Axel Scherer
Axel Scherer is the Bernard Neches Professor of Electrical Engineering, Physics, and Applied Physics at the California Institute of Technology. He is also a distinguished visiting professor at Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. He is known for fabricating the world's first semiconducting vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) at Bell Labs.A. Yariv, P. Yeh. "Photonics." Oxford University Press: New York, 2007 (pages 745-747) In 2006, Scherer was named the director of the Kavli Nanoscience Institute. He graduated from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in 1985. At Caltech, he teaches a very popular freshman lab course on semiconductor device fabrication, Applied Physics 9ab, for which he wrote the textbook for the course.
Research
His research focuses on the design and microfabrication of optical, magnetic and fluidic devices. In the 1980s, he pioneered the development of the first monolithic vertical cavity lasers (VCSELs), now widely used in data communications systems. More recently, his group developed electromagnetic design tools and fabrication techniques for the definition of lithographically integrated optical devices. This led to pioneering work in photonic bandgap lasers, silicon photonic circuits, as well as tunable microfluidic dye lasers, leading to new classes of integrated optics. The first demonstration of strong coupling between single quantum dots and optical nanocavities recently emerged from a collaboration between Axel Scherer and Hyatt Gibbs. Collaborations with Larry Dalton (University of Washington) resulted in some of the world's smallest and fastest light modulators.
Scherer also fabricated some of the first surface plasmon enhanced high brightness light emitting diodes. His group miniaturized fluidic systems and demonstrated the first multi-layer replication molded fluidic chips, with thousands of valves creating microfluidic “laboratories” and single cell analysis systems. Schere leads a group focused on the miniaturization and integration of fluidic, optical, electronic and magnetic devices for applications in biotechnology.{{cite web|url=http://nanofab.caltech.edu/members/2-axel-scherer.html|title=Axel Scherer|publisher=California Institute of Technology|accessdate=January 2, 2020}}
Scherer has co-authored over 300 publications and holds over 50 patents on the area of microfabrication and design of devices.
Other professional work
He is co-founder and an advisor to Luxtera, a California manufacturer of photonics devices, [http://www.luxtera.com/company_advisors.htm Luxtera - Advisory Board] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070124021714/http://www.luxtera.com/company_advisors.htm|date=January 24, 2007}} Helixis, a California manufacturer of molecular diagnostic devices [http://www.helixis.com/?page=about Real Time PCR - Welcome to Helixis - Advanced Nucleic Acid Analysis Tools] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224020600/http://www.helixis.com/?page=about|date=February 24, 2008}} that was acquired by Illumina in 2010, {{cite news|url=https://www.xconomy.com/san-diego/2010/07/27/illumina-acquires-helixis-for-up-to-105m-to-get-small-low-cost-genetic-analysis-tool/|author=Luke Timmerman|title=Xconomy: Illumina Acquires Helixis for Up to $105M, To Get Small, Low-Cost Genetic Analysis Tool|date=July 27, 2010|work=Xconomy|accessdate=January 2, 2020}} and ChromaCode, a California manufacturer of molecular diagnostic reagents.{{cite news|url=https://www.genomeweb.com/archive/new-molecular-dx-player-helixis-raises-10m-series-funding#.W0uGRNzC63c|title=New Molecular Dx Player Helixis Raises $10M in Series A Funding|work=GenomeWeb|accessdate=January 2, 2020}}
Scherer is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.{{cite news|title=Engineering Professors Named 2014 National Academy of Inventors Fellows|url=https://engineering.dartmouth.edu/news/engineering-professors-named-2014-national-academy-of-inventors-fellows|publisher=Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth|date=December 17, 2014|accessdate=January 2, 2020}}
References
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- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070211133503/http://www.aip.org/pnu/1998/split/pnu363-1.htm American Institute of Physics - Physics News Update - Number 363 (Story #1), March 23, 1998 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein]
External links
- Dr. Scherer's profiles: [http://eas.caltech.edu/people/etcher from Applied Physics], [https://web.archive.org/web/20130420194032/http://www.ee2.caltech.edu/people/faculty/scherer.html from Electrical Engineering]
- [http://nanofab.caltech.edu Dr. Scherer's Research Group]
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Category:21st-century American physicists
Category:New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology alumni
Category:California Institute of Technology faculty
Category:Thayer School of Engineering faculty
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)