// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy did Kerry Vahala's laser go to therapy? It had a lot of reflection.
Kerry Vahala | |
|---|---|
 Vahala in 2020 | |
| Born | February 5, 1959 |
| Alma mater | California Institute of Technology (BS, MS, PhD) |
| Spouse | Karen |
| Awards | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | optical microcavities |
| Institutions | California Institute of Technology |
| Thesis | Dynamic and Spectral Features of Semiconductor Lasers (1985) |
| Amnon Yariv | |
Kerry J. Vahala is an American professor of Applied Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He holds the Ted and Ginger Jenkins chair of Information Science and Technology and also serves as the Executive Officer of the Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science.
Early life and education
[edit]Kerry John Vahala was born in Flint, Michigan, on February 5, 1959, to Ernest and Joyce Vahala. Ernest was an automotive engineer at General Motors.[1][2] He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Physics and an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, all from Caltech. His doctoral advisor was Amnon Yariv.[3]
Career
[edit]Vahala is known for his studies of devices called optical microcavities[4] and their application to a wide range of subjects including miniature frequency and time systems, microwave sources, parametric oscillators, astrocombs and gyroscopes. He also made early contributions to the subject of cavity optomechanics[5] and was involved in demonstrations of chip-based devices to cavity QED phenomena.[6]
Vahala is a Fellow of the IEEE and the Optical Society of America, has received an Alexander von Humboldt Award[7] for his work on high-Q optical microcavities, an award from NASA for work on Astrocombs, the Paul F Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award[8] from the Optical Society for the '2-photon optical clock collaboration', and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.[9] He also contributed to the understanding of quantum well lasers for optical communications, and shared with Y. Arakawa and K. Lau the 2009 IEEE David Sarnoff Award for research on quantum-well laser dynamics.[10] Their "combined work formed the basis for nearly all of today’s high-speed semiconductor laser design for lightwave high-speed telecommunications, particularly in the metropolitan and local-area arena”.
Vahala has also received the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, the ONR Young Investigator Award, and was the first recipient of Caltech's Feynman Hughes Fellowship.[11]
Vahala has served as associate editor to both Photonics Technology Letters and the Journal of the Optical Society of America, is on the advisory board of APL Photonics, and was Program Chair and General Chair for the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) in 2000 and 2001.[citation needed]
Later life
[edit]His daughter Katelyn[2] is an international prize-winning pianist[12] and a USC faculty member.[13]
References
[edit]- ↑ Lang, R.; Vahala, K.; Yariv, A. (May 1985). "The effect of spatially dependent temperature and carrier fluctuations on noise in semiconductor lasers". IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics. 21 (5): 443–451. doi:10.1109/JQE.1985.1072677.
- 1 2 "Ernest Vahala Obituary". Legacy.com. October 12, 2010.
- ↑ Vahala, Kerry John (1985). Dynamic and Spectral Features of Semiconductor Lasers (PhD thesis). California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/H7JA-K512. OCLC 1367369140.
- ↑ Vahala, Kerry J. (August 2003). "Optical microcavities". Nature. 424 (6950): 839–846. Bibcode:2003Natur.424..839V. doi:10.1038/nature01939. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 12917698. S2CID 4349700.
- ↑ Kippenberg, T. J.; Vahala, K. J. (August 29, 2008). "Cavity Optomechanics: Back-Action at the Mesoscale". Science. 321 (5893): 1172–1176. Bibcode:2008Sci...321.1172K. doi:10.1126/science.1156032. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 18755966. S2CID 4620490.
- ↑ Risau, Werner (April 1997). "Mechanisms of angiogenesis". Nature. 386 (6626): 671–674. Bibcode:1997Natur.386..671R. doi:10.1038/386671a0. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 9109485. S2CID 4347358.
- ↑ "Caltech Aerospace (GALCIT) | News | Kerry Vahala Wins Alexander Von Humboldt Research Award". Caltech Aerospace (GALCIT). Retrieved December 13, 2021.
- ↑ "Paul F. Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award".
- ↑ "Dr. Kerry J. Vahala". NAE Website. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
- ↑ "IEEE David Sarnoff Award Recipients" (PDF). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2020.
- ↑ Stong, Colby (June 24, 1990). "People: Physicist Kerry Vahala Is First Recipient Of Caltech's Feynman-Hughes Fellowship". The Scientist. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
- ↑ "Katelyn Vahala named a prize winner at 2022 International Bach Competition". USC Thornton School of Music. August 1, 2022.
- ↑ "Faculty Voices: Katelyn Vahala". Pasadena Conservatory of Music. May 15, 2025.
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