Ph.D., Stanford University, 1972

Larry A. Coldren is the Fred Kavli Professor of Optoelectronics and Sensors at the University of California, Santa Barbara, CA. He is also Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of Agility Communications, Inc. He received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1972. After 13 years in the research area at Bell Laboratories, he joined UC-Santa Barbara in 1984 where he now holds appointments in Materials and Electrical & Computer Engineering, and is Director of the Optoelectronics Technology Center. In 1990 he co-founded Optical Concepts, later acquired as Gore Photonics, to develop novel VCSEL technology; and in 1998 he co-founded Agility Communications to develop widely-tunable integrated transmitters.

At Bell Labs Coldren initially worked on waveguided surface-acoustic-wave signal processing devices and coupled-resonator filters. He later developed tunable coupled-cavity lasers using novel reactive-ion etching (RIE) technology that he created for the then new InP-based materials. At UCSB he continued work on multiple-section tunable lasers, in 1988 inventing the widely-tunable multi-element mirror concept, which is now fundamental to many of Agility’s products. During the late eighties he also developed efficient vertical-cavity multiple-quantum-well modulators, which led to novel vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) designs that provided unparalleled levels of performance. Prof. Coldren continues to be active in developing new photonic integrated circuit (PIC) and VCSEL technology, including the underlying materials growth and fabrication techniques. In recent years, for example, he has been involved in the creation of vertical and in-plane GaN-based emitters, efficient all-epitaxial InP-based VCSELs, and a variety of PICs incorporating numerous optical elements for widely-tunable integrated transmitters, receivers, and wavelength converters.

Professor Coldren has authored or co-authored over 900 papers, 5 book chapters, 1 textbook, and has been issued 60 patents. He has presented dozens of invited and plenary talks at major conferences, he is a Fellow of the IEEE, OSA, and IEE, the recipient of the 2004 John Tyndall Award, the Fred Kavli Chair in Optoelectronics and Sensors, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Since arriving at UCSB he has assembled groups consisting of Graduate Students, Post Doctoral Researchers, and Visitors to continue his work in Optoelectronic Materials and Devices. Seminal contributions in the areas of Vertical Cavity Lasers, Widely-Tunable Lasers, as well as recent research in Optical Switching and Noiseless Amplification are the foci of Professor Coldren and his collaborators.

Professor Coldren's Curriculum Vitae

Professor Coldren's ECE Faculty Page