Gary M. Smith

Dr. Gary M. Smith is a technical staff member of the Laser Technology and Applications Group. Since joining Lincoln Laboratory, he has been developing photonic semiconductor devices, initially focusing on Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode arrays, then moving to high-power semiconductor lasers and beam combining.

Prior to joining the Laboratory, Smith worked at Advanced Technology Materials Inc. on photonic devices in wide-bandgap semiconductors. Years later, he moved to Corning Lasertron to work on high-power 980-nm semiconductor pump lasers. During his tenure at Lasertron, he led the new product introduction of 250-mW and 500-mW fiber-grating-stabilized pump lasers.

Smith has served on the Semiconductor Laser Subcommittee of the IEEE Photonics Conference (previously called the LEOS Annual Meeting) from 2006 to 2011, chairing the committee from 2008 to 2011. In 2012, he co-chaired an IEEE Photonics Society summer topical meeting on high-power semiconductor lasers.

He received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois. His thesis work was performed on the design and fabrication of distributed feedback (DFB)- and distributed Bragg relector (DBR)-stabilized semiconductor lasers.