Skip navigation and go to content
Go to navigation

home
about
Thayer360 Panoramic Virtual Tour

Connect with Thayer School
academics
Foreign Study Programs

Thailand • Hong Kong • Germany
research
Research at Thayer School is advancing innovation in three focus areas:

Engineering at Dartmouth is non-departmental and most projects crosscut traditional engineering disciplines to address critical human needs. Current projects are searchable by focus area and by discipline.
people
Information for ...

Elsa Garmire

Sydney E. Junkins 1887 Professor of Engineering

1-603-646-3154
elsa.garmire@dartmouth.edu

Education

A.B., Physics, Harvard University 1961
Ph.D., Physics, M.I.T. 1965

Research Interests

Non-linear optics; integrated optics and semiconductor photonic devices; lasers; electro-optics; fiber optics

Current Research Projects

Teaching

ENGS 9: Lasers in Life
ENGS 120: Electromagnetic Fields and Waves
ENGS 122: Semiconductor Theory and Devices
ENGS 123: Optics
ENGS 124: Optical Devices and Systems

Selected Publications

"Optical vibration detection with a photoconductance monitoring array," (P. Heinz and E. Garmire) Applied Physics Letters 84 (16): 3196-3198 APR 19 2004
"Speed enhancement in a photorefractive multiple quantum well modulator by pulsed illumination," (A. K. Abeeluck, P. Heinz and E. Garmire) Appl. Phys. Lett. 79, (3), pp. 311-313 (2001).
"Resonant optical nonlinearities in semiconductors," (E. Garmire) IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron 6 (#6), pp. 1094-1110 (2000). INVITED REVIEW PAPER, in the "Millennium Issue"
"Wavelength dependence of combined local and carrier transport optical nonlinearities in a hetero n-i-p-i structure" (A. R. Kost, M. H. Jupina, T. C. Hasenberg and E. M. Garmire) J. of Appl. Phys. 99 (2): Art. No. 023501 Jan. 15, 2006
"Design and measurement of a multiple quantum well nipi wavguide modulator for optoelectronic integrated circuits" S.D. Koehler, E.M. Garmire, A.R. Kost, D. Yap, E.P. Docter, T.C. Hasenberg, IEEE J. Quantum Electron 32, 1029-1038 (1996).

See Patents and Publications (PDF) for more publications

Awards

National Associate of the National Academies (2004)
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1996)
Fellow, American Physical Society (1994)
Life Member, National Academy of Engineering (1989)
Fellow and Life Member, Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (1980)
Fellow. Optical Society of America (1981)
Achievement Award and Fellow, Society of Women Engineers (1994)

Selected Patents

4,068,920: Flexible wave guide for laser light transmission (1978) Michael Bass, Elsa Garmire, Thomas McMahon
4,788,688: Heterostructure Laser (1988); Tom Hasenberg and Elsa Garmire
5,130,849: Method and apparatus for energy transfers between optical beams using near-bandgap electrorefractive effect (1992); George C. Valley; Marvin B. Klein; Afshin Partovi; Alan Kost; Elsa Garmire
5,313,073: Light detector using intersub-valence band transitions with strained barriers (1994); Roger T. Kuroda, Elsa Garmire
5,643,476: Laser system for removal of graffiti (1997); Elsa Garmire, Katherine X. Liu, Robert Russell

See Patents and Publications (PDF) for more publications

Professional Activities

President, Optical Society of America 1995
Presidential Medal of Science Selection Committee 1996-1998
Councillor, National Academy of Engineering 2002-2008
Chair, National Academy Committee to Assess Technological Literacy 2002-2006
Councilor at Large, American Physical Society 1995-1997
Councillor, IEEE Lasers and Electro-optics Society 1984-1987
Director-at-Large, Optical Society of America 1983-1986
Distinguished Visiting Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, U. C. Berkeley 1999-2000
Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, 1985-1989
Harvard University Division of Engineering and Applied Physics Visiting Committee 1989-1995

Experience:

Thayer School faculty since 1995
Dean, Thayer School of Engineering 1995-1997
William Hogue Professor of Electrical Engineering; Professor of Physics; and Director, Center for Laser Studies: University of Southern California 1975-1995
Consultant, The Aerospace Corporation 1975-1992
Visiting Scientist, Thomson CSF, France 1974
Visiting Scientist, ITT Standard Telecom Labs 1973-1974
Senior Research Fellow, Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology 1966-1973

News

Prof. discusses work at State Dept.
The Dartmouth
March 9, 2009
Clueless On Tech Literacy of U.S. Citizens
Chemical and Engineering News
August 3, 2006
Technological Literacy of U.S. Population Not Well-Assessed
Kansas City Infozine (Missouri)
August 2, 2006
Garmire Elected to NAE
April 25, 2002

In Dartmouth Engineer Magazine

Q&A: Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim on Engineering
Winter 2011
Kudos
Summer 2010
What About Nuclear? Two Thayer professors weigh in on safety and need
Summer 2008
Kudos
Spring/Summer 2007
Kudos
Fall 2006
Kudos
Spring 2006
Women of Thayer School: What life's really like in engineering
Fall 2005
From Idea to Invoice: As entrepreneurship grows at Thayer School, innovators encounter pains as well as gains
Spring 2005

Video

Seminar: Are Light Emitting Diodes Revolutionizing Illumination Technology?

OSA interview with past president Elsa Garmire. Conducted by Martin Sandler in Rochester, NY, USA, October 2008.