Professor Elliott R. Brown
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UC Santa Barbara
Biography
Elliott Brown is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The theme of his research is new terrestrial-sensor systems achieved by multifunctional RF integration or by the integration of RF electronics and components with other physical domains. Professor Brown’s group was involved in 2 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives (MURIs): 1) Multifunctional Adaptive Radio, Radar, and Sensors (MARRS); and 2) Science and Technology of Chemical and Biological Sensing at Terahertz Frequencies.
His group is also conducting research in the THz field in other areas including ultra-low-noise rectifiers, photomixing sources, the THz phenomenology of biomaterials, and THz remote sensor and imager design and simulation, and THz imaging of skin. Other areas of research include biomedical ultrasonic imaging in hard tissue and at the bone-soft tissue interface. This includes imaging in human teeth in collaboration with the UCLA Dental School.
Among his key inventions were the photonic-crystal planar antenna, the low-temperature-grown-GaAs THz photomixer, the resonant-tunneling-diode relaxation oscillator, normal-incidence absorption in semiconductor quantum wells, and shot-noise suppression and quantum-transport inductance in resonant-tunneling devices.
Professor Brown received his PhD and master’s degrees in applied physics in 1985 and 1981, respectively, from the California Institute of Technology where he conducted research on mm-wave and THz mixers made from semiconductor hot-electron bolometers and magnetically-quantized photoconductors. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from UCLA in 1979 and received the Kinsey Award for outstanding graduating student in physics. During the period of 1977 to 1981, he was with the Hughes Aircraft Company where he worked on key components in mm-wave radiometers and high-speed (> 1Gb/s) laser communications systems for the Space and Communications Group, El Segundo, CA.
Professor Brown is a Fellow of the IEEE, and a member of the American Physical Society and the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. His honors include an Achievement Award from the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 1998, Election to IEEE Fellowship in 2000, and a Best Paper Award at ITHERM 2000 for “Thermomechatronics.”