About our Founders

Ronald Ruth, Ph.D.   is President and Chief Scientist of Lyncean Technologies, Inc.  He is on a part-time leave of absence from Stanford University where he is a full professor at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC).  Professor Ruth is an expert in all aspects of particle accelerators and the author of numerous publications about particle beam physics and accelerator technology. His research at SLAC concerns the development of new concepts for particle acceleration and beam manipulation for application to high-energy accelerators. During the mid 90's he led the development of the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator, a test bed for x-band acceleration technology for future high energy accelerators. The concept for the Compact Light Source is a spin off from basic research performed by Professor Ruth and Dr. Zhirong Huang into a new electron damping mechanism called radiative laser cooling. Professor Ruth has been on review committees for many national laboratories. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and is currently on the APS Council for the Division of Physics of Beams of the APS.

Jeff Rifkin, M.S.   is Vice President and General Manager at Lyncean Technologies, Inc.  He has a B.S. and M.S. in Physics and more than 15 years of experience in project management. He worked at TMA Technologies for 3 years, where as Project Manager, he built a space simulation chamber for testing X-ray optics at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Mr. Rifkin came to SLAC in 1990 as the Deputy of the Vacuum Department where he designed beamline instrumentation, led an upgrade of the SLAC e+e- damping rings, and led the design of the beamline for the 300m-long Final Focus Test Beam. He then joined the Accelerator Research Department-A where he worked for Professor Ruth as Chief Engineer of the $20M Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator. He later served as a group leader for Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, concentrating on Design for Manufacturability for Linear Colliders and working with industry to develop ultra-high precision manufacturing technologies.

Rod Loewen, Ph.D.  is an Accelerator/Laser Physicist at Lyncean Technologies, Inc.  He worked for many years at SLAC as an Engineering Physicist and came to Lyncean Technologies after completing his Ph.D. in Physics at Stanford University. Dr. Loewen's dissertation research, applying the previous work of Professor Ruth and Dr. Huang, was a design and feasibility study of a laser-electron storage ring, capable of generating hard X-rays. Dr. Loewen's scientific background encompasses microwave theory and applications, experimental methods, and software data acquisition and control. He is an author, or co-author, of more than twenty-five SLAC publications related to x-band RF components, accelerator structures, and beam instrumentation for next generation electron linear colliders. During his Ph.D. research he developed additional expertise in laser technologies and feedback control systems relevant to laser-electron beam interactions.