Gerard A. Alphonse holds the
BSEE and MSEE from New York University, and a PhD in Electrophysics from Brooklyn
Polytechnic Institute. He joined the RCA Laboratories (now Sarnoff Corporation) in 1959.
In January 2003, he took retirement from Sarnoff to pursue his interest in consulting
start-up high-tech companies.
Dr. Alphonse's career at Sarnoff involves
pioneering work and major contributions in a broad range of technical areas. From 1959 to
1967 he worked on the development of superconductive devices. His other research
activities include original contributions in the development of photochromic cathode ray
storage and projection tubes, holography in photorefractive media, broadband acousto-optic
deflectors, holographic data storage, ultrasonic imaging for medical diagnostics,
videodiscs, optical disc media development. He has served as chief scientist and program
manager for the development of semiconductor laser diode arrays, optical amplifiers,
superluminescent diodes, the psychophysics of large area displays, vision modeling, and
distributed feedback lasers for cesium atomic clocks.
In 1986 he invented and demonstrated the
world's highest performance superluminescent diode (SLD), and transferred the technology
in 1989 to GE-RCA in Canada, which became a division of EG&G. This device is a
broadband semiconductor light source and is a key component in the next generations of
fiber optic gyroscopes, low coherence tomography for medical imaging, and external cavity
tunable lasers with applications to fiber optic communications. In October 1975 he was
appointed consultant to the National Science Foundation for a period of two years.
Besides his technical interest and breadth, Dr.
Alphonse has also been involved in education and professionalism. His commitment to
engineering education covers 16 years as adjunct faculty in the Electronic Physics
Department at LaSalle University's Evening Division, and served for four years as
Department Head. He has also taught electrical engineering courses in Linear Systems,
Communications, and Microwave Theory at the College of New Jersey.
Dr. Alphonse has served on several IEEE
(Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) committees and boards. He is currently
Region 1 Director and a member of the IEEE Board of Directors, the Regional Activities
Board, and the IEEE-USA Board.
Dr. Alphonse is the author and co-author of
over 120 technical papers and holds over 50 US patents. He has received four David Sarnoff
outstanding achievement awards, an IEEE Region 1 Award, and the IEEE Millennium Award. He
is a Fellow of IEEE, a member of the honorary societies Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma
Xi, and a member of the Science & Arts Committee of the Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia.
