In this contribution we will discuss the experimental application of 3D chiral metamaterials as high sensitivity biosensors, exploiting circular dichroism in transmission. 3D metamaterials with chiral features can be realized by highly accurate and highly localized bottom-up nanofabrication approach. Large chiroptical effects can be engineered, originating from the single element optical resonances, but collective interactions in arrayed configurations can play a significant role, further enhancing these effects. Capability of biomarker detection in the femtomolar range is demonstrated even in complex biofluid matrix.

As part of EU H2020 I-Seed project, an active laser-induced fluorescence observation system for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is envisioned to simultaneously measure, geo-locate and range the fluorescence-tagged sensors. In this work, we present lab-scale experimental results of a light-sheet Scheimpflug ranging system employing the excitation laser source of the fluorescence observation setup to compliment the ranging capability of the complete UAV payload.

This work's objective is to study the feasibility of decoupling temperature and strain out of a $\phi$-PA-OFDR readouts. For this purpose, the readouts will be subjected to a study using several Machine Learning algorithms, among them, Neural Networks. The motivation which underlies this target is the current blockage in the widespread use of Fiber Optic Sensors in situations where both strain and temperature change (e.g. composite manufacturing and integration processes), due to the coupled dependence of currently developed sensing methods. Instead of using other types of sensors or even other interrogation methods, the objective of this work is to analyze the available information in order to develop a sensing method capable of providing information about strain and temperature simultaneously

Scintillation, beam wandering, and phase front distortion are the principal impacts of atmospheric turbulence on laser beam propagation. The aperture averaging concept might be used to minimize the effect for the first two, but the third, which is important for high-speed free-space communications, is significantly more challenging. More than ten years ago, the institute of communications and navigation (IKN) of the german aerospace centre (DLR) conducted optical downlink experiments with JAXA's OICETS/Kirari-Japan to study the optical LEO downlink channel and assess the viability of this transmission technology for upcoming applications. The present work will study and give a comparable insight into simulation and experimental results showing a significant relationship elevation dependency for parameters linked to index-of-refraction turbulence.

Shack Hartmann (SH) Wavefront Sensing (WFS) brings many advantages that has made it a standard in optical metrology, but it has long been limited by its resolution compared to other solutions, such as interferometry.

We will present a new approach to the linearized focal plane technique (LIFT), formerly developed by ONERA, which is based on the combination of standard SH technology with phase retrieval algorithms. Applied on all the spots of the SH wavefront sensor microlens array, it provides information on high spatial frequencies, allows to reconstruct more modes for each microlens and results in a 16-fold improvement (4x in each transverse direction) of the sensor spatial resolution!

We will present how we have optimized and validated the LIFT technology for optical metrology. We will share some measurements performed on extremely complex wavefronts. Finally, we will propose an implementation for industrial applications such as manufacturing and will describe some use cases.

Benefiting from the same advantages as SH WFS -such as robustness to vibrations and atmospheric turbulence, or the ability to easily work at any wavelength- the LIFT technology presents very promising perspectives for optical and freeform metrology and can advantageously replace, at lower cost and better usability, Fizeau interferometry.