Niels Quack

Quack studied engineering at EPFL and received his master's degree in 2005. He then joined Jürg Dual's Institute for Mechanical Systems at ETH Zurich as a PhD student and graduated in 2010 with a thesis on "Micromirrors for integrated tunable mid-infrared detectors and emitters."{{Cite journal|last1=Quack|first1=Niels|last2=Blunier|first2=Stefan|last3=Dual|first3=Jurg|last4=Felder|first4=Ferdinand|last5=Arnold|first5=Martin|last6=Zogg|first6=Hans|date=September 2008|title=Mid-Infrared Tunable Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detectors|journal=Sensors|language=en|volume=8|issue=9|pages=5466–5478|doi=10.3390/s8095466|pmc=3705514|pmid=27873824|bibcode=2008Senso...8.5466Q|doi-access=free}}{{Cite thesis|title=Micromirrors for integrated tunable mid-infrared detectors and emitters|url=https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/handle/20.500.11850/22148|publisher=ETH Zurich|date=2009|degree=Doctoral Thesis|doi=10.3929/ethz-a-005994709|language=en|first=Niels|last=Quack|hdl=20.500.11850/22148 }} In 2011, he went to work as a postdoctoral researcher at Ming C. Wu's Integrated Photonics Laboratory at University of California, Berkeley. From 2014 to 2015, he was senior microelectromechanical systems engineer with Sercalo Microtechnology Inc.{{Cite web|title=Alumni – Integrated Photonics Laboratory|url=http://www.mingwulab.berkeley.edu/people/alumni/|access-date=16 December 2020|website=www.mingwulab.berkeley.edu}}

From 2015 to 2022, he has been an SNSF Assistant Professor with the EPFL, and head of the Photonic Micro- and Nanosystems Laboratory at its school of engineering.{{Cite web |title=Diamond watch components – SNF |url=http://www.snf.ch/en/researchinFocus/newsroom/pages/news-180618-press-release-diamond-watch-components.aspx |access-date=14 December 2020 |website=www.snf.ch}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Faculty Members, STI, School of Engineering |url=https://sti.epfl.ch/research/faculty-members/ |access-date=14 December 2020 |website=sti.epfl.ch}}

In addition to his work in Switzerland, Quack has also held several academic leadership positions at the University of Sydney. From 2022 to 2025, he has served as Associate Professor in Micro- and Nanosystems at the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering within the Faculty of Engineering. Between 2024 and 2025, he was also Director of the Research & Prototype Foundry, part of the university’s Core Research Facilities within the Research Portfolio. Since 2025, he holds an Honorary Professor Position at the Faculty of Engineering.{{Cite web |title=Welcoming Niels Quack as ANFF-NSW's new University of Sydney Hub Director |url=https://anff.org.au/news/welcoming-niels-quack-as-anff-nsws-new-university-of-sydney-hub-director/ |access-date=2025-07-01 |website=Australian National Fabrication Facility Limited |language=en-AU}}

Since April 2025, he is Professor at the University of Stuttgart and serves as the Managing Director of IMS CHIPS.{{Cite web |title=Herr Prof. Dr. Niels Quack {{!}} Fakultät 5: Informatik, Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik {{!}} Universität Stuttgart |url=https://www.f05.uni-stuttgart.de/fakultaet/personen/Quack/ |access-date=2025-07-01 |website=www.f05.uni-stuttgart.de |language=de}}{{Cite web |title=Über uns |url=https://www.ims-chips.com/?page_id=346 |access-date=2025-07-01 |website=Institut für Mikroelektronik Stuttgart |language=en-US}}

The research interests of Quack include Micro- and Nanosystems Engineering for integrated transducers{{Cite web|title=Research Projects|url=https://www.epfl.ch/labs/q-lab/rd-projects/|access-date=14 December 2020|website=www.epfl.ch|language=en-GB}} with a focus on diamond photonics and silicon photonic microelectromechanical systems (MEMS),{{Cite journal|last1=Mi|first1=Sichen|last2=Kiss|first2=Marcell|last3=Graziosi|first3=Teodoro|last4=Quack|first4=Niels|date=5 August 2020|title=Integrated photonic devices in single crystal diamond|journal=Journal of Physics: Photonics|volume=2|issue=4|pages=042001|doi=10.1088/2515-7647/aba171|bibcode=2020JPhP....2d2001M|s2cid=225374811 |issn=2515-7647|doi-access=free}} photonic switches and tunable optical microsystems. They find application in information and communication technologies,{{Cite journal|last1=Seok|first1=Tae Joon|last2=Quack|first2=Niels|last3=Han|first3=Sangyoon|last4=Muller|first4=Richard S.|last5=Wu|first5=Ming C.|date=20 January 2016|title=Large-scale broadband digital silicon photonic switches with vertical adiabatic couplers|url=https://www.osapublishing.org/optica/abstract.cfm?uri=optica-3-1-64|journal=Optica|language=EN|volume=3|issue=1|pages=64–70|doi=10.1364/OPTICA.3.000064|bibcode=2016Optic...3...64S|issn=2334-2536|doi-access=free}} and emerging fields such as quantum information{{Cite journal|last1=Ramirez|first1=Joan Manel|last2=Malhouitre|first2=Stephane|last3=Gradkowski|first3=Kamil|last4=Morrissey|first4=Padraic E.|last5=O'Brien|first5=Peter|last6=Caillaud|first6=Christophe|last7=Vaissiere|first7=Nicolas|last8=Decobert|first8=Jean|last9=Lei|first9=Shenghui|last10=Enright|first10=Ryan|last11=Shen|first11=Alexandre|date=March 2020|title=III-V-on-Silicon Integration: From Hybrid Devices to Heterogeneous Photonic Integrated Circuits|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8823948|journal=IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics|volume=26|issue=2|pages=1–13|doi=10.1109/JSTQE.2019.2939503|bibcode=2020IJSTQ..2639503R|s2cid=203041885|issn=1077-260X|via=|url-access=subscription}} and artificial intelligence.{{Cite journal|last1=Kiss|first1=Marcell|last2=Mi|first2=Sichen|last3=Huszka|first3=Gergely|last4=Quack|first4=Niels|date=3 December 2020|title=Diamond diffractive optics—recent progress and perspectives|journal=Advanced Optical Technologies|language=en|volume=-1|issue=ahead-of-print|pages=19–30|doi=10.1515/aot-2020-0052|s2cid=230621637|issn=2192-8576|doi-access=free}}

Quack's research has been featured in several international news outlet's such as Swissinfo,{{Cite web|title=EPFL: vers des mécanismes horlogers en diamant|url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/epfl--vers-des-m%C3%A9canismes-horlogers-en-diamant/44198348|access-date=15 April 2021|website=SWI swissinfo.ch|date=18 June 2018 |language=fr}} Phys.org,{{Cite web|title=Carving diamonds for optical components|url=https://phys.org/news/2017-09-diamonds-optical-components.html|access-date=15 April 2021|website=phys.org|language=en}} Bilan,{{Cite web|title=Le diamant de labo, plus vrai que nature?|url=https://www.bilan.ch/economie/le_diamant_de_labo_plus_vrai_que_nature_|access-date=15 April 2021|website=Bilan|date=6 July 2018 |language=fr}} and Laser Focus World,{{Cite web|title=StackPath|url=https://www.laserfocusworld.com/optics/article/16569345/diamond-optical-gratings-to-enable-new-uses-in-spectroscopy-and-highpower-laser-control|access-date=15 April 2021|website=www.laserfocusworld.com|date=6 September 2017 }}. His research is also introduced in online videos such as the OSA stories{{Cite web|date=3 June 2019|title=Niels Quack shares what excites him most about his work|url=https://www.osa.org/en-us/media_library/searchresultsvideo/?Id=6042778579001|access-date=20 April 2021|website=OSA Stories}} and the H2020 Morphic Project.{{Citation|title=The H2020 Morphic Project|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA0MIXDE7Ro|language=en|access-date=20 April 2021}}

Quack has been an associate editor Journal of Optical Microsystems,{{Cite web|title=Journal of Optical Microsystems|url=https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/journal-of-optical-microsystems/editorial-board?SSO=1|access-date=14 December 2020|website=www.spiedigitallibrary.org}} Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS (JM³),{{Cite web|title=Editorial Board|url=https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/journal-of-micro-nanolithography-mems-and-moems/editorial-board?SSO=1|access-date=14 December 2020|website=www.spiedigitallibrary.org}} and Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.{{Cite web|title=Editor-in-Chief and Editors – IEEE Electron Devices Society|url=https://eds.ieee.org/publications/journal-of-microelectromechanical-systems/editor-in-chief-and-editors|access-date=14 December 2020|website=IEEE|language=en-gb}} He has been a steering committee member of the IEEE International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics (OMN),{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=IEEE Xplore – Niels Quack|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37694636700|access-date=14 December 2020|website=IEEE}} and served as general chair of the IEEE OMN 2018 and the Latsis Symposium 2019 on Diamond Photonics.{{Cite web|title=LATSIS2019 – Symposium Latsis 2019 on Diamond Photonics|url=https://archiveweb.epfl.ch/latsis2019.epfl.ch/|access-date=21 December 2020|language=en-GB}}

He is a senior member of IEEE, a senior member of Optica, and a Fellow of SPIE.{{Cite web|title=Niels Quack|url=https://spie.org/profile/nielsquack?SSO=1|access-date=14 December 2020|website=spie.org}}

He is the recipient of the Outstanding Paper Award by Nature Microsystems & Nanoengineering 2020.{{Cite journal|last1=Toros|first1=Adrien|last2=Kiss|first2=Marcell|last3=Graziosi|first3=Teodoro|last4=Sattari|first4=Hamed|last5=Gallo|first5=Pascal|last6=Quack|first6=Niels|date=18 June 2018|title=Precision micro-mechanical components in single crystal diamond by deep reactive ion etching|url= |journal=Microsystems & Nanoengineering|language=en|volume=4|issue=1|page=12|doi=10.1038/s41378-018-0014-5|pmid=31057900|pmc=6161503|bibcode=2018MicNa...4...12T|issn=2055-7434}}

In 2023, he was named Supervisor of the Year by the Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association.{{Cite web |title=2023 Supervisor of the Year {{!}} SUPRA |url=https://supra.net.au/2023-supervisor-of-the-year/ |access-date=2025-07-01 |language=en-US}} In 2024, he was honored as one of the Top 100 Innovators in Photonics by ElectroOptics.{{Cite web |title=Niels Quack {{!}} Electro Optics |url=https://www.electrooptics.com/article/niels-quack |access-date=2025-07-01 |website=www.electrooptics.com}}

• Quack, Niels; Takabayashi, Alain Yuji; Sattari, Hamed; Edinger, Pierre; Jo, Gaehun; Bleiker, Simon J.; Errando-Herranz, Carlos; Gylfason, Kristinn B.;  Niklaus, Frank; Khan, Umar; Verheyen, Peter; Mallik, Arun Kumar; Lee, Jun Su; Jezzini, Moises; Zand, Iman; Morrissey, Padraic; Antony, Cleitus; O’Brien, Peter; Bogaerts, Wim (2023). Microsystems & Nanoengineering.{{Cite web |title=Google Scholar |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=bIaBp4EAAAAJ&cstart=20&pagesize=80&sortby=pubdate&citation_for_view=bIaBp4EAAAAJ:1lhNe0rCu4AC |access-date=2025-07-01 |website=scholar.google.com}}
• {{cite journal |doi=10.1088/2515-7647/aba171|title=Integrated photonic devices in single crystal diamond|year=2020|last1=Mi|first1=Sichen|last2=Kiss|first2=Marcell|last3=Graziosi|first3=Teodoro|last4=Quack|first4=Niels|journal=Journal of Physics: Photonics|volume=2|issue=4|page=042001|bibcode=2020JPhP....2d2001M|s2cid=225374811 |doi-access=free}}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.diamond.2019.01.007|title=Non-contact polishing of single crystal diamond by ion beam etching|year=2019|last1=Mi|first1=Sichen|last2=Toros|first2=Adrien|last3=Graziosi|first3=Teodoro|last4=Quack|first4=Niels|journal=Diamond and Related Materials|volume=92|pages=248–252|bibcode=2019DRM....92..248M|s2cid=139239450 |doi-access=free}}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1364/OE.27.030371|title=High-quality single crystal diamond diffraction gratings fabricated by crystallographic etching|year=2019|last1=Kiss|first1=Marcell|last2=Graziosi|first2=Teodoro|last3=Toros|first3=Adrien|last4=Scharf|first4=Toralf|last5=Santschi|first5=Christian|last6=Martin|first6=Olivier J. F.|last7=Quack|first7=Niels|journal=Optics Express|volume=27|issue=21|pages=30371–30379|pmid=31684285|bibcode=2019OExpr..2730371K|s2cid=207899402 |url=https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/271582/files/Final_Version.pdf}}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1109/JSTQE.2019.2943384|title=MEMS for Photonic Integrated Circuits|year=2020|last1=Errando-Herranz|first1=Carlos|last2=Takabayashi|first2=Alain Yuji|last3=Edinger|first3=Pierre|last4=Sattari|first4=Hamed|last5=Gylfason|first5=Kristinn B.|last6=Quack|first6=Niels|journal=IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics|volume=26|issue=2|pages=1–16|arxiv=2212.05169 |bibcode=2020IJSTQ..2643384E|s2cid=204201509}}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1109/JQE.2019.2946841|title=MEMS-Enabled Silicon Photonic Integrated Devices and Circuits|year=2020|last1=Quack|first1=Niels|last2=Sattari|first2=Hamed|last3=Takabayashi|first3=Alain Yuji|last4=Zhang|first4=Yu|last5=Verheyen|first5=Peter|last6=Bogaerts|first6=Wim|last7=Edinger|first7=Pierre|last8=Errando-Herranz|first8=Carlos|last9=Gylfason|first9=Kristinn B.|journal=IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics|volume=56|issue=1|pages=1–10|bibcode=2020IJQE...5646841Q|s2cid=204923614|doi-access=free|hdl=1854/LU-8652980|hdl-access=free}}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1364/OPTICA.3.000064|title=Large-scale broadband digital silicon photonic switches with vertical adiabatic couplers|year=2016|last1=Seok|first1=Tae Joon|last2=Quack|first2=Niels|last3=Han|first3=Sangyoon|last4=Muller|first4=Richard S.|last5=Wu|first5=Ming C.|journal=Optica|volume=3|issue=1|page=64|bibcode=2016Optic...3...64S|doi-access=free}}
• {{cite journal |doi=10.1109/LPT.2016.2515106|title=Scalable Row/Column Addressing of Silicon Photonic MEMS Switches|year=2016|last1=Quack|first1=Niels|last2=Seok|first2=Tae Joon|last3=Han|first3=Sangyoon|last4=Muller|first4=Richard S.|last5=Wu|first5=Ming C.|journal=IEEE Photonics Technology Letters|volume=28|issue=5|pages=561–564|bibcode=2016IPTL...28..561Q|s2cid=20993686|doi-access=free}}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1109/JSSC.2016.2621755|title=Electronic-Photonic Integrated Circuit for 3D Microimaging|year=2017|last1=Behroozpour|first1=Behnam|last2=Sandborn|first2=Phillip A. M.|last3=Quack|first3=Niels|last4=Seok|first4=Tae-Joon|last5=Matsui|first5=Yasuhiro|last6=Wu|first6=Ming C.|last7=Boser|first7=Bernhard E.|journal=IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits|volume=52|issue=1|pages=161–172|bibcode=2017IJSSC..52..161B|s2cid=12322886}}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1088/1464-4258/10/4/044015|title=Tunable resonant cavity enhanced detectors using vertically actuated MEMS mirrors|year=2008|last1=Quack|first1=Niels|last2=Blunier|first2=Stefan|last3=Dual|first3=Jurg|last4=Arnold|first4=Martin|last5=Felder|first5=Ferdinand|last6=Ebneter|first6=Christian|last7=Rahim|first7=Mohamed|last8=Zogg|first8=Hans|journal=Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics|volume=10|issue=4|page=044015|bibcode=2008JOptA..10d4015Q}}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.1856134|title=Submicrometer Hall devices fabricated by focused electron-beam-induced deposition|year=2005|last1=Boero|first1=G.|last2=Utke|first2=I.|last3=Bret|first3=T.|last4=Quack|first4=N.|last5=Todorova|first5=M.|last6=Mouaziz|first6=S.|last7=Kejik|first7=P.|last8=Brugger|first8=J.|last9=Popovic|first9=R. S.|last10=Hoffmann|first10=P.|journal=Applied Physics Letters|volume=86|issue=4|page=042503|bibcode=2005ApPhL..86d2503B|url=http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/58434}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Google Scholar id|id=bIaBp4EAAAAJ}}
• Website of the [https://q-lab.epfl.ch Laboratory of Photonic Micro- and Nanosystems]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Quack, Niels}}

Category:Living people

Category:ETH Zurich alumni

Category:Academic staff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Category:1980 births

Category:École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne alumni

Category:21st-century Swiss engineers