Dongbeom Son

Son’s expertise lies in optics, photonics and semiconductor detector physics. He has characterised silicon photomultipliers – arrays of Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes capable of resolving single photons – covering breakdown voltage, gain against overvoltage, dark count and crosstalk, and the signal-processing limits that arise when nanosecond detector pulses are read out through microsecond shaping electronics. He has also experimentally evaluated adaptive optics for free-space optical communication, using a wavefront sensor, a deformable mirror and Zernike-polynomial analysis to correct atmospheric distortion of a laser link.

He is experienced in scientific computing in Python and has developed a line-by-line radiative transfer model built on HITRAN spectroscopic data, including separating the numerical, spectroscopic and structural sources of uncertainty in its results. Son is training towards qualification as a UK Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney, learning the drafting and prosecution of patent applications before the UK Intellectual Property Office and the European Patent Office.

Son graduated from Durham University with a BSc in Physics. His advanced laboratory projects covered adaptive optics for correcting atmospheric distortion in free-space optical communication, motivated by satellite-to-ground laser links, and the characterisation of a silicon photomultiplier scintillation detector for cosmic ray muon spectroscopy. His computing project developed a one-dimensional radiative-convective equilibrium model of the atmosphere from HITRAN line-by-line data to examine clear-sky climate sensitivity and the water vapour feedback.

Son is a Member of the Institute of Physics (MInstP) and a student member of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA).