Gerasimos Konstantatos is a Professor at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Barcelona, ​​where he leads a team of scientists in Nanosciences and Nanomaterials. ICFO is a centre of research excellence devoted to the science and technology of light.

More specifically, he led a team of researchers, who created the world’s first CMOS image sensor to incorporate graphene and quantum dots, allowing the camera to simultaneously view the visible and invisible (infrared and ultraviolet) spectrum. This has never been achieved before with existing imaging sensors. The study was published in Nature Photonics, and highlighted on the front cover image.

“We engineered the QDs to extend to the short infrared range of the spectrum (1100-1900nm), to a point where we were able to demonstrate and detect the night glow of the atmosphere on a dark and clear sky enabling passive night vision. This work shows that this class of phototransistors may be the way to go for high sensitivity, low-cost, infrared image sensors operating at room temperature addressing the huge infrared market that is currently thirsty for cheap technologies”, explained the Greek researcher.

Such cameras, according to Gerasimos Konstantatos, “can have many applications, such as allowing real-time visualization of vision, vision in adverse weather conditions, spectroscopy and quality control of food, other products and the environment. With this technology, the consumer will be able to access these applications at very affordable cost, e.g. each car can be equipped with such multi-spectral imaging systems, thus offering significantly increased safety. “

He was born in 1979 in Patras, Greece. In 2001 he graduated from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Patras. In 2004 he received his MASc from the University of Toronto, where he later obtained his PhD. In 2009 he became Assistant Professor at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Barcelona.

He loves Greek cuisine and he considers Greek parents heroes, who, with self-denial and sacrifices, do their best for the progress and education of their children. Two of them as he says, are his parents.