John Harvey
Southern Photonics, Founder & CEO
![]()
About the company:
Southern Photonics specializes in optical phase-sensitive test and measurement instrumentation. We have a range of products that can fully characterize optical pulses to take the guesswork out of your testing and monitoring applications. Our products are sold world-wide directly from our head office in New Zealand or through our network of distributors in USA, Japan, China and Korea.
About the Speaker
John Harvey is the Founder of Southern Photonics and spent more than four decades as a researcher at the University of Auckland, until 2015 when he retired as Professor of Physics to work full time at Southern Photonics. He has over 20 years of experience in commercialising photonic technologies, including the manufacturing of test and measurement equipment for the optical communications market, and the development and manufacturing of femtosecond fibre laser systems. He gained his BSc and MSc from the University of Auckland and his PhD in Theoretical Nuclear Physics from the University of Surrey (UK). He is a fellow of the Optical Society of America, a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and a member of several other professional societies. He is the author of over 150 refereed journal publications, and works with the Dodd-Walls Centre of Research Excellence to promote the adoption of photonic technologies in industry in the Australasian region.
