Photon etc.
Sébastien Blais-Ouellette has a diverse work experience in the field of physics and entrepreneurship. Sébastien started their career as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1999, where they worked until June 2001. After that, they moved on to work as a Physicist at Université de Montréal from 2001 to 2002. In 2002, they joined California Institute of Technology as an Instrument Scientist, a role they held until 2004. In the same year, they became the President and CEO of Photon etc., a position they still hold. Sébastien Blais-Ouellette has also had various leadership roles, including being a Board Member at Québec Photonic Network from 2008 to 2018, a Board Member at Nüvü Caméras Inc. since 2010, and a Member of the Board of Directors at Centre d'entrepreneuriat Poly-UdeM since 2014.
Sébastien Blais-Ouellette obtained a B.Sc. in Physics from the Université de Montréal in 1994. Sébastien then pursued an M.Sc. in Subatomic Physics at the same university from 1994 to 1996. Following this, they completed two Ph.D. degrees in Astrophysics from the Université de Montréal and Aix-Marseille University, both from 1996 to 2000.
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Photon etc.
Photon etc. is a Canadian designer and manufacturer of highly sensitive infrared cameras, ultrafast hyperspectral imaging (wide-field, microscopy and Raman) ideal for academic research and cutting-edge industrial applications. Photon etc.'s core technology is a continuously tunable filter based on volume Bragg gratings. It consists of a photo-thermo-refractive glass with a periodically varying index of refraction. According to the modulation structure, it can be orientated to transmit or reflect incident light. In order to select a particular wavelength that will be filtered (diffracted), the angle of the filter is adjusted to meet Bragg condition. Hyperspectral global imaging is used in order to spectrally capture large areas of a sample without damaging it. In global imaging, the whole field of view of the microscope objective is acquired at the same time compared to point-by-point techniques where either the sample or the excitation laser needs to be moved in order to reconstruct a map. With these technologies and its know-how in the domain of highly sensitive infrared cameras, Photon etc. enables the analysis of nanomaterials - like graphene, carbon nanotubes, etc. - recyclable materials or solar cells using its hyperspectral imaging platforms that capture various spectra in the VIS-NIR-SWIR range. It can capture the emissions from diffuse reflectance, transmittance, photoluminescence, electroluminescence and fluorescence. Photon etc. also opens the second biological window with the global imaging of living cells in vitro, the preclinical NIR-II analysis of small animals in vivo, the hemoglobin concentration of skin or even the retinal imaging of the eye.