David Henry Auston (born 1940) is a Canadian-American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

, known for his work on terahertz technology, and in particular, the development of the Auston switch. Auston was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada in 1940, and completed his B.A.Sc. and M.A. degrees in Engineering Physics and Electrical Engineering respectively, from the University of Toronto. He then moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

to work at the General Motors Defense Laboratory, and completed his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1969, working in the then-new area of laser physics. He was then offered a job at the

AT&T Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

with an open research mandate. Once there, he collaborated with materials scientist Alastair M. Glass to study properties of

electro-optic Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the propag ...

crystals. Shortly after, he came up with the idea of using photoconducting antennae as both a source and detector of radiation, developing what came to be known as "Auston switches". After the downsizing of Bell Labs in 1987, Auston moved to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

as Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics, then moving to

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universities ...

as Provost in 1994, until being appointed President at Case Western Reserve University in 1999. In 2003, he moved back to

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Co ...

to serve as the President of the Kavli Foundation. Auston was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

in 1989 for pioneering development in the field of picosecond and femtosecond optoelectronics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Auston, David Living people 1940 births People from Toronto University of Toronto alumni UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni Columbia University faculty Rice University faculty Case Western Reserve University faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Presidents of Case Western Reserve University Canadian emigrants to the United States Fellows of the American Physical Society