Luis Costa

I have a background in photonics, primarily focused on the development of optical processors, sources, and sensors. My career in photonics began as an R&D engineer, where I specialized in developing fiber-optic sensors. Following this, I pursued a PhD at the University of Alcala, Spain where I developed techniques able to use existing telecommunication optical fibers into sensor arrays for detecting various phenomena like earthquakes, as well as characterization methods for said fibers.

During my postdoctoral research at Caltech, I furthered my work in sensing techniques, particularly in the context of planetary seismology, and worked on developing nonlinear integrated optical sources and sensors on nanophotonic platforms.

In November 2022, I joined the Microdevices Laboratory (MDL) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as a postdoctoral researcher. At JPL, my work primarily revolves around the development of novel photonic components. This includes linear photonic processors for ideal coronagraphs and the advancement of fiber optics sensing methods for planetary applications.


Education: 
  • PhD, Electrical Engineering, Universidad de Alcala, 2020, “Limits of Performance of Chirped-Pulse Phase-Sensitive Optical Time-domain Reflectometry”
  • MS + BSc, Engineering Physics, Universidade do Porto, 2015

Research Interests: 

Photonics, Nonlinear Photonics, Optical Sensing and Ranging 


Professional Experience: 
  • 2021-2022 – Postdoctoral Researcher, Nonlinear Photonics Laboratory / Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
  • 2017-2020 – Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Early Career Researcher, Universidad de Alcala, Alcala de Henares, Spain
  • 2016-2017 – HBM Fibersensing, Research and Development, Maia, Porto, Portugal
  • 2015-2016 – EQS Global (Intern – Research and Development), Maia, Porto, Portugal

Selected Awards: 
  • 2019 Science Outreach Award (Universidad de Alcala)
  • 2019 Best Student Paper – OPTOEL 2019
  • 2018 Best Student Paper – OFS 26

Selected Publications: 
  1. Qiushi Guo, …, Luis Costa, et al. “Ultrafast mode-locked laser in nanophotonic lithium niobate” Science, 382 (6671), 708-713
  2. Luis Costa, et al. “Localization of seismic waves with submarine fiber optics using polarization-only measurements” Communications Engineering, 2 86 (2023),
  3. Arkadev Roy, Luis Ledezma, Luis Costa, et al. “Visible-to-mid-IR tunable frequency comb in nanophotonics”: Nature Communications, 14, 6549 (2023)
  4. Luis Ledezma, Arkadev Roy, Luis Costa, et al, “Octave-spanning tunable parametric oscillation in nanophotonics”, Science Advances, 9, 30 (2023)
  5. Luis Costa, Zhongwen Zhan, Alireza Marandi, “Mode-walk-off interferometry for position-resolved optical fiber sensing”, Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2, 41 (2022)
Address: 
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109