2025 Emmett N. Leith Medal Winner
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Optica Names Kehar Singh the 2025 Emmet N. Leith Medal Recipient
Optica is pleased to announce that Kehar Singh, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India, has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the Emmet N. Leith Medal. Singh is honored for extensive contributions to diverse aspects of optical encoding for security and cryptography, digital holography, correlators and optical storage systems.
Singh served as a faculty member of IIT Delhi from 1965-2011 in various capacities, including Physics department Head and Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Research, and an emeritus fellow. Currently, he is an Honorary Professor in the Optics and Photonics Center IIT Delhi.
As a researcher and educator, he created infrastructural facilities at the IITD in areas such as photorefractive nonlinear optics, dynamic and digital holography and speckles, optical correlators, holographic storage, and optical cryptography, with a common aim of applications in optical information processing. He has mentored 31 doctoral and 80 MTech students and has published extensively, having authored or co-authored nearly 300 peer-reviewed research papers and approximately 75 review articles in books and journals.
Singh has a long history of editorial service, including as Associate Editor of Optics Express (2015-2021), International advisory member, Editorial Board of Optical Review (Japan, 1994-2008), and as a member of the Editorial Boards of Optics & Lasers in Engineering (1999-2006) and the Journal Optics (India/Springer, 1974- to date). He also served as a chair or member of several international conferences, a consultant on security holograms to State Governments in India, and a member of the Executive Committee and the National Photonics Program Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Singh’s awards and honors include the S. S. Bhatnagar Prize, Galileo Galilei Award, Optical Society of India Award, and Golden Jubilee ‘Distinguished Service’ Award. He is a Fellow of Optica, SPIE, INAE, and Distinguished Fellow of Optical Society of India (OSI). Singh served as President OSI from 1991-1994.
Established in 2006, the Leith Medal recognizes seminal contributions to the field of optical information processing. In assessing the significance of the contribution, consideration is given to all aspects including theoretical and conceptual breakthroughs as well as practical applications. It honors Emmett N. Leith, a world-renowned scientist in holography and optical information processing, and is endowed by General Dynamics, the University of Michigan College of Engineering, USA, Physical Optics Corporation and individual contributors, including Alexander Sawchuk, Joseph Goodman, James R. Fienup, G. Michael Morris, Tom Cathey and James Wyant.
About Optica
Optica, 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.
