COMPANY | About Us

DANIEL J. KANE, Ph.D.
CEO and Founder of Mesa Photonics

Dr. Kane developed the FROG Scan product line and is the co-inventor of Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating (FROG), the most used technique for measuring ultrafast laser pulses. He has invented several techniques in spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, and ultrafast laser pulse measurement and holds 11 patents. He is the sole inventor of real-time measurement of ultrafast laser pulses using FROG and has a patent on this technology (US# 7,130,052).

He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a B.S. in Physics from Montana State University. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratories (Group CLS-4), and spent 17 years at Southwest Sciences. Dr. Kane is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and the recipient of SPIE’s Harold E. Edgerton award in 2011. In his spare time, Dan skis, hikes, runs, and mountain bikes.

DAVID S. BOMSE, Ph.D.
President of Mesa Photonics

Dr. Bomse joined Mesa Photonics as President in 2009. He is also in charge of developing products based on optical spectroscopy for use in gas sensing and mid-infrared laser characterization. David has over twenty years experience developing trace gas detection technology based on diode lasers. Many of his innovations are based on adapting new components that were engineered for telecommunications for optical spectroscopy. This approach has proven to be an efficient and inexpensive route to gas sensing technology.

David holds a Ph.D. from Caltech, as well as a Masters from the University of Cambridge (England), and a Sc.B. degree with honors from Brown University; all are in chemistry. He was a J. Robert Oppenheimer Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory, worked for six years in Exxon’s Corporate Research Laboratory and spent 21 years with Southwest Sciences before moving to Mesa Photonics. David is married, has two daughters, two dogs, and is an avid golfer.

MARWOOD “WOODY” EDIGER, Ph.D.
Chief Technology Officer

Prior to joining Mesa Photonics in 2013, Dr. Ediger cofounded and was CTO of VeraLight, where he had a key role in the development of the first noninvasive medical device for diabetes screening. Before a decade of work in medical device commercialization at VeraLight and its parent company, InLight Solutions, he was a senior research scientist at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. During his fifteen year tenure at CDRH, he created and led a laboratory that conducted research on medical applications of optics and spectroscopy. He began his professional career as a research scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory.

Woody earned MS and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a BS in physics from Gustavus Adolphus College.

MARK J . MEDRUD
Research Engineer

Mark arrived in Santa Fe and at Mesa Photonics in 2012. His focus is bringing research projects into commercial production.

Mark carried a childhood love of everything electronic and electro-mechanical into a thirty-plus year career in product design engineering, starting with a range of microcomputer peripherals in the late seventies. Though skilled in embedded programming (various assembly languages, through C) and digital design (including Verilog logic synthesis), his greatest joy is pushing the limits of what can be realized in circuit design–especially low noise/high speed analog, mixed signal and high power.

He has worked on several specialized research projects. One highlight was designing a high dynamic range optical coherence tomography signal chain; from its ultra-low noise 76-channel parallel photo-diode array input, through analog signal conditioning, 24 bit conversion, a digital lock-in amplifier implemented in an FPGA, to a video-speed host interface. For a compact time of flight mass spectrometer, he designed a programmable high-voltage power supply with sub-20 nanosecond switching between pairs of high-voltages.

Mark enjoys motorcycling, turning wrenches, machining, photography, welding, and high-end audio.

SUZANNE GARNEY
Chief Administrative Officer & Controller of Mesa Photonics

Suzanne has had a varied administrative career, working in the diplomatic, banking, medical, scientific, non-profit, and recreational fields, as well as owning her own business. She holds a BA in history from George Mason University, and countless class hours in library & information sciences, media design, and accounting. In her spare time, Suzanne volunteers, runs, swims, hikes, cross-country skis, reads, and travels.

LAUREN BOMSE
Operations Technician of Mesa Photonics

Lauren holds a BA in music from the University of California at Santa Cruz, where she graduated with highest honors in her major. Since graduating, she has gained experience with scientific research and development manufacturing, the intricacies of international shipping/handling/customs procedures, and the  procedural flow of purchasing and receiving.

In her spare time, Lauren enjoys playing the piano, running and cooking.