Horst Complex

prof.dr.ir. I.M. Vellekoop (Ivo)

Professor
TNW-BIS-BMPI
Horst Complex ZH255
i.m.vellekoop@utwente.nl
+31534893112
Business card

Microscopes are great tools to investigate living cells. However, when the cell is embedded deep inside biological material (such as tumor tissue, or brain tissue), high-resolution imaging is not possible: the surrounding material is simply not transparent enough. 

Is is my mission to develop a new approach to microscopy that allows researchers to look right through non-transparent layers of tissue. In order to achieve this, we use wavefront shaping, a technique developed in 2007 at the University of Twente by Allard Mosk and me. This technique allows one to focus light right through non-transparent materials.

From our first proof-of-concept experiment to a usable microscope is a long way to go. We have found that reaching our goal requires more than good physics and optics; we are integrating elements from information theory, quantum mechanics, mathematics and electrical engineering in our research to keep pushing forward. We work together closely with end users of microscopes to make sure our microscopes are optimally geared towards solving fundamental questions in the life sciences.

As part of understanding light propagation in biological tissue, we developed the open source tool WAVESIM for simulating light propagation in very large structures. WAVESIM is currently worlds fastest and most accurate grid-based Maxwell solver available, outperforming common methods like FDTD by orders of magnitude in speed and accuracy. 

More information about my research can be found here.

Expertise

  • Physics

    • Light
    • Media
    • Focusing
    • Foci
    • Line of Sight
    • Communications
    • Feedback
    • Utilization

Organisations

Publications

2025

Domain decomposition of the modified Born series approach for large-scale wave propagation simulations (2025)Journal of computational physics, 550. Article 114619 (E-pub ahead of print/First online). Mache, S. & Vellekoop, I. M.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2025.114619Model-based approaches for enhanced wavefront shaping microscopy (2025)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente. Cox, D. W. S.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036568586Inline calibration of spatial light modulators in nonlinear microscopy (2025)Applied Optics, 64(24), 6991-6996. Cox, D. W. S., Sasikumar, H. & Vellekoop, I. M.https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.567871Model-based aberration corrected microscopy inside a glass tube (2025)Journal of microscopy, 298(3), 316-323. Cox, D. W. S., Knop, T. & Vellekoop, I. M.https://doi.org/10.1111/jmi.13402Raw measurement data of SLM calibration: Inline calibration of spatial light modulators in nonlinear microscopy (2025)[Dataset Types › Dataset]. 4TU.Centre for Research Data. Cox, D., Sasikumar, H. & Vellekoop, I. M.https://doi.org/10.4121/e06926cc-5f6e-4fc0-8170-16d71d5b1c1eOrthonormalization of phase-only basis functions (2025)Optics express, 33(2), 2427-2436. Cox, D. W. S. & Vellekoop, I. M.https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.542622OpenWFS—a library for conducting and simulating wavefront shaping experiments (2025)Journal of physics: Photonics, 7(1). Article 015016. Doornbos, J. H., Cox, D. W. S., Knop, T., Sasikumar, H. & Vellekoop, I. M.https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7647/ada7b1

2024

Mirror Symmetry in three-dimensional Multiple-Scattering Media (2024)Physical review letters, 133(22), 232-239. Article 223802. Saini, S. K., Marakis, E., Start, K., Osnabrugge, G., Vellekoop, I. M. & Pinkse, P. W. H.https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.223802Raw measurement data of wavefront shaping basis comparison, underlying the publication: Orthonormalization of phase-only basis functions (2024)[Dataset Types › Dataset]. 4TU.Centre for Research Data. Cox, D. & Vellekoop, I.https://doi.org/10.4121/3dca7548-66cc-4e64-b59f-765aaf830afbPractical considerations for high-fidelity wavefront shaping experiments (2024)Journal of physics: Photonics, 6(3). Article 033003. Mastiani, B., Cox, D. W. S. & Vellekoop, I. M.https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7647/ad5775

Research profiles

Address

University of Twente

Horst Complex (building no. 20), room ZH255
De Horst 2
7522 LW Enschede
Netherlands

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