James P. Gordon: Difference between revisions

| alma_mater = [[Columbia University]]<br />[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]

J. P. Gordon was born in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York (state)|New York]], on March 20, 1928, and was raised in [[Forest Hills, Queens]] and [[Scarsdale, New York]].<ref name=NYTObit/> His father, Robert S. Gordon was a lawyer and worked as VP and General Counsel for National Dairy, now Kraftco. Gordon attended Scarsdale High School and [[Phillips Exeter Academy]] (Class of 1945). In 1949, he received a bachelor's degree from the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT) and joined the physics department of [[Columbia University]] as a graduate student. He received his Mastersmaster's degree and PhD degrees in physics in 1951 and 1955, respectively. In the framework of his doctoral research he designed, built and demonstrated the successful operation of the first maser together with [[Herbert J. Zeiger]] and with his doctoral advisor [[Charles H. Townes]]. The invention of the maser won the Nobel Prize in Physics, which C.H. Townes shared in 1964 with the Russian scientists [[Nikolay Basov|N. Bassov]] and [[Alexander Prokhorov|A. Prokhorov]]. Starting in 1955 and until his retirement in 1996, Gordon worked as a scientist at AT&T Bell-Laboratories, where in the period between 1958 and 1980 he headed the Quantum Electronics Research Department, located initially in [[Murray Hill, New Jersey|Murray Hill]] and later in [[Holmdel Township, New Jersey|Holmdel Township]], both in the state of New Jersey. In 1962–1963, he spent one year as a visiting professor at the [[University of California, San Diego]].

[[Image:NMAHMaser DCcomponents, - IMG 87681954.JPGjpg|thumb|upright|left|200px|Picture of James P. Gordon with Charles H. Townes behind maser components, at the exhibit in National Museum of American History, Washington, DC, USA.]]

Having joined [[Arthur Ashkin]]'s efforts of manipulating microparticles with laser beams, Gordon wrote the first theory describing radiation forces and momenta in dielectric media.<ref name="ref12"/> Later, jointly with Ashkin, he modeled the motion of atoms in a radiation trap.<ref name="ref125"/> This work together with Ashkin's experiments, was the basis for what later developed into the fields of [[Magneto-optical trap|atom trapping]] and [[optical tweezers]]. Ashkin's work on optical tweezers was recognized with the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to him in 2018.

Much of Gordon's later career focused on the study of soliton transmission in optical fibers. He reported the first experimental observation of solitons in optical fibers in a paper co-authored with R.H. Stolen and [[Linn F. Mollenauer|L.F. Mollenauer]].<ref name="ref13"/> In a seminal 1986 paper, Gordon explained and formulated the theory of the soliton self-frequency shift that had been observed prior to that in experiments.<ref name="ref14"/> In the same year, together with Prof. [[H. A. Haus]] of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he predicted and quantified the timing-jitter effect resulting from the coupling between solitons and optical amplification noise in amplified optical systems.<ref name="ref15"/> This effect was shown to be one of the most fundamental factors in determining the performance of soliton systems and it is now broadly recognized as the Gordon-Haus effect.<ref name="ref16"/> In 1990, Gordon and Mollenauer predicted and analyzed the enhancement of phase-noise as a result of the optical nonlinearity of fibers.<ref name="ref16.5"/> This phenomenon, often referred to as the Gordon-Mollenauer effect, was a key factor in preventing the use of solitons in coherent optical communications.

* [[Charles Hard Townes Award]] (OSA, 1981)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.osa.org/Awards_and_Grants/Awards/Award_Description/charlestownes/ | title=Charles Hard Townes Medal &#124; Optica }}</ref>

* [[Max Born Award]] (OSA, 1991)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.osa.org/Awards_and_Grants/Awards/Award_Description/maxborn/ | title=Max Born Award &#124; Optica }}</ref>

* [[Willis E. Lamb Award]] for laser science and quantum optics (2001)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lambaward.org/2001/|title=The 2001 Willis e. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics}}</ref>

* [[FredrickFrederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize|Fredric Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize]] (OSA, 2002)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.osa.org/Awards_and_Grants/Awards/Award_Description/ivesquinn/ | title=Frederic Ives Medal / Jarus W. Quinn Prize &#124; Optica }}</ref>

* Honorary Member of the Optical Society (OSA, 2011)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.osa.org/Membership/Member_Categories/Honorary/ | title=Honorary Members &#124; Optica }}</ref>

<ref name="ref125">{{cite journal | last1=Gordon | first1=J. P. | last2=Ashkin | first2=A. | title=Motion of atoms in a radiation trap | journal=Physical Review A | publisher=American Physical Society (APS) | volume=21 | issue=5 | date=1980-05-01 | issn=0556-2791 | doi=10.1103/physreva.21.1606 | pages=1606–1617| bibcode=1980PhRvA..21.1606G |doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Category:Columbia UniversityGraduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]

[[Category:ExperimentalAmerican experimental physicists]]

[[Category:OpticalAmerican optical physicists]]

[[Category:Fellows of theOptica Optical Society(society)]]

[[Category:PeopleScientists from Brooklyn]]