2022 Adolph Lomb Medal Winner

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Optica Names Ido Kaminer the 2022 Adolph Lomb Medal Recipient

Optica (formerly OSA) is pleased to announce that Ido Kaminer, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (Technion), Israel, has been selected as the 2022 recipient of the Adolph Lomb Medal. Kaminer is honored for pioneering contributions which led to the creation of a paradigm shift in light-matter interactions of photonic quasiparticles.

Ido Kaminer received his BS and PhD from the Technion, and is currently Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering. In his PhD research, he discovered new classes of accelerating beams in nonlinear optics and electromagnetism, and as a postdoc at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, he established the foundations of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics (MQED) for photonic quasiparticles and used it to find a way to enable forbidden electronic transitions in atoms.

As a faculty member at the Technion, he performed the first experiment on free-electron interaction with quantum light, demonstrating that the quantum statistics of photons can be imprinted on the electron. His scientific contributions helped create the new area of free-electron quantum optics.

He was recently elected to the Israeli Young Academy, and has won multiple awards and grants, including the European Research Council Starting Grant, the Krill Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research, and American Physical Society Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Laser Science. He is also the laureate of the 2021 Blavatnik Award in Physical Sciences & Engineering in Israel.

Established in 1940, the Lomb Medal is presented to an individual who has made a noteworthy contribution to optics at an early career stage. Contributions from any area of optics, fundamental or applied, are considered. The medal honors Adolph Lomb, the Society’s first treasurer, for his devotion to the Society and the advancement of optics.

About Optica

Optica (formerly OSA), Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, is the society dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in the field. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. Optica’s renowned publications, meetings, online resources and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical and educational achievement.