About Robert Rickenbach – A Local, Multi-Disciplined Engineer
Our owner's engineering career is focused on the physics of light, specifically on fiber optics. It began in 1975 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Institute for Optoelectronics, where he fabricated IIIV compound laser diodes. At Syscom Instruments AG, Zürich, Switzerland, he was engaged in various pioneering fiber optic research projects for the Swiss PTT. Rickenbach also joined Photodyne Inc. in Newbury Park, CA, as head of engineering in 1982. During this time, he designed fiber optic test equipment, including Optical Power Meters, Optical Attenuators, and OTDR.
Following years of success, Rickenbach started his own start-up company, RIFOCS Corp., where he continued to design fiber optic test equipment and fiber optic components. In 2003, he founded MICRONOR Inc. with the vision to design and manufacture fiber optic kinetic sensors. He accurately foresaw that such sensors would be crucial technology enablers where conventional electronic sensors could not function. This is due to excessive electrical interferences (EMI/RMI), lightning strikes, high magnetic fields (MRI), or exposure to very high temperatures that render electronics inoperable.
Moreover, Rickenbach has been awarded several patents related to fiber optics, encoders, and position sensing. For recreation, other than inventing new sensors, he enjoys the outdoors: hiking, skiing, and flying his airplane.