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Jose V. Siles

ASTHROS Project Manager & Technical Lead

About

Bio

Dr. Jose V. Siles received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in telecommunication and electrical engineering from the Technical University of  Madrid, Madrid, Spain, in 2003 and 2008, respectively. In 2002, he joined the Signal, Systems and Radiocommunications Department of the Technical University of Madrid as a Research Fellow supported by a fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, working on the physics-based modeling of semiconductor devices for terahertz applications. Part of this research was performed at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy, and at the Observatory of Paris-LERMA, France. In 2008 and 2010, he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Observatory of Paris-LERMA participating in several programs funded by the CNES, the European Space Agency and the European Commission. In September 2010, he joined the Submillimeter-Wave Advanced Technology Group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena CA, USA, as a Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellow. He has participated in several programs to develop terahertz technology, including frequency multiplied sources and receivers, for the French space agency (CNES), the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Commission and NASA/JPL. He is an experienced terahertz component and circuit designer, having designed and tested terahertz sources and mixer circuits up to 3 THz, all of them exhibiting world-record performances. His current research interests involve the design, development and test of ultra-compact solid-state power-combined multiplied local oscillator sources and receivers for high resolution multi-pixel heterodyne cameras at submillimeter-wave and terahertz frequencies for radio-astronomy, planetary science, Earth science, communications, and radar applications. He was the recipient of a Fulbright Postdoctoral Research Award at JPL for the period 2010-2012, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the J. Fulbright Program. In 2015/16 and 2016/17, he was responsible for the delivery, assembly and I&T in Antarctica of the of the first multi-pixel terahertz local oscillator system for NASA’s Stratospheric Terahertz Observatory (STO-2), successfully launched from Antarctica on Dec.2016. He is Principal Investigator of several NASA funded tasks to develop the next-generation of high-spectral resolution submillimeter-wave instruments for Astrophysics and Planetary Science. Dr. Siles was the recipient of the 2012 NASA/JPL Outstanding Postdoctoral Research Award and the 2014 NASA Outstanding Group Achievement Award for the Development of Compact Multi-Pixel Receivers for Planetary Science. He was awarded in 2016 with the U.S. Antarctic Service Medal. In 2018, he received the prestigious JPL Lew Allen Award for Excellence.

Jose is a senior member of IEEE, vice chair of the Metro LA Chapter of IEEE/MTT-S and President of the LA Chapter of the Fulbright Association.

He enjoys playing soccer, swimming, travelling, salsa dancing and flying airplanes. He is an experienced instrument rated private airplane pilot. He has spent a total of 5 months on the ice during two Antarctic scientific balloon campaigns in 2015 and 2016.

He is currently the Project Manager and technical lead of the "The Astrophysics Stratospheric 2.5-m Telescope for High Spectral Resolution Observations at Submillimeter-wavelengths" (ASTHROS) NASA balloon mission, planned to launch from Antarctica.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Madrid, Spain (2008)
  • Advanced Studies Diploma in Signal Theory and Communications, Technical University of Madrid, Spain (2006)
  • M.Sc. in Telecommunication Engineering, Technical University of Madrid, Spain (2003)

Research Interests

  • Balloon-borne high-spectral resolution terahertz observatories for Astrophysics
  • High-spectral resolution submillimeter-wave/terahertz array spectrometers
  • Design, development and test of solid-state multiplied local oscillator sources and frequency mixers for high-resolution multi-pixel heterodyne cameras at submillimeter-wave and terahertz frequencies for radioastronomy, planetary science, cosmology and radar imaging applications.
  • Novel topologies for power-combined terahertz frequency multipliers.
  • Physics-based modeling of semiconductor devices for millimeter and submillimeter-wave applications
  • Terahertz communications
  • Applications of terahertz technology on biomedicine and cancer research

Experience

Professional Experience

  • ASTHROS Project Manager & Technical Lead, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA (Sept. 2019 – Present)
  • RF Engineer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA (Sep. 2012 – Present)
  • Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA (Sep. 2010 – Sep. 2012)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Observatory of Paris, LERMA, France (May. 2010 – Sep. 2010)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Technical University of Madrid, Spain (Mar. 2009 – Apr. 2010)
  • Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow, Observatory of Paris, France (May. 2008 – Feb 2009)
  • Graduate Researcher, Technical University of Madrid, Spain (Oct. 2003 – Apr 2008)
  • Visiting Researcher, Observatory of Paris, LERMA, France (Feb. 2007 – July. 2007)
  • Visiting Researcher, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy (Jun 2006 – Aug 2006)
  • Undergraduate Research Assistant, Technical University of Madrid, Spain (Sep 2005 – Sep 2006)

Achievements

Awards & Recognitions

  • JPL Voyager Award | for succesfully completing ASTHROS mission compatibility tests at NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (2024)
  • The Lew Allen Award for Excellence | Lew Allen Award for Excellence for the development of high-power ultra-compact room-temperature multi-pixel terahertz sources and receivers for balloon-borne and space instruments. (2018)
  • JPL Voyager Award (2018)
  • JPL Voyager Award (2016)
  • Professional Society and External Organization Awards | National Science Foundation (NSF) | U.S. Antarctic Service Medal, National Science Foundation (2016)
  • JPL Team Award | JPL Team Award for developing and delivering the local oscillator subsystem for the Stratospheric Terahertz Observatory, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2016)
  • NASA Award | NASA Group Achievement Award for outstanding innovation and expertise in demonstrating super-compact multi-pixel receiver systems for submillimeter-wave atmospheric sounding of planetary atmospheres, NASA-HQ, Washington D.C. (2014)
  • Professional Society and External Organization Awards | Fulbright Program CIES/IEE - U.S Department of State | Fulbright Postdoctoral Research Award (Sep. 2010 - Sep. 2012), Fulbright Scholar Program, CIES/IEE, U. S. Department of State, U.S.A (2012)

Publications

Refereed Journals

  1. Jose V. Siles, K. Cooper, C. Lee, et al., “A New Generation of Room-Temperature Frequency Multiplied Sources with up to 10x Higher Output Power in the 160 GHz-1.6 THz Range”, Proc. of the IEEE Transactions of Space Terahertz Communications, Nov. 2018
  2. Ken B. Cooper, Raquel R. Monje, Luis Millan, Matthew Lebsock, Simone Tanelli, Jose V. Siles, Choonsup Lee and Andrew Brown, “Atmospheric Humidity Sounding Using Differential Absorption Radar Near 183 GHz”, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, Jan. 2018.
  3. Imran Mehdi, Jose V. Siles, Choonsup Lee and Erich Schlecht, “THz Diode Technology: Status, Prospects and Applications”, Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 105, No. 6, pp. 990-1007, Jun 2017.
  4. Dong Wu, Jeng-Hwa Yee, Erich Schlecht, Imran Mehdi, Jose V. Siles and Brian J. Drouin, “THz limb sounder (TLS) for lower thermospheric wind, oxygen density, and temperature”, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 121,7301–7315, doi:10.1002/2015JA022314, 2016.
  5. Cecile Jung-Kubiak, Theodore J. Reck, Jose V. Siles, Robert Lin, Choonsup Lee, John Gill, Ken Cooper, Imran Mehdi, Goutam Chattopadhyay, “A multistep DRIE process for complex terahertz waveguide components”, IEEE Transaction on Terahertz Science and Technology, Vol. 6, No. 5, pp. 690-695, Sep. 2016.
  6. Tero Kiuru, Goutam Chattopadhyay, Theodore J. Reck, Austin J. Minnich, Robert Lin, Erich Schlecht, Jose V. Siles, Choonsup Lee, Imran Mehdi, “Thermal characterization of substrate options for high-power THz multipliers over a broad temperature range”, IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 328-335, Mar. 2016.
  7. J. V. Siles, C. Lee, R. Lin, G. Chattopadhyay, T. Reck, C. Jung-Kubiak, I. Mehdi, and K. Cooper, “A High-Power 105-120 GHz Broadband On-Chip Power-Combined Frequency Triple”, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, No. ,Vol. 3, pp. 157-159, Mar. 2015.
  8. T. Reck, C. Jung-Kubiak, J. V. Siles, C. Lee, R. Lin, G. Chattopadhyay, I. Mehdi and K. Cooper, “An eight pixel transceiver array for submillimeter-wave radar”, IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 197-206, Mar. 2015.
  9. E. Schlecht, J. V. Siles, C. Lee, R. H. Lin, B. Thomas, G. Chattopadhyay and I. Mehdi, “Schottky Diode Based 1.2 THz Receivers Operating at Room- Temperature and Below for Planetary Atmospheric Sounding” IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, Sep. 2014.
  10. A. Maestrini, I. Mehdi, J. V. Siles, J. Ward, R. Lin, B. Thomas, C. Lee, J. Gill, G. Chattopadhyay, E. Schlecht, J. Pearson and P. Siegel, “First demonstration of a tunable electronic source in the 2.5-2.7 THz range,” IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 177-185, Mar. 2012.
  11. J. V. Siles, A. Maestrini, B. Alderman, S. Davies, H. Wang, J. Treuttel, E. Leclerc, T. Närhi and C. Goldstein, “A single-waveguide in-phase power-combined frequency doubler at 190 GHz,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, Vol.21, No. 6, pp. 332-334, Jun. 2011.
  12. J. V. Siles and J. Grajal, “Physics-based design and optimization of Schottky diode frequency multipliers for THz applications,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Special Issue on "THz Technology: Bridging the Microwave-to-Photonics Gap", Vol. 58, No. 7, pp. 1933-1942, July 2010.
  13. J. V. Siles, J. Grajal, and A. Di Carlo, “Design of submillimeter Schottky mixers under flat-band conditions using an improved drift-diffusion model,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Component Letters, vol. 19, no.3, pp. 167-169, March 2009.
  14. G. Beaudin, F. Boussaha, F. Dauplay, Y. Delorme, A. Feret, Y. Jin, C. Jung, J.M. Krieg, R. Lefèvre, A. Maestrini, W. Miao, J. V. Siles, J. Treuttel and H. Wang, “Development of mixers and local oscillators for THz heterodyne instruments at Observatoire de Paris – LERMA,” European Astronomical Society Publications Series - EDP Sciences Journals -, vol. 37 (2009), pp. 73-82, 2009.

Patents

  1. Jose V. Siles, et al., “High Power W-Band/F-Band Schottky Diode Based Frequency Multipliers”, US Patent No. US 10,075,151B2, Sep, 2018
  2. Jose V. Siles, et al., “On-chip Power-Combining for High-Power Schottky Diode Based Frequency Multipliers”, US Patent No. US 9,143,084 B2, Sep. 2015
  3. G. Chattopadhyay, Ken Cooper, Jose V. Siles, et al., “340 GHz Multi-pixel Transceiver”, US Patent No. US 9,791,321 B2, Oct. 2017
  4. Cecile Jung-Kubiak, Theodore Reck, Bertrand Thomas, Robert H. Lin, Alejandro Peralta, John J. Gill, Choonsup Lee, Jose V. Siles, Risaku Toda, Goutam Chattopadhyay, Ken B. Cooper, and Imran Mehdi, “Wafer-to-wafer alignment method,” US20170045065 A1, 2017.