Professor Andrew Maiden

PhD, MEng

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Professor of Computational Imaging

Semiconductor Materials and Devices Research Group

Headshot of Andy Maiden
Profile picture of Headshot of Andy Maiden
a.maiden@sheffield.ac.uk
Sir Frederick Mappin Building

Full contact details

Professor Andrew Maiden
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Sir Frederick Mappin Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
Profile

I’m interested in computational optics – enhancing optical systems such as microscopes, cameras or projectors with computer code.

My interest began with my PhD at Durham University, where I used computer modelling of the way light propagates to design digital holograms.

The holograms were printed out and projected a 3D pattern of circuitry when illuminated with a laser. We used these projected patterns to expose photoresist for the manufacture of volumetric integrated circuits and 3D antennas.

I spent a year living in the Lake District (where I grew up) after my PhD. I got to indulge my passion for outdoor sports – rock climbing, fell running and triathlon – whilst I was there, so when I decided to return to academia Sheffield was a natural choice, being a very outdoors city with excellent Universities.

I moved to Sheffield to work with Professor John Rodenburg FRS, and was lucky enough to join him in the pioneering days of a computational optics technique called ptychography (pronounced tie-cog- ra-fee).

Ptychography uses diffraction pattern measurements to enhance microscopes. It realises ‘perfect’ imaging, where the image of a microscopic specimen it recreates is an exact copy of how that specimen interacts with a beam of light.

I left Sheffield University for a brief spell to work with a spin-out company on commercialisation of ptychography-enhanced microscopes. I missed the freedom of the academic environment, and returned as a Lecturer after a couple of years.

As well as my continuing research in computational optics, I now teach Digital Signal Processing (DSP) to our third years.

Research interests
  • Coherent Diffractive Imaging (CDI)
  • Ptychography
  • Computer-generated holography
  • Phase imaging in the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)
  • Inverse problems
  • Image processing
Publications

Journal articles

  • Wang R, Zhao Q, Quinn J, Yang L, Zhu Y, Huang F, Guo C, Wang T, Song P, Murphy M , Nguyen TD et al (2026) . eLight, 6(1).
  • Allars F, Maiden A, Batey DJ & Allen CS (2025) . Journal of Microscopy.
  • Maiden A, Lu P-H, You S & Allars F (2025) . Microscopy and Microanalysis, 31(Supplement_1).
  • Chennit T, Li S, Hofer C, Schrenker NJ, Maiden A, Lalandec Robert HL, Bals S, Pennycook T & Verbeeck J (2025) . Microscopy and Microanalysis, 31(Supplement_1).
  • Chennit T, Hofer C, Yuan B, Li S, Maiden A & Pennycook T (2024) . BIO Web of Conferences, 129, 04034-04034.
  • Hu Z, Zhang Y & Maiden A (2024) . Optics Letters, 49(17), 4839-4842.
  • Chennit T, Hofer C, Yuan B, Li S, Maiden A & Pennycook TJ (2024) . Microscopy and Microanalysis, 30(Supplement_1).
  • Song P, Wang R, Loetgering L, Liu J, Vouras P, Lee Y, Jiang S, Feng B, Maiden A, Yang C & Zheng G (2024) . Light: Science & Applications, 13(1).
  • Maiden AM, Mei W & Li P (2024) . Optics Express, 32(12), 21327-21344.
  • You S, Lu P-H, Schachinger T, Kovács A, Dunin-Borkowski RE & Maiden AM (2023) . Applied Physics Letters, 123(19).
  • Jiang S, Song P, Wang T, Yang L, Wang R, Guo C, Feng B, Maiden A & Zheng G (2023) . Nature Protocols, 18(7), 2051-2083.
  • Hu Z, Zhang Y, Li P, Batey D & Maiden A (2023) . Optics Express, 31(10), 15791-15791.
  • Wang R, Zhao Q, Loetgering L, Allars F, Hong Z, Pennycook TJ, Horstmeyer R, Rodenburg J, Maiden A & Zheng G () . Nature Reviews Methods Primers, 5(1).
  • Maiden A, Clark L & O'Toole P () . Journal of Microscopy.

Conference proceedings

  • Saad R, Maiden AM, Li GJ & Ford KL (2025) . Sefi 2025 53rd Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education Engineering and Society Proceedings (pp 823-831)
  • Maiden AM, Hu Z & Zhang Y (2024) . Optica Imaging Congress 2024 (3D, AOMS, COSI, ISA, pcAOP) (pp CW3B.1-CW3B.1), 2024.

Preprints

  • Zhao Q, Hong Z, Wang R, Wang T, Jiang L, Ma Q, Lu P-H, Dunin-Borkowski RE, Maiden A & Zheng G (2026) , arXiv.
  • Wang R, Zhao Q, Quinn J, Yang L, Zhu Y, Huang F, Guo C, Wang T, Song P, Murphy M , Nguyen TD et al (2025) , arXiv.
  • Song P, Wang R, Loetgering L, Liu J, Vouras P, Lee Y, Jiang S, Feng B, Maiden A, Yang C & Zheng G (2024) , arXiv.
  • Mei W & Maiden AM (2023) , arXiv.
  • You S, Lu P-H, Kovács A, Schachinger T, Allars F, Dunin-Borkowski RE & Maiden AM (2023) , arXiv.
Teaching activities
  • EEE309 - Introduction to Digital Signal Processing
  • EEE339 - Digital Engineering

Links

Semiconductor Materials and Devices Group