Overview Academic/Research Interest Areas

Dr. Casperson's principal research interests concern lasers and optical systems, and he has over 200 research publications with emphasis on laser-related devices, techniques, and phenomena. Long term interests include high gain media, propagation, scattering, waveguides, and resonators. Several studies have involved laser dynamics including the evolution and applications of ultrashort and few-cycle pulsations and the spontaneous instabilities of laser systems. His research includes the experimental discovery and theoretical explanation of the first semiclassical laser instability. Other work has led to new classes of electromagnetic modes and the development of general methods for the analysis of beam propagation. These programs tend to be about equally divided between theory and experiment, and most of them have the active participation of students.

Professional Associations

Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), the Optical Society of America (OSA), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and he was awarded the IEEE Centennial Medal.

He has served on several committees of the National Research Council, the Optical Society of America.

Topical Editor for the Journal of the Optical Society of America and Distinguished Traveling Lecturer of the American Physical Society Division of Laser Science.

Recent Publications

L. W. Casperson and M. Khoshnevissan, "Threshold Characteristics of Multimode Semiconductor Lasers," Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 75, no. 2, pp. 737-747, 15 January 1994.

L. W. Casperson, "Fluttering Fountains: Stability Criteria," Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 75, no. 10, pp. 4892-4894, 15 May 1994.

L. W. Casperson, "Phase Plates Transform Laser Beams," Laser Focus World, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 223-228, May 1994.

A. A. Tovar and L. W. Casperson, "Generalized Reverse Theorems for Multipass Applications in Matrix Optics," Journal of the Optical Society of America A, vol. 11, no. 10, pp. 2633-2642, October 1994.

A. A. Tovar and L. W. Casperson, "Beam Propagation in Parabolically-Tapered Graded-Index Waveguides," Applied Optics, vol. 33, no. 33, pp. 7733-7739, 20 November 1994.

Educational Background

B.S., Physics, M.I.T., 1966

M.S., Electrical Engineering, Caltech, 1967

Ph.D., Physics, Caltech, 1971