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Adolph Lomb Medal

Learn more about the medal and its establishment

Information and deadlines for nominations

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Adolph Lomb Medal

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.

Candidates must be within ten (10) years of the completion of their highest degree earned in the year the medal is presented, excluding career breaks (e.g., eldercare, maternity or paternity leave, adoption).

The medal was established in 1940 to honor Adolph Lomb, the Society’s first treasurer, for his devotion to the Society and the advancement of optics.

Winners

2024

Deep Jariwala

Deep Jariwala

For seminal contributions to nano-optics of low-dimensional semiconductors and development of excitonic meta-materials

2023

William H Renninger

William H Renninger

For pioneering contributions to opto-mechanics, ultrashort pulse generation, novel fiber lasers, and multimode nonlinear optics

2022

Ido Kaminer

Ido Kaminer

For pioneering contributions which led to the creation of a paradigm shift in light-matter interactions of photonic quasiparticles.

2021

Laura Waller

Laura Waller

For important contributions to the advancement of computational microscopy and its applications

2020

Chaoyang Lu

Chaoyang Lu

For significant contributions to optical quantum information technologies, especially on high-performance single-photon sources, quantum teleportation and optical quantum computing

2019

Na Liu

Na Liu

For seminal contributions to nano-optics, three-dimensional optical metamaterials, as well as interdisciplinary scientific work regarding the development of DNA nanotechnology-based dynamic plasmonics

2018

Andrei Faraon

Andrei Faraon

For seminal contributions to on-chip quantum photonic technologies

2017

Dirk Robert Englund

Dirk Robert Englund

For pioneering contributions to scalable solid-state quantum memories in nitrogen-vacancy diamond, high-dimensional quantum key distribution, and photonic integrated circuits for quantum communication and computation

2016

Jennifer Dionne

Jennifer Dionne

For revealing nanoscopic optical phenomena in metal optics

2015

Jeremy N Munday

Jeremy N Munday

For pioneering contributions to plasmonic and photonic light-trapping in solar cells

2014

Alexander Szameit

Alexander Szameit

For groundbreaking contributions to linear and nonlinear light evolution in photonic lattices, and photonic simulations of quantum, solid state, and relativistic phenomena

2013

Andrea Alu

Andrea Alu

For outstanding contributions to the fields of optical metamaterials and plasmonic optics, and for development of the concept of plasmonic cloaking

2012

Hatice Altug

Hatice Altug

For breakthrough contributions on integrated optical nano-biosensor and nanospectroscopy technologies based on nanoplasmonics, nanofluidics, and novel nanofabrication

2011

Elizabeth M C Hillman

Elizabeth M C Hillman

For pioneering developments in biomedical optics, including laminar optical tomography and dynamic contrast enhanced molecular imaging

2010

Jeremy L O'Brien

Jeremy L O'Brien

For seminal contributions to quantum optics, optical quantum metrology and quantum information through the foundation of the field of integrated quantum photonics

2009

Rebekah A Drezek

Rebekah A Drezek

For innovative research combining biophotonics, nanotechnology, and biomedical engineering to produce optical molecular-imaging technologies that are changing the way physicians screen, detect, treat, and monitor cancer in vivo

2008

Lawrence Cary Gunn

Lawrence Cary Gunn

For pioneering work in the development and commercialization of silicon photonics

2007

Shanhui Fan

Shanhui Fan

For his fundamental work in nano-photonic structures

2006

John Charles Howell

John Charles Howell

For innovative contributions in quantum optics, particularly to aspects of quantum cloning, violations of Bell's inequalities and maximal photonic entanglement

2005

Marin Soljacic

Marin Soljacic

For the discovery of novel soliton phenomena, and for seminal and innovative work in nonlinear and time dependent photonic crystals

2004

Randy A Bartels

Randy A Bartels

For pioneering contributions to the coherent control of light, atoms, and molecules, including the shaped-pulse optimization of high order harmonic soft x-ray radiation

2003

Alexei Vladimirovich Sokolov

Alexei Vladimirovich Sokolov

For contributions to the prediction and demonstration of single-cycle optical pulse generation by molecular modulation

2002

Susana Marcos

Susana Marcos

For her contributions to our knowledge of the optics of the eye and the interactions of light with the retina

2001

Barbara A Paldus

Barbara A Paldus

For developments making the new absorption technique of cavity ringdown spectroscopy an ultrasensitive absolute method for trace analysis of gas-phase species

2000

Mikhail Lukin

Mikhail Lukin

For his contributions to theoretical developments and realization of atomic coherence effects in optics, including lasers without inversion, resonant enhancement of refractive index and nonlinear processes and spectroscopy of coherent media

1999

Jun Ye

Jun Ye

In recognition of his pioneering achievements and technical leadership in the areas of ultra-high sensitivity laser spectroscopy, frequency metrology and quantum optics

1998

Benjamin J Eggleton

Benjamin J Eggleton

For the first observations of nonlinear optical-pulse propagation in photonic bandgap materials, including solitons and modulational instabilities in fiber Bragg gratings as well as optical switching in long-period fiber gratings

1997

Ekmel Ozbay

Ekmel Ozbay

For the development and application of innovative fabrication techniques for photonic bandgap structures, leading to the creation of the smallest photonic crystals with electromagnetic bandgaps at the highest achieved frequency bands

1996

Frederick A Kish, Jr.

Frederick A Kish, Jr.

For pioneering work in solving the problem of replacing the absorbing substrate of red-orange-yellow-green (ROYG) In(AlGa)P light emitting diodes (LEDs) by wafer bonding and introducing a new high volume family of ultra high brightness ROYG LEDs exceeding in performance (lumens per watt) conventional sources such as the incandescent and halogen lamp

1995

Turan Erdogan

Turan Erdogan

For application of electron-beam lithography to fabrication of circular diffraction gratings and demonstration of a surface-emitting semiconductor laser based on these gratings

1994

Robert William Schoenlein

Robert William Schoenlein

For development of elegant femtosecond spectroscopic methods and their application to fundamental studies of metals, semiconductors and molecules

1993

Henry C Kapteyn

Henry C Kapteyn

For his work in ultrashort pulse production, particularly the demonstration of the photon-pumped XUV laser and the production of ultrashort, x-ray pulses from femtosecond laser produced plasmas

1992

Mohammed N Islam

Mohammed N Islam

For his pioneering contributions to nonlinear optical phenomena and all-optical switching in optical fibers

1991

David F Welch

David F Welch

For his research and commercialization of high power semiconductor laser diode arrays and coherent single mode diode lasers

1990

Andrew M Weiner

Andrew M Weiner *

For pioneering contributions to the technique of femtosecond optical pulse shaping and its application to nonlinear optics, ultrafast, spectroscopy, and optical communications

1988

Janis A Valdmanis

Janis A Valdmanis

For the demonstration of electrical waveform analysis by means of the electro-optic effect in conjunction with short optical pulses

1986

David A. B. Miller

David A. B. Miller

For pioneering contributions to our understanding of nonlinear optical effects in semiconductors

1984

Edward H Adelson

Edward H Adelson

For his contributions to understanding in three different areas of physiological and visual optics, namely: temporal responses of the human visual system, color vision, and artificial vision

1982

Won-Tien Tsang

Won-Tien Tsang

In recognition of his contributions to the development of molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) lasers for optical communication systems and novel structures for semiconductor lasers, including the strip-buried-heterostructure (SBH) lasers, electrically injected multiquantum-well lasers, and SBH lasers with distributed Bragg reflectors suitable for integrated optics application

1980

David M Bloom

David M Bloom

For his contributions to the use of nonlinear optical processes to achieve real-time conjugate-wavefront generation and image reconstruction

1978

Eli Yablonovitch

Eli Yablonovitch

For his pioneering contributions to laser physics and technology, including the understanding of the optical breakdown strength in laser window materials, the development of ultrashort CO2 laser pulses, and the identification of laser plasma heating processes

1976

Marc D Levenson

Marc D Levenson

For his contributions to laser spectroscopy, especially development of the techniques of three-wave mixing and two-photon absorption without Doppler broadening

1974

James M Forsyth

James M Forsyth *

for noteworthy contributions to the field of optics at an early career stage

1972

Robert L Byer

Robert L Byer

for noteworthy contributions to the field of optics at an early career stage

1970

Marlan O Scully

Marlan O Scully

for noteworthy contributions to the field of optics at an early career stage

1968

Douglas C Sinclair

Douglas C Sinclair *

for noteworthy contributions to the field of optics at an early career stage

1966

Chandra Kumar N Patel

Chandra Kumar N Patel

for noteworthy contributions to the field of optics at an early career stage

1964

Gordon H Spencer

Gordon H Spencer

for noteworthy contributions to the field of optics at an early career stage

1962

Jean-Pierre Barrat

Jean-Pierre Barrat

For his work on the multiple coherent diffusion of photons.

1960

Ian M Mills

Ian M Mills

for noteworthy contributions to the field of optics at an early career stage

1958

Edward L O'Neill

Edward L O'Neill

for outstanding achievement in optics

1956

W.R. J Brown

W.R. J Brown *

for noteworthy contributions to optics

1954

William M Sinton

William M Sinton *

for his contributions in the far infrared and first measurement of the sun’s rays at 1500μ; applications of apodizing; construction and use of a stellar interferometer with achromatized fringes; a method of using a grating twice to obtain double resolving power from it; and, more recently, observations on the temperature and infrared spectrum of the planets

1952

Aden B Meinel

Aden B Meinel *

For his work on the spectrum of the aurora and of the night sky

1950

H. Richard Blackwell

H. Richard Blackwell

For supplying a quantitative basis for the visibility of objects and lights

1948

David S Grey

David S Grey *

for noteworthy contributions to the field of optics at an early career stage

1946

Wayne G. Norton

Wayne G. Norton *

for noteworthy contributions to the field of optics at an early career stage

1944

R. Clark Jones

R. Clark Jones *

For his published work entitled "A New Calculus for the Treatment of Optical Systems"

1942

James G Baker

James G Baker *

for the development of new methods for designing lenses for astronomy

1940

David L MacAdam

David L MacAdam *

for his noteworthy contributions to optics

* Deceased

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