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Donna Strickland

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Donna Strickland
Donna Strickland at University of Waterloo in 2017
Strickland in 2017
Born
Donna Theo Strickland

(1959-05-27) May 27, 1959 (age 65)
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Alma mater
Known for
SpouseDoug Dykaar
Children2
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsUniversity of Waterloo
ThesisDevelopment of an ultra-bright laser and an application to multi-photon ionization (1988)
Doctoral advisorGérard Mourou
Websiteuwaterloo.ca/physics-astronomy/people-profiles/donna-strickland Edit this at Wikidata

Donna Theo Strickland (born May 27, 1959) is a Canadian optical physicist and Nobel laureate, who is an associate professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department at the University of Waterloo.[1] A pioneer in the field of pulsed lasers, she received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, together with Gérard Mourou and Arthur Ashkin.

Early life and education

Strickland was born on May 27, 1959 in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.[2]

Strickland graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in engineering physics from McMaster University in 1981. At McMaster she was one of three women in a class of 25.[3]

Strickland obtained her PhD degree in Physics (specializing in optics) at the University of Rochester in 1989.[4][5] Her doctoral thesis, supervised by Gérard Mourou, was titled "Development of an ultra-bright laser and an application to multi-photon ionization".[2] In 1985, while at Rochester, the student-teacher pair co-invented chirped pulse amplification for lasers, a method of generating ultrashort optical pulses of high intensity, for which they later received the Nobel Prize in Physics.[6]

Strickland's Ultrafast Laser group at UWaterloo

Career

From 1988 to 1991, Strickland was a research associate at the National Research Council of Canada, where she worked with Paul Corkum in the Ultrafast Phenomena Section, which had the distinction at that time of having produced the most powerful short-pulse laser in the world.[7] She worked in the laser division of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1991 to 1992 and joined the technical staff of Princeton's Advanced Technology Center for Photonics and Opto-electronic Materials in 1992. She joined the University of Waterloo in 1997 as an assistant professor[4] and is currently an associate professor, leading an ultrafast laser group that develops high-intensity laser systems for nonlinear optics investigations.[1] She describes herself as a "laser jock".[6]

Strickland's recent work has focused on pushing the boundaries of ultrafast optical science to new wavelength ranges such as the mid-infrared and the ultraviolet, using techniques such as two-colour or multi-frequency techniques, as well as Raman generation.[1] She is also working on the role of high-power lasers in the microcrystalline lens of the human eye, during the process of micromachining of the eye lens to cure presbyopia.[1]

Nobel Prize in Physics

On 2 October 2018, Strickland was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work on chirped pulse amplification with her doctoral advisor Gérard Mourou at Rochester, who is now a professor and member of Haut Collège at the École Polytechnique and A. D. Moore Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan.

Strickland and Mourou published their pioneering work "Compression of amplified chirped optical pulses" in 1985 while Strickland was still a doctoral student under Mourou.[8] Their invention of chirped pulse amplification for lasers led to the development of the field of high-intensity ultrashort pulses of light beams. Because the ultrabrief and ultrasharp light beams are capable of making extremely precise cuts, the technique is used in laser micromachining, laser surgery, medicine, fundamental science studies and other applications. It has enabled doctors to perform millions of corrective laser eye surgeries.[9] Strickland said that after developing the technique they knew it would be a game-changer.[6] Arthur Ashkin, a retired American physicist who worked at the Bell Labs, received the other half of the prize for his invention of "optical tweezers that grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells with their laser beam fingers".[10]

Strickland is the first female Nobel Physics laureate in 55 years and the third woman in history to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, after Curie in 1903 and Goeppert-Mayer in 1963.[1][11]

Awards and recognition

Strickland served as a topical editor of the journal Optics Letters from 2004 to 2010.[1][15]

Before she won the Nobel Prize, a patroller of the English Wikipedia had rejected a draft about her, deeming her not sufficiently notable.[16]

Selected publications

  • Strickland, Donna; Mourou, Gerard (1985). "Compression of amplified chirped optical pulses". Optics Communications. 56 (3): 219–221. doi:10.1016/0030-4018(85)90120-8. ISSN 0030-4018.
  • Maine, P.; Strickland, D.; Bado, P.; Pessot, M.; Mourou, G. (1988). "Generation of ultrahigh peak power pulses by chirped pulse amplification". IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics. 24 (2): 398–403. doi:10.1109/3.137. ISSN 0018-9197.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Donna Strickland - Physics and Astronomy". 5 April 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  2. ^ a b Strickland, Donna T. (1988). "Development of an ultra-bright laser and an application to multi-photon ionization" (PDF). Laboratory for Laser Energetics. University of Rochester. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  3. ^ Semeniuk, Ivan (2 October 2018). "Canada's newest Nobel Prize winner, Donna Strickland, 'just wanted to do something fun'". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d "Biographies -Donna T. Strickland". The Optical Society. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  5. ^ "Donna Strickland". Education Program for Photonics Professionals. University of Waterloo. 11 September 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d Murphy, Jessica (2 October 2018). "Donna Strickland: The 'laser jock' Nobel prize winner". BBC News. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  7. ^ Page, Shelley (19 October 1990). "Laser lab makes short work of super beam". The Ottawa Citizen.
  8. ^ Strickland, Donna; Mourou, Gerard (1985-10-15). "Compression of amplified chirped optical pulses". Optics Communications. 55 (6): 447–449. doi:10.1016/0030-4018(85)90151-8. ISSN 0030-4018.
  9. ^ ""Optical Tweezers" and Tools Used for Laser Eye Surgery Snag Physics Nobel". Scientific American. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  10. ^ "Arthur Ashkin, 2 others win Nobel Physics Prize for laser research". Times of Israel. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  11. ^ Rincon, Paul (2 October 2018). "First woman Physics Nobel winner in 55 years". BBC News. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  12. ^ "Past Sloan Fellows". sloan.org. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Retrieved 2 October 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  13. ^ "Cottrell Scholars" (PDF). rescorp.org. Research Corporation For Science Advancement. Retrieved 2 October 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  14. ^ "Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland win the Nobel Prize for Physics". Physics World. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  15. ^ "Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou, and Donna Strickland Awarded 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics". osa.org. The Optical Society. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  16. ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Donna_Strickland?oldid=842614385

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Donna_Strickland&oldid=862306093"