Kevin Rolland Thompson (1954 2015) was the Group Director, Research and Development/Optics at Synopsys, Inc. His work contributed to developments in nanolithography, astrophysics and the advancement of optics

Early life

Kevin Thompson was born in the suburbs of Minneapolis, in Edina. He graduated from Edina High School in 1972. In 1976 he received B.S. degrees in physics and astrophysics from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

. He received a Ph.D. for his work "Aberration fields in tilted and decentered optical systems", from the College of Optical Sciences with Roland Shack in 1980. His work on aberration of rotationally nonsymmetrical optical systems laid out initially on his thesis has been described as significant. The theory to treat these systems was called "Nodal Aberration Theory" (NAT).

Later career

He worked at

Perkin-Elmer PerkinElmer, Inc., previously styled Perkin-Elmer, is an American global corporation focused in the business areas of diagnostics, life science research, food, environmental and industrial testing. Its capabilities include detection, imaging, inf ...

Corporation for 10 years as an optical designer in microlithography applications and advanced systems for ground- and space-based remote sensing. He subsequently worked at Optical Research Associates for nearly 25 years, where he was vice president of optical engineering services. The company was acquired by Synopsys in 2010. At Synopsys he was group director of R&D in optics. At that time he was also a visiting scientist at the University of Rochester Institute of Optics. He was involved with optics projects with multiple companies over a 25-year period. Highlights of his career include working on the null lens designs for the Hubble 1st Servicing Mission and optical modeling and analysis for the first generation

EUV Extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV or XUV) or high- energy ultraviolet radiation is electromagnetic radiation in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum spanning wavelengths from 124 nm down to 10 nm, and therefore (by the Planck ...

illuminator for lithography at 13nm node.

Personal life

Kevin Thompson was married to Jannick Rolland (Professor of Optical Engineering) at the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester and CTO of LighTopTech) He was a collector of historical books on optics.

Posthumous

The Optical Society Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conferenc ...

established an annual award in 2017. It is named Kevin P. Thompson Optical Design Innovator Award. The aim of the award is the following "Recognizes significant contributions to lens design, optical engineering, or metrology by an individual as evidenced by one or more of the following: innovative and rigorous research; optical system design with a foundation in aberration theory; development of advanced metrology capabilities; product development; patents; or publications."

Honours and awards

SPIE A.E. Conrady Award in Optical Engineering, 2013 Alumnus of the Year of the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona, 2015

References

External links

blog
Idle Diffractions. Musings on the past, present, and future of optics by Dr. Kevin P. Thomson * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Kevin Rolland 1954 births 2015 deaths American physicists University of Arizona alumni University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni