Semiconductor lasers

Interview with Jim Hsieh, founder of Sheaumann Laser, Inc. The interview begins with Hsieh describing his childhood in China during turbulent times and his family’s move to Taiwan where he completed secondary school and college. He discusses his decision to pursue graduate school in the US at Virginia Tech and his subsequent time working at Westinghouse in the Molecular Electronics Division in Baltimore. Hsieh then continued his education first at UC Berkeley and then moved to the University of Southern California. He recalls some of the early patents he contributed to, related to circuit design and semiconductors. Hsieh describes his move to MIT Lincoln Lab where he worked under John Goodenough. He discusses the beginnings of fiber optic communication, and describes the technical aspects of his research at the time on topics such as gallium arsenide lasers, laser diodes, and quarternary lasers. Hsieh talks about his decision to start his own company, Lasertron, with Kenneth Nill, and reflects on the transition from a purely research environment to a business endeavor. He discusses witnessing the growth of the laser market and the international landscape of laser development at the time. The interview concludes with Hsieh describing the sale of Lasertron to Oak Industry and the creation of Sheaumann Laser, Inc.

Interview with Eli Yablonovitch, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley. He talks about the overlap of these fields with applied physics, and he recounts his family’s Jewish heritage in Europe and his origin as a Displaced Person born to refugee parents after World War II. Yablonovitch describes his childhood in Montreal, his early interests in science, and his undergraduate experience at McGill where he first became interested in transistors. He explains his decision to attend Harvard in Applied Physics for graduate school to and the intellectual influence of Mike Tinkham. Yablonovitch discusses his thesis research on semiconductor optics and four-wave mixing, and he describes the opportunities that led to his postdoctoral work at Bell Labs to work on laser-based communications systems. He discusses his return to Harvard as a faculty member and his subsequent solar research work at Exxon. Yablonovitch discusses his formative collaboration with Sajeev John and his move to UCLA, and he explains how the rise of the internet fostered his entrepreneurial instincts. He describes his work to improve cellphone antennae and his decision to transfer to Berkeley and the origins of Alta Devices. Yablonovitch describe his current interests in circuits and chips and he shares his view on China’s work in basic science. At the end of the interview, Yablonovitch reflects on outliving many tech companies, some of the intractable challenges of solar energy, and why Feynman’s lectures remain a guiding light for his own interests.

In this interview, David Zierler, Oral Historian for AIP, interviews Peter Delfyett, professor of optics, electrical engineering, and physics, in the College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida. Delfyett describes the origins and history of the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL), and his current work in semiconductor diode-based ultrafast lasers, for which he was recently recognized with a major award. He recounts his family ancestry, and he describes his childhood in New York City and how his grandfather developed his sense of wonder in math and science. He describes his undergraduate education and lab work in electrical engineering at City College. He discusses his graduate work in physical optics and laser pulses, under the direction of Robert Alfano. Delfyett describes how he pursues science by looking for the “bottleneck,” understand the physics of it, and make devices that allow him to understand new theories and phenomena to go back and solve that bottleneck. He describes his postdoctoral work at Bellcore, where he developed the fastest and most powerful semiconductor laser in the world. Delfyett discusses his decisions to join the faculty at UCF, and what was attractive about joining the efforts at CREOL. He discusses his experience building a lab and taking on graduate students, and he describes the technological and experimental growth in lasers over the years. Delfyett describes his interest in positively affecting the regional economy through his research. At the end of the interview, he shares his views on some ways that the science community can continue to improve and build upon its efforts toward greater diversity and inclusivity.