David Krohn has over 40 years of experience in the photonics industry. He is the Managing Partner of Light Wave Venture LLC, which is focused on developing telecommunications-, sensor-, power-delivery-, and energyrelated business opportunities. He has assisted over 115 companies with activities in marketing, planning, and management as well as provided technical input. In prior experience, he served as Global New Business Director for Photonics at 3M Company. From 1987 to 1998, he was the General Manager of the 3M Specialty Optical Fiber Business, which included the Bragg Grating Technologies business acquired from UTC in 1995. In 1979, he founded EOTec Corporation, which manufactured specialty fiber, sensors, cables, cable assemblies, and data links. He was the CEO of EOTec until the business was acquired by 3M in 1987. Currently, he is very active in many technical societies and teaches short courses in technology and business development at various universities. Recently, he started the Photonic (Fiber Optic) Sensor Consortium, which has more than 60 participating companies and organizations. As the photonics marketplace has experienced radical changes in the last several years, he has worked with several companies to diversify into nontelecommunications markets such as military, homeland security, biomedical, and green-energy areas such as alternative energy and solid-state lighting.
David Krohn has significant experience in the technical aspects of photonic design and fabrication and is currently active in the development of advanced photonic components and systems. He played a key role in the development of polarizing maintaining (PM) fiber, which is a critical component in advanced gyro systems. He has also been very active in the development of advanced laser technology as well as illumination and imaging systems. At 3M and in his role at Light Wave Venture, he managed manufacturing-engineering teams that supported high-quality fabrication and cost reduction. In addition, he is active in technologytransfer and intellectual-property issues associated with photonics products and manufacture.
David Krohn attended Rutgers University as an undergraduate (BS 1965). He obtained his MS from Case Western Reserve University in 1967 and his Ph.D. from Lehigh University in 1973. All of his degrees are in materials science. He has written 4 books and more than 60 papers, and holds 27 patents relating to photonics.
David Krohn's affiliations are:
Carolinas Photonics Consortium (Technical Advisory Board)
Ontario Centers of Excellence (Technical Advisory Board)
Photonic Sensor Consortium (Chair)
SPIE, OSA, IEEE, ISA, ACS