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Dr. Jeffrey S. Pilgrim
Dr. Jeffrey S. Pilgrim is President and founder of Vista Photonics. He formed the
corporation in June 2003 to develop and commercialize optical gas sensing technologies.
Before starting Vista Photonics, Dr. Pilgrim worked as a Senior Research Scientist in a similar research and
development environment where he developed diode laser-based trace sensing techniques including
wavelength modulated photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS), frequency modulated resonance locked PAS,
intracavity PAS, and phase modulated external cavity diode lasers (ECDL). He has invented several ECDLs
for trace gas detection and telecommunications. While working in Tucson, Arizona, Dr. Pilgrim developed
ultra-high sensitivity trace gas sensors based on intracavity laser spectroscopy using diode-pumped solid
state (DPSS) laser systems. He has designed and built DPSS systems at near and mid-infrared
wavelengths. From 1995-1997 he was a postdoctoral research associate at Sandia National
Laboratories in Livermore, California where he worked in gas phase chemical kinetics. His work
utilized direct absorption, frequency modulation, and multiple pass absorption techniques.
At the University of Georgia, Dr. Pilgrim worked with time-of-flight mass spectrometry using laser
spectroscopy in supersonic molecular beams.

Dr. Pilgrim's accomplishments and interests include 1) development of DPSS trace gas sensor systems,
2) development of non-dispersed intracavity laser spectroscopy, 3) simultaneous dual two-tone frequency
modulation for radical-radical kinetic studies, 4) precise determination of vinyl radical heat of formation,
5) spectroscopic studies of weakly-bound metal containing clusters and complexes, 6) photodissociation
studies of metal-carbon clusters including nanocrystals and metallo-carbohedrenes, 7) trace gas detection
with photoacoustic spectroscopy, 8) external cavity diode laser development.

Dr. Pilgrim is an author of 32 publications and holds 13 US patents along with 16 international patents.
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