Greg Parker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Greg Parker B.Sc. (1st Class Hons), Ph.D., C.Phys., C.Eng., F.Inst. P.

Greg was born in Barking, Essex (UK) on 20th April 1954. On leaving school he joined the Harwell & Culham laboratories where he took an H.N.C. in Applied Physics at Oxford Brookes University (then Oxford Polytechnic). After two years, having gained a taste for study, he went to the University of Sussex to take a degree in Physics Maths & Astronomy. In June 1978 he graduated with a First Class Honours Degree. Greg then joined the Philips Research Laboratories in Redhill, Surrey (UK) and at the same time enrolled for a Ph.D. with the University of Surrey, Guildford (UK). The Ph.D. was awarded in December 1982, the subject being “Characterisation of Deep-Levels in Silicon for Applications in Thermal Imaging”.

A further five years were spent in Industry until 27th April 1987 when he joined the Department of Electronics (as it then was) at the University of Southampton, Hampshire (UK). During his years at Southampton Greg slowly climbed the ranks until in December 2000 he became Professor of Photonics. His research during this time was in two main areas: 1) Novel growth systems for Silicon compatible materials 2) Silicon-based optoelectronics Greg has designed, built & developed 4 LPCVD systems for the Microelectronics Group at the University, the latest system being a large 6-chamber cluster-tool. These systems are used for research into novel devices incorporating Si, SiGe, SiGeC and Silicon Nitride.

He has published over 120-refereed papers and an introductory semiconductor physics textbook. He has recently signed a contract with Springer for a book in the Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy series entitled "The Beauty of Deep-Sky Astrophotography: CCD imaging and processing". A "coffee-table" book on Deep-Sky astrophotography is due out in 2006.

Around 1994 Greg was investigating the formation of high aspect-ratio single crystal Silicon pillars for their light emission properties. This research included (unintentionally!) the fabrication of a Photonic Crystal as part of the process. Since that time Greg’s research has mainly concentrated on Silicon compatible Photonic Crystal structures and their applications.

Greg is currently the Managing Director of Parker Technology, which is his Consultancy Company, and Professor of Photonics at the University of Southampton. Prior to creating the University spin-out company Mesophotonics Ltd. he created two other successful companies.

Greg lives in the New Forest, Hampshire, (UK) with his wife, son, Celestron Nexstar 11 computer-controlled telescope, and Sony VAIO PCG-C1MHP

[edit] References

• http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/
• Article in Wired magazine, "Ideas Stolen Right From Nature", Nov, 9, 2004, featuring Greg Parker.