Robert W. Boyd (physicist)
Encyclopedia
Robert W. Boyd is an American physicist noted for his work in optical physics
and especially in nonlinear optics
. He is currently Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Nonlinear Optics at the University of Ottawa
and on the Faculty at the University of Rochester
.
, New York
. He received the B.S. degree in physics from MIT and the Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of California at Berkeley
. His Ph.D. thesis was supervised by Charles Townes
and involves the use of nonlinear optical techniques in infrared detection for astronomy. Professor Boyd joined the faculty of the University of Rochester
in 1977, and in 2001 became the M. Parker Givens Professor of Optics and Professor of Physics. In 2010 he became Professor of Physics and Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Nonlinear Optics at the University of Ottawa
. His research interests include studies of “slow” and “fast” light propagation
, quantum imaging
techniques, nonlinear optical
interactions, studies of the nonlinear optical properties of materials, and the development of photonic devices including photonic biosensors
. Professor Boyd has written two books, co-edited two anthologies, published over 300 research papers, and been awarded five patents. He is the 2009 recipient of the Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics. Prof. Boyd is a fellow of the American Physical Society
(APS) and of the Optical Society of America
(OSA). He is a past chair of the Division of Laser Science of APS and has been a member of the Board of Directors of OSA. He has also served as an APS representative and chair of the Joint Council on Quantum Electronics (it is joint among APS
, OSA
and IEEE/LEOS). Prof. Boyd has served as a member of the Board of Editors of Physical Review Letters
and of the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science Magazine
, and is on the Board of Advisors of the Templeton Foundation. He has an h-index
of 47.
. Shortly after the development of great interest in this field in 2000, he realized that it is possible to produce slow and fast-light effects in room temperature solids. Until that time, most workers had made use of systems of free atoms such as atomic vapors and Bose-Einstein condensates to control the group velocity of light. The realization that slow light effects can be obtained in room temperature solids has allowed the development of many applications of these effects in the field of photonics. In particular, with his students he pioneered the use of coherent population oscillations as a mechanism for producing slow and fast light in room temperature solids. His work has led to an appreciation of the wide variety of exotic effects that can occur in the propagation of light through such structures, including the observation of “backwards” light propagation. Robert has also been instrumental in developing other slow light methods such as stimulated Brillouin scattering. More recently, he has moved on to the investigation of applications of slow light for buffering and signal regeneration. He also came to the realization that slow light methods can be used to obtain enormous enhancements in the resolution of interferometric spectrometers, and he is currently working on the development of spectrometers based on this principle. As just one indication of the impact of Robert’s work on slow and fast light, it should be noted that his Science paper has been cited 343 times.
Optical physics
Optical physics, or optical science, is a subfield of atomic, molecular, and optical physics. It is the study of the generation of electromagnetic radiation, the properties of that radiation, and the interaction of that radiation with matter, especially its manipulation and control...
and especially in nonlinear optics
Nonlinear optics
Nonlinear optics is the branch of optics that describes the behavior of light in nonlinear media, that is, media in which the dielectric polarization P responds nonlinearly to the electric field E of the light...
. He is currently Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Nonlinear Optics at the University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
and on the Faculty at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
.
Biography
Robert Boyd was born in BuffaloBuffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He received the B.S. degree in physics from MIT and the Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of California at Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. His Ph.D. thesis was supervised by Charles Townes
Charles Hard Townes
Charles Hard Townes is an American Nobel Prize-winning physicist and educator. Townes is known for his work on the theory and application of the maser, on which he got the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics connected with both maser and laser devices. He shared the Nobel...
and involves the use of nonlinear optical techniques in infrared detection for astronomy. Professor Boyd joined the faculty of the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
in 1977, and in 2001 became the M. Parker Givens Professor of Optics and Professor of Physics. In 2010 he became Professor of Physics and Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Nonlinear Optics at the University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
. His research interests include studies of “slow” and “fast” light propagation
Slow light
Slow light is the propagation of an optical pulse or other modulation of an optical carrier at a very low group velocity. Slow light occurs when a propagating pulse is substantially slowed down by the interaction with the medium in which the propagation take place.Researchers at the Rowland...
, quantum imaging
Quantum imaging
Quantum imaging,, is a new sub-field of quantum optics that exploits quantum correlations such as quantum entanglement of the electromagnetic field in order to image objects with a resolution or other imaging criteria that is beyond what is possible in classical optics. Examples of quantum imaging...
techniques, nonlinear optical
Nonlinear optics
Nonlinear optics is the branch of optics that describes the behavior of light in nonlinear media, that is, media in which the dielectric polarization P responds nonlinearly to the electric field E of the light...
interactions, studies of the nonlinear optical properties of materials, and the development of photonic devices including photonic biosensors
Biosensor
A biosensor is an analytical device for the detection of an analyte that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector component.It consists of 3 parts:* the sensitive biological element A biosensor is an analytical device for the detection of an analyte that combines a biological...
. Professor Boyd has written two books, co-edited two anthologies, published over 300 research papers, and been awarded five patents. He is the 2009 recipient of the Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics. Prof. Boyd is a fellow of the American Physical Society
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
(APS) and of the Optical Society of America
Optical Society of America
The Optical Society is a scientific society dedicated to advancing the study of light—optics and photonics—in theory and application, by means of publishing, organizing conferences and exhibitions, partnership with industry, and education. The organization has members in more than 100 countries...
(OSA). He is a past chair of the Division of Laser Science of APS and has been a member of the Board of Directors of OSA. He has also served as an APS representative and chair of the Joint Council on Quantum Electronics (it is joint among APS
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
, OSA
Optical Society of America
The Optical Society is a scientific society dedicated to advancing the study of light—optics and photonics—in theory and application, by means of publishing, organizing conferences and exhibitions, partnership with industry, and education. The organization has members in more than 100 countries...
and IEEE/LEOS). Prof. Boyd has served as a member of the Board of Editors of Physical Review Letters
Physical Review Letters
Physical Review Letters , established in 1958, is a peer reviewed, scientific journal that is published 52 times per year by the American Physical Society...
and of the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science Magazine
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
, and is on the Board of Advisors of the Templeton Foundation. He has an h-index
H-index
The h-index is an index that attempts to measure both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar. The index is based on the set of the scientist's most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other publications...
of 47.
Research
Slow and Fast Light
Robert has made significant contributions to the research field known colloquially as slow and fast lightSlow light
Slow light is the propagation of an optical pulse or other modulation of an optical carrier at a very low group velocity. Slow light occurs when a propagating pulse is substantially slowed down by the interaction with the medium in which the propagation take place.Researchers at the Rowland...
. Shortly after the development of great interest in this field in 2000, he realized that it is possible to produce slow and fast-light effects in room temperature solids. Until that time, most workers had made use of systems of free atoms such as atomic vapors and Bose-Einstein condensates to control the group velocity of light. The realization that slow light effects can be obtained in room temperature solids has allowed the development of many applications of these effects in the field of photonics. In particular, with his students he pioneered the use of coherent population oscillations as a mechanism for producing slow and fast light in room temperature solids. His work has led to an appreciation of the wide variety of exotic effects that can occur in the propagation of light through such structures, including the observation of “backwards” light propagation. Robert has also been instrumental in developing other slow light methods such as stimulated Brillouin scattering. More recently, he has moved on to the investigation of applications of slow light for buffering and signal regeneration. He also came to the realization that slow light methods can be used to obtain enormous enhancements in the resolution of interferometric spectrometers, and he is currently working on the development of spectrometers based on this principle. As just one indication of the impact of Robert’s work on slow and fast light, it should be noted that his Science paper has been cited 343 times.
Quantum Imaging
Robert has been instrumental in the creation and development of the field of quantum imaging. This field utilizes quantum features of light, such as squeezing and entanglement, to perform image formation with higher resolution or sensitivity than can be achieved through use of classical light sources. His research contributions in this area have included studies of the nature of position and momentum entanglement, the ability to impress many bits of information onto a single photon, and studies to identify the quantum or classical nature of coincidence imaging. This latter work has led the community to realize that classical correlations can at times be used to mimic effects that appear to be of a quantum origin, but using much simpler laboratory implementations.Local Field Effects and the Measurement of the Lorentz Red Shift
Robert has performed fundamental studies of the nature of local field effects in optical materials including dense atomic vapors. A key result of this work was the first measurement of the Lorentz red shift, a shift of the atomic absorption line as a consequence of local field effects. This red shift had been predicted by Lorentz in the latter part of the nineteenth century, but had never previously been observed experimentally. In addition to confirming this century-old prediction, this work is significant in confirming the validity of the Lorentz local-field formalism even under conditions associated with the resonance response of atomic vapors.Development of Composite Nonlinear Optical Materials
Robert has taken a leading role in exploiting local field effects to tailor the nonlinear optical response of composite optical materials and structures. Along with John Sipe, he predicted that composite materials could possess a nonlinear response exceeding those of their constituents and demonstrated this enhanced nonlinear optical response in materials including nonlinear optical materials, electrooptic materials, and photonic bandgap structures. Similar types of enhancement can occur for fiber and nanofabricated ring-resonator systems, with important applications in photonic switching and sensing of biological pathogens.Foundations of Nonlinear Optics
Robert has also made contributions to the overall growth of the field of nonlinear optics. Perhaps his single largest contribution has been in terms of his textbook Nonlinear Optics. The book has been commended for its pedagogical clarity. It has become the standard reference work in this area, and thus far has sold over 12,000 copies. Moreover, in the 1980s he performed laboratory and theoretical studies of the role of Rabi oscillations in determining the nature of four-wave mixing processing in strongly driven atomic vapors. This work has had lasting impact on the field with one particular paper having been cited 293 times.Awards and Honors
- Blythe Lecturer, Department of Physics, University of TorontoUniversity of TorontoThe University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, 1987-1988. - Fellow, American Physical SocietyAmerican Physical SocietyThe American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
, 2001. - Herta Leng Memorial Lecture, Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteRensselaer Polytechnic InstituteStephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
, April 13, 2005. - Lecturer in the Frontiers In Spectroscopy series at Ohio State UniversityOhio State UniversityThe Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
, January, 2006. - Research chosen by Discover magazine to be one of the top 100 research stories of 2006 (of which only six were in physics).
- Research described in the New York Times, May 16, 2006.
- Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics, 2009.
- Humboldt PrizeHumboldt PrizeThe Humboldt Prize, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to internationally renowned scientists and scholars, and is currently valued at € 60,000 with the possibility of further support during the prize winner's life. Up to one...
for Physics, 2010.
Books Published
- Radiometry and the Detection of Optical Radiation By R.W. Boyd (1983).
- Optical Instabilities Edited by R.W. Boyd, M. G. Raymer, and L. M. Narducci (1986).
- Nonlinear Optics By R.W. Boyd, Nonlinear Optics (1991, 2002, and 2008).
- Contemporary Nonlinear Optics Edited by G.P. Agrawal and R.W. Boyd (1991).
Significant Publications
- Superluminal and Slow Light Propagation in a Room-Temperature Solid, M. S. Bigelow, N. N. Lepeshkin, and R. W. Boyd, Science, 301, 200, (2003).
- Four-Wave Parametric Interactions in a Strongly Driven Two-Level System, R. W. Boyd, M. G. Raymer, P. Narum, and D. J. Harter, Phys. Rev. A 24, 411, (1981).