Network of Excellence in Micro-Optics (NEMO)

Project coordinator: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.

Partners: Studiecentrum voor Kernenergie — Centre d’Etudes de l’Energie Nucleaire, Belgium; VDM Laser Optics NV, Belgium; Universiteit Gent, Belgium; Heptagon OY, Finland; Joensuun Ylio­pisto, Finland; VTT Valtion Teknillinen Tutkimuskeskus (Technical Research Centre of Finland), Finland; Thales S.A., France; Cen­tre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France; Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V., Germany; Lighttrans GmbH, Germany; Friedrich-Alexander Uni­versitaet Erlangen — Nuernberg, Germany; Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, Germany; Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy; Technische Universiteit Delft, Netherlands; National Insti­tute of Telecommunications, Poland, Politechnika Wrocławska (Wroclaw University of Technology), Poland; Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej (Maria Curie Sklodowska University), Poland; Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Chalmers Tekniska Hoegskola Aktiebolag, Sweden; Uppsala Universitet, Sweden; Universite de Neuchat­el, Switzerland; CSEM Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Micro­technique S.A. — Recherche et Developpment, Switzerland; Suss Microoptics SA, Switzerland; Sabanci University, Turkey; Koc Uni­versity, Turkey; University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom; Heri­ot-Watt University, United Kingdom.

Aim of project: This Network of Excellence on Micro-Optics NEMO aims at providing Europe with a complete Micro-Optics food-chain through setting up centers for Optical Modelling and De­sign; Measurement and Instrumentation; Mastering, Prototyping and Replication; Hybrid Integration and Packaging; Reliability and Standardization. A first objective of the NEMO network is to make these service and technology centres accessible to ac­ademic research institutes, SME’s, and large companies to en­hance the competitiveness of photonic-based products and the durable embedding of novel photonic functionalities in a myri­ad of products. A second objective is to use these service and technology centres to support the network’s six long-term ap­plication-oriented research topics on micro-optics: Mid-Infra-Red micro-optics, Sub-wavelength structured optical surfaces, Platforms for optical MEMS, Non-conventional micro-optical el­ements, Micro-optical structures for sensing, and Micro-optic interconnects. These long-term research topics aim at widen­ing the scope of present-day research and at introducing novel concepts and components, thus creating new photonic func­tionalities applicable in virtually any region of the optical spec­trum and beyond. With its long-term research NEMO is targeting a wealth of novel optical and photonic applications to increase the quality of daily life.

Three units of Warsaw University of Technology participate in this project: Faculty of Mechatronics, Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology and Faculty of Physics, and are re­sponsible for contributions and deliverables in the fields of Op­tical Modelling and Design; Measurement and Instrumentation as well as Mastering, Prototyping and Replication.

Expected results: The project aims at setting up of a Network of Excellence for Micro-Optics “NEMO” with a threefold mission:

To provide the European Research Area with a durable world-force in long-term research on micro-optical components, systems and technologies;

To establish service and technology providing centres, which will be accessible for companies, in order to facilitate the up­take of advanced micro-optic technologies in future commer­cial products and to enhance European competitiveness in tomorrow’s information society;

To disseminate expertise on micro-optics to the scientific and industrial world and create an active awareness with the gen­eral public on the role that light and micro-optics will play to improve the quality of life.

Specific goals of Centres of Excellence in which participating units of Warsaw University of Technology are involved in are:

• The Centre for Modelling and Design: whose objectives are to collect and benchmark the different commercial and pro­prietary micro-optics and photonics modelling and design software, and to identify the missing fields in the micro-op­tics simulation tools;
• The Centre for Measurement and Instrumentation: whose ob­jectives are to collect and benchmark the different commer­cial and proprietary micro-optics measurement instruments and the associated analysis software for the characterization of micro-optical components and optical materials, to identi­fy the white spots in this field and to develop novel measure­ment concepts and instrumentation for novel micro-optical characteristics and quantities;
• The Centre for Prototyping, Mastering and Replication: whose objectives are to evaluate and compare the different prototyp­ing, mastering and replication technologies in NEMO’s tech­nology portfolio, and to push the specifications of a selection of these technologies.