Alon Tzroya won Young Investigator Award

Alon Tzroya won the Prizmatix Young Investigator Award at the international photonics organization SPIE’s Photonic West 2024 conference. “My research is focused on an innovative optical method for detecting and classifying water contaminants,” says Tzroya. “Up until now, when measuring water opacity, scientists would observe the quantity of light that passed through the sample or was reflected from it. We’ve proposed a different method: observing the light’s exit or distribution angle. In doing so, we’ve discovered a physical phenomenon which we’ve dubbed iso-pathlength point. It provides a specific exit point in which light intensity remains constant, regardless of the type of contaminant or its intensity. This allows us to separate between the contaminant’s absorption and scattering coefficients in the water.”

Tzroya, Master’s student at Prof. Dror Fixler’s lab, has developed a simple, cost-effective and relatively quick method for detecting and distinguishing between several water contaminants. “My talk at the conference focused on characterizing the physical phenomenon and using it to detect heavy metal in water, and that has earned me the award,” he shares. “I’m very happy to receive a prize that recognizes my work, it’s exciting to have been selected.