Steve Payne

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  • Email
    payne3@llnl.gov
  • Phone
    (925) 423-0570
  • Organization
    Not Available

Stephen A. Payne is a distinguished scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) with a long and impactful career in the fields of laser materials, optics, and radiation detection. His key achievements and contributions include:

  • Pioneering Contributions to Solid-State Laser Materials: Payne is internationally recognized for his sustained and pioneering work in developing novel lamp and diode-pumped solid-state laser materials. He and his teams have systematically identified, characterized, and developed a wide variety of these materials, some of which have been successfully commercialized and are in use at LLNL and other institutions, including the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA. This includes developing optimal compositions for laser glass (e.g., LG-770 for NIF) and innovative laser crystals such as Cr:ZnSe, LiSAF, and Yb:S-FAP.
  • Advancements in Radiation Detection Materials: More recently, Payne has focused his scientific and leadership capabilities on identifying, fabricating, and demonstrating novel materials for radiation detectors. This work is crucial for national security and other applications. His contributions in this area include commercially available materials like the high-resolution SrI2(Eu) gamma detector and the first plastic capable of efficiently distinguishing neutrons from gamma rays. He has also developed a science-based predictive model for "fogging" in scintillator plastics used in radiation portal monitors.
  • Prolific Inventor and Author: Payne holds numerous patents and has authored a significant number of referred journal publications. He has received multiple R&D 100 Awards, recognizing his innovative work.
  • Leadership and Recognition: He has been elected a fellow of the Optical Society of America and SPIE (an international professional society for optics and photonics) for his research and discoveries. He also received the Excellence In Fusion Engineering award from Fusion Power Associates. At LLNL, he has held leadership roles such as group leader for sensor materials and measurements in the Materials Sciences Division and associate program leader for radiation detection materials for N Program in Global Security. He is also recognized as a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at LLNL.
  • Collaborative Approach: Payne consistently emphasizes the importance of collaboration and credits his successes to the strong teams he has worked with throughout his career at LLNL.

Research Interests

  • Basic physics
  • Chemistry
  • Lasers materials
  • Optics
  • Radiation detectors: scintillators, semiconductors, gamma, and neutron

Patent Examples (13 of 52)

  1. N. Cherepy, R. Osborne, S. Payne, Z. Seeley, A. Srivastava, W. Beers, W. Cohen, “Systems and methods for fluoride ceramic phosphors for LED lighting,” Patent No. 11,862, 758 B2, January 2, 2024. (With General Electric)
  2. S. Payne, N. Cherepy, E. Duoss, I Jones, Z. Seeley, C. Zhu, “Laser gain media fabricated via direct ink writing (DIW) and ceramic processing”, Patent No. 10,840,668, November 17, 2020.
  3. N. Zaitseva, M. Carmen, A. Glenn, A. Mabe, S. Payne, “Defect-resistant plastic scintillation radiation detector compositions and fabrication methods,” Patent No. 10,647, 914 B2, May 12, 2020. (Commercialized by Eljen)
  4. N. Cherepy, S. Payne, Z. Seeley, P. Cohen, M. Andreaco, M. Schmand, “Transparent ceramic garnet scintillator detector for positron emission tomography”, Patent No. 10,000,698, June 19, 2018. (With Siemens)
  5. N. Zaitseva, M. L. Carman, N. Cherepy, A. Glenn, S. Hamel, S. Payne, B. Rupert, “Plastic scintillator with effective pulse shape discrimination for neutron and gamma detection”, Patent No. 9,309,456 B2, April 12, 2016. (Commercialized by Eljen)
  6. Z. Seeley, J. Kuntz, N. Cherepy, and S. Payne, “Lutitium oxide based transparent ceramic sciintillators,” Patent No. 9,238,773 R2, January 19, 2016. (Deployed at Pantex)
  7. N. Cherepy, R. Sanner, S. Payne, B. Rupert, B. Sturm, “High effective atomic number polymer scintillators for gamma ray spectroscopy”, Patent No. 8,698,086, April 15, 2014. (Commercialized by Eljen)
  8. R. J. Beach, E. C. Honea, C. Bibeau, S. Mitchell, J. Lang, D. Maderas, J. Speth, and S. A. Payne, "Hollow lensing duct," Patent No. 6,160,934, December 12, 2000
  9. C. D. Marshall, S. A. Payne, and W. F. Krupke, “Optically pumped cerium-doped LiSrAlF6 and LiCaAlF6,” Patent No. 5,517,516, May 14, 1996.
  10. T. Hayden, S. A. Payne, J. S. Hayden, J. H. Campbell, M. K. Aston, and M. L. Elder, “Phosphate glass useful in high energy lasers,” Patent No. 5,526,369, June 11, 1996. (Deployed in the National Ignition Facility)
  11. W. F. Krupke, R. H. Page, L. D. DeLoach, and S. A. Payne, “Transition-metal doped sulfide, selenide, and telluride laser crystals and lasers,” Patent No. 5,541,948, June 30, 1996. (Commercialized by IPG)
  12. W. F. Krupke, S. A. Payne, L. L. Chase, and L K. Smith, “Yb:FAP and related materials, laser gain medium comprising  same, and laser systems using same,” Patent No. 5,280,492, January 18, 1994. (deployed in large DOE laser)
  13. S. A. Payne, L. L. Chase, H. W. Newkirk, and W. F. Krupke, “Cr3+-doped colquiriite solid state laser material,” Patent No. 4,811,349, March 7, 1989. (commercialized by VLOC then successor companies)

 

Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, Princeton University, 1983

M.S., Physical Chemistry, Princeton, 1979

B.S., Physical Chemistry, Binghamton, State University of New York, 1978

Publication Highlights (38 of 173, Overall h-index = 77; 25,300 citations)

  1. A Kostogiannes, D Schneberk, N Cherepy, P Kerr, C McNamee, R Osborne, S Payne, “Optimization and scale-up of additively manufactured pixelated transparent ceramic scintillator detector arrays for MeV x-ray imaging”, SPIE 13621, 134-141 (2025). (First additively manufactured pixels for radiography)
  2. Z Seeley, I Phillips, Rudzik, N Cherepy, A Drobshoff, and S Payne, “Material jet printing of transparent ceramic Yb:YAG planar waveguides”, Optics Letters 46, 2433 (2021). (First additively manufactured laser waveguides)
  3. S. O’Neal, N. Cherepy , S. Hok, and S. Payne, “Performance of High Stopping Power Bismuth-Loaded Plastic Scintillators for Radiation Portal Monitors”, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 67, 746 (2020). (Bismuth plastic commercialized by Eljen)
  4. S Payne, N Zaitseva, N Myllenback, R Kouzes, M Lance, A Janos, “Predictive model of scintillator plastic fogging in portals”, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 954 (2020) 161784. (Physics model of plastic deterioration developed for DHS)
  5. I Swanberg et al., A Handheld Direction Indicating Gamma Spectrometer Using GYGAG(Ce) Scintillators on Si Photodiode Arrays,” IEEE Transactions in Nuclear Science, 65 (8), 2302-2309 (2018). (First device based on transparent ceramic scintillator)
  6. Jones, Z. Seeley, N. Cherepy, E. Duoss, S. Payne, “Direct ink write fabrication of transparent ceramic gain media”, Optical Materials 75, 19-25 (2018). (First additively manufactured transparent ceramic laser material)
  7. N. Cherepy, S. Payne, N. Harvey, D. Åberg, Z. Seeley, K. Holliday, I. Tran, F. Zhou a, H. P. Martinez, J. Demeyer, A. Drobshoff, A. Srivastava, S. Camardello, H. Comanzo, D. Schlagel, T. Lograsso, “Red-emitting manganese-doped aluminum nitride phosphor”, Optical Materials 54, 14–21 (2016). (Phosphor with General Electric for lighting)
  8. A. Burger, E. Rowe, M. Groza, K. Morales Figueroa, N. Cherepy, P. Beck, S. Hunter, and  S. Payne, “Cesium hafnium chloride: A high light yield, non-hygroscopic cubic crystal scintillator for gamma spectroscopy”, Applied Physics Letters 107, 143505 (2015). (Inorganic scintillator commercialized by CapeSym)
  9. N. Zaitseva, A. Glenn, H. P. Martinez, L. Carman, I. Pawelczak, M. Faust, S. Payne, “Pulse shape discrimination with lithium-containing organic scintillators”, Nuclear Instruments and methods in Physics Research A 729, 747-754 (2013). (First plastic scintillator to detect thermal neutrons, commercialized by Eljen)
  10. R. Hawrami, J. Glodo, K. Shah, N. Cherepy, S. Payne, A. Burger, and L. Boatner, “Bridgman bulk growth and scintillation measurements of SrI2(Eu)”, Journal of Crystal Growth 379, 69-72 (2013). (Maturation of SrI2(Eu) scintillator)
  11. N. Zaitseva, B. Rupert, I. Pawelczak, A. Glenn, P. Martinez, L. Carman, M. Faust, N. Cherepy, S. Payne, “Plastic scintillators with efficient neutron/gamma pulse shape discrimination”,  Nuclear Method in Physics Research A 668, 88-93 (2012). (First neutron-detecting plastic scintillator, commercialized by Eljen)
  12. B. Rupert, N. Cherepy, B. Sturm, R. Sanner, S. Payne, “Bismuth-loaded plastic scintillators for gamma-ray spectroscopy”, European Physics Letters 97 (First scintillator with a photopeak for spectroscopy)
  13. Z. Seeley, J. Kuntz, N. Cherepy, S. Payne, “Transparent Lu2O3:Eu ceramics by sinter and HIP optimization” Optical Materials 33, 1721-6 (2011). (Precursor to GLO scintillator deployed at Pantex)
  14. N. Zaitseva, L. Carman, A. Glenn, J. Newby, M. Faust, S. Hamel, N. Cherepy, S. Payne, “Application of solution techniques for rapid growth of organic crystals”, J. Crystal Growth 314, 163-170 (2011). (First solution-grown organic scintillators)
  15. S. Payne, N. Cherepy, G. Hull, J. Valentine, W. Moses, W.-S. Choong, “Nonproportionality of Scintillator Detectors: Theory and Experiment”, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 56 (2009). (First of five papers unraveling physics of scintillators)
  16. N.J. Cherepy, G. Hull, A. Drobshoff, S.A. Payne, E. van Loef, C. Wilson, K. Shah, U.N. Roy, A. Burger, L.A. Boatner, W-S Choong, W.W. Moses “Strontium and Barium Iodide High Light Yield Scintillators,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 083508 (2008). (Discovery of SrI2(Eu) high-resolution scintillator)
  17. W. F. Krupke, R. J. Beach, V. K. Kanz, S. A. Payne, “Resonance transition 795-nm rubidium laser,” Optics Letters 28, 2336-2338 (2003). (First demonstration of alkali laser)
  18. M. C. Nostrand, R. H. Page, S. A. Payne, L. I. Isaenko, and A. P. Yelisseyev, “Optical properties of Dy3+- and Nd3+-doped KPb2Cl5,” Journal of the Optical Society of America B 18, 264-276 (2001). (First useful chloride lasers)
  19. J. J. Adams, C. Bibeau, R. H. Page, D. M. Krol, L. H. Furu, and S. A. Payne, "4.0 - 4.5-mm lasing of Fe:ZnSe below 180 K, a new  mid-infrared laser material," Optics Letters 24, 1720-1722 (1999). (Longest wavelength tunable mid-IR laser)
  20. S. A. Payne and C. Bibeau, "Picosecond nonradiative processes in neodymium-doped crystals and glasses: E. C. Honea, R. J. Beach, S. C. Mitchell, J. A. Skidmore, M. A. Emanuel, S. B. Sutton, S. A. Payne, P. V. Avizonis, R. S. Monroe, and D. G. Harris, "High power dual-rod Yb:YAG laser," Optics Letter 25, 805-807 (2000). (First high-power kW-class Yb:YAG laser)
  21. R. H. Page, K. I. Schaffers, P. A. Waide, J. B. Tassano, S. A. Payne, W. F. Krupke, and W. K. Bischel, “Upconversion-pumped luminescence efficiency of rare-earth-doped hosts sensitized with trivalent ytterbium,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 15, 996-1008 (1998). (Highly cited)
  22. S. A. Payne, R. J. Beach, C. Bibeau, C. A. Ebbers, M. A. Emanuel, E. C. Honea, C. D. Marshall, R. H. Page, K. I. Schaffers, J. A. Skidmore, S. B. Sutton, and W. F. Krupke, “Diode arrays, crystals, and thermal management for solid state lasers,” IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 3, 71-81 (1997). (Summary of our high-power laser development)
  23. C. D. Marshall, J. A. Speth, and S. A. Payne, “Induced optical absorption in gamma, neutron and ultraviolet irradiated fused quartz and silica,” Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 212, 59-73 (1997). (Radiation-hardness study for NIF design)
  24. R. H. Page, K. I. Schaffers, L. D. DeLoach, G. D. Wilke, F. D. Patel, J. B. Tassano, S. A. Payne, W. F. Krupke, K.-T. Chen and A. Burger, “Cr2+-doped zinc chalcogenides as efficient, widely-tunable mid-infrared lasers,” IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics 33, 609-6109 (1997). (Commercialized by IPG)
  25. E. C. Honea, R. J. Beach, S. B. Sutton, J. A. Speth, S. C. Mitchell, J. A. Skidmore, M. A. Emanuel, and S. A. Payne, “115-W Tm:YAG diode-pumped solid-state laser,” IEEE J. Quantum Electronics 33, 1592-1600 (1997). (First high-power mid-IR solid state laser)
  26. C. D. Marshall, L. K. Smith, R. J. Beach, M. A. Emanuel, K. I. Schaffers, J. Skidmore, S. A. Payne, and B. H. T. Chai, “Diode-pumped ytterbium-doped Sr5(PO4)3F laser performance,” IEEE Journal of  Quantum Electronics 32, 650-656 (1996). (Characterization of diode-pumped Yb:S-FAP laser, later deployed in large DOE laser)
  27. L. D. DeLoach, R. H. Page, G. D. Wilke, S. A. Payne, and W. F. Krupke, “Transition metal-doped zinc chalcogenide: spectroscopy and laser demonstration of a new class of gain media,” IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics 32, 885-895 (1996). (Discovery of first room temperature, tunable mid-infrared lasers)
  28. C. D. Orth, S. A. Payne, and W. F. Krupke, “A diode pumped solid state laser driver for inertial fusion energy,” Nuclear Fusion 36, 75-116 (1996). (First system model of solid state laser for inertial fusion energy)
  29. S. A. Payne, C D. Marshall, A. Bayramian, G. D. Wilke, and J. S. Hayden, “Laser properties of a new average-power Nd-doped phosphate glass,” Applied Physics B 61, 257-266 (1995). (With Schott Glass Technologies)
  30. C. Bibeau, S. A Payne, and H. T. Powell, “Direct measurements of the terminal laser level lifetime in neodymium-doped crystals and glasses,” Journal of the Optical Society of America B 12, 1981-1992 (1995). (Direct measurement of Nd lower level lifetime, useful for NIF laser design)
  31. C. D. Marshall, J. A. Speth, S. A. Payne, W. F. Krupke, G. J. Quarles, V. Castillo, and B. H. T. Chai, “Ultraviolet laser emission properties of Ce3+-doped LiSrAlF6 and LiCaAlF6,” Journal of the Optical Society of America B 11, 2054-2065 (1994). (Discovery of first viable UV solid state laser)
  32. L. D. DeLoach, S. A. Payne, L. K. Smith, W. L. Kway, and W. F. Krupke, “Laser and spectroscopic properties of Sr(PO4)3F:Yb,” Journal of the Optical Society of America B 11, 269-276 (1994). (Discovery of Yb:S-FAP laser material)
  33. L. D. DeLoach, S. A. Payne, L. L. Chase, L. K. Smith, W. L. Kway, and W. F. Krupke, “Evaluation of absorption and emission properties of Yb3+-doped crystals for laser applications,” IEEE  Journal of Quantum Electronics 29, 1179-1192 (1993). (Highly cited)
  34. S. A. Payne, L. L. Chase, L. K. Smith, W. L. Kway, and W. F. Krupke, “Infrared cross section measurements for crystals doped with Er3+, Tm3+, and Ho3+,” IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics 28, 2619-2630 (1992). (Highly cited)
  35. S. A. Payne, J. A. Caird, L. L. Chase, L. K. Smith, N. D. Nielsen, and W. F. Krupke, “Spectroscopy and gain measurements of Nd3+ in SrF2 and other fluorite-structure hosts,” Journal of the Optical Society of America B 8, 726-740 (Basis of a current advanced fusion laser design)
  36. R. Adair, L. L. Chase, and S. A. Payne, “Nonlinear refractive indices of optical crystals,” Physical Review B 39, 3337-3350 (1989). (Highly cited)
  37. S. A. Payne, L. L. Chase, H. W. Newkirk, L. K. Smith, and W. F. Krupke, “LiCaAlF6:Cr3+:  A promising new solid state laser material,” IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics 24, 2243-2252 (1988). (Discovery of Cr:LiCAF laser family)
  38. S. A. Payne, A. B. Goldberg, and D. S. McClure, “Two-photon spectroscopy of ions in crystals:  Cu+ and Ag+ in the alkali halides,” Journal of Chemical Physics 81, 1529-1537 (1984). (Main thesis paper)

Eight R&D100 Awards:

  • “GLO Scintillator for Radiography,” 2016
  • “Plastic Scintillators for Neutron and Gamma discrimination,” 2012
  • “High-Performance SrI2 Scintillator for Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy,” 2010
  • “High-Average-Power Wavelength Converter,” 2006
  • “Ce:LiSAF, First Tunable Ultraviolet Solid State Laser Product,” 1996     
  • “All Solid State Laser With Diode Irradiance Conditioning,” 1995
  • “Ytterbium-doped Apatite Laser Crystals,” 1994
  • “Cr:LiSAF and Cr:LiCAF Lasers,” 1991

Other Recognitions:

  • Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff (LLNL), 2014
  • Fellow of SPIE, 2013
  • Department of Homeland Security Award: “Superior Performance in Support of the DNDO Mission,” for Scintillator Discovery, 2012
  • Fellow of the Optical Society of America (now “Optica”), 2000
  • Fusion Power Associates for “Excellence in Fusion Engineering,” 1998

Scholarly Activities:

  • Google Scholar: h-index is 74 (24,000 citations)
  • 52 patents, 3 book chapters, 4 magazine articles, >150 publications
  • SPIE: 54 conference proceedings, 24 Conference Committees
  • Chairman for DOE-sponsored Workshop on Scintillator Physics (2010-2014)
  • Chairman for US/Japan Workshops on Laser-Driven Fusion Energy (1998-2002)
  • General Chair for Advanced Solid State Lasers Conference (1996)
  • Group Chair for "Lasers" in Optical Society - Technical Council
  • LLNL mentor for six graduate students (while enrolled at various universities)
  • Guest Editor for Transactions in Nuclear Science, 2012, 2016