A hologram is like a window to another world. It produces a perfect replica of a previously recorded scene that we can observe from every angle – exactly like we would look at the original scene itself. What if we could use holograms to produce virtual replicas of scenes or objects that we cannot directly look at and which are normally hidden from our view? Can we use holograms to see the unseen? In his talk, Florian Willomitzer introduces a novel holographic camera that can “see” hidden objects around corners or through diffusive light scattering materials like tissue or fog. The technique has multiple potential applications, e.g., in medical imaging, autonomous driving, industrial inspection, or virtual reality.

Prof. Dr. Florian Willomitzer is an Associate Professor of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona, where he directs the Computational 3D Imaging and Measurement Laboratory (3DIM Lab). The Lab’s goal is to invent, develop, and build the next generation of computational imaging and display devices that overcome traditional limitations to “make the unseen visible.”

Florian was born and raised in the Nuremberg area and graduated from the University Erlangen-Nuremberg, where he received his Ph.D. degree with ‘summa cum laude’. During his doctoral studies, Florian investigated fundamental physical and information-theoretical limits of optical 3D-sensing and implemented sensors that operate close to these limits.

He joined Northwestern University as Postdoc in 2017 and became Research Assistant Professor in 2019. In 2022, Florian joined the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona as Associate Professor.