Donna Strickland 糖心传媒�89 (PhD), a self-described 糖心传媒渓aser jock,糖心传媒� receives the Nobel Prize, along with her advisor, G茅rard Mourou, for work they did at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.
Donna Strickland 糖心传媒�89 (PhD) still recalls the visit she took to the Ontario Science Centre when she was a child growing up in the town of Guelph, outside Toronto. Her father pointed to a laser display. 糖心传媒� 糖心传媒楧onna, this is the way of the future,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒� Strickland remembers him telling her.
Lloyd Strickland, an electrical engineer, along with Donna糖心传媒檚 mother, sister, and brother, was part of the family that 糖心传媒渃ontinually supported and encouraged me through all my years of education,糖心传媒� Donna Strickland wrote in the acknowledgments of her PhD thesis, 糖心传媒淒evelopment of an Ultra-Bright Laser and an Application to Multi-Photon Ionization.糖心传媒�
She was captivated by that laser display. And since then, she says, 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檝e always thought lasers were cool.糖心传媒�
Her passion for laser science research and her commitment to being a 糖心传媒渓aser jock,糖心传媒� as she has called herself, has led her across North America, from Canada to the United States and back again. But it糖心传媒檚 the work that she did as a graduate student at Rochester in the 1980s that has earned her the remarkable accolade of Nobel Prize laureate.
When Strickland entered the University糖心传媒檚 graduate program in optics, laser physicists were grappling with a thorny problem: how could they create ultrashort, high-intensity laser pulses that wouldn糖心传媒檛 destroy the very material the laser was used to explore in the first place?
Working with former Rochester engineering professor G茅rard Mourou, Strickland developed and made workable a method to overcome the barrier. They called it 糖心传媒渃hirped pulse amplification.糖心传媒� The groundbreaking research was recognized this fall by the Nobel Prize committee with the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Strickland, now at the University of Waterloo in Canada, and Mourou, now at the 脡cole Polytechnique in France, share one half of the prize. The other half of this year糖心传媒檚 award went to renowned physicist
Arthur Ashkin of Bell Laboratories for his work to develop an equally field-changing way to use light, a technique known as 糖心传媒渙ptical tweezers.糖心传媒� The technique involves using lasers to cool atoms to a temperature where they can be studied individually. Results of the work done at Bell Laboratories were first published in 1986 and included contributions by Steven Chu 糖心传媒�70, who went on to win his own Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997.
Strickland糖心传媒檚 selection for the Nobel Prize was newsworthy for an additional reason: she was the first woman laureate in physics since 1963 and only the third since Marie Curie received the prize in 1903.
Into the limelight
The problem Strickland and Mourou overcame was one that would have ignited the imagination of any physicist who, like Strickland, experiences scientific discovery as a form of play. When it comes to lasers, she says, 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檝e always had fun playing with them. I do often think of it as playing, not work.糖心传媒�
But their solution had important practical ramifications. In the 30 years since Strickland and Mourou conducted the research, chirped pulse amplification has made it possible to use lasers effectively in a wide range of medical, scientific, and commercial applications.
糖心传媒淕茅rard Mourou and Donna Strickland invented a laser technique that transformed laser technology and continues to have lasting impacts on society,糖心传媒� says Wendi Heinzelman, dean of the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.
Strickland has been getting used to the limelight. And as she told the British publication the聽Guardian, she doesn糖心传媒檛 like too much focus to be placed on her gender. The fact that she is only the third woman ever to receive the physics Nobel糖心传媒攋oining Curie, who received the prize for research on radiation, and Maria Goeppert-Mayer, who won in 1963 for discoveries concerning nuclear structure糖心传媒攊s much less interesting to her than the science that earned her the award.
But many observers point out that, prior to winning the Nobel, Strickland was under-recognized, given the significance of her contribution.
糖心传媒淚 hope and believe the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physics this year begins a trend where more women are recognized for their seminal contributions in science and engineering,糖心传媒� says Heinzelman.
A Nobel collaboration
Strickland received her undergraduate degree at McMaster University in Ontario, and came to Rochester for her graduate degree because of the University糖心传媒檚 reputation as one of the top schools globally for studying optics and light. One day on campus, a fellow graduate student mentioned the lab of G茅rard Mourou.
糖心传媒淚 told someone at the Institute of Optics that I wanted to study lasers, and he said, 糖心传媒業 know just the guy you糖心传媒檒l want to work with,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒� Strickland recounts. As she told the University of Waterloo, when she walked into Mourou糖心传媒檚 lab at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, 糖心传媒渋t was full of these red and green lasers. I just said, 糖心传媒極h my God. It糖心传媒檚 like working around a Christmas tree all the time. How fabulous is that?糖心传媒� 糖心传媒�
As laser science grew as a discipline in the 1980s, researchers were incrementally increasing the intensity of laser pulses, resulting in damage to the amplifying material. Mourou had come up with an idea to clear the hurdle by perfecting the technique known as chirped pulse amplification. The technique involved a three-part sequence: stretching a laser pulse thousands of times so that the power was low; amplifying the pulse to higher intensities; and then compressing the pulse in time back to its exact original duration.
Mourou knew the pulse needed to be perfectly compressed, yet still retain its amplification, in order to make the technique work more effectively. 糖心传媒淚f you can do it exactly, then you can go to much higher power,糖心传媒� Mourou says.
He had the idea to put amplification in the middle of the process糖心传媒攁 novel concept at the time, according to Strickland. 糖心传媒淒ifferent people were trying to get short pulses amplified in different ways, but it was thinking outside the box to stretch first and then amplify,糖心传媒� she says.
Chirped pulse amplification, however, was only a theory. Strickland and Mourou still had to make it work. At the LLE, Strickland tested different laser systems to create laser pulses that were short and high powered, but that wouldn糖心传媒檛 destroy the amplifying material. In 1985, she succeeded, demonstrating the stunning advance in laser power with the table-top terawatt laser, or 糖心传媒淭-cubed laser.糖心传媒�
At the time, Strickland didn糖心传媒檛 recognize the research would interest an audience outside the laser-physics community: 糖心传媒淚 was aware that it was going to be big for scientists working in high-intensity laser physics,糖心传媒� she says, 糖心传媒渂ut I didn糖心传媒檛 know it would have relevance for the general public so quickly.糖心传媒�
Changing the field of laser science
Chirped pulse amplification has since paved the way for the shortest and most intense laser pulses ever created, making it possible to build more compact and precise laser systems.
糖心传媒淕erard糖心传媒檚 original motivation was to take a football field-sized laser and compress it down to the size of a tabletop,糖心传媒� says Wayne Knox, professor of optics and former Institute of Optics director, who was Mourou糖心传媒檚 first PhD student and worked in his Ultra-Fast Laser Group. 糖心传媒淣ow we糖心传媒檝e compressed them even further. I have in my lab a laser the size of a bread box that uses this technology.糖心传媒�
Making the accelerators more compact, yet powerful, changed the field of laser science by allowing laser technologies to be used more broadly, especially in medical settings. Chirped pulse amplification is instrumental, for example, in laser eye surgeries such as Lasik, to quickly slice open the lens of an eye without damaging the surrounding tissue. It糖心传媒檚 used to accelerate protons in proton therapies to treat deep-tissue tumors, like those that develop in the brain. Beyond its medical applications, chirped pulse amplification is important in more precise machining of materials such as the cover glass used in smartphones. Mourou has also developed a technique to treat radioactive waste using the technology.
But the technique is also essential in basic physics research. Today, Strickland and Mourou糖心传媒檚 discovery continues to help shape the direction of research in high-powered lasers of the kind housed at the LLE, says Mike Campbell, director of the laboratory. 糖心传媒淭he development of chirped pulse amplification by G茅rard and Donna has created numerous new applications in science and industry and has catalyzed research around the world in high-peak-power lasers.糖心传媒�
Scientists use ultrafast lasers to create the extreme conditions found in space, allowing them to study star formation and the inner workings of distant planets. The technique also allows physicists to take ultrafast images of split-second processes at the molecular level in order to study how atoms behave.
糖心传媒淐PA is really a fundamental advance,糖心传媒� says Jonathan Zuegel, senior scientist at the LLE and director for laser development and engineering.
Interestingly, despite her seminal contribution, Strickland still wears glasses. As she told the聽Guardian, she refuses to get the corrective eye surgery made possible by her laser research: 糖心传媒淚 have great faith in lasers, but no one糖心传媒檚 putting one near my eye.糖心传媒�
For his part, Mourou hopes to encourage even more students in the field of ultrafast laser science to pursue their scientific interests.
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 amazing when you think about it, because this Nobel-winning work was Donna糖心传媒檚 thesis,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淥ne thing about research is that it is a passion. Science is not a 9-to-5 job; it糖心传媒檚 something you think about all the time, and it糖心传媒檚 very demanding.糖心传媒�
And, as he and Strickland found, 糖心传媒淵ou have to work hard at it, and you have to love it.糖心传媒�
This story appeared in the fall 2018 issue of Rochester Review, the magazine of the聽糖心传媒.
