Jean-Pierre Wolf

Last updated

Jean-Pierre Wolf (born July 14, 1960) is a French and Swiss physicist and biophotonics expert and a professor at the Applied Physics Department (GAP) of the University of Geneva. [1]

Contents

Education and career

Wolf was born in Lausanne and studied physics at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, where he received his diploma in 1984 and PhD in 1987 under the supervision of Ludger Wöste. He received habilitation from the University of Lyon in 1991.

Research

His research activities are related with applications of ultrafast spectroscopy for biological, medical, and environmental research. [2] He is working with Jérôme Kasparian on laser beams to control the weather. [3] [4] [5] [6] The technique is similar to cloud seeding, and could potentially influence the triggering and guiding of lightning. [7]

In 2018, he is one of the two winners of the ZEISS Research Award for his research on high intensity lasers and their applications to atmospheric sciences. [8]

Since 2017 his group is taking part into the Consortium of the European project Laser Lighting Rod. In 2023 the LLR consortium demonstrated the first guiding of natural lightning over more than 50 m using laser filamentation. [9] [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photonics</span> Technical applications of optics

Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Photonics is closely related to quantum electronics, where quantum electronics deals with the theoretical part of it while photonics deal with its engineering applications. Though covering all light's technical applications over the whole spectrum, most photonic applications are in the range of visible and near-infrared light. The term photonics developed as an outgrowth of the first practical semiconductor light emitters invented in the early 1960s and optical fibers developed in the 1970s.

Optica is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conferences and exhibitions. It currently has about 488,000 customers in 183 countries, including nearly 300 companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Maiman</span> American physicist (1927–2007); inventor of the first working laser

Theodore Harold Maiman was an American engineer and physicist who is widely credited with the invention of the laser. Maiman's laser led to the subsequent development of many other types of lasers. The laser was successfully fired on May 16, 1960. In a July 7, 1960, press conference in Manhattan, Maiman and his employer, Hughes Aircraft Company, announced the laser to the world. Maiman was granted a patent for his invention, and he received many awards and honors for his work. His experiences in developing the first laser and subsequent related events are recounted in his book, The Laser Odyssey, later being republished in 2018 under a new title, The Laser Inventor: Memoirs of Theodore H. Maiman.

The term biophotonics denotes a combination of biology and photonics, with photonics being the science and technology of generation, manipulation, and detection of photons, quantum units of light. Photonics is related to electronics and photons. Photons play a central role in information technologies, such as fiber optics, the way electrons do in electronics.

SPIE is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It organizes technical conferences, trade exhibitions, and continuing education programs for researchers and developers in the light-based fields of physics, including: optics, photonics, and imaging engineering. The society publishes peer-reviewed scientific journals, conference proceedings, monographs, tutorial texts, field guides, and reference volumes in print and online. SPIE is especially well-known for Photonics West, one of the laser and photonics industry's largest combined conferences and tradeshows which is held annually in San Francisco. SPIE also participates as partners in leading educational initiatives, and in 2020, for example, provided more than $5.8 million in support of optics education and outreach programs around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Säntis</span> Mountain in Switzerland

At 2,501.9 metres (8,208 ft) above sea level, Säntis is the highest mountain in the Alpstein massif of northeastern Switzerland. It is also the culminating point of the whole Appenzell Alps, between Lake Walen and Lake Constance. Shared by three cantons, the mountain is a highly visible landmark thanks to its exposed northerly position within the Alpstein massif. As a consequence, houses called Säntisblick can be found in regions as far away as the Black Forest in Germany. Säntis is among the most prominent summits in the Alps and the most prominent summit in Europe with an observation deck on the top. The panorama from the summit is spectacular. Six countries can be seen if the weather allows: Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, France, and Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ICFO</span>

ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences is a research center devoted to the science and technology of light. Located in Castelldefels, ICFO was created in 2002 by the Government of Catalonia and the Technical University of Catalonia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce J. Tromberg</span> American chemist

Bruce J. Tromberg is an American photochemist and a leading researcher in the field of biophotonics. He is the director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Before joining NIH, he was Professor of Biomedical Engineering at The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and of Surgery at the School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine. He was the principal investigator of the Laser Microbeam and Medical Program (LAMMP), and the Director of the Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic at Irvine. He was a co-leader of the Onco-imaging and Biotechnology Program of the NCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at Irvine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis</span>

The Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis is an award for given to those who have created applied laser technology and innovations on the application or generation of laser light. It is open to participants worldwide. It is biennially awarded by the German non-profit foundation Berthold Leibinger Stiftung. Three prizes are awarded worth 100,000 euros. The prize winners are selected from eight finalists that present their work person in a jury session. The jury is composed of international experts from different fields.

Satoshi Kawata is a scientist based in Japan who is active in nanotechnology, photonics, plasmonics, and other areas of applied physics. He is a Professor of Department of Applied Physics at Osaka University. He is also a Chief Scientist at RIKEN. Kawata was the 2022 president of Optica.

The European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS) is an interdisciplinary research center established by the Italian Ministry of Education in 1991 within the University of Florence thanks to the initiative of Prof. Salvatore Califano.

Since the late 1980s, there have been several attempts to investigate the possibility of harvesting lightning energy. A single bolt of lightning carries a relatively large amount of energy. However, this energy is concentrated in a small location and is passed during an extremely short period of time (microseconds); therefore, extremely high electrical power is involved. 5 gigajoules over 10 microseconds is equal to 500 terawatts. Because lightning bolts vary in voltage and current, a more average calculation would be 10 gigawatts. It has been proposed that the energy contained in lightning be used to generate hydrogen from water, to harness the energy from rapid heating of water due to lightning, or to use a group of lightning arresters to harness a strike, either directly or by converting it to heat or mechanical energy, or to use inductors spaced far enough away so that a safe fraction of the energy might be captured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne L'Huillier</span> French-Swedish Nobel laureate physicist

Anne Geneviève L'Huillier is a French physicist, and professor of atomic physics at Lund University in Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toptica Photonics</span>

TOPTICA Photonics is a German manufacturer of lasers for quantum technologies, biophotonics and material inspection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anita Mahadevan-Jansen</span> Biomedical engineer

Anita Mahadevan-Jansen is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and holds the Orrin H. Ingram Chair in Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. Her research considers the development of optical techniques for clinical diagnosis and surgical guidance, particularly using Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy. She serves on the Board of Directors of SPIE, and is a Fellow of SPIE, The Optical Society, Society for Applied Spectroscopy, and the American Society for Lasers in Medicine and Surgery. She was elected to serve as the 2020 Vice President of SPIE. With her election, Mahadevan-Jansen joined the SPIE presidential chain and served as President-Elect in 2021 and the Society's President in 2022.

Stefan Andersson-Engels is a Swedish biophysicist specializing in the field of biophotonics. He is professor at University College Cork and the deputy director of the Irish Photonics Integration Center (IPIC) within the Science Foundation Ireland. Before joining University College Cork, he was Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Lund University. He has co-founded 3 biophotonics companies Spectracure, Lumito, BioPixS. He also co-founded biannual biophotonics summer school.

Boris Nikolaevich Chichkov, born 1955 in Novokuznetsk is a German-Russian Physicist whose research focus is on the development of novel laser technologies and their applications in material processing, photonics, and biomedicine.

Paras Nath Prasad is an Indian chemist. He is the SUNY Distinguished Professor at the University at Buffalo and holds a tenured faculty appointment in the department of Chemistry. In addition, he also holds non-tenured appointments in Physics, Medicine, and Electrical Engineering at the University at Buffalo and serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igor Meglinski</span> British Biomedical Engineer, Quantum Biophotonics and Optical Physicist

Igor Meglinski is a British, New Zealand and Finnish scientist serving as a principal investigator at the College of Engineering & Physical Sciences at the Aston University, where he is a Professor in Quantum Biophotonics and Biomedical Engineering. He is a Faculty member in the School of Engineering and Technology at the Departments of Mechanical, Biomedical & Design Engineering, and is also associated with the Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies (AIPT) and Aston Research Centre for Health in Ageing (ARCHA).

Ludger Wöste is a German physicist and professor at the Free University of Berlin. He is known for research in laser control of chemistry and laser-based weather control through the creation of plasma channels by laser filamentation in air.

References

  1. "Conference to Explore Laser-based Weather Control". photonics.com. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  2. "Research :: GAP Biophotonics". www.unige.ch. Retrieved 2021-09-19.
  3. "The man who wants to control the weather with lasers". Jacopo Prisco. CNN. 24 April 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  4. "Conference to Explore Laser-based Weather Control". photonics.com. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  5. "Weather could be controlled using lasers". The Telegraph. 27 August 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  6. Wolf, Jean-Pierre. "Short-pulse lasers for weather control". Reports on Progress in Physics. 81 (2): 026001. doi:10.1088/1361-6633/aa8488/meta.
  7. "The man who wants to control the weather with lasers". Jacopo Prisco. CNN. 24 April 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  8. Ltd, SPIE Europe. "Swiss pair share 2018 Zeiss Research Award". optics.org. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  9. Houard, Aurélien; Walch, Pierre; Produit, Thomas (2023-01-16). "Laser-guided lightning". Nature Photonics. 17 (3): 231–235. doi:10.1038/s41566-022-01139-z. ISSN   1749-4893.
  10. Prisco, Jacopo (2021-07-12). "Scientists are trying to control lightning with a giant laser". CNN. Retrieved 2024-01-08.