People

Ofer Shapira
E-mail: ofers@mit.edu
Website: http://www.mit.edu/~ofers

Education:

1997 - 1999 Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
M.Sc. Electrical Engineering
• Thesis subject: Fiber optics communication - Lasers for WDM communications, Localization of light by multiple scatterer systems.
• Analyzed and demonstrated a realization of Anderson localization by photons in a multiple fiber grating system. Presented analytical solution and numeric simulations of problem of wave propagation in a fiber having random scatterers. Proposed and performed trial demonstrating wave localization phenomenon.
• Presented and demonstrated wavelength-selectable fiber and semiconductor laser operated by applying mode-locking frequencies of a multiple-length laser cavity. This allows selection and high speed switching between different wavelengths, and is useful for dynamic wavelength division multiplexing in fiber optic networks.
• Courses taken included: Non-linear optics, photo-refractive optics, optical phenomenon in semiconductors, propagation of short pulses in fibers, and various advanced physics and mathematical courses.

1993 – 1997 Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
B.Sc. Electrical Engineering (cum laude)
• Focused primarily on electo-optics, communication, and signal processing.
• Course study included electro-optics, optical physics, semi-conductors lasers, electro-optic detection devices, electro-optic systems, fiber-optic communication, quantum theory, solid state physics, and most of the courses in the undergraduate program in the Physics Faculty.
• Conducted two projects: ‘Non-linearity in fiber optics’ - demonstrating various non-linear effects in optics and analyzing the properties; ‘Fixing methods in Ferro-electric crystals’ - presenting new method for storing information in crystals.

Professional Experience:

1999 - 2001 Chromatis Networks Ltd. (acquired by Lucent Technologies)
Senior Optical Communication Engineer
• Developed optical amplifiers for metro networks, including defining module specifications, module analog and digital hardware requirements, module embedded software requirements, and module mechanical requirements; designing module optical layer, characterizing module optical behavior, performing module network integration, defining and conducting module design validation tests.
• Developed fast optical response mechanism for optical amplifier, including designing a DSP based digital control loop, designing and implementing the control loop algorithm and a two layer communication protocol between the DSP application and the embedded software application, assimilating and using an operating system for the DSP application.
• Established the optical network planning rules as a consequence of the network architecture, system definitions, optical module physical properties, and fiber type; Analyzed network planning limitations based on the signal’s physical behavior, e.g., OSNR, dispersion, transmitter chirp, non-linear effects.
• Characterized network behavior for variety of fibers and fibers types, including providing continuous updates on new fiber introductions in the market, defining and building automatic fiber testing station, characterizing network planning rules and limitations governing each fiber pursuant to fiber specifications and lab measurements.

1997 – 1999 Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
Teacher’s Assistant
• Imparted recitation material in Electro-Optics undergraduate course, including optical resonators, radiation-matter interaction, laser principles, unisotropic medium, electro-optic effect, fiber lasers, and Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers.
• Responsible for Digital Systems undergraduate course, including recitation material, home assignments, and exams (academic) and coordination of course staff, addressing students requests, home assignments and exam grades (administrative).

1995 - 1997 Intel Development Center, Israel
Project Engineer, PENTIUM Processors Group
• Developed test CAD methodologies for the PENTIUM Processors Group.
• Proposed, designed, and implemented the PENTIUM processor data collection environment, data management and analysis.

Military Service:

1992 Israeli Air Force, First Lieutenant, Planning Officer, IAF HQ
1991 Israeli Air Force, Second Lieutenant, Planning Officer, IAF Field Unit
1989-1990 Israeli Air Force, Cadet, Pilots Training Course

Publications:

Fisher, B., Shapira, O., and Bekker. A. Localization of light by randomly spaced gratings. (in progress).

Fisher, B., Shapira, O., Levit, B., and Bekker, A. (1999) Cavity-resonance activated wavelength selectable fiber and diode lasers. Proc. Conf. on Lasers and Electro-Optics ’99.

Special Skills and Interests:

Well-versed in electro-optics lab equipment operation for both bulk-optics and fiber optics.
Proficient in C, Perl, Matlab, Virtuoso operating systems.
Languages: English (fluent), Hebrew (mother tongue)