João Miguel Maia

João M. Maia received the MSc degree in Physics Engineering from the University of Porto, Portugal in 2016. He is currently a PhD Physics student in the same instituion.

In 2015 he joined the research centre INESC TEC, where he has been working on femtosecond laser micromachining and fabrication of optofluidic devices.

Domains

Applied Photonics Photonics

Projects

SAFEWATER

Water pollution is a severe worldwide problem that urgently requires development of novel sensing concepts allowing for monitoring contaminants at very low concentrations.The ambitious aim of the SAFE WATER project is to design, implement and validate a new portable optical instrument, for in situ and multiplexing detection and determination of several emerging microcontaminants (EMCs) like estrogens, pharmaceuticals, drugs and new generation pesticides which represent contaminants that have recently joined the European Union (EU) watching list on the monitoring of water quality. The heart and the novelty of such proposed prototype consist in the use of special hollow – core whispering gallery modes (WGM) microcavities – named optical microbubble resonators (OMBRs) for their particular geometry – able to show a high value for their quality factor Q (> 10^7, in air) and, consequently, guarantee high sensitivity and extremely low threshold for the limit of detection LOD (down to pg/L). For the selective recognition of different pollutants, the inner surface of these microresonators will be coated with films of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) or functionalized with specific antibodies. The basic modules of the platform will include (i) a WGM microbubble resonator array integrated on one silicon chip as the optical sensing element capable of multiplexed pollutant determination, (ii) the microfluidic circuit, in which the liquid pollutant sample is initially mixed with the reagents required, and then directed to the integrated chip for optical determination, and (iii) the optoelectronic system for the interrogation of the WGM array and the data acquisition. Finally, these modules will be fully integrated in the prototype, which will be used for the determination of contaminants in water samples.

On chip whispering gallery mode optical microcavities for emerging microcontaminant determination in waters

NanoStima-RL1

Project NanoSTIMA will try to respond to two great challenges: going from the current macro technologies used today to micro and nano technologies, which will play a key role in the health and well-being sectors; and managing the large amounts of information that these wearable and implantable sensors will generate, integrating them with data from other sources, such as medical records, genetic data, and even social networks. The project’s research line 1 will be developed by two INESC TEC centres: C-BER and CAP. At C-BER, the goal of CAD-RL5 is to develop advanced capabilities for computer-aided detection and diagnosis (CAD). This requires research on innovative methodologies for CAD development, that will make it possible to go from ad hoc engineering approaches, driven by direct expert knowledge, to more automated approaches, driven by the intrinsic structure of data, knowledge discovery and expert supervision. Problems tackled will be generic in the sense that appropriate outcomes can be applied universally to medical imaging practices. The developed method will enable lab demonstrations of several clinical problems where the research team has relevant experience (e.g. radiology, ophthalmology and ultrasound imaging).

NanoSTIMA - Macro-to-Nano Human Sensing Technologies

View all projects

Publications

High-visibility Fabry-P<acute accent>erot interferometer fabricated in ULE® glass through fs-laser machining

Maia, JM;Marques, PVS;

2024

OPTICS AND LASER TECHNOLOGY

Study on fs-laser machining of optical waveguides and cavities in ULE® glass

Maia, JM;Marques, PVS;

2024

JOURNAL OF OPTICS

Addressing the Fabrication Difficulties of Femtosecond Laser Written Surface Waveguides for Enhanced Evanescent Coupling

Amorim, VA;Maia, JM;Viveiros, D;Marques, PVS;

2019

EPJ Web of Conferences

Femtosecond Laser Micromachining of Fabry-Pérot Interferometers for Magnetic Field Sensing

Maia, JM;Amorim, VA;Viveiros, D;Marques, PVS;

2019

EPJ Web of Conferences

View all publications

Supervised theses

Methods and techniques for managing communications functionalities of remotely deployed mobile private 5G/6G networks with core functions located in datacenters and connected by satellite links

Júlio Gabriel Chilela

M - 2024

UP-FCUP

Centres

Applied Photonics

From fundamental science to real-world innovation: at our Centre for Applied Photonics (CAP), we explore optical phenomena as a unique toolbox for innovation in micro- and nanofabrication, optical, physical, and biochemical sensors, and platforms for analogue simulation and quantum computing. Our researchers focus on developing systems capable of operating in contexts where precise and reliable sensing is essential (industry, environment or biomedicine), as well as nonlinear optical devices for building quantum analogue simulations and computing platforms. Our advances in photonic sensing enable their use in extreme environments, e.g., outer space or deep sea. Based on a non-siloed organisation, the solutions we develop through the study of light and photons require multidisciplinarity and close, cooperative work across our various research domains. With our expertise in photonics and electronic systems integration, we explore the potential for technology transfer to the emerging national and international photonics industry.