Federico Capasso Awarded 2021 Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize

OSA will present Federico Capasso with the 2021 Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize, which recognizes overall distinction in optics. Capasso, the Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, earns the highest award granted by OSA.

Federico Capasso. Courtesy of OSA via Eliza Grinnell/Harvard SEAS.

While at Bell Labs, Capasso and his team contributed significantly to the field of semiconductor devices and laser science, pioneering band-structure engineering, which eventually led to the invention of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs), for which he is recognized as a co-inventor.

Capasso’s current work seeks to put the quantum cascade laser (currently used in commercial applications) into action in the context of quantum electronics. He and his team at Harvard have advanced the field considerably, demonstrating the metalens — atomically thin lenses that use nanostructures to direct light — for the first time.

Capasso holds more than 60 U.S. patents, has authored over 450 papers, and is the recipient of awards including an SPIE Gold Medal, the IEEE Edison Medal, the Balzan Prize, and the Arthur Schawlow Prize awarded by the American Physical Society. He currently serves as a member of the Photonics Spectra Editorial Advisory Board.