Herwig Kogelnik receives Medal of Honor

17 Jun 2002

Bell Labs researcher is recognized for his pioneering work in optoelectronics and lasers.

US Bell Labs scientist Herwig Kogelnik has received the 2001 IEEE Medal of Honor for his contribution to the science and technology of lasers and optoelectronics, and leading research into photonics and light wave communications systems.

Kogelnik, who has devoted his entire career to driving laser technology forward, first laid down the foundations for understanding laser beam propagation by deriving the so-called ABCD law. Since then he has pioneered coupled wave theory, which has been crucial to holographic data storage and also the distributed feedback (DFB) concept for semiconductor DFB lasers. These lasers form the basis of today's optical networks and are essential to dense wavelength-division multiplexing, a technology that has vastly increased the capacity of fiber networks.

Kogelnik has also developed tunable filters and lasers for optical networking and switching.

A fellow worker and director of light wave systems at Bell Labs, Andrew Chraplyvy, said: "[Kogelnik] would think of a problem on many different levels, which would allow him to solve seemingly impossible problems."

Even after retiring from administrative duties at Bell Labs, Kogelnik still continues to do just this. "There's no end to the problems that need to be solved," he said. "People still want more and more bandwidth, and achieving this is still hard."