Henry Schriemer

Biography

Henry P. Schriemer received the B.Sc. degree in mathematics, and the Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Manitoba, Canada, in 1987 and 1997, respectively. His expertise is in unravelling the operation of engineered complex systems, generally by understanding and exploiting various transport processes. His doctorate in experimental physics reported groundbreaking work on sound propagation through strongly scattering systems, and was fundamental to the development of diffusive acoustic wave spectroscopy. While concluding his thesis, he was a Teaching Professor and Postdoctoral Researcher at Queen’s University, Canada, where he developed a new optical scattering technique to quantify the impact of strain-induced disorder on interfacial roughness. In 1998, he became a FOM Postdoctoral Fellow at the van der Waals-Zeeman Institute in The Netherlands, gaining expertise in laser physics and nanophotonics. He definitively demonstrated spontaneous emission inhibition in active photonic crystals using optical spectroscopy and photon counting, and probed the diffusion of light in strongly scattering materials by phase-sensitive interferometry of ultrashort optical pulses. Returning to Canada in 2000, he made marked contributions within the photonics industry, where he is recognized as one of the innovators of strain engineering planar lightwave circuits in doped glass. Now an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa, where he previously held an NCIT Research Fellowship in Photonics from 2003 to 2005, his research accomplishments have ranged from the theoretical description of optical singularities in photonic crystals, to fundamental advances in the design and realization of laterally-coupled distributed feedback lasers. His current focus in photovoltaic systems ranges from the modeling of multijunction concentrator solar cells, to system test and reliability methodologies, and the development of predictive spectral models that incorporate local weather conditions. He has authored over 50 refereed publications, including articles in Science, Physical Review, and the IEEE journals.  

Research Interest

  Nanophotonics & optoelectronics, Complex systems & optical metamaterials, Integrated photonic components, Scanning probe microscopies, Multiphysics simulation.