Expert Details
Optical Instruments, Inertial Instruments, Laser and Fiber Optic Gyros, Thin Film Coating
ID: 723568
California, USA
Qualifications Summary
• Ph.D. in Physics (Quantum Optics) from the University of Rochester in 1977. Earned an ExpertS. in Physics from the University of Rochester in 1974.
• Has more than 41 years of experience in developing high precision optical devices and instruments for navigation, fiber optic communication, and metrology markets.
• At The Aerospace Corporation, he served as a Senior Project Engineer in the Planetary & Robotic Missions Directorate within the NASA Programs Division, where he provided physics, laser, and optics expertise to numerous NASA programs.
• Founded two start-up companies in electro-optic and fiber optic sensors.
• Invented and designed interferometric-based electro-optic sensors for chemical warfare agents and explosives detection for the Homeland Security market. He also invented and developed the building block of a family of tunable devices for the WDM fiber optic networks.
• Made significant contributions to the design, development, and productionization of optical gyros and other electro-optic devices at Honeywell and Litton (Northrop-Grumman). He managed teams of engineers, interfaced with marketing departments and customers in various projects.
• Initiated and actively participated in business development and marketing of Litton optical technologies for commercial and government applications.
• Contributed to the fundamental understanding of the physics of lasers, in particular ring lasers at the University of Rochester.
• Has 9 patents and patent applications and 19 technical publications in the open literature
• Is an Emeritus member of the Optical Society of America, Senior Member of IEEE, and a member of IEEE Standards Committee, Gyro and Accelerometer Panel.
Invented a family of tunable fiber optic devices for fiber optic networks. Has two U.S. patents for such devices. Developed prototypes of rugged, low cost optical tunable filters.
Developed conceptual and design-to-cost models of optical tunable filters. Established production flow and production cost estimates for the family of tunable devices.
A recognized expert and a major contributor to the development of ring laser and fiber optic gyros. Has 17 publications in the open literature. Discovered sources of gyro errors and developed techniques to improve the performance. Developed data analysis techniques that are now IEEE standards for inertial sensors.
An expert in interferometry both as sensors as well as optical test equipment. Developed small Fabry-Perot interferometers for sensing applications. Worked on large, highly sensitive interferometers for NASA applications.
Founded a start-up to develop fiber optic components. Performed a competitive assessment, wrote the business plan, and obtained venture capital. Marketed the product to system developers and integrators. Has written a large number of proposals.
Very knowledgeable in optical instruments available in the market for testing and sensing applications. Established an R&D lab and identified the necessary equipment for its operation.
Has developed unique techniques in optical instrumentation to perform one-of-a-kind tests and measurements.
Thoroughly familiar with various source and detector technologies for optical sensing in all wavelength ranges. These include far infrared sources and detectors for chemical sensing.
Thoroughly familiar with electrooptic devices used in optical instruments and systems for various applications. Has analyzed the electrooptic effects on the performance of a number of optical sensors and devices.
Requirement definition. Device concept development. Device and instrument design. Design review. Performance analyses. Production process definition and identification.
Education
| Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year: 1977 | Degree: PhD | Subject: Physics | Institution: University of Rochester, Rochester, NY |
| Year: 1974 | Degree: M.S. | Subject: Physics | Institution: University of Rochester, Rochester, NY |
Work History
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 2016 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Founder and CTO | Department: Management |
Responsibilities:Provide Technical and Managerial Leadership in following Areas: Biomedical Sensors and Systems. High Precision Optoelectronic Instruments for Molecular Diagnostics of Biological Cells. Currently working on the development of an instrument for label-free and early detection of cancer cells in blood stream. Consulting and Expert Witness Services for Inertial Navigation Sensors and Systems. Subject Matter Expertise in Optical instruments for NASA applications. Proposal Writing, Review, and Analysis of Alternatives. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2004 to 2016 | Employer: The Aerospace Corp. | Title: Senior Project Engineer | Department: Planetary & Robotic Missions Directorate, NASA Programs Division |
Responsibilities:Accomplishments include: Member of Independent Review Team for various NASA projects such as GOES-R, NPOESS, MSL, etc. Principal Investigator of the Aerospace IRAD on GPS/IMU technology. Instrument Lead for NASA Discovery and New Frontiers Proposal Review Teams. Worked on SIM (Space Interferometry Mission) project for JPL. Worked on MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle) navigation for JPL. Proposed and designed the Transfer Alignment technique for MAV to reduce size, weight, and power. Technical advisor and contributor to projects dealing with inertial sensors and navigation systems. Technical advisor and contributor to a number of projects with high power lasers, high damage threshold optics, very high shock tolerant instruments for projectiles, and space qualification of optical system and components. Application of high precision space instruments to medical and biomedical areas, in particular to cancer cell detection. Proposal evaluation and business development. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2003 to 2004 | Employer: (Undisclosed) | Title: Founder and President | Department: (Undisclosed) |
Responsibilities:Founded the company with emphasis on electro-optic sensors and instruments for Homeland Security, semiconductor, and aerospace markets. Projects included: A concept for very fast detection of hazardous chemical agents and explosives. Also used as a missile warning sensor for aircraft protection. A concept for thin film characterization with applications for semiconductor, flat panel display, and optics manufacturing industries. An electro-optical sensor with applications for aircraft autolanding with emphasis for UAV and carrier aircraft. Also used as the core sensor for metrology instruments. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2000 to 2002 | Employer: (Undisclosed) | Title: Founder and Chief Technology Officer | Department: (Undisclosed) |
Responsibilities:Founder and Chief Technology Officer. Founded the company to develop tunable devices for reconfigurable fiber optic networks with dynamic provisioning capability. Wrote the business plan and obtained investment capital. Invented a family of tunable filters, tunable interleavers, and tunable add/drop modules (U.S. Patent # 6,438,288). Designed the optics and specified the requirements for components of such devices. Hired and led a team of electronic, and mechanical engineers. Proved the new tunable filter concept and demonstrated its viability and manufacturability. Built and tested a number of such filters. Conducted device demonstration and presentation to potential customers. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1986 to 2000 | Employer: (Undisclosed) | Title: Senior Member Technical Staff | Department: (Undisclosed) |
Responsibilities:Led the ring laser gyro (RLG) product development. Managed the projects that involved design, fabrication process development and improvement, and test techniques development. Initiated programs to apply RLG production technologies to the development of other optical devices and for other applications. Had an active role in business development, marketing and market analysis, proposal writing, and customer interface. Some of the projects that he initiated or led at Litton include: MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems). He has been involved in MEMS technology since 1994 and investigated its potential for developing small, low cost navigation instruments. Took courses at UC Berkeley in MEMS and attended MEMS conferences on a regular basis. In charge of the silicon gyro (SiGy) development. Participated in the proposal activities for the Robust Navigator and AM3 (Affordable Multi Missile Manufacturing) that utilize the SiGy. Worked on the strategic grade Accelerometer - - a joint program between Litton and Draper Lab. Technical Director and Program Manager, RLG Cost Reduction Programs --Developed eleven projects in RLG design and production process improvement for higher yield and reduced cost. Responsible for technical leadership, program management, and cost accounting of the engineering teams working on the projects. Worked on the RLG design improvement, bias stability enhancement, and test equipment development. Designed and performed an extensive set of experiments that demonstrated that the passive and active lock-in rates in RLG are the same (publication #17). Thin Film Coating—developed a method to eliminate coating stress in ion beam sputtering (IBS) deposited dielectric films. Invented a computer-controlled station to measure the RLG random walk and cavity-driven biases at the alignment stage (empty cavity). The station provides for RLG screening and characterization at an early stage of the production. This station is known as the Passive Lock-in Station at Litton. Proposed a sputtering technique for the high power laser projects (AVLIS and ICF) at Lawrence Livermore Lab. Obtained two contracts. Developed coating characterization techniques for the projects. Developed techniques for coating stress reduction. Performed analysis for coating thickness uniformity improvements. Developed a rugged Tunable Optical Filter for fiber optic communication systems. Obtained a patent (U.S. Patent # 5,430,574) for the device. 3D Display System—Technical Leader and Project Manager. Led a team of scientists and engineers from Cambridge University, Infinity Multimedia (an entertainment technology company) and two divisions of Litton Industries to develop a large screen 3D display system for naked eyes. Demonstrated the system concept and built a prototype. Proposed a solid block design for the Optical Correlator (a Litton DSD project). Wrote joint proposals and obtained three contracts for the development and delivery of six prototypes. Was Litton GCS Program Manager and Technical Director for the project. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1977 to 1987 | Employer: (Undisclosed) | Title: Principal Investigator | Department: (Undisclosed) |
Responsibilities:A large number of projects dealing with the fundamental understanding of error mechanisms and performance improvement techniques in ring laser gyros and other optical inertial sensors. These projects include:Theory Ring Laser Gyro (RLG) with Dither and Noise (Publication #6). An in-depth analysis of the RLG performance as a function of dither and noise parameters using the nonlinear stochastic differential equations (the Fokker-Planck approach). This analysis showed why the added noise is necessary for the RLG performance and determined the optimum noise amplitude. Quantum Limit of the RLG Performance. A determination of the RLG’s ultimate performance due to the spontaneous emission phase noise as a function of RLG size, cavity losses, power, and other parameters. RLG Data Analysis with Cluster Sampling Technique (Publications #9 and 12). Developed a new RLG data analysis technique based on the Allan Variance procedure to identify different kinds of error terms affecting the gyro performance. This technique is now adopted by the IEEE Gyro and Accelerometer Standards Committee as the method of choice for inertial instruments data analysis. Effects of Contaminant Particles on the RLG Performance. This analysis, which established the cleaning criteria in RLG production facility, deals with the lock-in associated with the contaminant particles size, number, distribution, and material composition. Hysteresis in RLG. Identification of a mechanism to describe the lock-in growth and the difference between the lock-in and lock-out rates. High-Performance RLG Test Station Design. Design of a test station for testing and performance characterization of high-performance RLG. Experiment DILAG (Differential Laser Gyro. This is known as ZLG at Litton). Design, build, test, and analysis of a DILAG to determine its performance and market potentials. Passive Cavity Rate Sensor (Publication #10). Experimental investigations in performance characteristics and error mechanisms in the passive cavity rate sensor. Worked on the low-cost, integrated optics implementation of the Concept. The Phase Conjugate Ring Laser Gyro. Proposed the concept, performed analysis, and conducted experiments for concept demonstration. In addition to the RLG and other inertial sensors, worked on the development of a number of other optical sensors. Among them are: NADS: Non-intrusive Air Data Sensor (Publication #6). Proposed the concept, obtained a government contract, performed analysis, and conducted experiments for concept demonstration of an optical interferometric technique for non-intrusive measurement of air data quantities in air vehicles where reduced radar cross section and zero lag are some of the essential requirements Light Sources for Fiber Optic Sensors. Analysis and design of amplitude and phase modulation in laser diodes (to reduce the coherence length) for use in fiber optic sensors. Nonlinear Optics. Worked on the applications of nonlinear optics. In addition to the Phase Conjugate RLG, proposed several concepts for FLIR protection using optically nonlinear phenomena and materials. Conducted experiments and analyses in optical bistability and switching effects in HgCdTe (Publication #11). Served as the principal investigator and the program manager of an AFOSR contract for nonlinear optical effects in HgCdTe superlattices. Developed a new technique for characterization of optically nonlinear materials. Smart Sensors. During 1985-86, served as the principal investigator of a program to develop smart, microprocessor-based, sensors with built-in test and error compensation capabilities. These sensors, intended for use onboard the NASA’s Space Station, represent the concept of distributed intelligence and control to the sensor level. Proposed a plan for application of these techniques to the RLG. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1971 to 1977 | Employer: (Undisclosed) | Title: Ph.D. Researcher | Department: (Undisclosed) |
Responsibilities:Developed the Coherence Theory of Ring Lasers. Designed and conducted experiments to measure the effects of spontaneous emission and mode competition in ring lasers (Publications #2-5). These investigations helped improve our understanding of the physics of the RLG as well as other optical gyros. |
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Career Accomplishments
| Associations / Societies |
|---|
| IEEE, OSA |
| Professional Appointments |
|---|
| • IEEE and OSA (Optical Society of America) • Senior Member, IEEE. Also, Member, Standards Committee, IEEE, Gyro and Accelerometer Panel |
| Awards / Recognition |
|---|
| Honeywell Engineering Award (four times) |
| Publications and Patents Summary |
|---|
| He has 27 publications in the open literature and nine patents and patent applications |
Fields of Expertise
fiber optics, infrared fiber optics, optical device, fiber-optic component, fiber-optic component product design, fiber-optic component product development, fiber-optic gyroscope, navigation system, optical fiber sensor, interferometry, marketing, new technology business value measurement, optical instrument, optical instrumentation, optical test, optical sensing, optical sensor design, optical sensor, electrooptics, business development, entrepreneurship, avionics navigation, ellipsometer, business management, optical time domain reflectometer, optical signal processing, tactical navigation system, optical splitter, autocollimation, active optics, fiber-optic communication network, strapdown navigation system, technical marketing, laser sensor, optical fiber chromatic dispersion, optical time domain reflectometry, optical encoder, capacitive sensor design, embedded sensor, phase grating device, capacitive sensing, optical engineering, new product design, electrooptical Kerr effect, photometry, optical spectroscopy, optical manufacturing, electrooptic device, device product development, new product development, new product assessment, navigation, optical communication, new product development management, innovation, laser velocimeter, optical equipment, optical diffractor, optical microscope, optical interferometer, optical fiber, optical element