Thomas van der Sijs

Education 

Thomas van der Sijs obtained his BSc (2016) and MSc (2020) in Applied Physics at Delft University of Technology. This included an exchange semester at Lund University. Thomas joined the Optics Research Group in 2019 to work on his master thesis. He studied Padé approximants as a method to overcome the divergence problem of the Born series in electromagnetic scattering problems. 

Current research 

He started as a PhD candidate in group in 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Paul Urbach and Assoc. Prof. Omar El Gawhary. The PhD project is focused on sub-wavelength resolution in metrology. On one hand, all properties of light—amplitude, phase, multiple wavelengths, and polarization—are employed to develop a unique sub-wavelength metrology tool. On the other hand, they investigate a physical model for going beyond the single scattering approximation—which currently limits resolution—in inverse methods such as ptychography. This is partly a continuation of the master thesis. 

VSL, the Dutch national metrological institute, is a sponsor of the object by facilitating experimental work and providing supervision. The project is part of the SYNOPTICS consortium (an NWO-TTW Perspectief program). 

Other notable experience 

Thomas worked for one year in the Project MARCH student team, which develops and builds a powered exoskeleton for paraplegic people, and did an internship at Sobolt, where he applied deep learning to satellite imagery

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