Dr. Fred Dylla
Chief Technology Officer
Dr. Fred Dylla is the Chief Technology Officer and the Program Manager of the Free-Electron Laser project for the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. His responsibilities as Chief Technology Officer are twofold. He ensures awareness of new and developing technologies that could be used to enhance or improve Jefferson Lab's scientific program; and he leads JLab's Technology Transfer team to identify commercialization opportunities for Lab-developed technologies. To this end he manages the Lab's intellectual property portfolio, patents and licensing efforts, and develops funding sources for JLab technology advancement programs. He oversees a variety of technology development activities at the Lab, including a series of medical imaging projects being developed by the Lab's Detector Group.
As the FEL program manager, he is responsible for Jefferson Lab's Free-Electron Laser, a major initiative funded through the Office of Naval Research that uses Jefferson Lab's key technology (superconducting radiofrequency cavities) to produce high average power, coherent light. The first version of the machine, the Infrared Demo FEL broke world records for laser light and terahertz radiation before being shut down at the end of 2002 for a major machine upgrade. The newly commissioned FEL achieved first light in June 2003 and is designed to set new infrared, ultraviolet and terahertz records and has already produced a record of 10,000 watts IR light.
Dr. Dylla also serves as the Lab's DOE Coordinator of Homeland Security activities and identifies opportunities and funding options for JLab technologies relevant to homeland security.
Dr. Dylla joined the Lab in 1990 and concurrently holds an Adjunct Professorship in Physics and Applied Science at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The author of over 170 publications in archival journals and books, Dr. Dylla received his B.S. and M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971 and 1975 respectively.
From 1975-1990, he held various research and management positions at Princeton University's Plasma Physics Laboratory, including responsibility for the design and operations of the vacuum systems, gas injection systems, and vacuum diagnostic for the large tokamaks at Princeton. He developed glow discharge conditioning procedures that are widely used in fusion, accelerator and materials processing systems. He was president of Princeton Scientific Consultants from 1981-1990, a firm specializing in ultrahigh vacuum and plasma technology.
Dr. Dylla is the Past-President of the American Vacuum Society where he was elected a fellow in 1998 and is currently a distinguished lecturer for the society. He is a member of the American Physical Society where he was elected a fellow in 2001. He is a founding member of the Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics of the APS. In 2003, the American Vacuum Society awarded a lifetime Honorary Membership to Dr. Dylla, in recognition of his scientific contributions, for his extensive service to the Society, and his work to preserve the legacy of the organization's first 50 years. He is an active member in numerous local and regional technology development organizations and has served on many national advisory committees for the Department of Energy.