technical departments
Software Engineering
The Software Engineering group creates tailored software for the synchronous control of lasers, motors, cameras, detectors, and more. These are used for physics experiments and for registering, displaying, and storing data from those experiments.
‘The software transforms a collection of individual components into a scientific experiment’
Group leader Ivo Klinkert introduces the Software Engineering group:
“The labs at AMOLF are full of high-tech equipment: lasers, stages, motors, valves, microscopes, detectors, spectrometers, and much more. Our software transforms these collections of individual components into scientific experiments.
Over time, more than 100 software applications have been developed by the Software Engineering department. These applications help answer the research questions formulated by scientists at AMOLF and ARCNL. Some results of these experiments are produced over several days; others are produced in a fraction of a second. In both cases, timing and precision are often critical.
The interaction between software engineers and scientists can be quite intensive during software development. The development process itself is quite agile, as the software evolves over time based on the ever-changing requirements of the experiments.”
Collective effort
“Often, creative solutions need to be found for specific problems. These solutions are often developed in close collaboration with the Electronics and Mechanical Engineering departments at AMOLF. This multidisciplinary engineering effort helps make the science at AMOLF and ARCNL possible. Without engineers, science is just philosophy…”
Software architecture
“Our software is based on a solid foundation of tested and proven software components, on top of which more specific components are developed by a software engineer for each experimental setup. Over the years, we have created a library containing many reusable tools for all the equipment we have used so far. We have also developed an optimized library for data visualization, as well as tools that make it possible to make small changes to an experiment without requiring a new version of the software.”
What I like about my work
“It is nice that we, as software engineers, are able to create software for so many different experiments and help scientists with their research in AMOLF’s unique multidisciplinary environment.”
Contact
If you have any questions, please contact Ivo Klinkert at I.Klinkert@amolf.nl.
Explore other support groups
Discover the technical and scientific support teams that enable research at AMOLF.
At AMOLF, bright young minds work side by side with leading researchers — gaining hands-on experience, mentorship, and inspiration for the next step in science.
