Special Session 3

SPECIAL SESSION #3

Valentina Bello

University of Pavia, Italy

• valentina.bello@unipv.it

Leonardo Bianchi

Politecnico di Milano, Italy

• leonardo.bianchi@polimi.it

Elisabetta Bodo

Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands

• e.bodo@tue.nl

Sabina Merlo

University of Pavia, Italy

• sabina.merlo@unipv.it

Photonics has been recognized by the European Union as one of the key enabling technologies (KETs) of the 21^st century, due to its transformative impact across multiple fields. In particular, photonic sensors and optical measurement systems are essential to drive innovation and sustainability across a variety of sectors, from industrial manufacturing to biology, from food safety to space exploration. This Special Session aims at showcasing the latest advancements about optical sensing and measuring technologies, with a particular emphasis on their application in the industrial, biological, medical, chemical, and environmental fields. Contributions focusing on integration between artificial intelligence (AI) and optical measuring systems and techniques are highly welcomed, too. Indeed, AI algorithms allows adaptive sensing, real-time data processing, and predictive analyses, significantly enhancing the accuracy, reliability, and overall performance of optical sensors.

Topics of interest for this Special Session include but are not limited to:

• Opto-fluidics
• Fiber optic sensors
• Optical sensing and AI
• Integrated photonics sensors
• Optical resonators for sensing
• Image-based optical sensors
• Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensors
• Near Infrared (NIR) and Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) sensing technologies
• Interferometry-based measuring systems
• Opto-electronic measuring system
• Optical MEMS
• Spectroscopy-based sensors
• Refractive index sensors
• Optical sensors for biomedical and biochemical applications
• Optical sensors for industrial and environmental applications
• Optical measuring systems and optical measuring configurations

Valentina Bello was born in Tortona (Italy) in 1994. She received the B.Sc. degree in Bioengineering and the M.Sc. degree (summa cum laude) in Electronic Engineering from the University of Pavia (Pavia, Italy), in 2016 and 2018, respectively. In 2022, she received the Ph.D. degree in Electronic, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the University of Pavia, discussing a dissertation on innovative micro-opto-fluidic sensing platforms for biochemical and medical applications. In 2018, she was visiting thesis student at KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium) within the Erasmus+ Traineeship program. In 2019, she was visiting researcher at Boston University Photonics Center (Boston, MA, USA). In 2024, she was visiting scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA). She is currently Assistant Professor in the field of Electrical and Electronic Measurements at University of Pavia. Her research interests include optoelectronics, optical instrumentation and measurements, opto-fluidics, optical sensing and artificial intelligence. She is a member of IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society, IEEE Photonics Society, IEEE Professional Communication Society, IEEE Young Professionals, IEEE Women in Engineering, and Italian GMEE (Gruppo Misure Elettriche ed Elettroniche). She is currently serving as Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurements and as Secretary of the IEEE Professional Communication Society Italy Chapter.

Elisabetta Bodo received the Bachelor’s degree in bioengineering and the Master’s degree in electronic engineering from the University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, in 2018 and 2020, respectively. She earned her Ph.D. from the same institution in 2024, working on the characterization of micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems (MOEMS) and the development of microfluidic devices for biochemical applications by means of innovative optical techniques. In 2022-2023, she was a Visiting Ph.D. student with the Laboratory for Microactuators of the University of Freiburg (IMTEK), Germany, working on fabrication and application of piezo-electrically actuated tunable lenses. In 2023-2024, she worked as Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Laboratory of ElectroOptics of the University of Pavia. She is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Photonic Integration group at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), working on integrated biosensors.

Leonardo Bianchi received the M.Sc. (cum laude) degree in biomedical engineering and the Ph.D. degree with honors in mechanical engineering, along with the European Doctoral Title (Doctor Europaeus) from the Politecnico di Milano, Italy. He has conducted research at several international institutions, including the Multi-Modality Medical Imaging group at the University of Twente, the Institute of Image-guided Surgery in Strasbourg, and in collaboration with the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope (USA). He is currently an Assistant Professor (RTDa) at Politecnico di Milano and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, after being awarded the prestigious “Roberto Rocca Project” post-doctoral fellowship. His research focuses on metrological evaluation of advanced sensors and measurement systems leveraging cutting-edge photonic technologies, e.g., fiber-optic sensors and hyperspectral imaging, for industrial and healthcare applications.

Sabina Merlo received in 1987 the master’s degree and in 1991 the Ph.D. degree, both in electronic engineering, from the University of Pavia. She also received the M.S.E. degree in bioengineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, in 1989, thanks to a Rotary Foundation Graduate Scholarship. Assistant Professor since 1993 and Associate Professor since 2001, she is now Full Professor of Electrical and electronic measurements since 2018 at the Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, University of Pavia. She is president of the Teaching council of Information Engineering at the University of Pavia. She has carried on scientific research in the field of optoelectronics, in collaboration with Italian and foreign Universities and companies, relative to the study, design and characterization of new components and measuring systems, relative to biomedical and industrial applications. She gave innovative contributions in the following fields: 1) Characterization of microdevices and microsensor: Silicon micromachined devices, MEMS, MOEMS, Silicon micromachined structures for biosensing, Silicon photonic crystals, Microfluidic devices, Micro-opto-fluidics. 2) Optical interferometry: Semiconductor laser feedback interferometry, vibrometry, wavelength -domain interferometry, low coherence reflectometry. 3) Fiber optic sensors and components. 4) Optical cryptography and chaotic phenomena in laser oscillators. 5) Noise limits in optoelectronic systems. She holds four patents and is the author of more than 200 publications in journals, books, and conference proceedings. She is an Associate Editor of MDPI Sensors and MDPI Micromachines.