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The Technology Industries of Finland Centennial Foundation has granted funding totalling nearly 1.3 million euros to two research projects at Aalto University. Through the Future Makers funding programme, the Foundation funds ambitious research that will renew Finnish industry and society.

The funded Aalto University projects are investigating a completely new technology to reduce waste heat from computers, as well as more efficient methods for early and non-invasive detection of corneal diseases in the eye.

Non-thermal optical control of spin waves for energy efficient computing

Professors Sebastiaan van Dijken and Päivi Törmä lead the project that explores a transformative approach to computing that could greatly reduce the ICT sector’s substantial energy footprint. The researchers aim to offer low-power, wave-based computing alternatives that have the potential to drive new technology industries and job creation in computing, sensing, and communication.

The project investigates a cutting-edge technology based on magnetic waves, or spin waves. These waves travel through magnetic materials and enable information processing without the level of heat generation that is unavoidable in traditional electronics.

The team has recently learned how to control spin waves at speeds 100000 times faster than previous methods. Currently this approach relies on thermoplastic heating; now, the researchers aim for a more advanced technique that is based on a direct coupling between spin waves and plasmon modes. The non-thermal generation of magnetic fields could lead to ultrafast, localized spin-wave manipulation without harmful heating, and thus efficient data processing. It would also eliminate the need for constant data transfer between processing and memory units

Diffractive optical elements in THz spectroscopy for early non-contact detection of corneal diseases

Professor Zachary Taylor and the CorneaSense research team are utilizing diffractive optical elements to enhance and thus increase early detection sensitivity and improve management of corneal diseases in the eye. The team aims to integrate corneal diagnostic technologies with advanced optical engineering techniques.

Many corneal diseases are associated with changes in the water content of the cornea, which are difficult to detect early enough. Researchers are trying to find out how to detect changes in corneal water content more accurately and earlier than with current methods. The research is crucial as early detection of corneal water content changes can significantly improve patient outcomes, which is currently hindered by the lack of sufficiently sensitive diagnostic technology. 

So far, the team has pioneered non-contact, non-invasive methods for quantifying corneal water content through terahertz (THz) spectroscopy, adapting remote sensing technology for corneal tissue measurement. Promising detection results have been obtained in the laboratory – next, the researchers aim to design diffractive optical elements to optimally shape the THz beam to human corneas thus obtaining data of the tissue properties.

Read more (> release on the page, in Finnish)