Julian Gamboa González

Hello, and welcome to my website! This landing page serves as an interactive resumé- feel free to click around to get a better idea of who I am and what I do.

I am currently a research assistant at the Lab for Atomic and Photonic Technologies at Northwestern University, where I am finalizing my PhD in Electrical Engineering with a focus on photonics with an expected graduation date of June 2024. My primary research is in applications of analog and digital holography, with a particular focus on optical signal processing and data acquisition. I also research the development of photonic integrated circuits in AlGaAs/GaAs and LiNbO₃ for use in fast and slow light gyroscopes using Rb atoms.
I'm passionate about developing new and interesting ways to use the complex nature of light in everything from fundamental science to entertainment. Light is an incredible tool that we are only just beginning to fully dominate; it allows us to observe from the very structure of the universe to its most minute particles, while simultaneously connecting us to virtual worlds limited only by our imagination. I strive to design technologies that truly take advantage of this fundamental force in order to improve the human experience.

2024

2023 Presidential Fellow (Press Release)

2021

2017

Led research into opto-electronic correlators

Led research into nanofabrication for AlGaAs photonic integrated circuits

Led research into volume holograms in PQ:PMMA substrates

Built fully automated setups for performing and evaluating optical, opto-electronic, and photonic experiments

Developed SOPs for fabricating and evaluating PQ:PMMA volume holograms

Managed a team of four graduate researchers (three PhD students & one postdoc)

Mentored Two graduate, two undergraduate, and two highscool students

Published five peer-reviewed journal papers, and presented at various refereed conferences (CLEO, FiO, SPIE PW, and AMOS)

Prepared three accepted facilities proposals for Argonne National Laboratory

Assisted in preparing three grant proposals that were successfully funded

Gave seminars on holography, PID control systems, and coupled wave analysis

Assisted in research into fiber-optic orthogonal frequency division multiplexing

Achieved a 400 Gbps link

Built characterization setups for various fiber-optic components (primarily EOMs & MZIs)

Proficient in MatLab and C++. Experienced with VHDL, Julia, Python, and HTML.

VHDL programming for real-time signal processing on Xilinx Ultrascale+ FPGAs.

Proficient in experiment design and automation with experience in robotics, image processing, low-level protocols, and measurement interfaces.

Experience with FDTD, wave-optic, raytracing, and mode solving simulations using MatLab, Comsol, and Zemax.

Photonic circuit design (ring resonators, DBR lasers, detectors, couplers, IDT transducers).

Nanofabrication in class 100 cleanrooms (e-beam lithography, PECVD, RIE, e-beam evaporation, sputtering, SEM, cleaving, mounting, wire-bonding).

Demonstrated proficiency in Fourier optics, coupled wave theory, and optical signal processing.

Experienced with amplitude and phase spatial light modulators.

Excellent written and oral communication skills in Spanish and English (dual native speaker).

Excellent at science communication, technical writing, and copyediting for journal publications.

Excellent at teamwork and collaborative endeavors.

J. Gamboa, T. Hamidfar, X. Shen, and S. M. Shahriar, “Elimination of optical phase sensitivity in a shift, scale, and rotation invariant hybrid opto-electronic correlator via off-axis operation,” Optics Express 31(4), 5990-6002 (2023).

J. Gamboa, T. Hamidfar, J. Vonckx, M. Fouda, and S. M. Shahriar, “Thick PQ: PMMA transmission holograms for free-space optical communication via wavelength-division multiplexing,” Applied optics 60(28), 8851-8857 (2021).

J. Gamboa, T. Hamidfar, J. Bonacum, and S. M. Shahriar, “Determination of the refractive index modulation of PQ: PMMA holographic phase gratings over a large spectral range through a two-level approximation of the electric susceptibility,” Optical Materials Express 11(11), 3627-3635 (2021).