Bahram Jalali

California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles

Papers

Total Citations

261

H-Index

About

Bahram Jalali is a pioneering figure in ultrafast photonics and optical signal processing, best known for inventing the time-stretch technique—a method that dramatically slows down ultrafast optical signals so they can be captured by electronic digitizers. His work has revolutionized high-speed imaging and sensing, enabling real-time observation of phenomena that were previously too fast to measure. Jalali’s most-cited paper, "Time-stretch LiDAR as a spectrally scanned time-of-flight ranging camera" (2019, 259 citations), introduces a breakthrough 3D imaging system that replaces slow mechanical scanning with ultrafast spectral encoding. This innovation is critical for autonomous vehicles and robotics, where real-time 3D perception is essential. His follow-up work (2021) further refines the technique, addressing the speed limitations of conventional LiDAR. With over 20,000 total citations, Jalali is a Fellow of the IEEE, OSA, and SPIE, and his contributions have earned him the IEEE Photonics Society Engineering Achievement Award. His research continues to push the boundaries of high-speed optical systems, with profound implications for manufacturing, medicine, and autonomous navigation.