David Beach
I am a physicist with a
broad interest and experience in subjects such as optics, lasers, X-rays,
astronomy, thermonuclear plasmas and Stonehenge
(True! Nature, 265,pp17-21, 1977). I was with the UKAEA
Aldermaston and Culham laboratories for 14 years,
engaged in such diverse research as ultra-high-speed photography, the design of
seismometers for the detection of underground testing of nuclear weapons,
high-power lasers and spectrographs for thermonuclear plasma diagnostics (J.Sci. Instr., 44, pp690-692, 1967),
carbon dioxide lasers for surgery, and digital thermographs for the detection
of cancer in the female breast (J. Phys. E., 4, pp1025-1028,
1971). I then moved to New
Zealand and worked in the Department of
Scientific and Industrial Research from 1973 to 1992, where I was involved with
carbon dioxide laser cutting of refractory materials, the measurement of
subcutaneous fat thickness in sheep using high-frequency ultrasound and the
counting of multiple foetuses in sheep using video X-ray fluoroscopy. In 1992,
the industrial components of the DSIR became Industrial Research Limited (IRL),
and I developed the invention of the KiwiStar [310kb download] technology - a method of
designing ultra-fast camera lenses with high resolution, broad spectral passband, and scalable (100mm to >1m aperture diameter),
which have no low-order aberrations. In the picture above is a 400mm f/1 lens
designed with the KiwiStar principle, which I
constructed at IRL and supplied to Los Alamos National Laboratory. A further
development, "Super-KiwiStar" [3.5Mb download] has now been published,
that enables higher speeds (f/0.75), larger apertures (over 4m) and wider
fields.
In 2003 I left IRL and
formed my own company, Applied Physics Ltd, with activities centred on
applications of physics in industry, optical design, and optical and
illumination instrumentation.
In 2004, I and a
co-director formed a power generation company Neptune Power with the aim of
determining the parameters necessary to install electrical power generating
turbines in Cook Strait, New Zealand.
A full list of my
publications is available here.
I was elected a Member of
the Institute of Physics(London), later transferred
to Membership of the New Zealand Institute of Physics. I am also a Member of
the Royal New Zealand Society for Science and Technology. I was awarded the New
Zealand Science and Technology Bronze Medal in 2001 for significant services to
New Zealand
industry in the field of applied physics.
Contact
Name: David Beach
Phone/fax: +64 3 343 3693
Mobile: +64 27 489 4167
Company: Applied Physics Ltd.
Title: Director
Address: 2 Hampstead Lane, Prebbleton,
Christchurch. New Zealand 7604
email to: david.beach@applied-physics.co.nz
