Zeev Zalevsky: The 2025 SPIE Dennis Gabor Award in Diffractive Optics

Zeev Zalevksy is a professor of engineering and head of the engineering cluster at the Energy and Sustainability Center at Bar-Ilan University and a prolific entrepreneur. His areas of research include optical super resolution, biomedical optics, computer-generated holography, off-axis holography, nano-photonics, and fiber-based processing and sensing architectures. Among other highly regarded technical achievements, Zalevsky has provided the optical research community with several innovative super-resolution approaches, including formulating the theory and the fundamental mathematical-physical definition of the concept of adaptation of degrees of freedom and their relation to imaging systems and, subsequently, by defining new concepts of super-resolved imaging based on various types of multiplexing.

Zalevsky is also a successful entrepreneur, responsible for the commercialization of numerous technologies: Many of his inventions have been commercialized for startup companies and matured towards products that benefit end users. An example of this technology transfer is his participation in the key patents, engineering, design, and technology development of the Kinect 3D-sensor mass produced for Microsoft. He is also an active member of the scientific community, organizing numerous international conferences, and supervising and mentoring many undergraduate and graduate research students.

An SPIE Fellow, Zalevsky is also a Fellow of IEEE, the European Optical Society, the Institute of Physics, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He is the recipient of numerous recognitions, including the Wolf Foundation’s Krill Prize, the International Commission of Optics prize, the Ernst Abbe Medal, the Image Engineering Innovation Award, the Horace Furumoto Innovations Professional Development Award, the IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Award, the Meitner Humboldt Research Award, the Berthold Leibinger Innovation Prize, and the 2023 SPIE Chandra S. Vikram Award in Optical Metrology. His innovations have also been honored with an SPIE Prism Award and SPIE Startup Challenge recognitions. Zalevsky has contributed to the Society through his work on the Publications Committee; as a reviewer for the SPIE journal Optical Engineering; by sitting on multiple conference program committees; and as conference chair of Tissue Optics and Photonics at SPIE Photonics Europe and Computational Imaging at SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing. Zalevsky has been the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Electronic Imaging, co-published by SPIE and the Society for Imaging Science and Technology, since 2021.

“Zeev is very well known internationally for his fundamental work on developing various novel techniques in optical super resolution and extended depth of focus as well as for developing a speckle based remote sensing approach for biomedical sensing,” says the Italian National Research Council’s Institute of Applied Sciences and Intelligent Systems Research Director Pietro Ferraro. “In the super resolution and extended depth-of-focus, Zeev has developed a revolutionary design of ophthalmic lens – that is, contact lenses and intra-ocular lenses – capable of solving presbyopia and astigmatism aberration. In the field of remote biomedical sensing, Zeev has developed a novel and applicable operation principle that was implemented in clinical trials for measuring various biomedical parameters and is now deployed as a medical product for predicting and monitoring various cardio-pulmonary diseases. Zeev played a key role in developing a cutting-edge super-resolved micro-endoscope for ear, nose, and throat procedures. Beyond his significant scientific and entrepreneurial contributions, he is renowned for his collaborative nature and dedication to supporting students and colleagues.”

Meet the other 2025 SPIE Society Award recipients.

Read more about Zeev Zalevksy and the SPIE Dennis Gabor Award in Diffractive Optics.