The document presents various research projects and collaborations in the field of optics and photonics, highlighting the accomplishments of Ariadna and Optech. It details the development of innovative technologies such as biosensing using spider silk and advanced optical sensors for satellite propellant gauging. The findings indicate significant progress in bridging the gap between academia and industry through extensive R&D efforts, resulting in numerous publications and practical applications.

1. ACT-ESA PRESENTATION
FROM ARIADNAS TO INDUSTRY R&D IN
OPTICS AND PHOTONICS
28th of February 2024

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Isabelle Dicaire - Research Fellow in Earth System Science, ACT 2012-2015
Ariadna 1: Spaceborne laser filamentation for atmospheric remote sensing
Ariadna 2: Detection and analysis of climate tipping points using genetic algorithms
Ariadna 3: The Silky Way: Biomimetic sensing through changes in structural proteins
BACKGROUND
* In collaboration with ACT colleagues:
Francisco Fernandez-Navarro & Nasia
Nikolaou
* Outcome: 5 papers published
* In collaboration with ACT colleague:
Tom Gheysens
* Outcome: 6 papers published
* Outcome: 2 papers published

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BIOMIMETIC SENSING THROUGH CHANGES IN STRUCTURAL PROTEINS
Project aim for the Ariadna study: proof-of-concept study of biosensing using spider silk
1st step: Spider “milking” to extract the dragline silk – done by Tom at the Oxford Silk Group
2nd step: Injecting light from an optical fiber into the spider silk – done by the Group for Fiber Optics at EPFL

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DESCRIPTION OF ARIADNA STUDY THE SILKY WAY:
3rd step: Measure the optical properties of the silk – done by the Group for Fiber Optics at EPFL
4th step: Proof-of-concept of breath analysis through polarimetry using spider silk

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DATA ANALYSIS METHOD OF CHOICE – OPTECH.ORG
Physics-based
Chemometrics &
Machine Learning
Optical
data
Physics-
Based
Model Chemistry
data

6. Non-profit organization in operation since 2002 |
Located in Montréal, Canada
Specialized in optics & photonics 2 < TRL < 8
• Industrial product & process developement
• Applied Research
• Measurement services

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From academic research to industry implementation…
Source: Factors that Foster Industry-University Cooperation: Implications for I/UCRCs. Paper presented
by M. Jelinek at the National Science Foundation - Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers
Program Evaluator Meeting, Arlington, VA, June 2006. © Mariann Jelinek, PhD, Professor of Strategy
Emerita, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg VA, 23185,
TRL
TRL 4 to 8
❖ Industry R&D is ~100X more
expensive than academic research
because :
1) Prototypes must be robust to
pressure, temperature, vibration,
etc, adding complexity and cost.
2) Extensive testing required to
understand failure modes and
improve reliability
❖ Lack of funding and low
government priority
❖ Must have good ROI – return on
investment
❖ Competition between different
technological solutions to achieve
a desired outcome for the client

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Optech: bridging the gap between academia and industry R&D
TRL:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Pull
Industry
R&D
Push
Academic
R&D
Terrile, Richard J., et al. "Calibrating the technology readiness level (TRL) scale using NASA
mission data." 2015 ieee aerospace conference. IEEE, 2015.
$37 $31
$373 $363
$1249 $1262
y = 14,13e0,8211x
2 3 4 5 6 7
Investments
(k$
CAD)
Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
DEVELOPMENT COSTS
OPTECH PROJECT K.
Series1 Expon. (Series1)

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Optech: bridging the gap between academia and industry R&D
31 employees: physicists, engineers, technicians + admin staff
140+ projects done with more than 60 private companies in 2022
Network of 2400 employees that supports 6000+ companies per year
+10M$ in equipment with 600 m2 of laboratories
Only 8% of our revenues = recurrent public funding

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EXPERTISES
Fiber Optics
and Sensors
Illumination
and Imaging
Optical
Metrology
Microsystems Artificial
Intelligence &
Optics

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FIBER OPTICS AND SENSORS
11
Development of a palladium
nanoparticles ink for hydrogen
sensing applications
3D printed palladium
layer on an optical fiber

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FIBER OPTICS AND SENSORS
12
Proof-of-concept of quantum
optics sensing using 3D-printed
upconversion nanoparticles

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MICROSYSTEMS
13
Technologies Piezoelectric HAPT FBG (Proba 2) DBR Fiber laser
Pressure resolution (mBar) 13 2 0.03
Pressure resolution (%FS 0-25 Bar) 0.05% 0.01% 0.00015%
Temperature (K) 0.5K/300K 0.05 0.004-0.1
Precision on the propellant measurement
(months)
7(42) for a 10(15)-year
mission
N/D 1(5) - 3(16) for a 10(15-
year mission
OSIP project: Improving satellite
propellant gauging accuracy with high
accuracy Optical Pressure Sensors and
Ultrafast Optoelectronics
ESA Contract No.
4000138372/22/NL/GLC/ov

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MICROSYSTEMS
14
OSIP project: Improving satellite propellant gauging
accuracy with high accuracy Optical Pressure Sensors and
Ultrafast Optoelectronics
ESA Contract No. 4000138372/22/NL/GLC/ov
Base package
(Aluminum, Kovar)
Lid
Membrane
(Sapphire/Silicon)
DBR fiber laser
Fitting for pressure controller
seal cover
5 assembled units

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ILLUMINATION AND IMAGING
Development of light
beacons for wind
turbines
Photoradiometry laboratory &
Optical design

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ILLUMINATION AND IMAGING
Development of a Raman imaging
system for cancer cell detection in
the OR during surgery

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OPTICAL METROLOGY
Structured light for 3D imaging
Methane sensing
Realtime wastewater
monitoring using a
custom optical sensor

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OPTICAL METROLOGY
Distributed temperature sensing
using dark telecom optical fiber
Laboratory proof-of-concept of
machine learning analysis for
distributed temperature sensing

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND OPTICS
Confidentiel
Provide precise quantitative information for embedded
metrology applications from prototype design to
manufacturing and tests:
❖ K-means clustering analysis
❖ PLS-DA classification
❖ Dimension reduction with PCA
❖ Machine learning – Training of classification and
regression models (decision tree, k nearest neighbors,
logistic regression, SVM, gradient boosting, AdaBoost,
Random Forest, CatBoost, MLP, XGB, etc)
❖ Deep learning for imaging applications
DevOps prototypes: deployment of models in production,
application monitoring and continuous improvements

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SOME OF OUR CLIENTS…