The 6th Annual Careers in Research Forum & Reception

Best Practice Photonics: building and sustaining a technical research career

John Dudley, Professeur à l'Université de Franche-Comté, Membre de l'Institut Universitaire de France

Abstract: A successful career in research requires skills in multiple areas: from the technical side of basic science, to writing and communication, to the management skills associated with leading a large project. When starting out, the breadth of this required expertise can seem daunting, but the aim of this presentation will be to try to provide simple and practical advice to help early-career researchers to build and enjoy a long term career in photonics.

Bio: Originally from New Zealand, John Dudley received B.Sc and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Auckland in 1987 and 1992 respectively. From 1992-1993 he was a postdoctoral research assistant in Scotland before he returned to New Zealand in 1994 to take up a lecturing position. In 2000, he was appointed Professor at the University of Franche-Comte in Besancon, France, where he currently heads the Optoelectronics, Photonics and Optical Telecommunications research group. He has over 130 published papers and over 150 conference presentations. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, Member of the Institut Universitaire de France and Senior Member of the IEEE.

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Challenges of Success with Photovoltaic Technology

Sarah Kurtz, Principal Scientist, PhD, Reliability Group Manager,National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Colorado, USA

Abstract: Renewable energy is one of the fastest growing industrial sectors, implying that there are many opportunities for careers. Within the renewable energy field, photovoltaic (PV) technology is the renewable energy most closely aligned with photonics. PV differs from many other high-tech industries because of its need to reach very low costs and high volumes. Although the PV industry has been wildly successful in recent years (doubling every two years for more than the last decade), it has been challenging for newcomers to be successful. Although PV looks like a simple technology (a simple p-n junction) it is much harder than it looks: in contrast to photodetectors or light-emitting diodes, which can use bias voltage to overcome deficiencies in material quality, PV devices operate in the power quadrant and quickly lose performance if the diode quality is low or series or shunt resistances are significant. The trio of requirements of low cost, high performance and high reliability imply unique challenges for the engineer compared with most photonics that are small area, so can tolerate high cost, and are expected to have relatively short service lifetimes. The community's ability to meet these challenges is limited by the lack of training that today's workforce receives about PV devices. Many research programs at universities today focus on organic PV, benefiting companies that may be formed around this technology in the future, but of limited value for today's companies. As a community, we can do better with university research investigating how to characterize today's successful solar cells for their expected performance over decades to come, and with companies that are designed for practical success.

Bio: Sarah Kurtz obtained her B.A. In chemistry and physics from Manchester College in 1979 and her Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from Harvard University in 1985. She began working on solar cells as part of her graduate work and was hired at the Solar Energy Research Institute (now the National Renewable Energy Laboratory) in 1985. As a post doc, she studied amorphous silicon solar cells for a year before taking a position under Jerry Olson, studying III-V solar cells. She led the III-V Materials and Devices Team at NREL from 1996 to 2007. The major project of that team has been the development of a high-efficiency, multijunction concentrator cell for use in terrestrial concentrator systems. The early work of this team resulted in a major success: the GaInP/GaAs cell (invented by Jerry Olson in 1984, developed by the III-V Materials and Devices Team, and recognized with the Dan David Prize in 2007) is now considered the state-of-the-art solar cell for powering satellites. More recently, Sarah worked with Mark Wanlass and III-V team members to implement the inverted metamorphic, 3-junction GaInP/Ga(In)As/GaInAs cell that has now demonstrated 40.8% efficiency. In recent years, there has been substantial progress toward using today's multijunction cells (with almost 40% efficiency) in terrestrial concentrator systems. Currently, Sarah is managing the Reliability Group at NREL. This group does real-time, accelerated, and diagnostic studies of the reliability and performance of PV modules. These studies are most critical for the emerging technologies, and current studies target some of the key issues for concentrator PV systems.

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A Tale of Two Companies

Dr. Gunn

Abstract: I started my thesis on Silicon Photonics in 1999 and have leveraged that work into two startup companies, Luxtera and Genalyte. However, despite the common technology basis the companies couldn’t be more different: telecommunications vs. life sciences, huge VC investment vs. angels, hype vs. stealth. I’ll share some personal observations about how to bring photonic technology from the research lab into commercial reality, at least within the realm of a startup company. Besides the things that we did right, there were a number of things I’d do differently today, and I hope to share a little of both with the audience.

Bio: Dr. Gunn’s primary interest is in bridging the gap between academic research and commercial applications. To this end, has founded two companies based on silicon photonics technologies, Luxtera in 2001 and most recently Genalyte in 2007. Luxtera leverages integration of silicon photonics components into a complete CMOS process to construct high bandwidth transceivers and is developing technology for microprocessor interconnect. Genalyte uses the manufacturing advantages of silicon processing to make arrays of photonic biosensors that have broad applications in diagnostics, drug development and life sciences applications. Dr. Gunn currently holds 81 issued US patents, with many more in process. In 2003 he was recognized by MIT Technology Review as a Top Young Innovator, and in 2008 he received the Optical Society of America Adolph Lomb medal and the Berthold-Leibinger Foundation Innovation Prize. Dr. Gunn received his PhD from Caltech in Electrical Engineering. Prior to Caltech, Dr. Gunn was an officer in the US Air Force, responsible for launching GPS satellites and is a graduate of the US Air Force Academy.