Upcoming Talks

Scattering of light in complex samples, such as biological tissues or fog, renders most samples opaque and presents a fundamental challenge for conventional optical imaging. This is a problem of great practical importance, limiting applications from deep-tissue microscopy to automotive sensing and astronomy [1]. However, although seemingly random, scattering is a deterministic process, meaning that, in principle, the distortion can be undone and a clear image can be recovered. The main challenge is how to find (and apply) the specific complex correction needed in a non-invasive and practical fashion. Recent works have demonstrated that this is indeed achievable in practice: by either physically correcting the distroted wavefronts using spatial light modulators (SLMs) [2], or performing the correction computationally [3-7]. I will review the principles and limitations of the state of the art physics-based techniques for undoing scattering noninvasively. These are based on exploiting the inherent correlations of scattered speckle patterns to decompose the scattering matrix of the sample, without requiring known ‘guide stars’ or any training data. I will also show how natural dynamic fluctuations in the medium or targets, usually considered a hurdle for scattering compensation, can be used, instead of fought against, to undo scattering computationally [5-7]. References [1] Imaging in complex media, J.Bertolotti, O.Katz, Nature Physics, 18, 1008–1017 (2022) [2] Guidestar-free image-guided wavefront shaping, T.Yeminy, O.Katz, Science Advances, 7, 21 (2021). [3] Image-guided Computational Holographic Wavefront Shaping, O.Haim, J.Boger-Lombard, O.Katz, Nature Photonics :2305.12232 (2023). [4] Noninvasive megapixel fluorescence microscopy through scattering layers by a virtual incoherent reflection matrix, G.Weinberg, E.Sunray, O.Katz, Science Advances, 10, 47 (2024). [5] Matrix-based imaging through dynamic scattering, E.Sunary, G.Weinberg, B.Laufer, O.Katz, Nature Communications, 16, 9413 (2025) [6] Leveraging target dynamics for imaging in complex media, Y. Ben Haim et al., arXiv:2606.22648 [7] Leveraging natural fluctuations for matrix-based aberration correction in photoacoustic imaging, Y. Slobodkin, O. Katz, arXiv:2604.27774

Ori Katz is a Professor of Applied Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His lab develops physics-based methods for imaging, sensing, and controlling waves in complex media. Beyond imaging, his work on time-reversed lasing was selected as a Top 10 Breakthrough of 2022 by Physics World. He earned his Ph.D. in physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he worked on ultrafast optics, quantum coherent control, and nonlinear microscopy and spectroscopy. He is a recipient of ERC Starting and Consolidator Grants and the Krill Prize.