Quantum Electronics and Optics Prizes 2007-2011

Please note that a complete historical list for previous winners of the prestigious Quantum Electronics and Optics Prize can be found here.

2011 Prize for Applied Aspects of Quantum Electronics and Optics: Ursula Keller

The 2011 Prize for Applied Aspects of Quantum Electronics and Optics is awarded to Professor Ursula Keller, Professor in the Physics Department, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. The Prize is awarded to Professor Keller for “seminal contributions to ultrafast solid-state lasers, telecommunications, metrology, and attosecond science”.

2011 Prize for Fundamental Aspects of Quantum Electronics and Optics: Immanuel Bloch

The 2011 Prize for Fundamental Aspects of Quantum Electronics and Optics is awarded to Professor Immanuel Bloch, scientific director at the Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics, Garching and professor for experimental physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich, Germany. The prize is awarded to Professor Bloch for “pioneering work on exploring quantum many-body systems using ultracold quantum gases for quantum simulation and quantum information applications.” 

2011 Fresnel Prize (Fundamental): Philip Walther

Philip Walther received his PhD in 2005 from the University of Vienna (Austria). He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard University in the group of Prof. Mikhail Lukin. Since 2008 he has moved back to Vienna as University Assistant where his research is focused on experiments using multi-photon entanglement for optical quantum computation and quantum simulation. He is a fellow of The German Young Academy, and has authored or co-authored around 25 peer-reviewed publications that have attracted over 1500 citations, and has given over 25 invited talks at international conferences.

2011 Fresnel Prize (Applied): Christelle Monat

Christelle Monat received her PhD in 2003 from the Ecole Centrale of Lyon (ECL, France). She worked for two years at ETH Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland on single-photon sources. In 2005, she joined CUDOS (Sydney, Australia) to conduct research into optofluidics, until she was awarded an Australian ARC Fellowship in 2007 to explore slow light in nonlinear photonic crystals, and became the project leader of the Slow Light Program in CUDOS. In 2010, she was appointed Associate Professor at ECL/ INL in Lyon. Her research focuses on hybrid III-V/ Si platforms for all-optical signal processing on-chip. She has authored or co-authored 50 peer-reviewed publications that attracted over 1000 citations and she has delivered over 50 talks at international conferences.

2011 PhD Thesis Prizes and Topics (Applied)

Alberto Politi: PhD from University of Bristol. Integrated Quantum Photonics.

Pavel Ginzburg: PhD from Technion, Israel, Novel Nanophotonic Devices (joint with A. Hayat)

Alex Hayat: PhD from Technion, Israel, Semiconductor quantum photonics (joint with P Ginzburg)

2011 PhD Thesis Prizes and Topics (Fundamental)

Simon Gröblacher, PhD from University of Vienna, Quantum opto-mechanics with micromirrors

Maiken H. Mikkelsen, PhD from University of California, Santa Barbara, Single electron spin dynamics in semiconductors

Albert Schliesser, PhD from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München /

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Silica Whispering-Gallery-Mode Microresonators

2009 Prize for Fundamental Aspects of Quantum Electronics and Optics: Alain Aspect

The 2009 Senior Prize for Fundamental Aspects of Quantum Electronics and Optics is awarded to Alain Aspect, French CNRS Distinguished Researcher, and Professor at the Institut d'Optique Graduate School and at the Ecole Polytechnique in Palaiseau near Paris. Alain Aspect is a member of both the French Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Technologies, and a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA). Aspect has made numerous contributions to the fields of quantum and atom optics, and it was his seminal experiments in 1982 that confirmed the counterintuitive nature of quantum entanglement to which Einstein himself had objected. These results paved the way for the modern research revolution in quantum information processing, and the development of technologies such as quantum cryptography and quantum computing. Since then he has performed numerous other pioneering studies in the fields of both quantum and atom optics, and his work has included – between 1985 and 1992 – a highly significant collaboration on laser cooling of atoms together with 1997 Nobel prize winner Claude Cohen-Tannoudji.

2009 Prize for Applied Aspects of Quantum Electronics and Optics: Thomas Ebbesen

The 2009 Senior Prize for Applied Aspects of Quantum Electronics and Optics is awarded to Thomas Ebbesen, Professor at the University of Strasbourg in France, and Director of ISIS, a multidisciplinary research institute funded both by the University and the French CNRS. Thomas Ebbesen is also a Senior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France. Ebbesen has carried out research into a range of topics in physics and chemistry, including novel carbon materials and superconductivity. The Quantum Electronics and Optics Prize is awarded for his work carried out since the early 1990s into the novel optical properties of nanostructured metals and in particular for his discovery of how light can be efficently transmitted through subwavelength holes. His pioneering experiments have greatly contributed to the emergence of the field of surface plasmon photonics. Ebbesen’s work is at the interface of nanoscience and photonics, and impacts on numerous strategic technologies such as opto-electronics, optical communications and sensing.

2009 Fresnel Prize (Fundamental): Thomas Kippenberg

Tobias Kippenberg received his PhD in 2004 from Caltech (USA). At the end of 2005 he returned to Germany and established the independent Max Planck junior research group “Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements” at MPQ in the Division of Prof. Theodor W. Hänsch. His research explores ultra-high Q microresonators for optical frequency comb generation and for studying optomechanical phenomena. Since September 2007 he has been tenure track assistant professor at ETH Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. He has authored or co-authored around 40 peer-reviewed publications and has given over 30 invited talks at international conferences.

2009 Fresnel Prize (Applied): Romain Quidant

Romain Quidant received his PhD in 2002 from the University of Burgundy (France). Since then he has worked in Barcelona at ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences. In 2006, he was appointed ICREA junior Professor and ICFO group leader of the Plasmon Nano-Optics group. His research is focussed on engineering plasmon properties of metallic nanostructures to extend optical concepts and photonic functionalities down to the nanometer scale. He is supported by Cellex Foundation Barcelona, and is author or co-author of around 50 peer reviewed publications and has delivered more than 20 invited talks at international conferences.

2009 PhD Thesis Prizes

Fernando G.S.L. Brandao:
PhD from Imperial College London.
Quantum information theory

Alexei Ourjoumtsev:
PhD from Institut d’Optique/ University Paris XI.
Novel quantum states of Light

John C Travers:
PhD from Imperial College London.
Fibre supercontinuum generation

Deran Maas:
PhD from ETH Zurich.
Novel pulsed semiconductor lasers

2007 EPS Quantum Electronics Prizes
Fundamental aspects		Applied aspects
	Anton Zeilinger Universität Wien, Austria "For his many seminal contributions to the foundations of quantum optics and quantum information science."		Mordechai Segev Technion, Haifa, Israel "For his pioneering contributions in the field of light propagation in nonlinear media, in particular regarding spatial solitons in photorefractive materials, incoherent solitons, and nonlinear waves in periodic structures."

2007 EPS Fresnel Prizes
Fundamental aspects		Applied aspects
	Markus Aspelmeyer Universität Wien, Austria "For his outstanding achievement in the fields of entanglement, quantum communication and quantum physics of nano-mechanical devices."		Jérôme Faure Ecole Polytechnique-ENSTA-CNRS Palaiseau, France "For the application of high field lasers to laser plasma accelerators."