Office Location
Innovation, Science, and Technology Building, Room 2022, 4700 Research Way, Lakeland, FL 33805-8531
Education
Ph.D. in Physics, Purdue University, 1990
M.S. in Physics, Purdue University, 1987
B.S. in Physics, Purdue University, 1982
University of Chicago, 1979-81
Websites/Social Media Accounts*
About
Robert Austin has more than 20 years of experience in the radiation detection field. He is a nuclear physicist with a decade of experience with high-pressure xenon-filled ionization chambers and solid state (HgI2) gamma ray detectors. Austin is also a high energy astrophysicist who pioneered hard x-ray photoelectric polarimetry using a gas-filled optical avalanche chamber. As a scientific programmer, he has written many simulations of nuclear detection devices and scenarios using Matlab, Visual Basic, Fortran, and C++. Austin developed an Excel spreadsheet that was used in the calibration planning of NASA’s $1 billion+ Chandra X-ray Observatory. His specialties are nuclear instrumentation, Monte Carlo simulation and noble gas purification.
Expertise
- X-ray astrophysics
- X-ray and gamma ray detection
- Nuclear magnetic resonance.
- Very high energy gamma ray astronomy
Professional Activities
- Member, American Association of Physics Teachers
- Member, American Physical Society
Awards and Honors
- Winner of Physics Today Physics in 2116 essay contest
Selected Publications
- Austin, Robert A; Ramsey, Brian D; Optical imaging chamber for x-ray astronomy Optical Engineering 32(8) 1990-1995 (1993), International Society for Optics and Photonics.
- Austin, Robert A; Minamitani, Takahisa; Ramsey, Brian D; Development of a hard X-ray imaging polarimeter, X-Ray and Ultraviolet Polarimetry, 2010, 118-126, 1994 International Society for Optics and Photonics.
- Ramsey, Brian D; Alexander, Cheryl D; Apple, Jeff A; Austin, Robert A; Benson, CM; Dietz, Kurtis L; Elsner, Ronald F; Engelhaupt, Darell E; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J; O’Dell, Stephen L; HERO: high-energy replicated optics for a hard-x-ray balloon payload, X-Ray Optics, Instruments, and Missions IV, 4138, 147-154, 2000 International Society for Optics and Photonics.
- Ramsey, Brian D; Austin, Robert A; Decher, Rudolf; Instrumentation for X-ray astronomy, Space Science Reviews, 69, 2-Jan, 139-204, 1994, Kluwer Academic Publishers.
- Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J; Elsner, Ronald F; Austin, Robert A; O’Dell, Stephen L; Ion transmission to the focal plane of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Instrumentation for Astronomy XI, 4140, 135-144, 2000, International Society for Optics and Photonics.
- Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J; Austin, Robert A; Elsner, Ronald F; Joy, Marshall K; Sulkanen, Martin E; Kellogg, Edwin M; Wargelin, Bradford J; X-ray source system at the Marshall Space Flight Center X-ray calibration facility X-Ray and Extreme Ultraviolet Optics, 2515, 420-436, 1995, International Society for Optics and Photonics.
- Lacy, Jeffrey L; Athanasiades, A; Shehad, NN; Austin, RA; Martin, CS; Novel neutron detector for high rate imaging applications, Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, 2002 IEEE, 1, 392-396, 2002, IEEE.
- Ghigo, Mauro; Citterio, Oberto; Mazzoleni, Francesco; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J; O’dell, Stephen L; Austin, Robert A; Zirnstein, G; X-ray measurements of a prototype WFXT SIC mirror at the MSFC X-Ray Calibration Facility, X-Ray Optics, Instruments, and Missions II, 3766, 207-221, 1999, International Society for Optics and Photonics.
- Ramsey, Brian D; Engelhaupt, Darell E; Speegle, Chet O; O’Dell, Stephen L; Austin, Robert A; Kolodziejczak, Jeffery J; Weisskopf, Martin C; HERO program: high-energy replicated optics for a hard-x-ray balloon payload, EUV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Instrumentation for Astronomy X, 3765, 816-822, 1999, International Society for Optics and Photonics.
- Austin, Robert; Megatelescope releases its first image, Physics Today, 69, 12, 42, 2016, American Institute of Physics.
*External, third-party sites not maintained by Florida Polytechnic University