Ali Hajimiri

Last updated
Ali Hajimiri
NationalityIranian American
Alma mater Sharif University of Technology (B.S.)
Stanford University (M.S., Ph.D.)
AwardsFeynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2019); [1]
Microwave Prize (2015)
Scientific career
Fields Electrical Engineering
Institutions California Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisor Thomas H. Lee
Bruce A. Wooley

Ali Hajimiri is an academic, entrepreneur, and inventor in various fields of engineering, including electrical engineering and biomedical engineering. He is the Bren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Contents

Education

Hajimiri received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University. He has also worked for Bell Laboratories, Philips Semiconductors, and Sun Microsystems. As a part of his Ph.D. thesis, he developed a time-varying phase noise model for electrical oscillators, [2] also known as the Hajimiri phase noise model. [3]

Career

In 2002, together with his former students Ichiro Aoki and Scott Kee, he cofounded Axiom Microdevices Inc. based on their invention of the Distributed Active Transformer (DAT), which made it possible to integrate RF CMOS power amplifiers suitable for cellular phones in CMOS technology. Axiom shipped hundreds of millions of units [ citation needed ] before it was acquired by Skyworks Solutions in 2009.

He and his students also demonstrated the world's first radar-on-a-chip in silicon technology in 2004, [4] showing a 24-GHz 8-element phased array receiver [5] and a 4-element phased array transmitter in CMOS. [6] These were followed by a 77-GHz phased array transceiver (transmitter and receiver) with on chip antennas that established the highest level of integration in mm-wave frequency applications and was a complete radar-on-a-chip. [7] [8] They also developed a fully scalable phased array architecture in 2008, making it possible to realize very-large-scale phased arrays. [9]

He and his team are also responsible for the development of an all-silicon THz imager system, where an integrated CMOS microchip was used in conjunction with a second silicon microchip to form an active THz imaging system, capable of seeing through opaque objects. They demonstrated various phased array transmitters around 0.3THz with beam steering using the distributed active radiator (DAR) architecture in 2011. [10] Various applications of this system appear in security, communications, medical diagnostics, and the human-machine interface. [11] [12] [13]

In 2013, he and some of his team members demonstrated a complete self-healing power amplifier, which through an integrated self-healing strategy, could recover from various kinds of degradation and damage including aging, local failure, and intentional laser blasts. [14] [15] [16] [17]

Between 2014 and 2018, his lab demonstrated several major advances in imaging, projection, and sensing technology on silicon photonic platforms. [18] [19] [20] In 2014, they showed the first silicon nanophotonic optical phased array transmitter capable of dynamic and real-time image projection, therefore serving as a lensless projector. [21] [22] In 2015, he and his group constructed a 3D coherent camera via a silicon nanophotonic coherent imager (NCI) that performed direct 3D imaging at meter range with a 15-micron depth resolution. [23] [24] In 2016, they devised and implemented a one-dimensional (1D) integrated optical phased array receiver which could image a barcode directly from the surface of a chip, [25] followed in 2017 by an integrated two-dimensional (2D) optical phased array receiver capable of imaging simple 2D patterns without a lens using a very thin optical synthetic aperture of a few microns, thereby demonstrating a lensless flat camera for the first time. [26] [27] In 2018, they demonstrated the world's first all-integrated optical gyroscope, whose principle of operation is based on the Sagnac effect. [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]

He and his team have also developed systems and technologies for wireless power transfer at a distance. In 2017, he co-founded GuRu Wireless (formerly Auspion, Inc.), which commercializes wireless power transfer technology for consumers. [33] [34]

Awards and recognitions

Fellowships and academy membership

Inventions and patents

He holds more than 180 issued U.S. patents. [41]

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phased array</span> Array of antennas creating a steerable beam

In antenna theory, a phased array usually means an electronically scanned array, a computer-controlled array of antennas which creates a beam of radio waves that can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the antennas. The general theory of an electromagnetic phased array also finds applications in ultrasonic and medical imaging application and in optics optical phased array.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Image sensor</span> Device that converts images into electronic signals

An image sensor or imager is a sensor that detects and conveys information used to form an image. It does so by converting the variable attenuation of light waves into signals, small bursts of current that convey the information. The waves can be light or other electromagnetic radiation. Image sensors are used in electronic imaging devices of both analog and digital types, which include digital cameras, camera modules, camera phones, optical mouse devices, medical imaging equipment, night vision equipment such as thermal imaging devices, radar, sonar, and others. As technology changes, electronic and digital imaging tends to replace chemical and analog imaging.

Nanophotonics or nano-optics is the study of the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, and of the interaction of nanometer-scale objects with light. It is a branch of optics, optical engineering, electrical engineering, and nanotechnology. It often involves dielectric structures such as nanoantennas, or metallic components, which can transport and focus light via surface plasmon polaritons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Active-pixel sensor</span> Image sensor, consisting of an integrated circuit

An active-pixel sensor (APS) is an image sensor, which was invented by Peter J.W. Noble in 1968, where each pixel sensor unit cell has a photodetector and one or more active transistors. In a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) active-pixel sensor, MOS field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) are used as amplifiers. There are different types of APS, including the early NMOS APS and the now much more common complementary MOS (CMOS) APS, also known as the CMOS sensor. CMOS sensors are used in digital camera technologies such as cell phone cameras, web cameras, most modern digital pocket cameras, most digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs), mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras (MILCs), and lensless imaging for cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard F. Lyon</span> American inventor

Richard "Dick" Francis Lyon is an American inventor, scientist, and engineer. He is one of the two people who independently invented the first optical mouse devices in 1980. He has worked in signal processing and was a co-founder of Foveon, Inc., a digital camera and image sensor company.

A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) or integrated optical circuit is a microchip containing two or more photonic components that form a functioning circuit. This technology detects, generates, transports, and processes light. Photonic integrated circuits utilize photons as opposed to electrons that are utilized by electronic integrated circuits. The major difference between the two is that a photonic integrated circuit provides functions for information signals imposed on optical wavelengths typically in the visible spectrum or near infrared (850–1650 nm).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silicon photonics</span> Photonic systems which use silicon as an optical medium

Silicon photonics is the study and application of photonic systems which use silicon as an optical medium. The silicon is usually patterned with sub-micrometre precision, into microphotonic components. These operate in the infrared, most commonly at the 1.55 micrometre wavelength used by most fiber optic telecommunication systems. The silicon typically lies on top of a layer of silica in what is known as silicon on insulator (SOI).

Phased-array optics is the technology of controlling the phase and amplitude of light waves transmitting, reflecting, or captured (received) by a two-dimensional surface using adjustable surface elements. An optical phased array (OPA) is the optical analog of a radio-wave phased array. By dynamically controlling the optical properties of a surface on a microscopic scale, it is possible to steer the direction of light beams, or the view direction of sensors, without any moving parts. Phased-array beam steering is used for optical switching and multiplexing in optoelectronic devices and for aiming laser beams on a macroscopic scale.

Thomas H. Lee is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. Lee's research focus has been on gigahertz-speed wireline and wireless integrated circuits built in conventional silicon technologies, particularly CMOS; microwave; and RF circuits.

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Donhee Ham is the John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University and Fellow of Samsung Electronics.

Nanophotonic coherent imagers (NCI) are image sensors that determine both the appearance and distance of an imaged scene at each pixel. It uses an array of LIDARs to gather this information about size and distance, using an optical concept called coherence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Payam Heydari</span> Iranian-American Professor

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John Michael Dallesasse is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign where his research is focused on silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs), nanophotonics, semiconductor lasers / transistor lasers and photonics-electronics integration. He has over 60 publications and presentations, and holds 29 issued patents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yurii Vlasov</span> American engineering professor (born 1964)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Azita Emami</span> Engineering professor

Azita Emami-Neyestanak is the Andrew and Peggy Cherng Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering at Caltech. Emami works on low-power mixed-mode circuits in scalable technologies. She is Executive Officer of the Department of Electrical Engineering and an investigator in the Heritage Medical Research Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandra Boltasseva</span> American physicist and engineer

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RF CMOS is a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) technology that integrates radio-frequency (RF), analog and digital electronics on a mixed-signal CMOS RF circuit chip. It is widely used in modern wireless telecommunications, such as cellular networks, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS receivers, broadcasting, vehicular communication systems, and the radio transceivers in all modern mobile phones and wireless networking devices. RF CMOS technology was pioneered by Pakistani engineer Asad Ali Abidi at UCLA during the late 1980s to early 1990s, and helped bring about the wireless revolution with the introduction of digital signal processing in wireless communications. The development and design of RF CMOS devices was enabled by van der Ziel's FET RF noise model, which was published in the early 1960s and remained largely forgotten until the 1990s.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Ali Hajimiri Awarded 2019 Feynman Teaching Prize". Caltech. February 19, 2019.
  2. ↑ A General Theory of Phase Noise in Electrical Oscillators (PDF), IEEE, February 1998
  3. ↑ The Design of CMOS Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits, First Edition. Cambridge University Press. 1998.
  4. ↑ "Caltech Engineers Design a Revolutionary Radar Chip". Caltech Media Relations. May 4, 2004. Archived from the original on 2010-05-31. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
  5. ↑ A Fully Integrated 24GHz 8-Path Phased-Array Receiver in Silicon (PDF), IEEE, February 2004, archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-09-09
  6. ↑ A 24GHz Phased-Array Transmitter in 0.18μm CMOS (PDF), IEEE, February 2005, archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-09-09
  7. ↑ A 77GHz Phased-Array Transmitter with Local LO-Path Phase-Shifting in Silicon (PDF), IEEE, February 2006, archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-09-09
  8. ↑ A 77GHz 4-Element Phased Array Receiver with On-Chip Dipole Antennas in Silicon (PDF), IEEE, February 2006, archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-09-10
  9. ↑ Jeon, Sanggeun; Wang, Yu-Jiu; Wang, Hua; Bohn, Florian; Natarajan, Arun; Babakhani, Aydin; Hajimiri, Ali (December 2008), "A Scalable 6-to-18 GHz Concurrent Dual-Band Quad-Beam Phased-Array Receiver in CMOS" (PDF), IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 43 (12), IEEE: 2660, Bibcode:2008IJSSC..43.2660J, doi:10.1109/JSSC.2008.2004863, S2CID   904631, archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-09-06
  10. ↑ A 0.28THz 4×4 Power-Generation and Beam-Steering Array (PDF), IEEE, February 2012, archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-09-06
  11. ↑ "Ali Hajimiri's Chip May Allow Smartphones to See Through Objects". Bloomberg. February 7, 2013. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Give your smartphone Superman vision". Fox News. December 19, 2012.
  13. ↑ "A New Tool for Secret Agents—And the Rest of Us". Caltech. December 9, 2012.
  14. ↑ "How Self-Healing Microchips Recover". Scientific American. March 12, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Chip Heals Self After Blast From Frickin' Laser". Wired. March 12, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Microchip Adapts to Severe Damage". MIT Technology Review. March 25, 2013.
  17. ↑ "Self-healing chips survive repeated LASER BLASTS". The Register. March 11, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Laser-Bending Chip Could Put A Projector in Your Pocket". NBC News. March 11, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Laser Chip Could Turn Smartphones Into Handheld 3D Scanners". Popular Science. April 6, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Caltech's 'lensless camera' could make our phones truly flat". Engadget. June 22, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Bending the Light with a Tiny Chip". Caltech. March 10, 2014.
  22. ↑ Electronic Two-Dimensional Beam Steering for Integrated Optical Phased Arrays (PDF), OSA, March 2014
  23. ↑ "New Camera Chip Provides Superfine 3-D Resolution". Caltech. April 3, 2015.
  24. ↑ Aflatouni, Firooz; Abiri, Behrooz; Rekhi, Angad; Hajimiri, Ali (February 19, 2015), "Nanophotonic coherent imager" (PDF), Optics Express, 23 (4), OSA: 5117–5125, Bibcode:2015OExpr..23.5117A, doi:10.1364/OE.23.005117, PMID   25836545
  25. ↑ A One-Dimensional Heterodyne Lens-Free OPA Camera (PDF), OSA, June 2016
  26. ↑ "Ultra-Thin Camera Creates Images Without Lenses". Caltech. June 21, 2017.
  27. ↑ An 8x8 Heterodyne Lens-less OPA Camera (PDF), OSA, May 2017
  28. ↑ Khial, Parham P.; White, Alexander D.; Hajimiri, Ali (October 8, 2018), "Nanophotonic optical gyroscope with reciprocal sensitivity enhancement", Nature Photonics, 12 (11), Nature Research: 671–675, Bibcode:2018NaPho..12..671K, doi:10.1038/s41566-018-0266-5, S2CID   256707407
  29. ↑ "World's littlest light-sensing gyroscope fits on a grain of rice". Nature Research. October 10, 2018.
  30. ↑ "Spinning the Light: The World's Smallest Optical Gyroscope". Caltech. October 25, 2018.
  31. ↑ "Miniaturized Optical Gyroscope Reduces Thermal Fluctuations". Photonics Spectra. January 2019.
  32. ↑ "Nanophotonic optical gyroscope is 500 times smaller than current devices". Laser Focus World. October 27, 2018.
  33. ↑ "GuRu Wireless Inc". GuRu Inc. November 9, 2019.
  34. ↑ "Wireless power startup GuRu (Auspion) raises $15M to deliver electric power through the air and wirelessly power your devices". Tech Startups. November 11, 2019.
  35. ↑ "Microwave Prize Awardees".
  36. ↑ Olstein, Katherine (2013). "News Announcement". IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine. 5 (2): 74–77. doi: 10.1109/MSSC.2013.2254635 .
  37. ↑ "TR35: Ali Hajimiri, 32". MIT Technology Review.
  38. ↑ "ASCIT Teaching Awards".
  39. ↑ "National Academy of Inventors". Archived from the original on 2019-06-21. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  40. 1 2 "Ali Hajimiri's Biography, Caltech".
  41. ↑ "US Patent Office". Archived from the original on 2019-04-28. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
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