James P. Gordon: Difference between revisions

| name = James P. Gordon

| image = James_P_Gordon.jpg

| image_size = 250px

| caption = James P. Gordon (1928–2013)

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1928|3|20}}

| birth_place = [[New York City, New York|New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]]

| death_date = {{death date and age|2013|6|21|1928|3|20|mf=y}}

| death_place = Manhattan, New York, New York

| nationalityfield = [[United StatesPhysics]]

| fieldwork_institution = [[PhysicsBell Labs]]

'''James Power Gordon''' (born March 20, 1928 – June 21, 2013) iswas an American physicist known for his work in the fields of [[optics]] and [[quantum electronics]]. His contributions include the design, analysis and construction of the first [[maser]] in 1954 as a doctoral student at [[Columbia University]] under the supervision of [[Charles Hard Townes|C. H. Townes]], development of the quantal equivalent of [[Claude Shannon|Shannon]]’s's [[Channel Capacity|information capacity]] formula in 1962, development of the theory for the diffusion of atoms in an optical trap (together with [[Arthur Ashkin|A. Ashkin]]) in 1980, and the discovery of what is now known as the [[Gordon-Haus effect]] in [[soliton]] transmission, together with [[H. A. Haus]] in 1986. Gordon was a member of the [[National Academy of Engineering]] (since 1985) and the [[National Academy of Sciences]] (since 1988).

J. P. Gordon was born in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City (Brooklynstate)|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’sbachelor'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 H[[Herbert J. Zeiger]] and with his doctoral advisor Prof. [[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, James P. 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 1962-19631962–1963, he spent one year as a visiting Professorprofessor at the [[University of California, San Diego (UCSD)]].

[[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.]]

During his doctoral training period with C.H. Townes at Columbia University, Gordon worked on the design, analysis and construction of the maser.<ref name="ref4"/> This work produced the first prototype of what later evolved into the [[laser]] (originally called ``"optical maser”maser") and became one of the most important workhorses in 20th -century technology.<ref name="ref5"/>Gordon’s Gordon's later contribution to lasers included the analysis of the confocal, or curved mirror laser resonator. TogetherHe joined with G. Boyd, who initiated this activity, the twoto introducedintroduce the concept of Hermite-Gaussian modes into resonator study. ,<ref name="ref6"/>, influencing mostall subsequent studiesresearch conducted on the subject of laser resonators. In his work with R.L. Fork and O.E. Martinez in 1994, a mechanism for generating tunable negative dispersion using pairs of prisms was originally proposed. This invention was instrumental in achieving ultra-short laser pulses, critical in many applications using laser technology.<ref name="ref7"/>

===Quantum Informationinformation===

In 1962, Gordon studied the implications of quantum mechanics on Shannon’sShannon's information capacity.<ref name="ref8"/> He pointed out the main effects of quantization and conjectured the quantum equivalent of Shannon’sShannon's formula for the information capacity of a channel.<ref name="ref9"/> Gordon’sGordon's conjecture, later proven by [[Alexander Holevo]] and known as [[Holevo's theorem|Holevo]], became one of the central results in the modern field of [[quantum information]] theory.<ref name="ref10"/> In his work with W.H. Louisell published in 1966, Gordon addressed the problem of measurement in quantum physics, focusing in particular on the simultaneous measurement of noncommuting observables.<ref name="ref11"/> The concept of "measurement operator," which was introduced in that work was an early version of what is currently referred to as [[POVM|positive-operator valued measure (POVM)]] in the context of quantum measurement theory. After his retirement, Gordon re-engaged with the topic of quantum information and his last paper on the subject, titled "Communication and Measurement", was published on arxiv one year after his death.<ref name="ref1000"/>

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’sGordon's later career focused on the study of soliton transmission in optical fibers. TheHe reported the first experimental observation of solitons in optical fibers was reported in a paper co-authored bywith R.H. Stolen, and [[Linn F. Mollenauer|L.F. Mollenauer and him]].<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 J.P., Gordon and L.F. 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.

==Societies and Honorshonors==

* [[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>

* [[National Academy of ScienceSciences]] ([[List of members of the National Academy of Sciences (Engineering sciences)|member]] since 1988)

* [[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>

* Fredrick[[Frederic 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>

[[Category:American2013 physicistsdeaths]]

[[Category:LivingDeaths peoplefrom cancer in New York (state)]]