My Resume

Opto-electronic Systems Engineer

James A. Carter, III

Education

B.S. Optics from the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester

Degree received with Distinction in May 1982 GPA 3.5/4.0 (Dean's List)

Experience

Design and development of complex optical, opto-mechanical, electro-optical and electrical systems, instruments, components, processes and test equipment.

Optical lens and system design	Scanning Lens Systems, F-theta lenses, Telescopes, Image and Pupil Relays Ultra-broadband Objectives, Infrared Optics with Diffractive Aspheric Correction Free Space Interconnects, Transform Lenses Anamorphic Systems, Polarization Control Electro-optics, Acousto-optics, Lasers, IR Sources, Electro-mechanical Optics Detectors, CCD, CID, CMOS, Avalanche Photodiodes and Arrays, Thermal Detectors

General systems engineering	Remote Sensing, Hyperspectral Imaging, Free Space Optical Communications Photonics Processors, Fourier Optical Processors, Correlators, Vector-Matrix Processors Machine Vision, Embedded Process Control, Biometrics, Environmental Metrics Target Simulators, Range Simulators, IR Projectors, Unique Optical Metrology

Electronic design	Analog Video and Modulation, RF sources and modulation Receiver Systems, Integrate and Dump Amplifiers, Lock-in Amps CCD Timing and Control, Analog to Digital Conversion, Correlated Double Sampling Embedded Processors, ASIC State Machines, Distributed Processor Systems, DSP Systems, Multiple DSP Interprocess Timing, Control and Communication

DSP and scientific software	Signal Processing, Waveform Generation, Lookup Table Generation and Control Analog Devices 21xxx Family, TI TMS320C62x and TMS320C67x Physical Process Modeling, Data Statistics Extraction and Processing, Automated Design

Mechanical design and analysis	AutoCAD 2D, 3D and SolidWorks solid modeling System Layout and Envelope Packaging, Folded Optical Systems in Three Dimensions Opto-mechanical Design, Alignment Fixturing, Detailed Part Drawings ANSI Y14.5M-19xx

Technical writing	Technical Proposal Generation, Technical, Cost and Schedule Sections Technical documentation, Final Reports, User Manuals, Software Manuals Interface Control Specifications MS Word, PageMaker 6.5, Adobe Acrobat, HTML

Project management	Schedule and Cost Generation and Tracking Work Breakdown Structures, Resource Leveling Microsoft Project, Excel

Chronology

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July 1997 to Present

Consultant, James Carter Optical Consulting
Indialantic, Florida

Technical consulting for Central Florida companies involved in laser, optics, and military optics systems. System level expertise for new and existing products including scanning systems, precise beam control and steering, night vision binoculars with range and compass capabilities as well as diffractive, aspheric optical systems used in the mid-infrared (MWIR) and long infrared (LWIR). Work tasks span from detailed optical design using well known optical design and analysis programs such as CodeV and FRED, manufacturing process design and control, process yield calculations as well as electrical engineering support for instrumentation systems and software development. Layout of optical test fixtures using AutoCAD 2000 and SolidWorks 2007. Customer references available upon request.

November 1990 to July 1997

Staff Optical Engineer, Photonic Systems, Inc.
1800 Penn Street, Suite 6, Melbourne, Florida

Responsible for the design of advanced photonic processors and instruments. Systems include sophisticated device technology such as high-bandwidth, multichannel Bragg cells, high density CCD image sensors, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), avalanche photo-diode arrays, acousto-optic tunable filters (AOTFs) and digital mirror devices (DMDs), that require characterization in unique laboratory test sets with varied metrology equipment and custom software to control processes and gather data. System design methods include custom analysis and design software to accommodate nonstandard optical components and commercial software such as GENII:PC and CodeV from Optical Research Associates. Delivered processors and instrumentation require firmware for embedded controllers as well as host computer interface software to communicate and control the instrument data interface. Promoted to Senior Optical Scientist in 1995.

November 1989 to July 1990

Senior Optical Engineer, OptiComp Corporation
215 Elks Point Road, Zephyr Cove, Nevada

Maintained direct responsibility for the hardware development of an all optical digital computer instrument that is funded by a SBIR contract phase three. Translated the conceptual architecture (given by the phase two final report) into a complete first order design with magnifications, focal and track lengths. Specified or assisted in the specifications of all major components in the processor (such as laser diode arrays, multichannel Bragg cells and all lens interconnects) and was responsible for documenting of these requirements and generating RFQs. Modeled critical components and sub-system interactions to verify rise-times, band-widths, extinction ratios and diffraction efficiencies as dependent on laser spot characteristics. Co-authored a paper given at the April meeting of the S.P.I.E.

August 1988 to November 1989

Consultant/Optical Engineer, James Carter Optical Consulting
1016 East El Camino Real, Suite 167, Sunnyvale, California

Provided optical expertise to companies in the Silicon Valley area. Designed and developed instruments for original equipment manufacturing firms that are well established or start-ups. Detailed optical design proceeded mechanical mounting design and layout using AutoCAD to facilitate expedient transfer of high precision design data to the customer and customer vendors. OEM products included novel biomedical laser devices, laser and optical diagnostics, and test and measurement instrumentation.

April 1987 to August 1988

MTS/Optical Engineer,VISULUX
404 Tasman Drive, Sunnyvale, California

Guided the development of the LASAR 1000 Projector/Display. Balanced limited resources between releasing the current product to manufacturing and developing the next generation laser display. The current product design required interface and assembly procedure documentation, as well as minor redesign of the scanner and laser optics. Future product design required electro-optical modeling and analysis of subsystem transfer function from RGB video signal to screen image to recommend approach for doubling the system band-width. Also supervised technician support for breadboard experiments and test bed implementation.

January 1986 to April 1987

MTS/System Engineer, TRW Defense Communications Division
One Space Park Drive, Redondo Beach, California

Directed the progress of a $175K Internal Research and Development as Principal Investigator. Maintained direct responsibility for the development of acousto-optical signal processing devices to be applied to adaptive filter architectures. Program flow, cost control and labor scheduling were also required to meet ambitious technical goals. Contributed as well to proposals on optoelectronic applications to laser communication links and phased array technologies. Also presented several technical forums on the topics of optical preamps for communication and acousto-optical system design considerations.

June 1984 to January 1986

Optical Engineer, Cooper Vision Inc., Laser Division
3420 Central Expressway, Santa Clara, California

Principal optical engineer responsible for the development of laser delivery systems employing fiber optic or articulated arm optics for ophthalmic surgery instruments.. Developed alignment and focusing techniques for optical subsystems employing ZYGO Mark III interferometer. Fiber delivery required fiber selection, characterization and manufacturing process development and documentation. Designed and implemented a test bed to assure fiber cable performance quality.

August 1982 to June 1984

MTS/System Engineer, TRW Applied Technology Division
One Space Park Drive, Redondo Beach, California

Systems engineering of advanced communications payloads employing directed energy optical devices. Systems trade-off required a linear programming approach to generate the optimal first order design and risk distribution; responsibilities included first order design and analysis, generation of geometrical requirements, tolerances, compensators, automatic control and ultimately precision alignment and integration. Areas of specialization included: design of Gaussian beam optical systems, infrared image/irradiance mapping, surface scatter characterization, link budget analysis and manufacturing, integration and test processes.

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Affiliations

Member of the Optical Society of America

Member of the Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers

Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

Publications

J.A. Carter, et al, "Hyperspectral imaging with 12 parallel channel tunable camera", to be given at the Joint Symposium on Spectral Imaging, O.S.A. 1996 Annual Meeting, ThII5.
J.A. Carter, et al, "Analog Accuracy in Optical Vector-Matrix Processors", Optical Computing, O.S.A. 1995 Technical Digest Series, Vol 10, p. 171, 1995.
J.A. Carter, et al, "High Performance Optical Vector-Matrix Coprocessor", Photonics for Processors, Neural Networks, and Memories II, Proc. SPIE, Vol. 2297, p. 225, 1994.
J.A. Carter and T. A. Sunderlin, "Flexible Detection and Postprocessing Module for Optical Processing Applications", Advances in Optical Information Processing VI, Proc. SPIE, Vol. 2240, 1994.
J.A. Carter and D.R. Pape, "Mulitchannel Acousto-Optical Spectrometer", Advances in Optical Information Processing V, Proc. SPIE, Vol. 1704, 1992.
P.S. Guilfoyle, J.A. Carter, et al, "32-bit Digital Computer: A Hardware Update", Advances in Optical Information Processing IV , Proc. SPIE, Vol. 1296, p. 2, 1990.
"Laser Beams and Resonators: Quick Reference Chart," Lasers and Optronics, Vol. 7, No. 8, p.36. (with R. Wiedemann, and W.D. Fountain).

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