Johan van Zantvoort was born on November 21, 1968 in Riethoven. Starting in his childhood, he already was fascinated by mechanics and physicals. After completing his polytechnical study Applied Physics, he applied for the vacancy of technician in micromechanics in our ECO group. Already in the recruitment discussions he impressed us with his detailed understanding of fine-mechanical processing and pro-active attitude. He started his position as technician at TU/e on November 1, 1996.

In optical communication systems, the research domain of the ECO group, the photonic modules and integrated chips need to be coupled very accurately to the tiny optical fibers equipped with tiny lenses. This requires sub-nanometer precision, which is even aggravated by requiring multiple fibers in a row to be aligned exactly with a row of waveguides in a photonic integrated circuit. Johan took up this challenge, and many more to follow, with great dedication. Obviously not every attempt was an immediate success, but Johan kept his focused attitude and unrelenting energy. He developed the precision alignment setups, measurement principles, and validation processes. His unwavering enthusiasm was a source of inspiration for his colleagues and students.

Johan’s activities also played a key role in a range of national and European joint R&D projects. His work led to a series of publications in the international journals and conferences on optical communication. He enjoyed very much to exchange his experiences with other researchers, and the meetings with the associated social events, a welcome occasion to drink a beer and have friendly chats.

Next to his expertise in high-precision opto-mechanical techniques, Johan dived into ICT technologies and became the first point of contact for problems with software and hardware issues. With his help these problems were often quickly surmounted, and our research activities could smoothly continue. His support also extended into a range of services at the faculty level; e.g., he has been many years a member of the BHV team of the EE faculty.

In parallel to his professional life of high-precision technologies at TU/e, Johan had an intense social life in his home village Dommelen, where he was the driving force for many community activities such as the yearly Doe-Week and the Carnavalsvereniging. Johan truly enjoyed life in every aspect of it, in his typical Johan-style, with his characteristic twinkling eyes and generous smile. He was the ‘social heart’ of the ECO group, the initiator and organizer of many social events. Johan will be dearly missed by all his colleagues and students, and will stay in our memories forever…

A condolence book is available at floor 10 of the Flux building up to June 30. Your contributions will be highly appreciated.

Board and colleagues of the faculty Electrical Engineering