Optica will recognize newly elected Fellow Members and present the 2025 Herbert Walther Awards during the Award Ceremony.
Herbert Walther Award
The Herbert Walther Award commemorates Max Planck Institute of Quantum Physics Professor Herbert Walther’s groundbreaking innovations in quantum optics and atomic physics, as well as other wide-ranging contributions to the scientific community. The Award, administered jointly by Optica and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG), recognizes distinguished contributions in quantum optics and atomic physics as well as leadership in the international scientific community.
The 2025 Recipient is Michael Fleischhauer, who is recognized for key contributions in nonlinear quantum optics as well as photonic and atomic quantum technologies – in particular for the development of a toolbox to coherently control multi-level atoms with light, including the concept of dark state polaritons and Rydberg dipole blockade physics.
Optica Fellows
Fellows are Optica members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics through distinguished contributions to education, research, engineering, business and society.
Current Optica Fellows:
- Philippe Bouyer, University of Amsterdam and Technical University Eindhoven, The Netherlands
- Supriya Chakrabarti, University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA
- Tal Ellenbogen, Tel Aviv University, Israel
- Aleksandra Foltynowicz, Umeå Universitet, Sweden
- Philippe Grelu, Université Bourgogne Europe, France
- Brendan Kennedy, The University of Western Australia & Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Australia and Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland
- Jensen Li, University of Exeter, UK
- Wei Li, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
- Juan Liu, Beijing Institute of Technology, China
- Riccardo Meucci, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica-CNR, Florence, Italy
- Dmitry Turchinovich, Universität Bielefeld, Germany
- Frederique Vanholsbeeck, The University of Auckland and The Dodd Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, New Zealand
- Robert J. Zawadzki, University of California Davis, USA