May 2 2017
In appreciation of his “major contributions to photonic integrated circuits,” UC Santa Barbara engineering professor Larry Coldren has been bestowed the 2017 Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award from the Optical Society of America (OSA).
Larry Coldren ( Photo Credit: MELISSA VAN DE WERFHORST)
The award is presented every year to an individual who has made noteworthy contributions to optics based on semiconductor-based optical materials and devices, including basic technological and science applications.
The demand for and increase of internet-enabled devices, from computers and smartphones to “smart” appliances and wearables, put a strain on current telecommunications infrastructure. Scientists and engineers have aimed to harness the power of light for its speed, energy efficiency, and capacity in managing the huge volumes of data.
This is indeed a major honor. It is especially important to me, because it honors Professor Holonyak, who I have known and respected all of my professional career, and it is also endowed by Don Scifres with his wife and company, people I have also known and respected for a long time. We have all worked in similar areas for many years.
Coldren, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in UCSB’s College of Engineering.
But to obtain that data to and from lightwaves into the electronic devices, a transition has to be created, which comes in the form of the photonic integrated circuit (PIC), via which electronic and optical elements are integrated. Coldren’s most distinguished work in the field includes vertical cavity-surface-emitting lasers and extensively tunable lasers. He also authored a textbook on PICs diode and lasers, currently in its second edition, that for the past twenty years has been the most popular on the topic.
Larry Coldren has an extensive record of making important contributions in photonics, both as a world-renowned researcher and technological entrepreneur and as a teacher, as evidenced by his widely used photonics textbook. We at the College of Engineering offer Larry our warmest congratulations for receiving the OSA’s Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award for 2017.
UCSB College of Engineering Dean Rod Alferness.
Coldren, who joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1984, also is a professor of materials at UCSB. He served as acting dean of the College of Engineering from 2009 –11, and is presently the director of the campus’s Optoelectronics Technology Center and the Solid State Lighting & Energy Electronics Center. Coldren is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the OSA and the Institute of Electronics Engineers in the UK. In addition, he is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors.
Set up in 1997, the OSA award honors Nick Holonyak, Jr., who has made notable contributions to the field of optics through the development of semiconductor based LEDs and semiconductor lasers.