Imran Mehdi


Education: 
  • Ph.D. (Electrical Engineering), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, August 1990.
  • M.S.E.(Electrical Engineering), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 1985.
  • B.S.E.(Electrical Engineering), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, August 1984.
  • BA in Letters and Science, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, May 1983.

Research Interests: 

Dr. Imran Mehdi’s research is focused on developing technology in the submillimeter-wave range that can enable space instruments of the future. His recent work has been based on developing low-parasitic GaAs Schottky diodes that can be used as detectors and as frequency multipliers for submillimeter-wave heterodyne receivers. His current focus is on developing super-compact submillimeter-wave array receivers that can be proposed for future planetary and astrophysics missions.


Professional Experience: 
  • Senior Research Scientist, JPL, 2010
  • Principal Engineer, JPL, since 2001
  • Senior Member of Technical Staff, JPL, 1997-2001
  • Member of Technical Staff, JPL, 1991-1997
  • National Research Council, Research Associate, 1990-1991
  • Research Assistant, Solid State Laboratory, University of Michigan, 1986-1990
  • Visiting lecturer in Physics, Albion College, Albion Michigan, 1985-1986
  • Summer Internship, General Motors Technology Center, Warren Michigan, 1984

Selected Awards: 
  • Recipient of the NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal for “outstanding innovation and expertise in development and implementation of the submillimeter-wave membrane-based Schottky diodes for the HIFI Spectrometer on Herschel,” May 2010
  • Recipient of over 20 NASA Certificates of Recognition for contributions to scientific and technical innovation, 1991-2010
  • Several JPL Certificates and Awards for outstanding technical contributions.
  • United States Patent granted for a fabrication scheme to obtain semiconductor microwave circuits on quartz substrates, July 1994. US patent #5,276,345

Selected Publications: 

 

  1. I. Mehdi, B. Thomas, C. Lee, G. Chattopadhyay, R. Lin, E. Schlecht, A. Peralta, J. Gill, K. Cooper, N. Llombart, and P. Siegel, “Radiometer-on-achip: a path toward super-compact submillimeter-wave imaging arrays,” Proc. SPIE vol. 7671, pp. 767105-9, 2010.
  2. Alain Maestrini, John S. Ward, John J. Gill, Choonsup Lee, Bertrand Thomas, Robert H. Lin, Goutam Chattopadhyay, and Imran Mehdi, “ A Frequency-Multiplied Source With More Than 1 mW of Power Across the 840-900 GHz Band, “ IEEE Trans. On Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 58, number 7, July 2010, pp. 1925-1932.
  3. B. Thomas, A. Maestrini, J. Gill, C. Lee, R. Lin, I. Mehdi and P. de Maagt, “ A Broadband 835-900 GHz fundamental Balanced Mixer Based on Monolithic GaAs membrane Schottky diodes,” IEEE Trans. On Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 58, number 7, July 2010, pp. 1917-1924.
  4. Choonsup Lee, J. Ward, R. Lin, E. Schlecht, G. Chattopadhyay, J. Gill, B. Thomas, A. Maestrini, I. Mehdi and P. Siegel, “A Wafer-level Diamond bonding process to improve power handling capability of submillimeter-wave Schottky Diode Multipliers,” Proceedings of IEEE-IMS2009 Symposium, Boston, June 2009.
  5. R. J. Dengler, K. B. Cooper, N. Llombart, G. Chattopadhyay, T. Bryllert, I. Mehdi, P. Siegel, “Toward Real-Time Penetrating Imaging Radar at 670 GHz,” proceedings of the IEEE-IMS2009 Symposium, Boston, June 2009.
  6. Ken B. Cooper, Robert J. Dengler, Nuria Llombart, Tomas Bryllert, Goutam Chattopadhyay, Erich Schlecht, John Gill, Choonsup Lee, Anders Skalare, Imran Mehdi, and Peter Siegel, “Penetrating 3-D Imaging at 4- and 25-Range Using a Submillimeter-Wave Radar,” IEEE-Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 56, No. 12, December 2008, pp. 2771-2778, December 2008.
  7. N. Llombart, T. Bryllert, G. Chattopadhyay, K. B. Cooper, R. J. Dengler, J. Gill, A. J. McNary, I. Mehdi, E. Schlecht, A. Skalare, P. H. Siegel, “THz Heterodyne Imaging Applications, Instruments and Directions”, Proceedings of the European Microwave Conference, Amsterdam, October 2008.
  8. S. Ward, Goutam Chattopadhyay, John Gill, Hamid Javadi, Choonsup Lee, Robert Lin, Alain Maestrini, Frank Maiwald, Imran Mehdi, Erich Schlecht, and Peter Siegel "Tunable Broadband Frequency-Multiplied Terahertz Sources," (Invited Keynote), Proceedings, 33rd International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves, Pasadena, California, September 2008.
  9. Alain Maestrini, John Ward, Goutam Chattopadhyay, Erich Schlecht, John Gill, Choonsup Lee, Hamid Javadi, and Imran Mehdi, "In-Phase Power Combining of Submillimeter-Wave Multipliers," (Invited) Proceedings, 33rd International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves, Pasadena, California, September 2008.
  10. Alain Maestrini, J. Ward, G. Chattopadhyay, E. Schlecht, and I. Mehdi, "Terahertz Sources Based on Frequency Multiplication and Their Applications," invited paper, Frequenz, Journal of RF-Engineering and Telecommunications, ISSN 0016-1136, Issue 5/6 2008.
  11. A. Maestrini, J. S. Ward, C. Tripon-Canseliet, J. J. Gill, C. Lee, H. Javadi, G. Chattopadhyay, and I. Mehdi, “In-Phase Power-Combined Frequency Triplers at 300 GHz,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 18, no. 3 , pp. 218-220, March 2008.
  12. K. B. Cooper, R. J. Dengler, G. Chattopadhyay, E. Schlecht, J. Gill, A. Skalare, I. Mehdi, and P. H. Siegel, “A High- Resolution Imaging Radar at 580 GHz,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, , vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 64-66, January 2008.
  13. I. Mehdi, E. Schlecht, A. Maestrini, J. Gill, C. Lee, J. Ward, “Submillimeter-Wave Schottky Diode Receivers,” Proceedings of the Joint 32nd Intl. Conf. on Infrared and Millimeter-Waves and 15th. Intl. Conf. on Terahertz Electronics, Cardiff, United Kingdom, Sept. 2007.
  14. I. Mehdi, G. Chattopadhyay, E. Schlecht, J. Ward, J. Gill, F. Maiwald, and A. Maestrini, “THz Multiplier Circuits,” Proceedings of the IEEE-MTTS Symposium, June 2006.
  15. I. Mehdi and P. Siegel, “THz Semiconductor-Based Front-End Receiver Technology for Space Applications,” (invited) proceedings of the IEEE 2004 Radio and Wireless Conference, p. 127, Atlanta, Sept. 2004.
  16. I. Mehdi, S. Marazita, D. Humphrey, T. Lee, R. Dengler, J. Oswald, A. Pease, S. Martin, P. H. Siegel, W. Bishop, and T. Crowe, “Improved 240 GHz Subharmonically Pumped Planar Schottky Diode Mixers for Space-Borne Applications,” IEEE-Trans. On Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 46, No. 12, December 1998.
  17. I. Mehdi, P. H. Siegel, D. A. Humphrey, T. H Lee, R. J. Dengler, J. E. Oswald, A. Pease, R. Lin, H. Eisele, R. Zimmermann, and N. Erickson, “ An All Solid-State 640 GHz Subharmonic Mixer,” 1998 IEEE MTT-S Digest, pp. 403-406, June 1998.
  18. I. Mehdi, S. C. Martin, R. J. Dengler, R. P. Smith, and P. H. Siegel, “Fabrication and Performance of planar Schottky diodes with T-gate-like anodes in 200-GHz subharmonically pumped waveguide mixers,” IEEE Microwave and Guided Wave Letters, Vol. 6, No. 1, Jan. 1996.
  19. C. Kidner, I. Mehdi, J. East and G. I. Haddad, Power and stability limitations of resonant tunneling diodes," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 38, 7, July 1990.
  20. I. Mehdi, R. K. Mains and G. I. Haddad, Effect of spacer layer variation on the static characteristics of resonant tunneling diodes," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 58, August 27, 1990. 21) I. Mehdi and G. I. Haddad, Lattice matched and pseudomorphic In_{0.53}Ga_{0.47}As/ In_{x}Al_{1-x}As resonant tunneling diodes with high current peak-to-valley ratio for millimeter-wave power generation,' Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 67, no. 5, pp.2643-2646, March 1990.

 

Book Chapters

 

 

  1. “Schottky Diode Frequency Multipliers” in RF and Microwave Passive and Active Technologies, A CRC Press RF and Microwave Handbook, January 2008 (with Dr. Jack East)
Address: 
4800 Oak Grove Dr.
Pasadena, CA 91109
Phone: 818.354.2001
Fax Number: 818.393.4683
Email: 
Imran.Mehdi@jpl.nasa.gov