Collaborating Students at the Wyant College of Optical Sciences Awarded Best Paper at SPIE Photonics West

A team of students collaborating from the Takashima Advanced LIDAR and Display Lab and the Willomitzer Computational 3D Imaging and Measurement Lab have been awarded the Best Student Paper Award at the Emerging Digital Micromirror Device Based Systems and Applications XVII conference during SPIE Photonics West 2025. The research team of students is advised by Wyant College of Optical Sciences faculty, Yuzuru Takashima, professor of optical sciences, and Florian Willomitzer, associate professor of optical sciences. Included students are lead author, Gregory Nero, as well as Jeff Chen and Xianyue Deng from the Takashima Lab, and Muralidhar Madabhushi Balaji and John Bass from the Willomitzer Lab.

Their paper, titled "Simulating the Beam Steering Accuracy and Efficiency of a Pixelated Micromirror Phase Light Modulator," was presented by Gregory Nero at the conference. The work has revealed that a Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) based Phase Light Modulator enables precise laser beam steering with micro-radian level accuracy in more robust manner and potentially with substantially lower cost compared to purely mechanical beam steering approaches such as a voice coil actuated fast steering mirror. The paper presented at SPIE Photonics West 2025 addressed the potential of MEMS-based Phase Light Modulators for beam steering applications. 

This is the third time students from the College have won this award for their work in LiDAR and AR displays, with previous wins in 2020 and 2022. Congratulations!