Contact:

Denis Brousseau, Ph.D.
Senior research fellow
NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Optical Design
Center for Optics, Photonics, and Lasers (COPL)
Université Laval
2375, rue de la Terrasse, room 3145
Quebec (Quebec) Canada G1V 0A6
Telephone: +1 418 656-2131 (4646)
Email: denis.brousseau@copl.ulaval.ca

Research interests:

Adaptive optics
Optical design and testing
Astronomical instrumentation

Educational Background:

B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Physics from Université Laval, Québec CANADA.

During PhD, I worked on the development of deformable mirrors based on the actuation of a magnetic liquid (ferrofluid). Ferrofluids are liquids that contain ferromagnetic particles of 10-nm average diameter dispersed in an oil or water-based carrier. When a ferrofluid is in the presence of a magnetic field, the ferromagnetic particles align themselves with the field gradient and the surface of the liquid changes to minimize the system energy. Details about this technology can be found in some of the publications listed on this page.
Below is a video showing a 37-actuator magnetic-liquid DM running in closed-loop in our lab.

Refereed publications:

• Generation of optical Y-junction Bessel beams
  Fortin, M., Piché, M., Brousseau, D., and Thibault, S., Applied Optics 58, 8411-8415 (2019)


• Generation of optical Bessel beams with arbitrarily curved trajectories using a magnetic-liquid deformable mirror
  Fortin, M., Piché, M., Brousseau, D., and Thibault, S., Applied Optics 57, 6135-6144 (2018)


• Aluminum-coated elastomer thin films for the fabrication of a ferrofluidic deformable mirror
  Déry, J.-P., Brousseau, D., Rochette, M., Borra, E. F. and Ritcey, A. M., J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 44542 (2016)


• Modal dynamics of magnetic-liquid deformable mirrors
  D. Brousseau, S. Thibault, E. F. Borra, and S. F. Boivin, Applied Optics 53, 4903-4909 (2014)


• Generation of Bessel beams using a magnetic liquid deformable mirror
  D. Brousseau, J. Drapeau, Michel Piché, and E. F. Borra, Applied Optics 50, 4005-4010 (2011)


• Linearization of the response of a 91-actuator magnetic liquid deformable mirror
  D. Brousseau, E. F. Borra, M. Rochette, and D. Landry, Optics Express 18, 8239-8250 (2010)


• Dynamic response of ferrofluidic deformable mirrors
  J. Parent, E. F. Borra, D. Brousseau, A. M. Ritcey, J. Déry, and S. Thibault, Applied Optics 48, 1-6 (2009)


• Aberration correction with a magnetic liquid active mirror
  E. F. Borra, D. Brousseau, M. Cliche, and J. Parent, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 391, 1925-1930 (2008)


• Wavefront correction with a 37-actuator ferrofluid deformable mirror
  D. Brousseau, E. F. Borra, and S. Thibault, Optics Express 15, 18190-18199 (2007)


• A magnetic liquid deformable mirror for high stroke and low order axially symmetrical aberrations
  D. Brousseau, E. F. Borra, H. J. Ruel, and J. Parent, Optics Express 14, 11486-11493 (2006)


• Large magnetic liquid mirrors
  E. F. Borra, D. Brousseau, and A. Vincent, Astronomy & Astrophysics 446, 389-393 (2006)

Contributed talks and posters at international conferences:

• The near-infrared planet searcher (NIRPS)
  Doyon, R., Bouchy, F., Artigau, É., Hernandez, O., Wildi, F., Melo, C., Vallée, P., Thibault, S., Delfosse, X., Lovis, C., Pepe, F., Figueira, P., Reshetov, V., Santos, N., Malo, L., Ouellet, M., Brousseau, D., et al. in Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII, Proc. of SPIE 10702 (2018)


• Sea-ice detection for autonomous underwater vehicles and oceanographic lagrangian platforms by continuous-wave laser polarimetry
  Lagunas, J., Marec, C., Leymarie, É., Penkerc'h, C., Rehm, É., Désaulniers, P., Brousseau, D., Larochelle, P., Roy, G., Fournier, G., Thibault, S., and Babin, M., in Ocean Sensing and Monitoring X, Proc. of SPIE 10631 (2018)


• Curved Bessel beams: Theory and experiments
  M. Fortin, M. Piché, D. Brousseau, S. Thibault, in 2016 Photonics North (PN)(2016)


• An achromatic low-order wavefront sensor
  D. Brousseau, G. Allain, S. Thibault, J.-P. Véran, in Adaptive Optics Systems V, Proc. of SPIE 9909 (2016)


• Canadian contributions studies for the WFIRST instruments
  J.-F. Lavigne, N. Rowlands, F. J. Grandmont, D. Lafrenière, C. Marois, O. Daigle, S. Thibault, D. Schade, É. Artigau, D. Brousseau, J. Maire, G. Cretot-Richert, M.-È. Ducharme, L. E. Lévesque, D. Laurin, J. Dupuis, in Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, Proc. of SPIE 9904 (2016)


• First Light of the NIRISS Optical Simulator (NOS)
  J. St-Antoine, L. Albert, R. Doyon, P. Vallée, É. Artigau, O. Hernandez, S. Thibault, D, Brousseau, in Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, Proc. of SPIE 9904 (2016)


• `imaka: a path-finder ground-layer adaptive optics system for the University of Hawaii 2.2-meter telescope on Maunakea
  M. R. Chun, O. Lai, D. Toomey, J. R. Lu, C. Baranec, S. Thibault, D. Brousseau, H. Zhang, Y. Hayano, S. Oya, in Adaptive Optics Systems IV, Proc. of SPIE 9148 (2014)


• SITELLE optical design, assembly, and testing
  D. Brousseau, S. Thibault, S.-F. Boivin, H. Zhang, P. Vallée, H. Auger, and L. Drissen, in Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy V, Proc. of SPIE 9147 (2014)


• Real-time polarization difference imaging (rPDI) reveals surface details and textures in harsh environments
  D. Brousseau, J. Plant, and S. Thibault in Photonic Applications for Aerospace, Commercial, and Harsh Environments IV, Proc. of SPIE 8720 (2013)


• Woofer-tweeter adaptive optics in very strong turbulence using a magnetic-liquid deformable mirror
  D. Brousseau, J. P. Véran, S. Thibault, E.F. Borra, and S.-F Boivin, in Adaptive Optics Systems III, Proc. of SPIE 8447 (2011)


• Measuring the stroke performance of a ferrofluid based deformable mirror by Fourier transforms of Shack-Hartmann spot patterns
  D. Brousseau, E. F. Borra, and S. Thibault, in Imaging and Applied Optics, OSA Technical Digest on CD-ROM, Optical Society of America, paper AtuA3 (2011)


• Liquid deformable mirror for advanced sub-optical system testing
  S. Thibault, D. Brousseau, and E. F. Borra, in Modern Technologies in Space and Ground-based Telescopes and Instrumentation, Proc. of SPIE 7739 (2010)


• Ferrofluid deformable mirrors: recent advances and results
  D. Brousseau and E. F. Borra, in Adaptive Optics Systems II, Proc. of SPIE 7736 (2010)


• A New Ferrofluid Mirror for Vision Science Applications
  D. Brousseau, E. F. Borra, A. M. Ritcey, M. C. Campbell, S. Thibault, J. Drapeau, and A. Naderian, in Frontiers in Optics, OSA Technical Digest on CD-ROM, Optical Society of America, paper JWF2 (2009)


• Wavefront correction with a ferrofluid deformable mirror: experimental results and recent developments
  D. Brousseau, E. F. Borra, S. Thibault, A. M. Ritcey, J. Parent, O. Seddiki, J.-P. Déry, L. Faucher, J. Vassallo, and A. Naderian, in Adaptive Optics Systems, Proc. of SPIE 7015 (2008)


• Nanoengineered parabolic liquid mirrors
  E. F. Borra, D. Brousseau, G. Gagné, L. Faucher, and A. M. Ritcey, in Optomechanical Technologies for Astronomy, Proc. of SPIE 6273 (2006) }


• Nanoengineered ferrofluid deformable mirrors: a progress report
  S. Thibault, D. Brousseau, M. Rioux, S. Senkow, J.-P. Déry, E. F. Borra, and A. M. Ritcey, in Advances in Adaptive Optics II, Proc. of SPIE 6272 (2006)


• Ferrofluid Based Deformable Mirrors for Adaptive Optics
  D. Brousseau, E. F. Borra, M. Rioux, and S. Thibault, in Adaptive Optics: Analysis and Methods/Computational Optical Sensing and Imaging/Information Photonics/Signal Recovery and Synthesis Topical Meetings, OSA Technical Digest on CD-ROM, Optical Society of America, paper JWB13 (2005)

Other publications:

• Adaptive optics with ferrofluid deformable mirrors
  E. F. Borra, D. Brousseau, M. Campbell, A. M. Ritcey, and S. Thibault, in Photons: Technical Review of the Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations, vol. 6, no. 2 (2008).

Updated October 2019