Jim Kafka
Events
Jim Kafka
Spectra-Physics / MKS, Emeritus Fellow
About the Speaker
Jim Kafka received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester in 1977 and 1983, respectively. For nearly 43 years, he has been developing new products and was the Chief Technology Officer for Spectra-Physics. Jim is currently the first Emeritus Fellow of our parent company MKS. In addition to authoring numerous journal articles, conference presentations and seminars, he co-authored a book chapter on Ultrafast Nonlinear Optics and holds 45 patents. Jim was the principal designer on three products, the Tsunami, the Opal, and the Millennia X, which have won technology achievement awards.
Jim has served the optics community as the Ultrafast Phenomena topical editor for JOSA B and the co-chair for the CLEO and Advanced Solid-State Photonics conferences. He is a Fellow of Optica and has served as a Distinguished Traveling Lecturer for the Division of Laser Science of the APS. Jim has lectured at the Siegman School on Lasers and served as President of Optica for 2025.
