Peter Speets joined ImPhys as PhD student

Peter Speets will work on a method to measure the composition and particle size distribution of a turbid sample using optical coherence tomography (OCT). His supervisor is Jeroen Kalkman.

The optical path length distribution, the attenuation length and the refractive index can be retrieved from the OCT signal. Together with a model of the sample, these parameters (and maybe later more) can be used to obtain the particle size distribution and composition. This optical method of characterizing a sample has the potential of being used in an integrated measurement device combined with MEMS sensors to fully characterize a turbid suspension or emulsion.

For his master's project at the Universiteit Utrecht he extracted the particle size distribution of a sample of aggregated fibrils from their Brownian motion. After his graduation he worked as a research assistant to measure the influence of flow on the surface charge of a microchannel and he did work on a project to build a total internal reflection microscope in collaboration with the Universiteit Twente.