Monika Ritsch-Marte (born 26 September 1961 in Höchst) is an Austrian

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

in the fields of biomedical optics, theoretical

quantum optics Quantum optics is a branch of atomic, molecular, and optical physics and quantum chemistry that studies the behavior of photons (individual quanta of light). It includes the study of the particle-like properties of photons and their interaction ...

and

non-linear optics In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system (or a non-linear system) is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathem ...

. She is a professor at the

Medical University of Innsbruck The Medical University of Innsbruck () is a university in Innsbruck, Austria. It used to be one of the four historical Faculty (university), faculties of the Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck and became an independent university in 2004. Hi ...

and director of the Institute of Biomedical Physics.

Life and education

Monika Ritsch-Marte was raised in the Austrian province of

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

, graduated in 1980 from grammar school in

Bregenz Bregenz (; ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost states of Austria, state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switzerland in the wes ...

, and earned a physics diploma from the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...

in 1984. In 1985, she went to the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a Public university, public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in nume ...

Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton (, ) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato, Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the country's List of c ...

, earning her PhD in 1988 under the supervision of Dan Walls and Crispin Gardiner with a thesis on generation and application of non-classical states of light, so-called squeezed states of light. She returned to Innsbruck for postdoctoral research in the group of

Peter Zoller Peter Zoller (born 16 September 1952) is a theoretical physicist from Austria. He is professor at the University of Innsbruck and works on quantum optics and quantum information and is best known for his pioneering research on quantum computing ...

and then stayed at the University of Innsbruck for several years on a "Charlotte-Bühler Habilitationsprogramm" of the

Austrian Science Fund The Austrian Science Fund () is the most important Austrian funding organization for basic research. The FWF supports research in science, engineering, and the humanities through a large variety of grant programmes, prizes and by funding infrastru ...

. Some extended research visits abroad (

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, JILA/Boulder,

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

) fall into this period, as well as half a year at the Universita degli Studi di Milano in the group of Luigi Lugiato supported by an APART grant from the

Austrian Academy of Sciences The Austrian Academy of Sciences (; ÖAW) is a legal entity under the special protection of the Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every fi ...

. In 1995, Monika received her

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in the field of Theoretical Physics as the University of Innsbruck. In 1998, she was appointed full professor in

medical physics Medical physics deals with the application of the concepts and methods of physics to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases with a specific goal of improving human health and well-being. Since 2008, medical physics has been incl ...

at the medical faculty of the University of Innsbruck, which meant a re-orientation towards biomedical optics (from this time on publishing under the name Ritsch-Marte). With the creation of the

as an independent university in 2004 she was appointed director of the Division of Biomedical Physics. In 2007, she was elected the first female president of the

Austrian Physical Society The Austrian Physical Society () is the national physical society of Austria. History Until 1938, Austrian physicists were part of the German Physical Society. On 13 December 1950, it was decided to found a separate society for Austria and Fritz ...

. For her achievements in the fields of optics and photonics, Ritsch-Marte was elected OSA Fellow in 2013 by the

Optical Society of America Optica, founded as the Optical Society of America (later the Optical Society), is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals, organizes conferences and exhibitions, and ca ...

. In 2014, she was elected as a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and in 2016 raised to full membership. Ritsch-Marte is married to physicist Helmut Ritsch with whom she has two daughters.

Work

Since moving into applied optics, Ritsch-Marte has contributed to the development and application of microscopic methods and

optical tweezers Optical tweezers (originally called single-beam gradient force trap) are scientific instruments that use a highly focused laser beam to hold and move microscopic and sub-microscopic objects like atoms, nanoparticles and droplets, in a manner simil ...

. Her research group has pioneered new usages for

spatial light modulator A spatial light modulator (SLM) is a device that can control the intensity, phase, or polarization of light in a spatially varying manner. A simple example is an overhead projector transparency. Usually when the term SLM is used, it means that ...

s (SLM) in the form of

liquid-crystal display A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other Electro-optic modulator, electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to display information. Liq ...

s to optical microscopy. As a programmable Fourier filters, SLMs allow rapid switching between different microscopy modalities (bright field, dark field, phase contrast) without the need for changing any hardware components. In the scope of the ERC Advanced Investigator Grant catchIT (= Coherently Advanced Tissue and Cell Holographic Imaging and Trapping) her group also developed methods of optical manipulation of ever larger particles, e.g. the optical "macro-tweezers" system, a large volume dual-beam mirror trap. This dual-beam approach is suitable to trap and guide swimming microorganisms such as

Euglena ''Euglena'' is a genus of Unicellular organism, single-celled, flagellate eukaryotes. It is the best-known and most widely studied member of the class Euglenoidea, a diverse group containing some 54 genera and at least 200 species. Species of '' ...

without inducing any optical damage. For even larger particles, a combination of optical tweezers and an ultrasonic trap was developed. An additional field of research in Ritsch-Marte's group is non-linear microscopy, e.g. chemically-selective coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS), in particular they have developed a non-scanning (wide-field) CARS variant. Ritsch-Marte and her colleague Stefan Bernet hold several patents (e.g. spiral-phase contrast microscopy or a diffractive Moiré lens with tunable refraction index). Ritsch-Marte is also committed to the promotion of women in physics. Together with Claudia Draxl she chaired a working group of the Austrian Academy of Sciences which was dedicated to the promotion of women in physics. During her presidency of the Austrian Physical Society Monika Ritsch-Marte initiated the Lise-Meitner-Lectures, an event series organised yearly in co-operation with the

German Physical Society The German Physical Society (German: , DPG) is the oldest organisation of physicists. As of 2022, the DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 52,220, making it one of the largest national physics societies in the world. The DPG's membership peaked ...

consisting of public lectures by distinguished female physicists.

Awards

* 2023 Honorary membership of the

* 2022

Emmy Noether Amalie Emmy Noether (23 March 1882 – 14 April 1935) was a German mathematician who made many important contributions to abstract algebra. She also proved Noether's theorem, Noether's first and Noether's second theorem, second theorems, which ...

Distinction for Women in Physics of the

European Physical Society The European Physical Society (EPS) is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote physics and physicists in Europe through methods such as physics outreach, supporting physicists to engage in the design and implementation of European s ...

* 2019 Elected to the

Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...

. * 2016 Full Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences * 2013 OSA Fellow of the Optical Society of America * 2011 Science award of the province of Tyrol * 2011 Grand Prix for the patent of a tunable Moiré lens at the South Corean Women's Invention Exposition KIWIE * 2010 "ERC Advanced Grant" of the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

(endowed with Euro 2.5 million) for her research project catchIT * 2009 Kardinal Innitzer Prize for natural sciences Naturwissenschaften of the Archdiocese of Vienna * 2008 SUPA Distinguished Visitor Award of the Scottish universities * 2008 Science award of the province of Vorarlberg * 1993

Ludwig Boltzmann Prize The Ludwig Boltzmann Prize is awarded by the Austrian Physical Society and honors outstanding achievements in theoretical physics. It is named after the famous Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann. The prize was established at the annual meeting o ...

of the Austrian Physical Society (shared with H. Ritsch) * 1992 Research award of the city of Innsbruck * 1988 PhD award, University of Waikato, New Zealand

References

External links

Biography on the website MRM
Innsbruck Medical University
Institute of Biomedical Physics
Innsbruck Medical University {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritsch-Marte, Monika 1961 births Living people University of Waikato alumni Optical physicists Quantum physicists Experimental physicists Microscopists Biomedical engineers Austrian bioengineers Austrian women physicists Fellows of Optica (society) Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Women in optics