Centre Member Profile

Norbert Herschbach is an Industrial researcher with more than 15 years of experience in optical experiments. He brings to the Centre strong practical knowledge of laser and photodetection technology. His expertise is gained through his work in 5 quantum optics laboratories around Europe, where he has performed experiments on laser cooling and trapping of atoms and ions investigating cold atomic collisions, photoassociation spectroscopy and developing a new ion trap design for advanced optical frequency standards. During the last nine years, he has worked at IEE S.A., Luxembourg, where he has acquired valuable industrial R&D experience in the area of optics and three-dimensional imaging (time-of-flight cameras, LIDAR, and structured-light three-dimensional imaging) for sensing systems, dedicated to the markets of automotive safety, building management and security.

He has an in-depth knowledge of the technological requirements and of currently unsolved technological problems in these application areas. Since August 2016 Dr Herschbach has led a four-year project at IEE S.A. on the interaction of low energy photons with matter. The project is focused on fundamental research and is funded by the Luxembourg Ministry of Economy. This fundamental research project aims at the discovery of new materials and material structures that interact strongly with light via different mechanisms. In a part of the project high-throughput Density Functional Theory (DFT) computations are used to identify new material systems with strong light-matter interaction properties. In other parts of the project, the research is concentrated on interaction mechanisms of infrared photons with structured materials including material structures based on the metamaterials and metasurfaces concepts, as well as with materials of reduced dimensionality. The outcomes of this project could potentially form the scientific basis of future low-cost and miniaturised infrared technologies.