Jonathan Suen

Doctoral Candidate

Education

Masters of Science (in Engineering), Electrical Engineering: Systems, University of Michigan, 2005

Bachelors of Science (with Honors), Electrical Engineering, UC Santa Barbara, 2004

Associate of Arts, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, 2002

Research

I am currently a doctoral candidate with the Experimental Cosmology group at UC Santa Barbara. My research centers on development of novel systems for RF sensing over a wide range of applications and frequencies, from high-resolution biomedical imaging, security and environmental sensing to astrophysical observations. I work with systems from millimeter wave, terahertz to infrared, 30 GHz-3 THz-300 THz. I am currently developing systems across each of these areas and wavelengths. These include an active broadband THz biomedical imaging system as well as an autonomous high-altitude platform for THz observations.

Traditionally, the region of the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and longwave infrared has seen little interest. Much of this is due to immature source and detector technology, which has recently seen great advances due to developments in high-frequency technologies and optical communication. A viable system, however, requires much more than a source and a detector. Adding to the challenge, the building blocks of traditional IR or RF systems be directly applied in this frequency regime. As an example, coaxial and stripline transmission lines are too lossy at THz frequencies, yet optical cameras are not feasible due to the lack of focal plane arrays.

The design of a novel system requires knowledge and consideration of a wide range of fields. These include sensor physics, RF components, solid state physics, mechanics and control theory, optical and quasi-optical design, programming and signal processing. Perhaps the most critical step occurs in architecting a system, when the maturity and capability of technologies must be assessed. When necessary, this includes identifying areas where there is an application pull or where a technology push exists that can be exploited. With the rapid pace of technology, it is critical that both the system design and development process remain agile to adapt both to changing application and technology development.

The net result of this process is a system where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Development of new applications and capabilities, as well as feedback to the next generation of technology are driven, at its core by systems and application development.

Previously, I co-founded Gabbly, a Silicon Valley startup which provided an instant, contextual chat based on Web 2.0/AJAX technologies. Among the developments I was responsible for was a system which connected users based on both time and context of use. Gabbly received over 1 million monthly uniques and $1.5M of funding. I was also the president of the University of Michigan and the UCSB Amateur Radio club, and hold an Extra class license, callsign KG6K.

Selected Publications

J.Y. Suen, M. N. Lemaster, M. Kangas, P. M. Lubin, “On-demand Fabrication of High-Performance Metal Mesh Terahertz Filters,” International Workshop on Optical Terahertz Science and Technology, 2011.

J. Y. Suen, W. Li, Z. D. Taylor, and E. R. Brown, “Characterization and Modeling of a Terahertz Photoconductive Switch,” Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 96, Issue 14, pp. 141103- 141105. 2010.

J. Y. Suen, Z. D. Taylor, W. Li, P. Tewari, R. S. Singh, M. O. Culjat, W. S. Grundfest, H. Lee, E. R. Brown, “Reflective, Pulsed THz System for Biomedical Imaging,” International Workshop on Optical Terahertz Science and Technology, 7-11 March 2009.

J. Y. Suen, R.S. Singh, Z.D. Taylor, P. Tewari, W.S. Grundfest, M.O. Culjat, and E.R. Brown, “Medical Terahertz Sensing of Skin Hydration,” Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 17, NextMed: Design for the Well Being, January 2009.

J. Y. Suen, R.S. Singh, Z.D. Taylor, and E.R. Brown, “A W-Band Quasi-Optical Homodyne Doppler Radar for Detection of Very Slow-Moving Targets,” Microwave Symposium Digest, 2008. IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, June 2008.

S. Denny, J. Y. Suen, P. M. Lubin, “Fundamental Limitations on Observing Terahertz Galaxies,” International Workshop on Optical Terahertz Science and Technology, 2011.

K. K. Williams, Z. D. Taylor, J. Y. Suen, H. Lu, R. S. Singh, A. C. Gossard, E. R. Brown, “Toward a 1550 nm InGaAs Photoconductive Switch for Terahertz Generation,” Optics Letters, Vol. 34 Issue 20, pp. 3068-3070. 2009.

P. Tewari, M. O. Culjat, Z. D. Taylor, J. Y. Suen, B. O. Burt, H. Lee, E. R. Brown, W. S. Grundfest, “Role of collagen in Terahertz Absorption in Skin, “ Proceedings of the SPIE, Vol. 7169: Advanced Biomedical and Clinical Diagnostic Systems VII, 2009.

E.R. Brown, K. K. Williams, W-D. Zhang, J. Suen, H. Lu, J. Zide, and A. C. Gossard, “Electrical Transport in an Insulating Semimetal-Semiconductor Nanocomposite,” IEEE Trans. Nanotechnology, Vol. 8, Issue 3, pp. 402-407, 2008.

Z.D. Taylor, R.S. Singh, M.O. Culjat, J.Y. Suen, W.S. Grundfest, and E. R. Brown, “Reflective THz imaging of porcine skin burns,” Optics Letters, Vol. 33, Issue 11, pp. 1258-1260. 2008.