Dr Johannes Courtial he/him

I do optics, specifically the kind related to visual effects. My group designs novel optical components that aim to correct the vision of people living with eye conditions such as tunnel vision, develops new optical cloaking strategies, and we recently invented a simple way of constructing the visual effect of relativistic distortion, which happens when the observer moves at relativistic speeds relative to the scene. I really like programming, so what we normally do first is write code that simulates whatever it is we are investigating. I typically collaborate with mathematical physicists, opthalmic optics researchers, and engineers manufacturing freeform optics.

Frequently my work develops a “solution in search of a problem”, which can be great fun, but I would like to get more involved in work that starts with a problem and tries to develop a solution. I am therefore very open to collaborating with anyone who has a problem my group could help solve.

My projects are typically at least a little bit mathematical and involve coding. I expect my students to work independently, and we typically meet at least once a week. My group is small, typically involving a PhD student and a number of project students. A PhD in my group doesn’t set students on a particularly narrow path, and my ex-students now do all sorts of things, e.g. working in the optics industry, in academia, even in the care sector.