Claire F. Gmachl
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Claire F. Gmachl
Claire F. Gmachl [gu-'mäk-&l] is a pioneer in the field of quantum cascade lasers.
"...a wizard at imagining and creating new designs..." - The MacArthur Foundation
"She has little patience for distractions." - Popular Science
Education and Honors
Dr. Claire F. Gmachl earned her M.Sc. in Physics from the [University of Innsbruck] in 1991. She went on to receive her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Vienna in 1995, graduating sub auspiciis Praesidentis (with special honors by the president of the Austrian republic). Her studies focused on integrated optical modulators and tunable surface-emitting lasers in the near infrared. From 1996 to 1998, she was a Post-Doctoral Member of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories, the famous research division currently run by Lucent Technologies. In 1998, she became a formal Member of Technical Staff at Bell Labs and in 2002 she was named a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, in part due to her pioneering work on the quantum cascade laser. However, in 2003, she left Bell Labs and took a position as Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University, where she is currently working.
In 2004, Popular Science listed her in its "Class of 2004 - Brillaint 10," its list of the 10 most promising scientists under 40. She went on, in September 2005, to win the MacArthur Foundation's "genius grant." Recently, she was named the director of the new Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE) Center, funded by the National Science Foundation.
Research
Although Dr. Gmachl originally intended to study theoretical applied mathematics, her interest soon turned to theoretical applied physics, and, with the encouragement of an advisor, experimental sciences.Dr. Gmachl is an experimental scientist working at the intersection of technology and fundamental physics in the fields of optics and semiconductor laser technology. A wizard at imagining and creating new designs for solid-state lasers, Gmachl’s pioneering work has led to critical advances in the development of Quantum cascade lasers. QC lasers are a rapidly evolving class of high-performing, mid-infrared, semiconductor light sources. The lasers designed by Gmachl and her colleagues are noteworthy for their considerable wavelength tunability, high-power operation, high-speed modulation capabilities, and seemingly unlimited design potential. She has demonstrated the versatility and promise of mid-infrared light sources for a wide range of applications, including trace gas sensing in the environmental, industrial, and medical fields, and free-space optics in wireless communications. Her recent achievements include the development of QC microlasers and new hybrid devices, which include quantum cascade structures and nonlinear components, dramatically extending the wavelength range of QC technology. These designs have direct applications to environmental monitoring, clinical diagnoses, spectroscopy, and chemical process control. With her combination of technological flair and deep understanding of physical concepts, Claire Gmachl translates complex principles into original and practical devices that advance our understanding of optical device designs and promise to address a wide variety of engineering challenges.
Awards
- "The Snell Premium" award of the IEE, UK, August 2003
- Bell Labs "Distinguished Member of Staff", December 2002
- MIT's Technology Review magazine "TR100", May 2002
- IEEE/LEOS Distinguished Lecturer '02 - '03, April 2002
- "Commendation for Excellence in Technical Communications", Laser Focus World Magazine, 9/2001
- "Outstanding Performer Award" under the DARPA/MTO PWASSP Program, US DoD, July 2001
- "NASA Group Achievement Award", co-recipient, NASA, Washington D.C., 2000
- *"For making the first atmospheric measurements using a quantum-cascade laser, thereby demonstrating its applicability to in situ terrestrial and planetary instrumentation." - Bell Labs
- "Solid State Physics Award" of the Austrian Physical Society, Austria, 1996
- "1995 Christian Doppler Award" for engineering sciences including environmental sciences, Austria, 1996
- Graduation "sub auspicies praesidentis" by the president of Austria, Vienna, Austria, 1996
Selected Publications
- Claire Gmachl, Alexey Belyanin, Deborah L. Sivco, Milton L. Peabody, Nina Owschimikow, A. Michael Sergent, Federico Capasso, and Alfred Y. Cho. Optimized Second-Harmonic Generation in Quantum Cascade Lasers. IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 39 (11), in print (2003)
- Nina Owschimikow, Claire Gmachl, Alexey Belyanin, Vitaly Kocharovsky, Deborah L. Sivco, Raffaele Colombelli, Federico Capasso, and Alfred Y. Cho. Resonant Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Processes in Quantum Cascade Lasers. Phys. Rev. Lett. 90(4), 043902-1-4 (2003)
- C. Gmachl, A. Soibel, R. Colombelli, D. L. Sivco, F. Capasso, and A. Y. Cho. Minimal Group Refractive Index Dispersion and Gain Evolution in Ultra-Broadband Quantum Cascade Lasers. IEEE Photon. Techn. Lett. 14 (12), pp. 1671 - 1672 (2002)
- Claire Gmachl, Axel Straub, Raffaele Colombelli, Federico Capasso, Deborah L. Sivco, A. Michael Sergent, and Alfred Y. Cho. Single-mode, Tunable Distributed-Feedback and Multiple-Wavelength Quantum Cascade Lasers. IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 38, 569 - 581 (2002) invited paper
- Claire Gmachl, Evgueni E. Narimanov, Federico Capasso, James N. Baillargeon, Alfred Y. Cho. Kolmogorov Arnold Moser transition and laser action on scar modes in semiconductor diode lasers with deformed resonators. Opt. Lett. 27, pp. 824 - 826 (2002)
- C. Gmachl, D. L. Sivco, R. Colombelli, F. Capasso, and A. Y. Cho. Ultra-broadband semiconductor laser. Nature 415, pp. 883 - 887 (2002)
- Claire Gmachl, Federico Capasso, Deborah L. Sivco, and Alfred Y. Cho. Recent progress in quantum cascade lasers and applications. Reports on Progress in Physics 64, pp. 1533 - 1601 (2001)
References
- [Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University]
- [Equad News: Winter 2005, Princeton University]
- [Physical Sciences Research, Bell Labs]
- [Physical Research Laboratory, Awards 2000, Bell Labs]
- [Claire Gmachl, Popular Science Magazine]
- [Quantum Cascade Lasers, Bell Labs]
See Also
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