PhD Photonics Engineering

The Faculty of Engineering, Department Toegepaste natuurkunde en fotonica, Research Group Brussels Photonics is looking for a PhD-student with a doctoral grant. 

More concretely your work package, for the preparation of a doctorate, contains: 

Brussels Photonics (B-PHOT) at the Faculty of Engineering of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) is looking for a full-time doctoral fellow to conduct research on end-to-end incoherent holographic imaging. The research will be carried out in close collaboration with the ETRO research group at VUB and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Japan.

Conventional cameras mainly record two-dimensional intensity images and therefore lose a significant part of a scene’s three-dimensional information. Holographic imaging can capture both amplitude and phase information, but traditionally requires highly coherent light and controlled laboratory conditions. Recent developments in incoherent holography make it possible to capture holographic information using natural and spatially incoherent light sources. However, the image quality of such systems is still limited by inaccurate models of incoherent light propagation and by the complex reconstruction of the underlying three-dimensional scene.

Within this PhD project, you will develop an end-to-end incoherent holographic imaging system. You will investigate models for the propagation of incoherent light and use these models for the joint optimisation of the optics and computational imaging. You will also contribute to the development and prototyping of the camera optics and hardware, with the aim of recording high-quality holograms under natural lighting conditions.

You are motivated to conduct scientific research and complete a PhD within four years. You will work closely with researchers at B-PHOT and ETRO and with international partners, present your results at international conferences, and build an international network in optics, holography and computational imaging. You will publish your research results in international peer-reviewed scientific journals.

The position also includes, to a limited extent, coordinating and supervising exercises, practical sessions and projects (WPO) for courses offered by the B-PHOT department. The specific assignment will be determined annually in consultation with you and your colleagues.

You will also contribute to activities promoting the programmes offered by the department, for example by attending VUB Information Days and SID-IN events, and may support the department’s day-to-day governance by participating in councils and/or committees. You can work both independently and as part of a team. You are open-minded, communicative and collegial towards your co-workers. You actively contribute to the department’s general operation and practical organisation. You will join a team that places a strong emphasis on collaboration, knowledge sharing and effective onboarding.

For this function, our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will serve as your home base.