David Blinder

David Blinder is a Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in the Department of Electronics and Informatics (ETRO), where he maintains a dual affiliation with the imec research institute. He concurrently holds a JSPS International Research Fellow position at Chiba University, leveraging over a decade of cross-institutional expertise in optics, signal processing, and computer science to advance computational holography and photonics.

His research program centers on signal processing in photonics and holography, with emphasis on numerical diffraction, time-frequency analysis, data compression, and computational imaging. As lead editor of the JPEG Pleno Holography standard, he drives innovation in holographic data representation and transmission. His work integrates optical setups, holographic displays, and high-performance computing to solve complex problems in 3D visualization and inverse methods.

Recent publications demonstrate a cohesive trajectory toward efficient computational frameworks for holographic systems, with recurring themes in numerical diffraction algorithms, polygon-based hologram generation, and asymmetric point-spread function optimization. These advances directly enable next-generation holographic displays and computational imaging applications across medical visualization and augmented reality.

Blinder's contributions have been recognized through significant honors:

• Editor's Pick award (October 2024)
• Editor's Pick award (September 2024)
• Suzuki-Okada Memorial prize (June 2024)
• OSA Outstanding Reviewer recognition (2018)

He has mentored master's students including A. Ouahabi (2015, Motion Estimation for Dynamic Holography) and F. Suarez Groen (2017, GPU-optimized Computer-Generated Holography). His research is sustained by major grants:

• FWOAL1100: Advanced dynamic computer-generated holography (2024-2026)
• FWOAL1101: Computational Incoherent holographic plenoptic camera (2024-2027)
• FWOTM1099: Chirplet-based diffraction framework (2022-2027)
• Tech4Health: Future health technologies (2024-2025)

As a core member of VUB's ETRO department and imec, Blinder leads interdisciplinary teams in projects like GEAR and Tech4Health, developing holographic visualization systems for medical applications while advancing fundamental optical computing methodologies.