Dr. Wilbert Ijzerman

Biography

Wilbert IJzerman is a Full Professor and Chair of Illumination Optics at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He leads the Scientific Computing Applications team (CASA) and has contributed significantly to the mathematical-physical description and numerical simulation of illumination systems, addressing both the forward and inverse optical problems. His team focuses on calculating target distributions through ray tracing and directly deriving the shape of optical components based on given source-target distributions. CASA seeks to tackle complex optical configurations relevant to industry, exploring solutions that go beyond current convex and concave approaches to inverse problems. In his role, he has developed improved optical simulation tools and pioneered a method based on Hamiltonian optics via the Liouville equation, which has shown considerable speed advantages in simulations. His research has led to the creation of versatile algorithms capable of solving mass transport problems with arbitrary cost functions, achieving ray tracing speeds that are 1000 times faster and 100 times more accurate than existing methods. Wilbert attained his MSc degrees in applied physics and applied mathematics in 1995 and 1996, respectively, and earned his PhD in applied mathematics in 2000 from the University of Twente. He also completed an executive MBA at the Rotterdam School of Management in 2011. In addition to his main research activities, Prof. IJzerman supervises PhD students in the characterization of optical components and the design of scattering materials within the Applied Physics department at TU/e. He serves as the head of the Lighting Technology sector at Signify Research, responsible for the long-term technology roadmap for lighting products, and is a member of the Industrial Advisory Committee of the European Optical Society.

Research Interests