Ulf Österberg is a Swedish-American physicist specializing in

optical fibers An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means ...

nonlinear optics Nonlinear optics (NLO) is the branch of optics that describes the behaviour of light in ''nonlinear media'', that is, media in which the polarization density P responds non-linearly to the electric field E of the light. The non-linearity is typica ...

, and ultrafast and THz spectroscopy. With Walter Margulis, he discovered efficient

second-harmonic generation Second-harmonic generation (SHG, also called frequency doubling) is a nonlinear optical process in which two photons with the same frequency interact with a nonlinear material, are "combined", and generate a new photon with twice the energy of ...

in optical fibers, and his optical

precursor Precursor or Precursors may refer to: *Precursor (religion), a forerunner, predecessor ** The Precursor, John the Baptist Science and technology * Precursor (bird), a hypothesized genus of fossil birds that was composed of fossilized parts of unr ...

studies are particular noteworthy.

Early life and education

Österberg was born in

Göteborg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...

, Sweden in 1958, and spent his early years in

Trollhättan Trollhättan () is the 23rd-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Göta älv, near the lake Vänern, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city proper. It is locate ...

. He received his MS from

Chalmers University of Technology Chalmers University of Technology ( sv, Chalmers tekniska högskola, often shortened to Chalmers) is a Swedish university located in Gothenburg that conducts research and education in technology and natural sciences at a high international level ...

(Engineering Physics) in 1982, and the PhD from the

KTH Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...

(Physics) in 1987.

Research and career

Österberg was a visiting researcher with J. Roy Taylor at Imperial College during his PhD, and held a postdoctoral position at the

University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences The University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences, considered the largest institute for optics education in the United States, is dedicated to research and education in optics with an emphasis on optical engineering. The college offers more ...

, and was a National Research Council Fellow at the Seiler Research Laboratory, US Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs. He was on the faculty of the

Thayer School of Engineering Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth (Dartmouth Engineering) offers graduate and undergraduate education in engineering sciences at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The school was established in 1867 with funds from C ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

from 1990 to 2009, during which time he was a recipient of a Presidential Young Investigator Award from NSF. He received patents on signal encryption methodology using

wavelet A wavelet is a wave-like oscillation with an amplitude that begins at zero, increases or decreases, and then returns to zero one or more times. Wavelets are termed a "brief oscillation". A taxonomy of wavelets has been established, based on the num ...

transforms, and co-founded Lightkey Optical Components, LLC. He also studied optical precursors. In 2009 he moved to the

Norwegian University of Science and Technology Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

(NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway, and was inducted into Norges Tekniske VitenskapsAcademi (NTVA), a science and technology organization dating from 1955. His work at NTNU was on broadband THz generation and spectroscopy. His continued interest in pedagogy inspired a return to Dartmouth Engineering in 2018. He is an adjunct faculty member at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

Personal life

Österberg is married to

Ursula Gibson Ursula J. Gibson is a materials scientist who specialises in novel core optical fibres. Early life and education Gibson was born in Sheffield, England, and moved to the US in the 1960s, living in the Philadelphia area, then Ithaca, New York. ...

, and they have three children.

Published works

He is the author or coauthor of >120 publications, with >3600 citations.Ulf Österberg - Google Scholar
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Österberg, Ulf Lennart Swedish physicists Chalmers University of Technology alumni 1958 births Living people