February 2011 Vol. 25, No. 1 www.PhotonicsSociety.org NEWS Semiconductor Laser Advances: The Middle Years February 2011 Vol. 25, No. 1 www.PhotonicsSociety.org NEWS Semiconductor Laser Advances: The Middle Years NEWS February 2011 Volume 25, Number 1 COLUMNS Editor’s Column ...........................................2 President’s Column ........................................3 7 RESEARCh highLighTS “Semiconductor Laser Advances: The Middle Years” � � � � � � � � � � 4 Larry A� Coldren DEPARTMENTS Careers . 10 • 2011 David Sarnoff Award Recipient: Constance J� Chang-Hasnain • Newly Elected Members to the Board of Governors: Peter Andrekson, Paul Juodawlkis, John McInerney, Dalma Novak News . 13 • Photonics Society 2011 President-Elect, Hideo Kuwahara • Photonics Society 2011 Fellows 13 • Call for Nominations Reminder • Petition for Candidates for Election to the Photonics Society Board of Governors • Nominations for IEEE Medals and Recognitions Membership . 17 • Benefits of IEEE Senior Membership and New Senior Members Conferences. 18 • 2010 Photonics Society Awards and Recognitions • 2011 Photonics Society Conference Calendar • Optical Fiber Communication Conference • Imaging Workshop • Interconnections within High Speed Digital Systems • Optical Memory and Optical Data Storage Topical Meeting 21 • Education and Training in Optics and Photonics • Summer Topicals • Group IV Photonics • IEEE Photonics 2011 • Avionics, Fiber Optics and Photonics Conference • Forthcoming Events with ICO Participation Publications . 38 Call for Papers • Sensors Journal: Machine Olfaction • JSTQE: Biophotonics The Graduate Student Fellowship recipients. February 2011 IEEE PhotonIcs socIEty nEWsLEttER 1 Editor’s IEEE Photonics Society Column KRISHNAN PARAMESWARAN President Newsletter Staff James Coleman I write this column as the snow falls steadily outside Dept of E & C Engineering Executive Editor my window. Winter is here, and a New Year has begun. University of Illinois Krishnan R� Parameswaran 208 N Wright Street Despite the cold conditions in my neck of the woods, Physical Sciences Inc� Urbana, IL 81801-2355 20 New England Business Center the year ahead promises to be full of hot developments Tel: +1 217 333 2555 Andover, MA 01810 E-mail: j�coleman@ieee�org in Photonics! Tel: +1 978 738 8187 Email: krp@psicorp�com As a final reflection on the 50th anniversary of the Past President invention of the laser last year, Prof. Larry Coldren has John H� Marsh Associate Editor of Asia & Pacific Dept of E & E Engineering Hon Tsang contributed an insightful article describing the develop- Rankine Building Dept� of Electronic Engineering ment of the sampled grating distributed feedback laser, University of Glasgow The Chinese University of Hong Kong Glasgow G12 8LT, Scotland, UK Shatin, Hong Kong a major advance in semiconductor laser technology that Tel: +44 141 330 4901 Tel: +852 260 98254 is at the core of many photonic systems. The Careers Fax: +44 141 330 4907 Fax: +852 260 35558 E-mail: j�h�marsh@ieee�org Email: hktsang@ee�cuhk�edu�hk Section has photos of award recipients from the Annual Associate Editor of Canada Meeting last November. Please join me in congratulat- Secretary-Treasurer Lawrence R� Chen ing the winners and thanking our volunteers for their Jerry Meyer Department of Electrical & Naval Research Laboratory Computer Engineering service. I encourage all members to stay active in their Code 5613 McConnell Engineering Building, local chapters and contact any member of the Newsletter Washington, DC 20375-0001 Rm 633 Tel: +1 202 767 3276 McGill University Editorial team to submit an article about recent events. E-mail: jerry�meyer@nrl�navy�mil 3480 University St� As the economy recovers worldwide, Photonics tech- Montreal, Quebec Canada H3A-2A7 Executive Director nology promises to be an important part of improving Tel: +514 398 1879 Richard Linke Fax: 514 398 3127 the quality of lives of people everywhere. Thanks to all of IEEE Photonics Society Email: lawrence�chen@mcgill�ca you for helping develop and promote Photonics! 445 Hoes Lane Piscataway, NJ 08854-1331 Best wishes for a productive and safe 2011 for all! Tel: +1 732 562 3891 Associate Editor of Europe/ Fax: +1 732 562 8434 Mid East/Africa Email: r�linke@ieee�org Kevin A� Williams Eindhoven University of Technology Inter-University Research Institute Cheers, Board of governors COBRA on Communication Krishnan Parameswaran P� Andrekson J� Kash Technology Y� Arakawa M� Lipson Department of Electrical Engineering J� Capmany J� McInerney PO Box 513 S�L� Chuang L� Nelson 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands M� Glick D� Novak Email: K�A�Williams@tue�nl P� Juodawlkis I� White Staff Editor Vice Presidents Lisa Jess Conferences - K� Choquette IEEE Photonics Society Finance & Administration - F� Bartoli 445 Hoes Lane Membership & Regional Activities - Piscataway, NJ 08854 J� Kash Tel: 1 732 465 6617 Publications - R� Tucker Fax: 1 732 981 1138 Technical Affairs - T� Koch E-mail: l�jess@ieee�org IEEE prohibits discrimination, harassment, and bullying. For more information, visit http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/whatis/policies/p9-26.html. IEEE Photonics Society News (USPS 014-023) is published bimonth- ly by the Photonics Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc�, Corporate Office: 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10017-2394� Printed in the USA� One dollar per member per year is included in the Society fee for each member of the Photonics Society� Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices� Postmaster: Send address changes to Photonics Society Newsletter, IEEE, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854� Copyright © 2011 by IEEE: Permission to copy without fee all or part of any material without a copyright notice is granted pro- vided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct com- mercial advantage, and the title of the publication and its date appear on each copy� To copy material with a copyright notice requires specific permission� Please direct all inquiries or requests to IEEE Copyrights Office� 2 IEEE PhotonIcs socIEty nEWsLEttER February 2011 President’s Column JAMES J� COLEMAN It is just after the New Year and that always brings hopes asso- are not interesting to Hollywood but they might be very inter- ciated with the beginning of a new year along with a respectful esting, and educational, for those of us who are doing related fear of the next few months of winter weather. It is a great time work today. For example, did you know that the Russian sci- to “clear your desk”—physically, electronically, and metaphor- entist Alexander Prokhorov who shared the Nobel Prize for ically—to get a fresh start and energize yourself for unfinished the laser was actually born in Australia? Have you seen the tasks, new and old. For the Photonics Society, it is time to take YouTube interview with Bob Hall who made the first working the wonderful ideas that originated last year and were refined diode laser? in our fall meeting and set about the task of implementing The simple point I want to make is that some of our tech- them during this year. More about some of these in a bit… nical ancestors were interesting and remarkable people. If you haven’t read some of the history of the laser, find some Reflect on the past… time to do so. And if you see someone who looks senior—like Tingye—at one of our conferences, go introduce yourself and At this point in my life, I don’t buy green bananas. learn something about the history of photonics, or even ba- ,Tingye Li nanas for that matter. Several occurrences in the late fall caused me to reflect on the This and that… past and, in particular, the technical history of our Society. The There were lots of interesting things discussed and decided at first was the ceremony for the dedication of an IEEE Milestones the Annual Meeting in Denver. But the one item I want to plaque in Malibu to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Ted highlight above the others is the end of the Photonics Society Maiman’s ruby laser. Another was the opportunity I had to Annual Meeting. No, the conference isn’t going away. Quite prepare and present a brief history of the laser for a general the contrary. A few years ago we rolled out a new name for audience at the COMMAD conference in Australia. Finally, I our Society and it is time now to change the name of our fall had several opportunities to chat with Tingye Li at the annual conference. While it is the annual meeting for our Society, it is meeting in Denver. Tingye is, of course, one of our Society’s much more than that. It is the premier photonics conference in best known and most respected senior scientists. He is widely the fall and attracts scientists from all over the world, whether known for quoting Confucius—although I suspect he occa- they are members of the Society or not. So consider this your sionally invents the quotes himself. first invitation to present a paper next October in Virginia at History for technical people is a little different than for the IEEE Photonics 2011 conference. others. Our results and our understanding become the stuff of papers and talks, then review papers, then tutorials, then With Warm Wishes, book chapters, and then textbooks. But the people and events Jim Coleman surrounding discoveries and inventions are usually given little University of Illinois or no attention. Some of these are great stories. Perhaps they [email protected] February 2011 IEEE PhotonIcs socIEty nEWsLEttER 3 Research highlights Semiconductor Laser Advances: The Middle Years Applications that stimulated advances 20 years ago are now the latest rage! By Larry A. Coldren, UCSB introduction Three-section tunable DBRs had also appeared in the 1980s As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Laser and roughly [4, 5], but these also had their limitations.