Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. candidate at UC Berkeley, developing optical and laser systems through hands-on experimentation, wavefront control, and numerical modeling.
Optical design and assembly, alignment, diffractive and Fourier optics, wavefront shaping and control, nonlinear optics, laser-matter interaction, characterization.
CW and pulsed lasers, SLMs, DOEs, adaptive optics, CCD/CMOS cameras, photodiodes, power meters, wavefront sensors, beam-delivery optics, optomechanics.
FDTD methods, atmospheric and nonlinear optical propagation, adaptive-grid simulation, automated image and signal processing.
MATLAB · Python · Zemax · LabVIEW
SolidWorks · AutoCAD
At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, I led research projects in laser-plasma interaction, holographic beam shaping, adaptive optics, and laser beam propagation through atmospheric turbulence.
Designed and conducted laser-plasma experiments, aligned optical setups, assembled diagnostic systems, and quantitatively characterized reflected signals.
Optimized plasma-array geometry using CO2 probe reflectivity measurements and shadowgraph imaging.
Developed a holographic beam-shaping algorithm combining a modified Gerchberg-Saxton method with grid-space-varying angular spectrum propagation.
Experimentally validated the approach using continuous-wave and high-power femtosecond laser systems, eliminating undesired diffraction without additional optical components.
Conducted Shack-Hartmann-based adaptive optics experiments under open- and closed-loop control to investigate how reference wavefront shapes affect correction performance and temporal coherence in atmospheric turbulence.
Analyzed correlation coefficients between distorted and reference wavefronts and evaluated coherence time across Zernike modes. Demonstrated that reference wavefront shape affects turbulence mitigation and coherence time, informing the use of structured wavefronts in adaptive optics and free-space optical systems.
Designed and aligned a 100-meter free-space optical test platform for camera-based beam profiling and experimental validation of MATLAB propagation simulations.
Performed quantitative beam-quality analysis and model validation to improve prediction accuracy and compare vortex and Gaussian beams under turbulence.
Journal publications and conference proceedings, 2024-2026
Zhang, B., Kim, C., Li, W., Chirinos, J., Mao, X., Harrison, R., and Zorba, V.
Photonics Research, 14(7), pp. 3245-3267.
Research Highlight
Zhang, B., Wang, Y., Fang, Y., Wang, Y., and Feng, M.
Cell Reports Physical Science, 7(4).
Cover Article
Zhang, B., Meehan, K., Kim, C., Chirinos, J., Mao, X., and Zorba, V.
Laser Resonators, Microresonators, and Beam Control XXVIII, PC138790H. SPIE, March 2026.
Meehan, K.C., Zhang, B., Chirinos, J., Mao, X., and Zorba, V.
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics: Biomedical, Scientific, and Industrial Applications XXVI, PC138830D. SPIE, March 2026.
Kim, C., Zhang, B., Mao, X., Chirinos, J., and Zorba, V.
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics: Biomedical, Scientific, and Industrial Applications XXVI, PC138830L. SPIE, March 2026.
Zhang, B., Kim, C., Chirinos, J., Mao, X., and Zorba, V.
Free-Space Laser Communications XXXVII, Vol. 13355, 1335520. SPIE, March 2025.
Meehan, K.C., Zhang, B., Chirinos, J., Mao, X., and Zorba, V.
Real-time Measurements, Rogue Phenomena, and Single-Shot Applications X, PC133480E. SPIE, March 2025.
Kim, C., Zhang, B., Chirinos, J., Mao, X., and Zorba, V.
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics: Biomedical, Scientific, and Industrial Applications XXV, PC1335307. SPIE, March 2025.
Zhang, B., Li, W., Chirinos, J., Mao, X., Kim, C., Alvidrez, Z., and Zorba, V.
Free-Space Laser Communications XXXVI, Vol. 12877, pp. 477-485. SPIE, March 2024.
Kim, C., Chirinos, J., Mao, X., Zhang, B., and Zorba, V.
Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics: Biomedical, Scientific, and Industrial Applications XXIV, PC1287508. SPIE, March 2024.
Graduate Student Research Assistant
Energy Technologies & Systems · Berkeley, CA
Product Design and Development Intern · Beijing, China
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering
GPA: 3.97 / 4.0
Relevant Coursework: Dynamics; Feedback Control Systems; Microelectromechanical Systems; Quantum and Optical Systems; Optical Engineering.
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering
GPA: 3.64 / 4.0
Relevant Coursework: Physics; Chemistry; Solid Mechanics; Thermodynamics; Dynamics and Vibration; Design and Manufacturing; Materials; Fluid Mechanics; Heat Transfer; Probabilistic Method.
Top award for teaching assistants
Top graduate honor
Top 2% of students
Top 10% of students
I am seeking roles in optical engineering, laser systems, and computational optics. Look forward to contributing my experience to practical optical systems!
boyu.zhang@berkeley.edu