2026 Kevin P. Thompson Optical Design Innovator Award Winner
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Optica Names Yunfeng Nie the 2026 Kevin P. Thompson Optical Design Innovator Award Recipient
Optica is pleased to announce that Yunfeng Nie, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the Kevin P. Thompson Optical Design Innovator Award. Nie is honored for advancing optical design methodology through AI-driven freeform optimization and differentiable modeling, establishing end-to-end learning frameworks that redefine how high-performance freeform imaging systems are conceived and realized.
Nie received her MS in optical engineering from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and her PhD in applied physics and photonics from Vrije Universiteit Brussel. During her doctoral training, she also conducted research visits at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Friedrich Schiller University Jena. Her research focuses on advancing optical design methodology by integrating freeform optics, physical modeling, and artificial intelligence.
She has made significant contributions to freeform optical design and computational imaging. She developed multi-field direct-design strategies and differentiable ray-tracing frameworks that enable compact, high-performance imaging systems beyond classical paraxial assumptions. Building on these foundations, she introduced AI-assisted and end-to-end optical design approaches that incorporate imaging performance and manufacturability constraints directly into trainable models, transforming traditional trial-and-error workflows into predictive and reproducible processes. Her methods have been experimentally demonstrated in a wide range of systems, including miniature microscopes, spectrometers, projection and near-eye systems, and biomedical imaging platforms, with successful translation through collaborations with academic and industrial partners.
She is active in the optics community and has supervised more than 10 PhD and Master’s students. Her additional awards/honors include the Michael Kidger Memorial Scholarship and the Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s Award.
Established in 2017, the Optical Design Innovator Award recognizes significant contributions, at an early career stage, to lens design, optical engineering, or metrology as evidenced by one or more of the following: innovative and rigorous research, optical system design with a foundation in aberration theory, development of advanced metrology capabilities, product development and patents or publications. The award honors Kevin P. Thompson, whose many other accomplishments include leading breakthroughs in the understanding of the aberration fields of a new class of truly non-symmetric optical systems using freeform optical surfaces. It is endowed by several supporters including Jannick Rolland and Synopsys.
About Optica
Optica, Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, is the society dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in the field. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. Optica's renowned publications, meetings, online resources and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical and educational achievement.
