Lionel Clermont, a Research Professor at the STAR Institute (Faculty of Sciences) at the University of Liège, has just been awarded a Proof of Concept funding from the European Research Council (ERC) for his nGHOST2Market project. The aim of this project is to transform an innovative method for characterising stray light, developed as part of his ERC nGHOST project, into a practical solution for the space optical instruments industry.
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tray light is one of the most critical challenges in the design of optical instruments carried on board satellites, where demands for image quality and radiometric accuracy are increasingly high. It refers to unwanted light that reaches the detector via unintended optical paths, degrading image quality by introducing artefacts or masking useful signals. This phenomenon can compromise a mission’s performance, particularly for Earth observation instruments and scientific telescopes, which aim for high radiometric accuracy and the observation of faint objects. Current testing methods mainly provide a pass-or-fail result, without allowing the physical origin of the parasitic contributions to be identified. When a problem is detected, engineers cannot directly determine which component or optical path is responsible, making the correction process time-consuming, costly and uncertain.
To address this limitation, Lionel Clermont has developed a characterisation method known as time-of-flight (ToF). This method combines ultra-fast laser illumination with time-resolved detection, with a precision on the order of picoseconds. Each stray light contribution, travelling along a different optical path, reaches the detector at a different time. Measuring this transit time makes it possible to separate the various contributions and trace them back to their source. “For the first time, the individual contributions of stray light can be isolated and linked to their physical origin within a complex optical system,” emphasises the researcher. “The approach also makes it possible to filter out certain signals generated by the test bench itself, paving the way for more sensitive measurements without having to resort systematically to complex and costly vacuum tests.”
Since the launch of the ERC nGHOST project, this technology has attracted growing interest from the space industry and is already being considered for several major missions. The nGHOST2Market project aims to support its transfer to industry. It comprises a commercial component dedicated to market analysis and the validation of its ‘product-market fit’, as well as a component demonstrating the technology in an operational environment representative of its industrial use. This approach to technology transfer to industry builds on Lionel Clermont’s entrepreneurial commitment and his experience in the development and commercialisation of innovative technologies.
Proof of Concept funding is reserved for researchers who have already been awarded an ERC grant. It supplements this grant with a lump sum of 150,000 euros and aims to verify the innovation potential or commercialisation potential of the results arising from the research project. It thus acts as a bridge between research and its applications. In this sense, the nGHOST2Market project builds on the ongoing ERC nGHOST project, which focuses on the development of the time-of-flight diagnostic method. The commercialisation component will be carried out in collaboration with ULiège’s RISE (Research, Innovation, Support and Enterprises) department. At the end of the eighteen-month period, the project should clarify the extent to which the time-of-flight method can meet real industrial needs and how it could be offered to manufacturers of space-based optical instruments.
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