The industry’s most innovative people 2024 Girolamo Mincuzzi Organisation: Alphanov


Role: Microscale Laser Processing Group Leader


Girolamo Mincuzzi wants to show that ultrashort laser technology can play an important role in reducing the carbon footprint of industrial production: “We want to increase the performances of devices for energy generation and energy storage and show that it’s possible to use lasers to increase materials' functionalities and performances while drastically reducing the use of chemicals.” Mincuzzi's team has found that flat


surfaces nano-textured via a laser can assume 3D shapes without any impact on


Gretchen Benedix


Organisation: School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University


Role: Professor


Gretchen Benedix is a cosmic mineralogist and astro-geologist using the chemistry, mineralogy, spectroscopy, and petrology of meteorites to understand the formation and evolution of asteroids and other planets. She has a broad educational background in geology, engineering, and physics, which she says lets her pull together multidisciplinary ideas to unravel the mysteries of the rocks. Benedix says: “I have used remote sensing data and have had multiple students interact with spectroscopy of other planet surfaces, but I think my greatest research


Based in: Perth, Australia


Education: PhD at the University of Hawaii, Manoa


achievement at the moment has been the development of an algorithm to interrogate planetary image datasets and extract large amounts of information from them.” One recent such paper involved the dating


of young lunar surfaces by applying a crater detection algorithm and comparing the results with the ages determined by manual analysis of the craters. She currently holds an Australian


Research Council Future Fellowship and is the lead on the initial mineralogy/petrology of the meteorites found by the Australian Desert Fireball Network.


Hans-Peter Brecht


Organisation: PhotoSound Technologies Role: Chief Operating Officer


Hans-Peter Brecht, the Chief Operating Officer of biomedical imaging firm PhotoSound Technologies, is working on the final development and commercialisation of a dual-modality ultrasound /photoacoustic imaging system called MoleculUS. Brecht says the MoleculUS could replace


X-ray mammography with a noninvasive and painless procedure and reduce the need for follow-up biopsies.


“The Photoacoustic Imaging component


of MoleculUS used a Tunable pulsed OPO Laser,” Brecht says. “We work to integrate all relevant players to be compatible with our laser system to make MoleculUS


Based in: Houston, US


Education: PhD, Biomedical Science, 2002 - 2007 University of Texas Medical Branch


available and attractive to as many people as possible.”


Outside of his own area, he believes lidar


technology used in self-driving cars is the most impactful photonics technology of the past 12 months. “That will potentially revolutionise the whole transportation industry,” he says. On photonics areas with the greatest


opportunity for growth, he says: “I might be biased, but in light of the current heat wave and drought here in Texas, I believe anything with renewable energy, whether it is sensors for wind speed or collimators for solar panels.”


Based in: Bordeaux, France


Education: PhD, microelectronics, University of Rome Tor Vergata


the surface morphology and therefore on the surface properties. “Together with my colleague A. Sikora,” he


says, “we observed that at a sub-micrometric scale, different types of laser-induced nanostructures (LIPSS and DLIPS) start to mutually interact, giving rise to novel and original structures. We hope this will result in novel and interesting surface properties.” Talking about his proudest moment in photonics, Mincuzzi says: "It's when kids think I'm a kind of 'superhero' because I work with lasers.”


26 Photonics100 2024


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56