous experience in optics is required. Candidates must prove a strong attitude towards experimental work and the drive and capacity to tackle different aspects of a complex problem with large independence.  A strong affinity with applied and industry-relevant research in the field of optical sensing, as well as an entrepreneurial attitude, are expected.