Janne Simonen

Experience

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  University of Joensuu

  Jan 1998 - Jan 1998

  Research Assistant

  I joined the Department of Physics to do my Master's Thesis on the nanofabrication of diffractive optical elements by electron beam lithography with prof. Jari Turunen.

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  University of Joensuu

  Jan 1999 - Jan 2004

  Researcher

  I worked in the Department of Physics, Diffractive Optics Group, and did my PhD there. The work was mainly experimental, concentrating on the fabrication of diffractive optical elements with electron beam lithography, and the characterization of said elements. My minor was Applied Mathematics.Main skills learned: e-beam lithography, reactive ion etching, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, optical characterization, MATLAB, C programming, Linux, scientific writing.

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  RIKEN

  Jan 2004 - Jan 2006

  JSPS Post-doctoral Fellow

  Two years post-doc fellowship, worked with Chief Scientist Satoshi Kawata and Dr. Takayuki Okamoto. Funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. For my post-doc I switched my focus from nanofabrication (the topic of my PhD) to numerical simulations. In RIKEN I did mainly rigorous electromagnetic modeling for plasmonic lasers and organic LEDs using MATLAB (custom RCWA and C-method algorithms) and Rsoft Fullwave (FDTD). Our ambitious goal was to be the first research group to demonstrate a plasmonic laser. We had many concepts that looked promising in the my simulations, but unfortunately the optical losses in the metals were too large to allow lasing.I also spent a month here as a visiting scientist in 2008. Around that time a competing research group finally demonstrated a plasmonic laser.I speak enough Japanese to survive on the streets of Tokyo, a city which still feels like home to me. Show less

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  Tampere University of Technology

  Jan 2006 - Dec 2013

  Senior Researcher

  Optoelectronics Research Centre at Tampere University of Technology. I led the research on plasmonics and metamaterials - optics of metallic nanostructures - bringing my plasmonics experience that I acquired during my time in Riken, Japan. I concentrated on the numerical modeling of nanophotonic components, mainly with Matlab and Comsol Multiphysics. To realize my designs, I guided two PhD students to develop novel fabrication methods based on nanoimprint lithography.I coordinated five national and international projects with a total budget over one million euros. In addition, I learned the workings of EU funding schemes by coordinating two nearly successful EU FP7 proposals.I was also responsible for the ORC website and intranet, wrote news articles, designed advertising materials and introduced several new online solutions for enhancing the internal collaboration at ORC.I love to teach - for three years I was responsible for the guided exercises of our Matlab-based post-graduate Photonics course, with excellent feedback. Show less

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  University of Jyväskylä

  Sept 2014 - Jun 2017

  University Researcher

  I worked in the multidisciplinary Nanoscience Center of the University of Jyväskylä, being responsible for an international New Indigo ERA-NET project with Senior Lecturer Jussi Toppari. I did mostly numerical electromagnetic simulations with Comsol Multiphysics, but also nanofabrication and optical measurements a window integrated solar collector. Pretty early in the project I managed to prove that the original project idea broke the laws of physics, namely parity-time symmetry. We then tried to find out various ways to get around this limitation, but at the end we were unsuccessful.Additionally, I was teaching on the Fundamentals of Nanoscience and Imaging courses as one of the three lecturers, as well as supervising students. Show less

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  University of Jyväskylä

  Oct 2017 - Nov 2017

  University Researcher

  After a short break, I was re-hired for a few months to finish the the Window Integrated Solar Collector project.

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  OPTOFIDELITY

  May 2018 - Mar 2024

  Line manager for our highly skilled team of optics experts in developing novel optical metrology solutions for the industry. In addition, involved in all phases of our projects from sales, design and sourcing all the way to calibration, characterization, testing, delivery and support. In charge of the development of our optics and calibration laboratories. The leading optical expert in the Concepting Team, which was responsible for developing technical concepts of custom test systems for the Sales Team.Our test systems were very accurate, partially or fully automatic measurement stations, requiring sophisticated and often customized detection and illumination optics, not only for the optical measurement itself but also for positioning. Show less The company established a new role to strengthen their AR/VR expertise, and promoted me to be the AR/VR Technical Lead. I was coordinating company-wide efforts to develop testing solutions for augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) head-mounted devices, both at component level and as final consumer products. I was closely involved with the customers already in the sales phase as a technical expert. In addition my responsibilities included planning, performing and supervising the optical characterization of lenses and cameras, and whenever needed, as the leading optical expert in the company, helping with all projects that required deep optical knowledge.Most of the systems I helped to deliver were completely custom, developed from scratch to solve specific customer metrology needs related to diffractive augmented reality waveguides. Some of the systems are still running (April 2024) in customer AR/VR R&D labs and production lines, and I supported them as a metrology expert until the end of my OptoFidelity career.In addition to custom testers, I was involved in the development of the analysis algorithms for our HMD-IQ platform (head-mounted display image quality tester), and helped launch it to the market by co-presenting it in a webinar (link below). Show less After a 20-year academic career I wanted to see the optical industry. I was hired as the Metrology Lead for a team that provided fully customized optical test systems for a leading player in the augmented reality market, mainly for measuring the image quality of diffractive augmented reality waveguides. As the team was small, the role was very flexible and I was instantly involved with all phases of building custom test systems. For example, I was discussing directly with the lead engineers of the customer, planning projects, building and using optical lab setups, assembling and calibrating optical modules and cameras, as well as testing full systems and bringing them up at the customer site.Quite quickly I realized that most the work was actually not optics, but everything was still related to making sure that the final system measured the right parameters accurately and repeatably, bringing value to the customer. Only the Optical Engineer of the project has the proper scientific training to fully understand everything that can affect the measurement. This vision made me successful in my OptoFidelity career. Show less

  • Optics Manager

    Apr 2023 - Mar 2024

  • Team Lead

    Jan 2021 - Apr 2023

  • AR/VR Technical Lead

    Mar 2020 - Jan 2021

  • Optical Engineer

    May 2018 - Mar 2020
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  Modulight Corporation

  May 2024 - now

  Senior R&D Engineer