LGS Graduate Internship Program

Summer 2008

Thomas Backes (r) and Scott Wright

During summer 2008, LGS Innovations (www.lgsinnovations.com), an independent
subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent dedicated to serving the U.S. government community,
was pleased to offer two PhD interns chosen by the AFCEA Scholarship Selection Committee an exciting, hands-on, internship program that we hope will help to encourage the brightest next generation of students to work in support of the U.S. Government.  The LGS Internship gave these students the ability to work with legendary Bell Labs scientists in real-life projects that allow them to apply their talents to solve some of the biggest challenges in communications today. The students worked
in Florham Park, New Jersey, at the LGS William J. Perry Research Center, which is home to nearly 200 R&D professionals with significant expertise across the disciplines of science and technology.

Thomas Backes (assignment ended 9/5/08)
Georgia Institute of Technology
Electrical and Computer Engineering with concentration in Electromagnetics
Expected Ph.D. graduation: December 2009

Summary of summer project:

Over the course of the summer internship, Thomas worked on designing a device that uses surface Plasmon resonances to enhance second harmonic generation of lasers. Second harmonic generation allows the creation of a shorter wavelength laser source by using the light from a longer wavelength source.  This allows wavelengths where lasers do not currently exist or are hard to produce to be accessed. By using surface Plasmon resonances, we are able to concentrate the laser fields in the second
harmonic generation material, and potentially increase efficiency. This project also gave LGS data that demonstrates our knowledge of Plasmonics and can lead to additional business in this new, but quickly growing field.


Scott Wright (assignment ended 11/08)   *
University of Michigan
Electrical Engineering with concentration in Circuits and Microsystems
Expected Ph.D. graduation: April 2009

Summary of summer project:

Scott has been working on developing and testing the properties of composites for the LGS Composite Solutions armor system.  The LGS armor system is designed to defeat high threat level projectiles including rifle bullets, armor piercing rounds, and fragment simulation projectiles.  The system has a wide range of defense applications including uses in retrofitting of existing military vehicles, where it will provide protection from overhead threats and component shielding on Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.  He has been testing the properties of current and potentially new composites. He also examined the ability to pass RF signals through the composites so that they may be used to protect Radomes, domes surrounding satellite or other communication dishes.  Additionally, Scott has examined the durability and properties of the composites as they are heated and cooled to extreme temperatures and the potential uses of multiferroic materials by characterizing them and measuring some of their properties which are currently unknown.

* 2008 Recipient of the $15,000 AFCEA Fellowship