Dr. Attila Kovacs
Computer Engineer at Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
SPIE Involvement:
Author
Area of Expertise:
data reduction algorithm development , instrument design , submillimeter technologies , data acquisition
Websites:
Profile Summary

I graduated from Harvard University with an A.B. in physics, astrophysics, and astronomy in 1997, and received my Ph.D. in physics from Caltech in 2006 in the submillimeter astrophysics group lead by Tom G. Phillips. As a student, I pioneered a novel data reduction approach (CRUSH) and new observing modes (e.g. Lissajous scans) for submillimeter imaging arrays, designed wide-band SIS mixers, and brought the first far-infrared characterization of the submillimeter galaxy (SMG) population. Later, I worked at the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy in Bonn as post-doc, mentored by Karl Menten, where I was active in the optimization and commissioning of the APEX bolometer cameras LABOCA (and its polarimetry frontend PolKa) and SABOCA and conducted surveys with them. In 2009, I became an independent postdoc at the University of Minnesota, focusing on improving and commissioning the GISMO 2-mm camera for the IRAM 30-m telescope, and innovating the concept of lithographic on-chip spectrometers for the (sub)millimeter. Between 2012 and 2017, I went back to Caltech as a post-doc with Jonas Zmuidzinas, working on SuperSpec and MAKO, and the readout solution for kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs), and built the imaging pipeline for SOFIA/HAWC+. Since 2017 I am the software lead at the the Submillimeter Array (SMA). Beyond the technical work, I am very interested in studying the high-z Universe at mm-wavelengths.
Publications (22)


Proceedings Article | 16 August 2024 Presentation + Paper
Attila Kovács, Garrett Keating, Timothy Norton
Proceedings Volume 13102, 1310207 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3021376
KEYWORDS: Extragalactic astronomy, Cameras, Telescopes, Spectroscopy, Sensors, Carbon monoxide, Design, Imaging spectroscopy, Cosmology

Proceedings Article | 25 July 2024 Poster + Paper
Proceedings Volume 13101, 131014H (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3021429
KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Databases, Data storage, Control systems, Observatories, Decision making, Distributed computing

Proceedings Article | 18 July 2024 Poster + Paper
Paul Grimes, Garrett Keating, Raymond Blundell, Robert Christensen, Mark Gurwell, Attila Kovacs, Timothy Norton, Scott Paine, Ramprasad Rao, Edward C.-Y. Tong, Jonathan Weintroub, David Wilner, Robert Wilson, Lingzhen Zeng, Qizhou Zhang
Proceedings Volume 13096, 1309639 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020046
KEYWORDS: Receivers, Shape memory alloys, Cryostats, Antennas, Calibration, Prototyping, Polarization, Cryogenics, Beam splitters, Astrophysics

Proceedings Article | 10 July 2018 Presentation
Jordan Wheeler, Steve Hailey-Dunsheath, Erik Shirokoff, Peter Barry, Charles Bradford, Scott Chapman, George Che, Simon Doyle, Jason Glenn, Sam Gordon, Matthew Hollister, Atilla Kovacs, Henry Leduc, Philip Mauskopf, Ryan McGeehan, Christopher McKenney, Theodore Reck, Joeseph Redford, Colin Ross, Corwin Shiu, Carole Tucker, Jordan Turner, Jonas Zmuidzinas
Proceedings Volume 10708, 107080P (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314364
KEYWORDS: Spectroscopy, Optical filters, Sensors, Spectroscopes, Resonators, Astronomical imaging, Tin, Galactic astronomy, Spectroscopic atmospheric monitoring techniques

Showing 5 of 22 publications
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