Based in Washington, the Optical Society of America has bestowed its annual distinction awards upon 20 individuals for their commitment, initiative and creativity in the optics field. The prizes will be presented during the society's annual meeting in October in Rochester, N.Y. A few of the 2004 winners follow.

David J. Wineland, a National Institute of Standards and Technology fellow and ion-storage group leader in the Time and Frequency Div. in Boulder, Colo., received the highest award conferred, the Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Endowment, for development of laser-manipulated quantum engineering at the single-atom level and its application to quantum logic systems and other areas.

Steven K. Case, founder and chairman of CyberOptics Corp. in Minneapolis, received the Edwin H. Land Medal for pioneering work in laser-based inspection systems and their application in the electronics industry. The prize was cosponsored by the Society for Imaging Science and Technology of Springfield, Va.

Alexander A. Sawchuk, a professor in the department of electrical engineering and deputy director of the Integrated Media Systems Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, was honored with the Distinguished Service Award for 23 years of effort on behalf of the society. Member contributions and the American Optical Corp. of Southbridge, Mass., endow the award.

Randy A. Bartels, a faculty member at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, won the Adolph Lomb Medal, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the field made by individuals under age 35. His innovative work involved the coherent control of light, atoms and molecules, including the shape-pulsed optimization of high-order soft x-ray radiation.

David E. Pritchard, Cecil and Ida Green professor of physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, was presented with the Max Born Award for his application of light to new forms of spectroscopy and to the manipulation and trapping of atoms, and for initiating new fields of atom optics and interferometry. The prize is endowed by the United Technologies Research Center of East Hartford, Conn.