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Dr. Ryan M. Briggs

Instrument Systems Engineer

About

Education

  • PhD in Materials Science, California Institute of Technology, 2011
  • MS in Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, 2008
  • MS in Engineering Systems, Mechanical Specialty, Colorado School of Mines, 2006
  • BS in Engineering Physics with Highest Honors, Colorado School of Mines, 2005

Experience

Professional Experience

Instrument Systems Engineer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2023 – present
  • Lead Systems Engineer and Engineering Technical Authority for Venus Tunable Laser Spectrometer (VTLS) on NASA’s Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI) mission
  • Project Manager for Combustion Product Monitor, a five-channel laser spectrometer delivered to the NASA Spacecraft Fire Safety Demonstration, successfully operated with the Saffire VI experiment on the Cygnus NG-19 International Space Station resupply vehicle
Microdevices Engineer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2011 – 2023
  • Project Manager for Laser In situ Resource Analyzer, a laser spectrometer to monitor water vapor at part-per-million levels in oxygen propellant for future sustained lunar surface operations, funded by the NASA Game Changing Development Program
  • Principal Investigator for Compact, Low-power, Visible-band Frequency Combs for Extreme Radial Velocity Measurements, an effort to develop nonlinear photonic waveguides for spectral broadening of near-infrared frequency combs to enable the next generation of visible radial velocity spectrograph calibration sources
  • Principal Investigator for Low-Power Long-Wavelength Infrared Sources for Tunable Laser Spectrometers, an effort to develop 4 to 10 µm wavelength single-mode quantum cascade lasers for in situ planetary science instruments, funded by the NASA PICASSO Program
  • Design and fabrication of superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) arrays, including for the ground terminal of the Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC) demonstration that successfully operated as part of NASA’s Psyche mission

Achievements

Awards & Recognitions

  • NASA Award | NASA Early Career Public Achievement Medal (2021)
  • JPL Team Award | For the development of high-speed superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (2019)
  • The Edward Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication | Low-dissipation 7.4-µm single-mode quantum cascade lasers without epitaxial regrowth (2017)
  • JPL Voyager Award | For the development of low-dissipation single-mode quantum cascade lasers (2015)
  • NASA Award | NASA Group Achievement Award | For bridging the long-standing gap in commercially available technology crucial to the measurement of several chemically and climatically relevant atmospheric trace species (2014)

Publications

Peer-reviewed publications:
  1. A. McCarthy, G. G. Taylor, J. Garcia-Armenta, B. Korzh, D. V. Morozov, A. D. Beyer, R. M. Briggs, J. P. Allmaras, B. Bumble, M. Colangelo, D. Zhu, K. K. Berggren, M. D. Shaw, R. Hadfield, and G. S. Buller "High-resolution long-distance depth imaging LiDAR with ultra-low timing jitter superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors," Optica 12, 168-177 (2025).
  2. E. E. Wollman, J. P. Allmaras, A. D. Beyer, B. Korzh, M. C. Runyan, L. Narváez, W. H. Farr, F. Marsili, R. M. Briggs, G. J. Miles, and M. D. Shaw, "SNSPD-based detector system for NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications project," Optics Express 32, 48185-48198 (2024).
  3. F. Yasar, C. Albert, T. Wenger, M. Fradet, R. M. Briggs, A. D. Beyer, and B. Korzh, "Membrane-based mesh filter for far-infrared radiation," Optics Express 32, 44218-44228 (2024).
  4. T.-H. Wu, L. Ledezma, C. Fredrick, P. Sekhar, R. Sekine, Q. Guo, R. M. Briggs, A. Marandi, and S. A. Diddams, “Visible to ultraviolet frequency comb generation in lithium niobate nanophotonic waveguides,” Nature Photonics 18, 218-223 (2024).
  5. R. M. Briggs, M. Fradet, and G. A. Ruff, “Results from the Combustion Product Monitor on the Saffire VI Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment,” Proceedings of the 53rd International Conference on Environmental Systems (2024).
  6. A. Roy, L. Ledezma, L. Costa, R. Gray, R. Sekine, Q. Guo, M. Liu, R. M. Briggs, and A. Marandi,“Visible-to-mid-IR tunable frequency comb in nanophotonics,” Nature Communications 14, 6549 (2023).
  7. L. Ledezma, A. Roy, L. Costa, R. Sekine, R. Gray, Q. Guo, R. Nehra, R. M. Briggs, and A. Marandi, “Octave-spanning tunable infrared parametric oscillators in nanophotonics,” Science Advances 9, eadf9711 (2023).
  8. M. Colangelo, B. Korzh, J. P. Allmaras, A. D. Beyer, A. S. Mueller, R. M Briggs, B. Bumble, M. Runyan, M. J. Stevens, A. N. McCaughan, D. Zhu, S. Smith, W. Becker, L. Narváez, J. C. Bienfang, S. Frasca, A. E. Velasco, E. E. Ramirez, A. B. Walter, E. Schmidt, E. E. Wollman, M. Spiropulu, R. Mirin, S. W. Nam, K. K. Berggren, and M D. Shaw, “Impedance-matched differential superconducting nanowire detectors,” Physical Review Applied 19, 044093 (2023).
  9. M. Colangelo, A. B. Walter, B. A. Korzh, E. Schmidt, B. Bumble, A. E. Lita, A. D. Beyer, J. P. Allmaras, R. M Briggs, A. G. Kozorezov, E. E. Wollman, M. D. Shaw, and K. K. Berggren, “Large-area superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors for operation at wavelengths up to 7.4 μm,” Nano Letters 22, 5667-5673 (2022).
  10. C. R. Webster, G. J. Flesch, R. M. Briggs, M. Fradet, and L. E. Christensen, “Herriott cell spot imaging increases the performance of tunable laser spectrometers,” Applied Optics 60, 1958-1965 (2021).
  11. A. S. Mueller, B. Korzh, M. Runyan, E. E. Wollman, A. D. Beyer, J. P. Allmaras, A. E. Velasco, I. Craiciu, B. Bumble, R. M. Briggs, L. Narvaez, C. Peña, M. Spiropulu, and M. D. Shaw, “Free-space coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detector with low dark counts,” Optica 8, 1586-1587 (2021).
  12. C. A. Curwen, S. J. Addamane, J. L. Reno, M. Shahili, J. H. Kawamura, R. M. Briggs, B. S. Karasik, B. S. Williams, “Thin THz QCL active regions for improved continuous-wave operating temperature,” AIP Advances 11, 125018 (2021).
  13. V. B. Verma, B. Korzh, A. B. Walter, A. E. Lita, R. M. Briggs, M. Colangelo, Y. Zhai, E. E. Wollman, A. D Beyer, J. P. Allmaras, H. Vora, D. Zhu, E. Schmidt, A. G. Kozorezov, K. K. Berggren, R. P. Mirin, S. W. Nam, and M. D. Shaw, “Single-photon detection in the mid-infrared up to 10 µm wavelength using tungsten silicide superconducting nanowire detectors,” APL Photonics 6, 056101 (2021).
  14. A. Vyatskikh, R. C. Ng, B. Edwards, R. M. Briggs, and J. R. Greer, “Additive manufacturing of high refractive index, nano-architected titanium dioxide for 3D dielectric photonic crystals,” Nano Letters 20, 3513-3520 (2020).
  15. B. Korzh, Q. Y. Zhao, J. P. Allmaras, S. Frasca, T. M. Autry, E. A. Bersin, A. D. Beyer, R. M. Briggs, B. Bumble, M. Colangelo, G. M. Crouch, A. E. Dane, T. Gerrits, A. E. Lita, F. Marsili, G. Moody, C. Peña, E. Ramirez, J. D. Rezac, N. Sinclair, M. J. Stevens, A. E. Velasco, V. B. Verma, E. E. Wollman, S. Xie, D. Zhu, P. D. Hale, M. Spiropulu, K. L. Silverman, R. P. Mirin, S. W. Nam, A. G. Kozorezov, M. D. Shaw, and K. K. Berggren, “Demonstration of sub-3 ps temporal resolution with a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector,” Nature Photonics 14, 250 (2020).
  16. J. P. Allmaras, E. E. Wollman, A. D. Beyer, R. M. Briggs, B. A. Korzh, B. Bumble, and M. D. Shaw, “Demonstration of thermally coupled row-column SNSPD imaging array,” Nano Letters 20, 2163-2168 (2020).
  17. M. Fradet, N. Tallarida, and R. M. Briggs, “Miniaturized Laser Absorption Spectrometer for Combustion Calorimetry and Process Monitoring,” Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems (2020).
  18. M. Fradet, R. M. Briggs, and R. Bendig, “The combustion product monitor instrument for the spacecraft fire safety demonstration project,” Proceedings of the 49th International Conference on Environmental Systems (2019).
  19. J. P. Allmaras, A. G. Kozorezov, A. D. Beyer, F. Marsili, R. M. Briggs, and M. D. Shaw, “Thin-film thermal conductivity measurements using superconducting nanowires,” Journal of Low Temperature Physics 193, 380-386 (2018).
  20. E. E. Wollman, V. B. Verma, A. D. Beyer, R. M. Briggs, B. Korzh, J. P. Allmaras, F. Marsili, A. E. Lita, R. P. Mirin, S. W. Nam, and M. D. Shaw, “UV superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors with high efficiency, low noise, and 4 K operating temperature,” Optics Express 25, 26792-26801 (2017).
  21. R. M. Briggs, C. Frez, M. Fradet, S. Forouhar, R. Blanchard, L Diehl, and C. Pflügl, “Low-dissipation 7.4-µm single-mode quantum cascade lasers without epitaxial regrowth,” Optics Express 24, 14589-14595 (2016).
  22. R. M. Briggs, M. Fradet, C. Frez, S. Forouhar, and R. D. May, “Compact multi-channel infrared laser absorption spectrometer for spacecraft fire safety monitoring,” Proceedings of the 46th International Conference on Environmental Systems (2016).
  23. A. Arabi, R. M. Briggs, Y. Horie, M. Bagheri, and A. Faraon, “Efficient dielectric metasurface collimating lenses for mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers,” Optics Express 23, 33310-33317 (2015).
  24. C. E. Borgentun, C. Frez, R. M. Briggs, M. Fradet, and S. Forouhar, “Single-mode high-power interband cascade lasers for mid-infrared absorption spectroscopy,” Optics Express 23, 2446-2450 (2015).
  25. R. M. Briggs, C. Frez, C. E. Borgentun, and S. Forouhar, “Regrowth-free single-mode quantum cascade lasers with power consumption below 1 W,” Applied Physics Letters 105, 141117 (2014).
  26. S. Forouhar, C. Borgentun, C. Frez, R. M. Briggs, M. Bagheri, C. L. Canedy, C. S. Kim, M. Kim, W. W. Bewley, C. D. Merritt, J. Abell, I. Vurgaftman, and J. R. Meyer, “Reliable mid-infrared laterally coupled distributed-feedback interband cascade lasers,” Applied Physics Letters 105, 051110 (2014).
  27. S. P. Burgos, H. W. Lee, E. Feigenbaum, R. M. Briggs, and H. A. Atwater, “Synthesis and characterization of plasmonic resonant guided wave networks,” Nano Letters 14, 3284-3292 (2014).
  28. R. M. Briggs, C. Frez, M. Bagheri, C. E. Borgentun, J. A. Gupta, M. F. Witinski, J. G. Anderson, and S. Forouhar, “Single-mode 2.65 µm InGaAsSb/AlInGaAsSb laterally coupled distributed-feedback diode lasers for atmospheric gas detection,” Optics Express 21, 1317-1323 (2013).
  29. S. Forouhar, R. M. Briggs, C. Frez, K. J. Franz, and A. Ksendzov, “High-power laterally coupled distributed-feedback GaSb-based diode lasers at 2 µm wavelength,” Applied Physics Letters 100, 031107 (2012).
  30. A. Ksendzov, S. Forouhar, R. M. Briggs, C. Frez, K. J. Franz, and M. Bagheri, “Linewidth measurement of high power diode laser at 2 µm for carbon dioxide detection,” Electronics Letters 48, 520-522 (2012).
  31. A. Emboras, R. M. Briggs, A. Najar, S. Nambiar, C. Delacour, P. Grosse, E. Augendre, J. M. Fedeli, B. de Salvo, H. A. Atwater, and R. Espiau de Lamaestre, “Efficient coupler between silicon photonic and metal-insulator-silicon-metal plasmonic waveguides,” Applied Physics Letters 101, 251117 (2012).
  32. K. Aydin, V. E. Ferry, R. M. Briggs, and H. A. Atwater, “Broadband polarization-independent resonant light absorption using ultrathin plasmonic super absorbers,” Nature Communications 2, 517 (2011).
  33. M. D. Kelzenberg, D. B. Turner-Evans, M. C. Putnam, S. W. Boettcher, R. M. Briggs, J. Y. Baek, N. S. Lewis, and H. A. Atwater, “High-performance Si microwire photovoltaics,” Energy and Environmental Science 4, 866-871 (2011).
  34. I. M. Pryce, K. Aydin, Y. A. Kelaita, R. M. Briggs, and H. A. Atwater, “Characterization of the tunable response of highly strained compliant optical metamaterials,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 369, 3447-3455 (2011).
  35. R. M. Briggs, J. Grandidier, S. P. Burgos, E. Feigenbaum, and H. A. Atwater, “Efficient coupling between dielectric-loaded plasmonic and silicon photonic waveguides,” Nano Letters 10, 4851-4857 (2010).
  36. R. M. Briggs, I. M. Pryce, and H. A. Atwater, “Compact silicon photonic waveguide modulator based on the vanadium dioxide metal-insulator phase transition,” Optics Express 18, 11192-11201 (2010).
  37. M. D. Kelzenberg, S. W. Boettcher, J. A. Petykiewicz, D. B. Turner-Evans, M. C. Putnam, E. L. Warren, J. M. Spurgeon, R. M. Briggs, N. S. Lewis, and H. A. Atwater, “Enhanced absorption and carrier collection in Si wire arrays for photovoltaic applications,” Nature Materials 9, 239-244 (2010).
  38. G. M. Miller, R. M. Briggs, and H. A. Atwater, “Achieving optical gain in waveguide-confined nanocluster-sensitized erbium by pulsed excitation,” Journal of Applied Physics 108, 063109 (2010).
  39. I. M. Pryce, K. Aydin, Y.A. Kelaita, R.M. Briggs, and H.A. Atwater, “Highly strained compliant optical metamaterials with large frequency tunability,” Nano Letters 10, 4222-4227 (2010).
  40. M. C. Putnam, S. W. Boettcher, M. D. Kelzenberg, D. B. Turner-Evans, J. M. Spurgeon, E. L. Warren, R. M. Briggs, N. S. Lewis, and H. A. Atwater, “Si microwire-array solar cells,” Energy and Environmental Science 3, 1037-1041 (2010).
  41. Y. C. Jun, R. M. Briggs, H. A. Atwater, and M. L. Brongersma, “Broadband enhancement of light emission in silicon slot waveguides,” Optics Express 17, 7479-7490 (2009).
  42. R. M. Briggs, M. Shearn, A. Scherer, and H. A. Atwater, “Wafer-bonded single-crystal silicon slot waveguides and ring resonators,” Applied Physics Letters 94, 021106 (2009).
  43. R. M. Briggs and C. V. Ciobanu, “Evolutionary approach for finding the atomic structure of steps on stable crystal surfaces,” Physical Review B 75, 195415 (2007).
  44. C. V. Ciobanu and R. M. Briggs, “Stability of strained H:Si(105) and H:Ge(105) surfaces,” Applied Physics Letters 88, 133125 (2006).
  45. C. V. Ciobanu, A. Barbu and R. M. Briggs, “Interactions of carbon atoms and dimer vacancies on the Si(001) surface,” Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology (ASME Transactions) 127, 462-467 (2005).
Patents:
  1. R. M. Briggs, L. Y. Del Castillo, and M. Rais-Zadeh, “Infrared absorption-based composition sensor for fluid mixtures,” U.S. Patent 12,228,500 (2025).
  2. R. M. Briggs, C. F. Frez, and M. Fradet, “Tapered-grating single mode lasers and method of manufacturing,” U.S. Patent 11,456,573 (2022).
  3. A. Marandi, L. Ledezma, Y. Xu, and R. M. Briggs, “Thin-film optical parametric oscillators,” U.S. Patent 11,226,538 (2022).
  4. H. F. Greer and R. M. Briggs, “Property control of multifunctional surfaces,” U.S. Patent 10,843,923 (2020).
  5. H. F. Greer, S. S. Harried, R. M. Briggs, and T. Lee, “Control of surface properties by deposition of particle monolayers,” U.S. Patent 10,797,189 (2020).
  6. H. F. Greer, R. R. Kapadia, and R. M. Briggs, “Methods and systems to boost efficiency of solar cells,” U.S. Patent 10,319,868 (2019).
  7. R. M. Briggs, C. F. Frez, and S. Forouhar, “Index-coupled distributed feedback semiconductor quantum cascade lasers fabricated without epitaxial regrowth,” U.S. Patent 9,991,677 (2018).
  8. C. Frez, C. E. Borgentun, R. M. Briggs, M. Bagheri, and S. Forouhar, “Single-mode, distributed feedback interband cascade lasers,” U.S. Patent 9,438,011 (2016).
  9. I. Pryce, K. Aydin, R. Briggs, H. A. Atwater, and Y. Kelaita, “Tunable compliant optical metamaterial structures,” U.S. 8,921,789 (2014).
  10. M. D. Kelzenberg, H. A. Atwater, R. M. Briggs, S. W. Boettcher, N. S. Lewis, and J. A. Petykiewicz, “Semiconductor wire arraystructures, and solar cells and photodetectors based on such structures,” U.S. Patent 8,808,933 (2014).
  11. L. Sweatlock, K. Diest, J. Ma, V. Jankovic, I. Pryce, R. Briggs, and H. Atwater, “Plasmonic modulator incorporating a solid-state phase change material,” U.S. Patent 8,749,866 (2014).