Andres Larraza
Physics Department Chair
Ph.D. Physics, UCLA, 1987

Dr. Larraza joined the faculty of NPS in 1994.  His research interests include  wave turbulence, nonlinear acoustics and optics, acoustic analogs to electromagnetic zero-point field effects, underwater acoustic communications, and acoustic room de-reverberation.  Several aspects of Dr. Larraza’s research have been featured in the 1996 AIP Physics News, the New Scientist magazine, Physics World, and Technology Research News magazine. Prof. Larraza has advised over 25 M.S. thesis students and 3 Ph.D. dissertation students.

Phone: 831-656-3007, Email: larraza@nps.edu

Andres Larraza

Associate Professor
Mail Code: PH/La
Department of Physics
Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Monterey, CA 93943
Phone: 831 656-3007
Email: larraza (at) nps.edu

EDUCATION:

PhD - UCLA, 1987
MS - UCLA, 1982
BS - Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 1980

NPS EXPERIENCE:

• 6/99 -present Associate Professor of Physics
• 10/94 - 6/99 Assistant Professor of Physics
• 10/89 - 9/94 Research Assistant Professor
• 7/88 - 9/89 NRC Postdoctoral Fellow

OTHER EXPERIENCE:

• 11/1999 - 10/2001 - Chief Scientist CommPlexus Corporation
• 08/1997 - present - Adjunct Professor of Physics University of Mississippi
• 09/1987 - 06/1988 - Postdoctoral Fellow Condensed Matter Group Department of Physics, University of Toronto

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

• My areas of research are wave turbulence, nonlinear acoustics and optics, acoustic analogs to electromagnetic zero-point field effects, acoustic communications, and acoustic room de-reverberation. The main emphasis of my work is to gain an understanding of fundamentally new and general behavior of linear and nonlinear waves and broadband noise. I accomplish this by performing analytical, experimental, and numerical investigations of particular systems.
• In addition to addressing fundamental behavior, my research is geared towards applications. For example, we are developing an all-optical AM-FM signal conversion for applications in tunable lasers. The acoustic analogs to electromagnetic zero point field effects can lead to novel broadband noise transducers, non-resonant acoustic levitation, acoustic-induced drag, and acoustophoresis. The acoustics communication research emphasizes underwater acoustic communications.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

• A. Larraza and G. Falkovich, Collective modes in open systems of nonlinear random waves, Phys. Rev. B. 48, 9855-9857 (1993).
• A. Larraza, B. Denardo, and A. Atchley, Absorption of sound by noise in one dimension, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 100, 3554-3560 (1996).
• A. Larraza and B. Denardo, An acoustic Casimir effect, Phys. Lett. A 248, 151-155 (1998)
• A. Larraza and E. Tucholski, Acoustic Einstein-Hopf drag on a bubble. Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2378-2380 (2000).
• M. Heinemann, A. Larraza, and K. B. Smith Acoustic communications in an enclosure using single-channel time-reversal acoustics. Appl. Phys. Lett. 80, 694-696, (2002).
•  (Complete Publications List)