Background
Pablo graduated with a 1st class BSc in Physics, “Filtering of speckle noise in Synthetic Aperture Radar images”, from the National University of Salta (UNSa) and the Optics Research Centre (CIOp), Argentina in 1996. He then completed a PhD in Physics (Honours), “Measurement of transient events using electronic speckle pattern interferometry” at the Rosario Institute of Physics, Argentina, in 2002. Immediately after this, Pablo joined Loughborough University as a PDRA, and became Research Fellow in 2005, Lecturer in 2006, Senior Lecturer in 2010 and Reader in 2015.
Key Awards
- Royal Society Industry Fellowship (RSIF) 2012-15
- BSSM 50th Anniversary Plenary Speaker & Award NPL, 2014.
- Best paper award at Speckle 2012 International Conference, Vigo, Spain, 2012
- Best paper award at Speckle 2006 International Conference, Nimes, France, 2006
Patents
- “Single Shot Profilometer”. Patents: WO2011010092, CN102656420, EP2459958, JP2012533746, US2012176625
- “Method and Apparatus for measuring Distance”, UK PA No:2009723.4
Research interests and activities
Pablo's research is focused on Applied Optics and Photonics for High-Precision Metrology.
Pablo has over 20 years of experience in the development of optical instrumentation and techniques for non-contact optical metrology (surface profilometry, displacement, strain tomography, velocity, absolute distance, shape) and non-destructive testing (structural integrity, materials, Young’s modulus tomography). Some examples of techniques include speckle interferometry to study high-speed phenomena such as mechanical waves propagating through structural alloys; phase shifting techniques; 3D and 4D phase unwrapping; lensless imaging; ‘depth-resolved’ techniques related to Optical coherence tomography to measure deformation fields in semi-transparent scattering materials (e.g. cornea modulus distribution, thin films response to environmental conditions, photovoltaic encapsulant materials, inverse problems using the Virtual Fields Method, solitons propagation in mechanical waveguides).
Pablo held a Royal Society Industry Fellowship hosted first by Phase Vision Ltd and then Renishaw to develop ‘snapshot’ areal profilometry, i.e. fast measurement of surface shape without any sort of scanning required. I also investigated lensless imaging techniques for surface inspection using Synthetic Aperture Interferometry and Fourier optics. More recently, as part of the Future Advanced Metrology HUB, he pivoted towards silicon photonics as an ideal platform for instrumentation, partnering with the University of Southampton and Renishaw to develop adaptive delay lines and a wavelength meter on a photonic integrated circuit. We are incorporating this technology in high precision LIDAR for high-speed, decametre scale ranging.
External grants
- CI, EUR 2.8m total, £490k for LU, ‘JuvenTwin: Multiscale mechanobiological synergies in vascular homeostasis, ageing and rejuvenation’, ERC Advanced Grant, 2024-29. 3 stages of peer review. Partners: ENSAM, St Etienne; TU Graz, Austria; CNRS Lyon; Yale University, US; INSERM, France.
- PI, £190k, iCASE EPSRC studentship with Renishaw, ‘Athermal silicon photonics devices for absolute distance measurements’, 2024-29. Review by industrial partner.
- PI, £142k, iCASE EPSRC studentship with Renishaw, ‘Adaptive delay lines for absolute distance measurement’, 2022-26. Review by industrial partner.
- PI, £10.3m total, £1.15m for LU, ‘Future Advanced Metrology HUB’, EP/P006930/1, EPSRC, 2017-24. External peer-review. PI of Loughborough spoke. Lead by University of Huddersfield. Partners: UoH, Univ. of Bath, Sheffield Univ; >50 Industrial partners.
- CI, £795k, ‘Synthetic aperture interferometry: High-resolution optical measurement over an exceptionally large field of view, EP/M020940/1, EPSRC, 2015-18. External peer-review. Partners: Ametek Taylor-Hobson, Epigem Ltd.
- PI, £115k, ‘High-accuracy single-shot shape measurement using Hyperspectral Interferometry’, RF2012/R2, Royal Society Industry Fellowship, 2012-15. External peer-review. Partners: Phase Vision Ltd, Renishaw.
- CI, £2.87m total, £150k for my lab, ‘Stability and Performance of Photovoltaics (STAPP) – UK/India collaboration’, EP/H040331/1, EPSRC, 2010-14. External peer-review. Multiple academic and industrial partners in India and UK.
- CI, £439k, ‘3D strain-field mapping of scattering media using Wavelength Scanning Interferometry with application to damaged composites’, EP/F02861X/1, EPSRC, 2008-11, External peer review.
- PI, £240k, ‘Depth-resolved phase contrast metrology in life sciences and engineering’, EP/E050565/1 First Grant, EPSRC, 2007-10. External peer-review
Internal grants
- PI, £60k, ‘Photonic integrated ADLs for high-speed absolute distance measurement’, EPG – IAA, and patent fees, 2021
- CI, £15k, ‘PIC based ADLs for high-speed absolute distance measurement’ from MICRA, 2019.
- ‘Biomechanical assessment of corneal crosslinking (CXL): Determining the potential for vision correction through quantification of the effects of targeted treatment’, EPG – IAA, Jun 2021, £36k (£40k), CI (A. Wilson PI)
- PI, £70k, ‘Capital Equip. for Optical Coherence Tomography system, RCIF, 2009.
Current teaching responsibilities
- WSD902 Laser and optical measurements
- WSP102 Experimental Mechanics (Module Leader)
- WSB300 Engineering Computation (Module Leader)
- WSCD25META Individual Projects,
- WSP502META - Individual MSc Project
- WSI010 - DIS Industrial Placement
- WSB400 CADMAT
Current administrative responsibilities
- Director of Innovation and Impact for the Wolfson School
Over the years, Pablo collaborated with diverse academic and industrial partners, including:
Ecole de Mines of St Etienne, France; University of Southampton, University of Huddersfield, Sheffield University, University of Bath, the MTC, Epigem Ltd, Renishaw plc, Airbus, Phase Vision ltd, Ametek Taylor-Hobson, Centro de Investigaciones en Optica (CIO, Mexico), NPL, University of Los Andes (Colombia) and others.
Invited talks
§: International
23) § “High precision metrology with optical interferometry and photonics chips“, Physics Department, National University of Salta, Argentina, Aug 2023.
22) “Interferometry and 3D Vision lab at LU”, MCDDM conference, Loughborough, May 2023.
21) “Optical Instrumentation and Silicon photonics: Opportunities and Applications”, CORNERSTONE Programme meeting, Online, Nov 2022.
20) “High-performance wavelength meter on a photonic chip”, Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Oct 2022.
19) “From galaxies to precision surfaces: Single-shot areal profilometry using hyperspectral interferometry with micro-optics arrays”, Institute of Compound Semiconductors, Cardiff University, Physics and Astronomy Department, Feb 2020.
18) “Single-shot hyperspectral interferometry: From astronomy instrumentation to surface profilometry and depth-resolved deformation measurements”, The BSSM's 14th International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics, Belfast, Sep 2019.
17) § “Advances and Challenges in Synthetic Aperture Interferometry”, Digital Holography and 3-D Imaging Conference, Optical Society of America, Florida, USA, June 2018.
16) § Topical workshop, at the Symposium “Future Challenges to Optical Imaging and Measurement Technologies in Times of Digital Transition”, for the Inauguration of the ITO-Stuttgart Nano Measurement and Fabrication Centre, Stuttgart, Germany, 24-27th September 2017.
15) § “Mathematical framework based on linear systems theory for assessing resolution and sensitivity of tomographic phase measurement techniques”, Mathematical Optics Symposium, Schloss Herrenhausen, Germany, 20th June 2016 (cancelled)
14) Short course on “3D strain measurement techniques”, invited by BSSM as part of the 11th International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics, University of Exeter, 5th Sep 2016 (cancelled)
13) § “Tomographic optical strain imaging and spatially resolved material characterization”,Processes in Combined Digital Optical and Imaging Methods applied to Mechanical Engineering, Locarno, Switzerland, 8th May 2016.
12) “Tomographic mapping of strain and mechanical properties in the bulk of materials and tissues”, at the “Biomechanics and Bioengineering” seminar, Cardiff Institute of Tissue Engineering and Repair, Cardiff University, 15th Apr 2015.
11) § "Tomographic Imaging of displacements and strain fields: current techniques and applications”, King Abdulla University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, 28th Jan 2015.
10) 50th Anniversary Plenary Speaker “Tomographic imaging of displacement and strain fields: current techniques and applications”, Celebrating 50 years of the British Society for Strain Measurement, NPL, Teddington, UK, 4th Nov 2014.
9) “Mapping the spatial distribution of mechanical properties in the bulk of materials using 3-D displacement fields and inverse methods”, Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, School of Medicine, Keele University, 2 Oct 2014
8) “Towards the identification of spatially resolved mechanical properties in tissues and materials: State of the art, current challenges and opportunities in the field of flow measurements”, Micro and Nano Flows 2014, University College London, UK, 7-10 Sep 2014.
7) § “Measuring 3D displacement fields in the volume of semi-transparent materials and tissues”, Arts et Metiers, Institut des Sciences et Technologies, ParisTech, Paris, 27th Jun 2013.
6) § “Tomographic sensing of displacement fields with optical methods”, OSA International Conference on Optical Sensors, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, 8-11th Jul 2013.
5) § “Tomographic imaging of all orthogonal components of the displacement field in weakly scattering materials”, OCT4NDT, First International Symposium on Optical Coherence Tomography for Non-Destructive Testing, Linz, Austria, 12th Feb 2013.
4) § “Development of high displacement sensitivity tomographic imaging for characterizing the mechanical behaviour of materials and tissues”, Centre Ingénierie et Santé, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines, Saint-Etienne, France, 4-13th Jul 2011.
3) § “Advanced Imaging Methods for Accurate Deformation, Motion and Shape Measurements: Recent Developments and Applications”, Columbia, South Carolina, USA, 5-7th Oct 2009.
2) “Phase contrast optical coherence tomography for 3D metrology applications”, School of Physical Sciences seminars, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, 11th Feb 2009.
1) “Phase sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography for metrology applications”, Rank Prize Funds mini-symposium on Optical Aspects of Non-Destructive Testing, Grasmere, UK, 19-22nd May 2008.