ALBIN RECEIVES NASA GRANT FOR PHOTONICS RESEARCH

Sacharia Albin, professor and graduate program director of electrical and computer engineering at Old Dominion, has been awarded a $123,500 NASA Langley Research Center grant for his project titled "Photonic Sensors for Integrated System Health Monitoring."

In this effort, Albin will use nanotechnology to develop photonic crystal fibers and photonic bandgap semiconductor devices for integrated sensors. Distributed measurement of radiation, strain, temperature, and chemical corrosion will be achieved using these photonic sensors. The first phase of the research will utilize the fiber draw tower and nanofabrication facility available at NASA Langley.

The NASA-University Photonic Education and Research Consortium (NUPERC) will be established to enhance collaboration among local universities in this new field, including research and organizing a workshop on photonic sensors. This research involves collaboration with University of Southampton and University of Bath, both located in the United Kingdom.

Albin joined Old Dominion in 1986. His research interests include materials and processes for VLSI devices, semiconductor lasers, solid-state lasers, diamond technology, and fiber optic sensors. He spearheaded the College's "1+3" program with Rajagiri International School for Education and Research in Kerala, Republic of India, which was launched in Fall 2000.