Events Calendar

Lightwave Modulators: Early Research at Bell Labs

Speaker: Ivan P. Kaminow, EECS, UC Berkeley

Talk Title: Lightwave Modulators: Early Research at Bell Labs

Abstract: Ted Maiman’s announcement of the ruby laser in May 1960 created great excitement worldwide, and particularly at Bell Labs. I was in the Microwave Systems Research Lab, soon to become the Lightwave Systems Research Lab, in Holmdel, NJ. Many of my colleagues decided to pursue laser research. Based on my experience with microwave systems, I decided to explore broadband light modulators that would be key for any telecom system. In my talk, I plan to touch on some of the highlights of a 15-year period of research on electrooptic modulators in the Bell Labs ambience. I include a 9 GHz travelling wave modulator, studies of electrooptic materials and photonic integrated circuits.


Biography: Ivan Kaminow retired from Bell Labs in 1996 after a 42-year career (1954-1996), mostly in lightwave research. At Bell Labs, he did seminal studies on electrooptic modulators and materials, Raman scattering in ferroelectrics, integrated optics (including titanium-diffused lithium niobate modulators), semiconductor lasers (including the DBR laser, ridge waveguide InGaAsP laser and multi-frequency laser), birefringent optical fibers, and WDM lightwave networks. Later, as Head of the Photonic Networks and Components Research Department, he led research on WDM components (including the erbium-doped fiber amplifier, waveguide grating router and the fiber Fabry-Perot resonator), and on WDM local and wide area networks. Earlier (1952-1954), he did research on microwave antenna arrays at Hughes Aircraft Company.



After retiring from Bell Labs, he served as IEEE Congressional Fellow on the staffs of the House Science Committee and the Congressional Research Service (Science Policy Research Division) in the Library of Congress. From 1997 to 1999, he returned to Lucent Bell Labs as a part-time Consultant. He also established Kaminow Lightwave Technology to provide consulting services to various technology companies, and to patent and litigation law firms. In 1999 he served as Senior Science Advisor to the Optical Society of America in Washington. He also served on a number of professional committees. He received degrees from Union College (BSEE), UCLA (MSE) and Harvard (AM, Ph.D.). He was a Hughes Fellow at UCLA and a Bell Labs Fellow at Harvard.



He has been Visiting Professor at Princeton, Berkeley, Columbia, the University of Tokyo, and Kwangju University (Korea). Currently, he is Adjunct Professor in EECS at University of California, Berkeley, where he has been teaching since 2004 (ee290F. Advanced Topics in Photonics [spring 2004]; ee233. Lightwave Systems [spring 2006]; seminar on Plasmonics [spring, fall 2007] and seminar on Photonics and Plasmonics [spring, fall 2008; spring, fall 2009; spring, fall 2010]; spring 2011).



He has published over 240 papers, received 47 patents, and has written or co-edited 5 books, the most recent being "Optical Fiber Telecommunications V A&B," co-edited with Tingye Li and Alan Willner, Academic Press/Elsevier (2008). Kaminow is a Life Fellow of IEEE, and Fellow of APS and OSA. He is the recipient of the Bell Labs Distinguished Member of Technical Staff Award, IEEE Quantum Electronics Award, OSA Charles Townes Award, IEEE/LEOS/OSA John Tyndall Award, IEEE Third Millennium Medal, Union College Alumni Gold Medal and IEEE Photonics Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Diplomate of the American Board of Laser Surgery, and a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine.

Host: Alan Willner, willner@usc.edu

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos