Claire F. Gmachl
Encyclopedia
Claire F. Gmachl is Professor of Electrical Engineering
at Princeton University
. She is best known for her work in the development of quantum cascade laser
s.
. In 2003, she left Bell Labs and took a position as Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University
, where she is currently working as a full Professor since 2007.
In 2004, Popular Science
named Gmachl in its "Class of 2004 - Brilliant 10," its list of the 10 most promising scientists under 40. She went on, in September 2005, to win the MacArthur Foundation
's "genius grant." Recently, she was named the director of the new Mid-InfraRed Technologies for Health and the Environment
(MIRTHE) Center, funded by the National Science Foundation
.
s.
QC lasers are a rapidly evolving class of high-performamce, mid-infrared, semiconductor light sources. They offer considerable wavelength tunability, high output power, high-speed modulation capabilities and may be fabricated in several different materials systems. Gmachl has demonstrated mid-infrared light sources for a wide range of applications, including trace gas sensing in the environmental, industrial, and medical fields, and free-space optics in wireless communications. Her recent work includes the development of QC microlasers and new hybrid devices including quantum cascade structures and nonlinear components, dramatically extending the wavelength range of QC technology. These designs have applications in environmental monitoring, clinical diagnoses, spectroscopy, and chemical process control.
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. She is best known for her work in the development of quantum cascade laser
Quantum cascade laser
Quantum cascade lasers are semiconductor lasers that emit in the mid- to far-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and were first demonstrated by Jerome Faist, Federico Capasso, Deborah Sivco, Carlo Sirtori, Albert Hutchinson, and Alfred Cho at Bell Laboratories in 1994.Unlike typical...
s.
Education and honors
Gmachl earned her M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Innsbruck in 1991. She went on to receive her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Vienna in 1995, graduating sub auspiciis Praesidentis (with special honors by the president of the Austrian republic). Her studies focused on integrated optical modulators and tunable surface-emitting lasers in the near infrared. From 1996 to 1998, she was a Post-Doctoral Member of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories. In 1998, she became a formal Member of Technical Staff at Bell Labs and in 2002 she was named a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, in part due to her work on the development of the quantum cascade laserQuantum cascade laser
Quantum cascade lasers are semiconductor lasers that emit in the mid- to far-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and were first demonstrated by Jerome Faist, Federico Capasso, Deborah Sivco, Carlo Sirtori, Albert Hutchinson, and Alfred Cho at Bell Laboratories in 1994.Unlike typical...
. In 2003, she left Bell Labs and took a position as Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, where she is currently working as a full Professor since 2007.
In 2004, Popular Science
Popular Science
Popular Science is an American monthly magazine founded in 1872 carrying articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. Popular Science has won over 58 awards, including the ASME awards for its journalistic excellence in both 2003 and 2004...
named Gmachl in its "Class of 2004 - Brilliant 10," its list of the 10 most promising scientists under 40. She went on, in September 2005, to win the MacArthur Foundation
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the United States. Based in Chicago but supporting non-profit organizations that work in 60 countries, MacArthur has awarded more than US$4 billion since its inception in 1978...
's "genius grant." Recently, she was named the director of the new Mid-InfraRed Technologies for Health and the Environment
Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment
Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment is an Engineering Research Center funded by the National Science Foundation. It was launched on May 1, 2006 as part of NSF's larger program of ERCs...
(MIRTHE) Center, funded by the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
.
Research
Although Gmachl originally intended to study theoretical applied mathematics, her interest soon turned to theoretical applied physics, and, with the encouragement of an advisor, experimental sciences. As such, she works in the fields of optics and semiconductor laser technology. Gmachl has conceived several novel designs for solid-state lasers and her work has led to advances in the development of Quantum cascade laserQuantum cascade laser
Quantum cascade lasers are semiconductor lasers that emit in the mid- to far-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and were first demonstrated by Jerome Faist, Federico Capasso, Deborah Sivco, Carlo Sirtori, Albert Hutchinson, and Alfred Cho at Bell Laboratories in 1994.Unlike typical...
s.
QC lasers are a rapidly evolving class of high-performamce, mid-infrared, semiconductor light sources. They offer considerable wavelength tunability, high output power, high-speed modulation capabilities and may be fabricated in several different materials systems. Gmachl has demonstrated mid-infrared light sources for a wide range of applications, including trace gas sensing in the environmental, industrial, and medical fields, and free-space optics in wireless communications. Her recent work includes the development of QC microlasers and new hybrid devices including quantum cascade structures and nonlinear components, dramatically extending the wavelength range of QC technology. These designs have applications in environmental monitoring, clinical diagnoses, spectroscopy, and chemical process control.
Awards
- "The Snell Premium" award of the IEEInstitution of Electrical EngineersThe Institution of Electrical Engineers was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and Information Technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. The I.E.E...
, UK, August 2003 - Bell LabsBell LabsBell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
"Distinguished Member of Staff", December 2002 - MITMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
Technology ReviewTechnology ReviewTechnology Review is a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as "The Technology Review", and was re-launched without the "The" in its name on April 23, 1998 under then publisher R. Bruce Journey...
TR100TR35The TR35 is an annual list published by MIT Technology Review magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35.Some of the most famous winners of the award include Larry Page and Sergey Brin , Linus Torvalds , Jerry Yang , Jonathan Ive , Mark Zuckerberg...
, 2002, as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35 - IEEE/LEOS Distinguished Lecturer '02 - '03, April 2002
- "Commendation for Excellence in Technical Communications", Laser Focus World Magazine, 9/2001
- "Outstanding Performer Award" under the DARPA/MTO PWASSP Program, US DoD, July 2001
- "NASA Group Achievement Award", co-recipient, NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
, Washington D.C., 2000- "For making the first atmospheric measurements using a quantum-cascade laser, thereby demonstrating its applicability to in situ terrestrial and planetary instrumentation." - Bell LabsBell LabsBell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
- "For making the first atmospheric measurements using a quantum-cascade laser, thereby demonstrating its applicability to in situ terrestrial and planetary instrumentation." - Bell Labs
- "Solid State Physics Award" of the Austrian Physical Society, Austria, 1996
- "1995 Christian DopplerChristian DopplerChristian Andreas Doppler was an Austrian mathematician and physicist.-Life and work:Christian Doppler was raised in Salzburg, Austria, the son of a stonemason. Doppler could not work in his father's business because of his generally weak physical condition...
Award" for engineering sciences including environmental sciences, Austria, 1996 - Graduation "sub auspicies praesidentis" by the president of Austria, Vienna, Austria, 1996
Selected publications
- Claire Gmachl, Alexey Belyanin, Deborah L. Sivco, Milton L. Peabody, Nina Owschimikow, A. Michael Sergent, Federico Capasso, and Alfred Y. Cho. Optimized Second-Harmonic Generation in Quantum Cascade Lasers. IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 39 (11), in print (2003)
- Nina Owschimikow, Claire Gmachl, Alexey Belyanin, Vitaly Kocharovsky, Deborah L. Sivco, Raffaele Colombelli, Federico Capasso, and Alfred Y. Cho. Resonant Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Processes in Quantum Cascade Lasers. Phys. Rev. Lett. 90(4), 043902-1-4 (2003)
- C. Gmachl, A. Soibel, R. Colombelli, D. L. Sivco, F. Capasso, and A. Y. Cho. Minimal Group Refractive Index Dispersion and Gain Evolution in Ultra-Broadband Quantum Cascade Lasers. IEEE Photon. Techn. Lett. 14 (12), pp. 1671 – 1672 (2002)
- Claire Gmachl, Axel Straub, Raffaele Colombelli, Federico Capasso, Deborah L. Sivco, A. Michael Sergent, and Alfred Y. Cho. Single-mode, Tunable Distributed-Feedback and Multiple-Wavelength Quantum Cascade Lasers. IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 38, 569 - 581 (2002) invited paper
- Claire Gmachl, Evgueni E. Narimanov, Federico Capasso, James N. Baillargeon, Alfred Y. Cho. Kolmogorov Arnold Moser transition and laser action on scar modes in semiconductor diode lasers with deformed resonators. Opt. Lett. 27, pp. 824 – 826 (2002)
- C. Gmachl, D. L. Sivco, R. Colombelli, F. Capasso, and A. Y. Cho. Ultra-broadband semiconductor laser. Nature 415, pp. 883 – 887 (2002)
- Claire Gmachl, Federico Capasso, Deborah L. Sivco, and Alfred Y. Cho. Recent progress in quantum cascade lasers and applications. Reports on Progress in Physics 64, pp. 1533 – 1601 (2001)