Photonic Imaging Strategies for Technical Art History and Conservation

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Project Description: This is a PhD research project in Physics. Our tangible cultural heritage, both historic and contemporary, is made from a plethora of complex multilayer materials. What we see is often only the surface and form of an object. Hidden below are the materials and evidence of the processes by which the objects were originally created. By using state of the art imaging / spectroscopy systems which can map the composition and reveal the stages of their creation, we aim to gain a understanding about the meaning and significance, both in in their original context and our present day. Infra-red imaging and spectroscopy is particularly suited of looking below the surface as the scattering which normally occurs with visible light is usually much less. Thus the infra-red penetrates further into the object. Depending on the material and its structure the infra-red light will absorb or reflect light back. By exploiting state-of-the-art laser sources developed at Heriot-Watt and providing massively tunable infrared light, we will explore and develop several techniques for novel imaging including full-field FTS, OCT and compressive spectra sensing.