Kerry Vahala

Kerry J. Vahala is an American professor of Applied Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He holds the Ted and Ginger Jenkins chair of Information Science and Technology and also serves as the Executive Officer of the Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Physics and an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, all from Caltech.

Kerry Vahala

Vahala is known for his studies of devices called optical microcavities[1] and their application to a wide range of subjects including miniature frequency and time systems, microwave sources, parametric oscillators, astrocombs and gyroscopes. He also made early contributions to the subject of cavity optomechanics[2] and was involved in demonstrations of chip-based devices to cavity QED phenomena.[3]

Vahala is a Fellow of the IEEE and the Optical Society of America, has received an Alexander von Humboldt Award[4] for his work on high-Q optical microcavities, an award from NASA for work on Astrocombs, the Paul F Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award[5] from the Optical Society for the '2-photon optical clock collaboration', and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.[6] He also contributed to the understanding of quantum well lasers for optical communications, and shared with Y. Arakawa and K. Lau the 2009 IEEE David Sarnoff Award for research on quantum-well laser dynamics.[7] Their "combined work formed the basis for nearly all of today’s high-speed semiconductor laser design for lightwave high-speed telecommunications, particularly in the metropolitan and local-area arena”.

Vahala has also received the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, the ONR Young Investigator Award, and was the first recipient of Caltech's Feynman Hughes Fellowship.[8]

Vahala has served as associate editor to both Photonics Technology Letters and the Journal of the Optical Society of America, is on the advisory board of APL Photonics, and was Program Chair and General Chair for the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) in 2000 and 2001.

References
  1. Vahala, Kerry J. (August 2003). "Optical microcavities". Nature. 424 (6950): 839–846. Bibcode:2003Natur.424..839V. doi:10.1038/nature01939. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 12917698. S2CID 4349700.
  2. Kippenberg, T. J.; Vahala, K. J. (2008-08-29). "Cavity Optomechanics: Back-Action at the Mesoscale". Science. 321 (5893): 1172–1176. Bibcode:2008Sci...321.1172K. doi:10.1126/science.1156032. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 18755966. S2CID 4620490.
  3. Risau, Werner (April 1997). "Mechanisms of angiogenesis". Nature. 386 (6626): 671–674. Bibcode:1997Natur.386..671R. doi:10.1038/386671a0. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 9109485. S2CID 4347358.
  4. "Caltech Aerospace (GALCIT) | News | Kerry Vahala Wins Alexander Von Humboldt Research Award". Caltech Aerospace (GALCIT). Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  5. "Paul F. Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award".
  6. "Dr. Kerry J. Vahala". NAE Website. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  7. "IEEE David Sarnoff Award Recipients" (PDF). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
  8. "People: Physicist Kerry Vahala Is First Recipient Of Caltech's Feynman-Hughes Fellowship". The Scientist Magazine®. Retrieved 2021-12-13.


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