Professor George I. Stegeman
Professor George I. Stegeman is a pioneer, the most eminent and leading researcher in applications of nonlinear optics in waveguide structures.
George I. Stegeman received his PhD in 1969 from the University of Toronto and then for many years was a professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Since 1990 he has been working at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Laser (CREOL) in Orlando, where he was the first recipient of the Cobb Family Chair in Optical Sciences and Engineering. Additionally, professor Stegeman is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and American Physical Society.
Experimental and theoretical studies of professor Stegeman are focused mainly on optical processing of optical signals, cascade nonlinearity, as well as creation of optical solitons i.e. light pulses as a result of nonlinear phenomena which do not disperse during propagation. Professor Professor Stegeman initiated studies of spatial solitons in polymers, photonic crystals, semiconductor optical amplifiers, nonlinear crystals - in both singular waveguides and in waveguide matrices. As a result of those studies, computers' speed can be significantly accelerated due to manipulation of complete optical signals. The technology is predicted to be commercially applied in the next few years.
Professor Stegeman is a laureate of many prestigious awards: R.W. Wood Prize of OSA (2003) awarded by Optical Society of America (for outstanding scientific discovery, technical achievement or invention in the field of optics), among others. Moreover, the professor was rewarded by Hertzberberg Medal for Achievement in Physics (1980), awarded by Canadian Association of Physicists as well as the UCF Researcher of the Year (1998). Professor Stegeman is the chief editor of Journal of the Optical Society of America B and an editor of Physics Reports. He has also co-authored approximately thousand publications.
Professor Mirosław Karpierz and Professor Stanisław Janeczko will be hosting Professor G. Stegeman during his presence at the Warsaw University of Technology from October 2009 to the end of January 2010.