Don Gregory

Professor

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Research Areas

  • Optics solutions to real problems and the investigation of new optical materials and
    sources for future optical devices
  • Optical based liquid flow sensors, pressure and temperature sensors and chemical
    detectors that can be utilized on spacecraft for detecting the presence of Formaldehyde
  • Development of infrared scene projectors that utilize high power infrared diodes to
    simulate the signature of an infrared scene
  • High energy lasers are also a significant interest in two areas: the design of optical
    resonators for thin disk lasers and the use of the lasers for propulsion applications
  • Thin films of polymer and blown glass as active optical elements
  • Utilizing optical correlators for performing autonomous rendezvous and docking
    maneuvers for spacecraft
  • The atmospheric THz imaging program will exploit the unique characteristics of
    terahertz light for imaging applications

Education

  • Ph.D., Physics, University of Alabama in Huntsville, 1984, Dissertation title: Real-Time, Large Memory Holographic Pattern Recognition
  • M.S., Physics (with thesis), University of Alabama in Huntsville, 1978, Thesis title: Infrared Absorption by Highly Transparent Solids
  • B.S., Physics, Math, Secondary Education, University of Alabama in Huntsville, with teaching certificate, 1975
  • A.S., Physics, Math, Gadsden State College, Gadsden, Alabama, 1972

Employment

  • 1999-present, Professor of Physics, and faculty of the Optical Science and Engineering Program and the Materials Science Program, The University of Alabama in Huntsville
  • 1992-1999, Associate Professor of Physics and faculty of the Optical Science and Engineering Program and the Materials Science Program, The University of Alabama in Huntsville
  • 1982-1992, Electrical Engineer (GS-12), Research Physicist (GS-13, GS-14, GS-15), Supervisory Research Physicist (GM-15), US Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama
  • 1980-1982, Materials Engineer (GS-11), NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center
  • 1979-1980, High School Physics and Advanced Math Teacher, Madison County School System, Alabama

Past Graduate Students

Masters Thesis

  • “Distortion and Noise Invariant Optical Pattern Recognition”, Dong Yu (1991)
  • “Spatial Light Modulator Nonlinearity”, Tracy Hudson (1991)
  • “Liquid Crystal Televisions as Spatial Light Modulators”, James Kirsch (1992)
  • “Effects of Dome Heating on Mid-Wave IR Sensor Noise”, James Meehan (1993)
  • “Imaging Off-Axis Scattered Radiation”, John Jackson (1994)
  • “Rewriteable Magneto-Optic Compact Disc Based Optical Processor”, Travis Taylor
    (1994)
  • “Phase Correction in a Semiconductor Amplifier Array Using Fiber Optics”, Paul
    Burke (1996)
  • “Ion Figuring of X-Ray Mirrors”, Thomas Cantey (1997)
  • “Measurement and Optimization of the Spectral Reflection of Camouflage”, Jody
    Loyd (1999)
  • “Ion Figuring of Non-Planar X-Ray Optics”, Theodore Mooney (2000)
  • “Wavelet Focus Algorithm”, Stephen Berry (2000)
  • “Optical Measurement of Liquid Mass Flow”, Magnus Akerstrom (2001)
  • “Selective Emitter Design, Construction, and Testing”, Bryan Jeanette (2002)
  • “Transmissometer Measurement and Testing”, Carol Airhart (2004)
  • “Acoustic Transfer Functions”, Patrick Vitarius (2005)
  • “Transformation Properties of Aberrations in Optical Systems”, Raju Narayankar,
    (2005)
  • “Laser Ablative Propulsion using Polymers”, Adam Hendrickson, (2007)
  • “Strength of Glass Processed in a Vacuum”, Andrew Manning, (2007)

PhD Dissertation

  • “Diffusion in the Formation of Photopolymer Holograms”, David Lanteigne (1992)
  • “Spontaneous Emission Alteration Near the 1-Dimentional Photonic Band Edge”,
    Mike Tocci (1994)
  • “Photoinduced Anisotropies in the Absorption and the Index of Refraction of
    Polymer Films”, Janine Reardon (1995)
  • “Supression of Photoinduced Absorption in Composite Nonlinear Materials”, David
    D. Smith (1995)
  • “Optical Wavelet Transforms”, Peter Erbach (1997)
  • “Amplitude and Phase in Optical Information Processing”, John McClain (1998)
  • “Diffused Holographic Information Storage”, Deanna McMillen (1999)
  • “Laboratory Simulation of Atmospheric Turbulence”, Travis Taylor (1999)
  • “Diffractive Optic Solar Concentrator”, Guolin Peng (2000)
  • “Real Time Holographic Display and Image Processing”, Amy Sue Kransteuber
    (2002)
  • “Three Dimensional Displays using Liquid Crystal Modulators”, James Kirsch,
    (2004)
  • “Molecular Contaminant Scattering in the Vacuum Ultraviolet”, Kenneth A. Herren
    (2005)
  • “Electro-optical Hybrid Slip Ring”, En Hong, (2005)
  • “Photonic Coherence Phenomena in Coupled Optical Resonators”, Hongrok Chang,
    (2006)
  • “Infrared Scene Projector”, Tommy Cantey, (2007)
  • “Optical Sensor for the Measurement of Density in a Flowing Multiphase Cryogenic
    Fluid”, Valentin Korman (2007)

Current Graduate Students

Amanda Duffell, John Smith, Ted Mooney, Kevin Spradley, Denise Morrell, Elizabeth
Tanner, John Outerbridge, Brian K. Jones, John Wiley, Kira Patty, Kiran Kilaru, Martin
Heimbeck, John Sinko

Representative Presentations and Papers

  • “Temporally Stabilized Sonoluminescence in Ethylene Glycol”, Fred B. Seeley, Don
    A. Gregory, Shane Thompson, and Jeremiah D. Brown, Acous. Res. Lett., Vol. 6,
    No. 1, Jan, 2005, p.48
  • “Sampling Rate Error in Acoustic Measurements”, Patrick Vitarius, Don A. Gregory
    John T. Wiley, and Valentin Korman, J. Tech. Acoustics, Vol. 7, no.1, 2006
  • “Phase Transition Thermal Expansion Measurement Technique Using a Modified
    Michelson Interferometer”, Valentin Korman and Don A. Gregory, J. Opt. A, Vol.
    6, 2004, p. 781
  • “Ion Milling of Sapphire”, Don A. Gregory and Kenneth A. Herren, J. Electrochem.
    Soc., Vol. 152, no. 9, 2005
  • “Authentication Protocols Using Quantum Superposition States”, Yoshito Kanamori,
    Seong-Moo Yoo, Don A. Gregory, and Wendi Pan, Under review, Intl. J. Network
    Security, November, 2007
  • “Aberrations and the y-ybar Diagram”, Lloyd W. Hillman, Raju Narayara, Don A.
    Gregory, and Patrick Reardon, to be Submitted, Opt. Engr., March, 2008
  • “Mie Scattering of Growing Molecular Contaminants”, Kenneth A. Herren and
    Don A. Gregory, Opt. Engr., Vol. 46, no.3, 2007
  • “Specific Impulse and Mass Flow Rate Error”, Don A. Gregory and Valentin Korman,
    to be submitted, Acta Astronautica., January, 2008
  • “Slip Ring System Based on Wireless Optical Communication Techniques”, En Hong,
    Abhishek Krishnamurthy, Don A. Gregory, and Sean Anderson, J. Engr. Comp. and
    Architecture, Vol. 2, Issue 2, 2007
  • “Correcting Distortion in Acoustic Sense Lines”, Patrick Vitarius and Don A. Gregory
    J. Tech. Acoustics, Vol. 11, no. 1, 2007
  • “Bidirectional Reflectance Function Measurements of Molecular Contaminant
    Scattering”, Kenneth A. Herren and Don A. Gregory, Opt. Engr., Vol .46, no.11,
    2007