About

I have spent over 6 years living and breathing thin films (quite literally for the latter -- cleaning a chamber after running Zinc Sulfide coatings is a heady experience). Born and raised in beautiful Southern Oregon, I made a living as a public high school teacher before putting my physics degree to use as a thin film coating engineer. Starting as an entry-level engineer at a small (but ambitious) thin film company in Oregon, I quickly fell in love with the profession and became trusted with high-priority projects within my first year. After some time, I expanded my career by taking a contract position with Meta Reality Labs, providing coating expertise for augmented reality products.

As of late 2024, I have offered my services as an independent consultant in optical coatings across the industry. I am actively seeking new clients and would love to work with your coating team. See below for details on some of the companies I've worked with and accomplishments I've known during my career.

Companies Worked With: 

• Hardin Optical (Bandon OR)

• Optimax Systems (Ontario, NY)

• Crystal Star-Tech (Shenzen, China)

• Meta Reality Labs (Redmond, WA)

• Quantum Innovations (Central Point, OR)

Noteworthy Projects:

• Developed a process for coating and measuring fold/output regions of geometric waveguides in an electron-beam PVD chamber. Used software to calculate optimum fixturing and angle for facet coverage (working with opto-mechanical engineers).

• Characterized dozens of transparent conductive oxide coatings for use in lens dimming systems, building see-through models to assist in downselecting coating technology.

• Led the creation of low-index but high durability fluorine-based films using room-temperature evaporation methods for high performance augmented reality coatings.

• Used uniformity modeling and custom mask optimization to correct color shifting in large-scale sunglass lenses, increasing yield for a large sunglass manufacturer.

• Developed selectively absorbing hardcoat products for ophthalmic lenses (blue blocker and night driving applications) , optimizing the coating and curing processes for adhesion and ARC durability.

• Built up a LWIR window process for a precision optics client, allowing ownership of previously outsourced coatings.