Avantes has a reputation for terrific customer service. Photonics100 2025 honouree Martijn van de Goor from Avantes is someone his nominee describes as ‘working at the coalface of photonics for 20 years’. He describes how two decades of outstanding exploratory work and first-class client delivery led him to be nominated.
First, Martijn, congratulations on making this year’s list. You have spent 20 years at Avantes. Tell us about your current role and how you got there?
Martijn: My current role within Avantis is that of application engineer, and I have had many different functions, such as engineering support, sales, and project leader. From there, I used all that knowledge to apply it in the application engineering world. We help our customers apply a spectrometer to their application, and we do whatever is needed to create the perfect application where a spectrometer helps them solve a problem.
Your job must be incredibly varied, with lots of different tasks day to day. Which bits of the role do you enjoy most and why?
The most interesting part of the role is that we develop the unknown – these are largely unknown applications – and we're working daily on unknown requests. Our customers often do not know what they are looking for, but they do know that they need a spectrometer to see something they cannot see with their eyes. We are obviously involved in a lot of measurements, feasibility studies, and developments to help our customers find the perfect solution for their problems.
It sounds to me like quite a challenging investigative purpose. How long does a project typically last from start to finish?
It depends on the kind of topic that our customers are requesting and the timeline depends on the type of request that a customer has. We have several smaller requests where customers request small adjustments to the broad possibilities of our devices, and these are minor adjustments, which take only a few months to make the perfect combination for a device that works optimally for their application. But we also have customer requests that are bigger and could take much longer, with more development time involved. One recent example is a customer request for higher sensitivity in a specific range. We checked with application engineering that all the different options that are needed to get more sensitivity in that specific device could be delivered with the customer’s specific application. And then, together with our customer, we found out where the need for sensitivity was required. Based on that, we checked all the different components in the spectrometer to identify where things could be improved. In the end, we decided that a different detector might be a solution; we requested a different detector from one of our manufacturers; received that detector as a prototype, tested it, and, together with our customer, did further measurements to agree it was the optimal detector for their application. So, we are now busy implementing it for that specific customer application.
We know Avantes works in lots of different markets. Are there similarities in the way you approach a project, regardless of which sector?
In principle, the approach is the same every time. We start with a default configuration with one of the basic spectrometers that we supply. If something is discovered to be not working well enough, we can check what can be changed. Often, with the possibilities within the spectrometer, it's quite easy to find a solution that’s already there for our customer.
Tell me about data – it's obviously critical in all of the projects you work on. Is it something that's thought about early enough, and what gets missed when partners are thinking about working on a project with you?
When we're talking about data, it is best that our partners are involved as soon as possible, because the customer always has something that they want to solve and they want to measure a specific value or a specific parameter in their samples. When we first talk to the customer, we find out what they need – but, normally, a spectrometer gives only a spectrum, and the customer really likes to see something that is a number and not a spectrum. We have to check what the customer really needs and how it can be measured or shown in their application. For that, we have our basic software that can be helpful for about 70 to 80% of measurement techniques – such as transmission, absorption, and reflection. But, for some applications, it's just not enough, and therefore we have our dynamic link library (DLL) or software development kit (SDK) that can be used to program the spectra in their own software so they can do some additional calculations.
So, get thinking about the data right at the very beginning. When a client comes to you with a project, how do they work with you to make a project successful? Do they need to come with a very clear idea of what they need, or is it better to work with you on a scoping exercise before they get too far into defining that need?
The best way of working with a customer is working together because, when you work together, you build up a partnership where you can define the best possible application. It allows you to discuss possible solutions, and also where improvements are needed on both sides. If you talk a lot early on, you can make the best product, or come up with the best solution.
Obviously, you work in areas with a lot of sensitivity, such as life sciences. How do you help customers navigate regulation and compliance?
There needs to be a focus on the worldwide regulations and compliance requirements. We operate globally, and different countries have varying regulations and restrictions on various products. We have our own experience lab and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) lab to verify that products fulfil the needs of our customers. For that reason, last year, we developed a medical spectrometer that really meets all the compliances and regulations for the medical market, so that's really helpful in those kinds of applications.
I would like to ask a little bit about your own perspective on what Avantes is doing, and I wondered if you could tell me which project has particularly excited you from the many that you have been involved with in the past two years?
The projects that are most interesting to work on are the medical ones, where you can truly make a difference in people's health. In these projects, you have the opportunity to help clients create the best applications that can save lives. For example, there’s one that measures the amount of oxygen being transported in blood, so medics can check how organs will be filled with oxygen after an accident. Applying a spectrometer in this type of measurement is interesting, critical work. It’s exciting to work on such projects, where we support a life-saving method with the help of spectroscopy.
That is a really good example. Thank you. Is there anything you can tell us about the focus at Avantes in the coming two years?
We are increasingly observing requests for devices used in quality checks for industrial and medical applications. And therefore, the spectrometer needs to be reproducible with high quality. Avantes has invested in our automated production system to fulfil the reproducibility requirements.
