Simon Mahler (smahler)

Simon Mahler

Assistant Professor

Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering and Science

Department of Biomedical Engineering

McLean Hall 202
Website

Education

  • PhD (2021) Weizmann Institute of Science (Optical Physics and Complex System)
  • MS (2017) University Paris-Saclay (Physics of Complex System)
  • MS (2017) University Paris-Sud (Magister Degree - Fundemental Physics)
  • BS (2015) Aix Marseille Université (Physics)

Research

My speckle imaging lab at Stevens concentrates on the intersection of bio-imaging and optics, with focus on how light interacts with biological samples (biophotonics) and interests in engineering, device design, the integration of artificial intelligence, the development of novel light sources, and translational research. Our goal is to develop innovative imaging techniques to visualize dynamic biological processes, such as blood dynamics with applications ranging from neurological diseases to embryonic development. For that, we are using laser speckle imaging.

If you are interested in further details of any of my work or just want to connect, feel free to contact me!

General Information

Simon Mahler came to Stevens on Sep 1, 2025 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Mahler has about 10 years experience in academia, where he published 30 peer-reviewed papers and presented 25 scientific talks, seminars, or posters.

Experience

Stevens Institute of Technology, Schaefer School of Engineering and Science (SES)
• Assistant Professor: 2025-present

California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Division of Engineering and Applied Science (EAS)
• Postdoctoral Research Associate: 2022-2025

Honors and Awards

Jan 2024 – Dec 2024 – Recipient of 2024 SPIE-Franz Hillenkamp Postdoctoral Fellowship (75k$). “Assessment of mild traumatic brain injury via cerebral blood flow monitoring using speckle visibility spectroscopy (SVS)”

Dec 2021 – PhD prize: The Ruth and Prof. Abraham (Edek) Blaugrund Prize (2.5k$). The Ruth and Prof. Abraham (Edek) Blaugrund Prize was established by the Blaugrund family and is awarded to outstanding PhD students in Physics.

Patents and Inventions

Non-invasive laser speckle imaging of extra-embryonic blood vessels
Z Dong, S Mahler, C Readhead, C Yang
US Patent App. 19/056,6222025

Compact laser-powered speckle visibility spectroscopy devices
S Mahler, YX Huang, C Yang
US Patent App. 18/935,1592025

Physiological metrics for determining stroke risk
YX Huang, S Mahler, C Yang, C Liu
US Patent App. 18/934,954

Selected Publications

Conference Proceeding

  1. Reddy, A. N.; Pal, V.; Mahler, S.; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N. (2019). Flat-top laser beams over an extended range. Journal of Physics: Conference Series (1 ed., vol. 1410, pp. 012126).

Journal Article

  1. Readhead, C.; Mahler, S.; Dong, Z.; Sato, Y.; Yang, C.; Bronner, M. E. (2025). Automated non-invasive laser speckle imaging of the chick heart rate and extraembryonic blood vessels and their response to Nifedipine and Amlodipine drugs. Developmental Biology (vol. 519, pp. 46--54). Academic Press.
  2. Liu, N.; Huang, Y. X.; Mahler, S.; Yang, C. (2025). Optimized cerebral blood flow measurement in speckle contrast optical spectroscopy via refinement of noise calibration. Optics Letters (17 ed., vol. 50, pp. 5382--5385). Optica Publishing Group.
  3. Mahler, S.; Huang, Y. X.; Ismagilov, M.; \'Alvarez-Chou, David; Abedi, A.; Tyszka, J. M.; Lo, Y. T.; Russin, J.; Pantera, R. L.; Liu, C.; others (2025). Portable six-channel laser speckle system for simultaneous measurement of cerebral blood flow and volume with potential applications in characterization of brain injury. Neurophotonics (1 ed., vol. 12, pp. 015003--015003). Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.
  4. Mahler, S.; Bernstein, E.; Gadasi, S.; Arwas, G.; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N. (2025). Programmable All-Optical Spin Simulator with Artificial Gauge Fields. Physical Review Letters (8 ed., vol. 135, pp. 083804). American Physical Society.
  5. Zhou, H.; Watson, M.; Bernadt, C. T.; Lin, S.; Lin, C.; Ritter, J. H.; Wein, A.; Mahler, S.; Rawal, S.; Govindan, R.; others (2024). AI-guided histopathology predicts brain metastasis in lung cancer patients. The Journal of pathology (1 ed., vol. 263, pp. 89--98). John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd Chichester, UK.
  6. Huang, Y. X.; Mahler, S.; Dickson, M.; Abedi, A.; Tyszka, J. M.; Lo, Y. T.; Russin, J.; Liu, C.; Yang, C. (2024). Compact and cost-effective laser-powered speckle contrast optical spectroscopy fiber-free device for measuring cerebral blood flow. Journal of Biomedical Optics (6 ed., vol. 29, pp. 067001--067001). Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.
  7. Huang, Y. X.; Mahler, S.; Abedi, A.; Tyszka, J. M.; Lo, Y. T.; Lyden, P. D.; Russin, J.; Liu, C.; Yang, C. (2024). Correlating stroke risk with non-invasive cerebrovascular perfusion dynamics using a portable speckle contrast optical spectroscopy laser device. Biomedical Optics Express (10 ed., vol. 15, pp. 6083--6097). Optica Publishing Group.
  8. Dong, Z.; Mahler, S.; Readhead, C.; Chen, X.; Dickson, M.; Bronner, M.; Yang, C. (2024). Non-invasive laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) of extra-embryonic blood vessels in intact avian eggs at early developmental stages. Biomedical Optics Express (8 ed., vol. 15, pp. 4605).
  9. Mahler, S.; Huang, Y. X.; Liang, M.; Avalos, A.; Tyszka, J. M.; Mertz, J.; Yang, C. (2023). Assessing depth sensitivity in laser interferometry speckle visibility spectroscopy (iSVS) through source-to-detector distance variation and cerebral blood flow monitoring in humans and rabbits. Biomedical Optics Express (9 ed., vol. 14, pp. 4964--4978). Optica Publishing Group.
  10. Huang, Y. X.; Mahler, S.; Mertz, J.; Yang, C. (2023). Interferometric speckle visibility spectroscopy (iSVS) for measuring decorrelation time and dynamics of moving samples with enhanced signal-to-noise ratio and relaxed reference requirements. Optics Express (19 ed., vol. 31, pp. 31253--31266). Optica Publishing Group.
  11. Davidson, N.; Mahler, S.; Friesem, A.; Forbes, A. (2022). Complex-light lasers. Optics and photonics news (5 ed., vol. 33, pp. 26--33). Optica Publishing Group.
  12. Eliezer, Y.; Mahler, S.; Friesem, A. A.; Cao, H.; Davidson, N. (2022). Controlling nonlinear interaction in a many-mode laser by tuning disorder. Physical review letters (14 ed., vol. 128, pp. 143901). APS.
  13. Kumar Reddy, A. N.; Mahler, S.; Goldring, A.; Pal, V.; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N. (2022). Phase locking of lasers with Gaussian coupling. Optics express (2 ed., vol. 30, pp. 1114--1129). Optical Society of America.
  14. Chriki, R.; Mahler, S.; Tradonsky, C.; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N. (2022). Real-time full-field imaging through scattering media by all-optical feedback. Physical Review A (3 ed., vol. 105, pp. 033527). APS.
  15. Tradonsky, C.; Mahler, S.; Cai, G.; Pal, V.; Chriki, R.; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N. (2021). High-resolution digital spatial control of a highly multimode laser. Optica (6 ed., vol. 8, pp. 880--884). Optical Society of America.
  16. Piccardo, M.; Ginis, V.; Forbes, A.; Mahler, S.; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N.; Ren, H.; Dorrah, A. H.; Capasso, F.; Dullo, F. T.; others (2021). Roadmap on multimode light shaping. Journal of Optics (1 ed., vol. 24, pp. 013001). IOP Publishing.
  17. Mahler, S.; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N. (2020). Experimental demonstration of crowd synchrony and first-order transition with lasers. Physical Review Research (4 ed., vol. 2, pp. 043220). APS.
  18. Mahler, S.; Eliezer, Y.; Y\ilmaz, Hasan; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N.; Cao, H. (2020). Fast laser speckle suppression with an intracavity diffuser. Nanophotonics (1 ed., vol. 10, pp. 129--136). De Gruyter.
  19. Mahler, S.; Goh, M. L.; Tradonsky, C.; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N. (2020). Improved phase locking of laser arrays with nonlinear coupling. Physical Review Letters (13 ed., vol. 124, pp. 133901). APS.
  20. Pal, V.; Mahler, S.; Tradonsky, C.; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N. (2020). Rapid fair sampling of the XY spin Hamiltonian with a laser simulator. Physical Review Research (3 ed., vol. 2, pp. 033008). APS.
  21. Mahler, S.; Tradonsky, C.; Chriki, R.; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N. (2019). Coupling of laser arrays with intracavity elements in the far-field. OSA continuum (6 ed., vol. 2, pp. 2077--2084). Optical Society of America.
  22. Mahler, S.; Pal, V.; Tradonsky, C.; Chriki, R.; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N. (2019). Dynamics of dissipative topological defects in coupled phase oscillators. Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (20 ed., vol. 52, pp. 205401). IOP Publishing.
  23. Chriki, R.; Mahler, S.; Tradonsky, C.; Pal, V.; Friesem, A. A.; Davidson, N. (2018). Spatiotemporal supermodes: Rapid reduction of spatial coherence in highly multimode lasers. Physical Review A (2 ed., vol. 98, pp. 023812). APS.
  24. Kamsap, M. R.; Champenois, C.; Pedregosa-Gutierrez, J.; Mahler, S.; Houssin, M.; Knoop, M. (2017). Experimental demonstration of an efficient number diagnostic for long ion chains. Physical Review A (1 ed., vol. 95, pp. 013413). APS.