Jeff Pilgrim

Dr. Jeffrey S. Pilgrim, President

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. As a graduate student 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 has authored 32 publications and holds 13 US patents along with 16 international patents.