Founded | 1916 |
---|---|
Founder | Perley G. Nutting |
Type | 501(c)3 organization |
53-0259696 | |
Focus | Optics and photonics |
Location |
|
Area served | Worldwide |
Method | Professional journals and conferences |
Members | 22,000 |
Key people | Gerd Leuchs (2024 president) Michal Lipson (2023 president) Contents
Stephen D. Fantone (2020 president) Elizabeth A. Rogan (CEO) |
Revenue | $49,549,907 [1] [2] |
Endowment | $74,991,615 |
Employees | 150 |
Website | www |
Optica (founded as The Optical Society of America (OSA), later TheOptical Society) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals, organizes conferences and exhibitions, and carries out charitable activities.
Optica was founded in 1916 as the "Optical Society of America", under the leadership of Perley G. Nutting, [3] with 30 optical scientists and instrument makers based in Rochester, New York. It soon published its first journal of research results and established an annual meeting. [4] [5] The first local section was established in Rochester, New York, in 1916 and the Journal of the Optical Society of America was created in 1918. [5] The first series of joint meetings with the American Physical Society was in 1918. [5]
In 2008, it changed its name to The Optical Society (OSA). [6] In September 2021, the organization's name changed to Optica, in reference to the organization's journal by the same name and geographic neutrality to reflect the society’s global membership. [7]
In 2024, it was reported that the Optica Foundation Challenge was funded entirely by Huawei. [8] [9] In response, the United States House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology launched a probe. [10]
Optica Publishing Group
Optica Publishing Group is Optica’s scientific publishing platform, which publishes peer-reviewed optics and photonics research. Optica Publishing Group’s portfolio consists of 20 publications. [11]
Optica presents awards and honors, including Optica Fellow, Honorary Membership, and Awards/Medals. Optica's awards and medals program is endowed through the Optica Foundation, and includes more than 20 named awards; among them are the following: [14]
The following persons are or have been presidents of the society: [15]
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.
The John Tyndall Award is given to the "individual who has made pioneering, highly significant, or continuing technical or leadership contributions to fiber optics technology". The award is named after John Tyndall (1820-1893), who demonstrated for the first time internal reflection.
The University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences, considered the largest institute for optics education in the United States, is dedicated to research and education in optics with an emphasis on optical engineering. The college offers more than 90 courses in optical sciences, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Optical Sciences and Engineering, Masters and Doctoral degree programs in Optical Sciences, as well as a dual master's degree in Optical Sciences and Business Administration. The college also offers comprehensive distance learning courses leading to a Professional Graduate Certificate or a master's degree and markets non-credit short courses on DVD to optics professionals.
Robert Louis Byer is a physicist. He was president of the Optical Society of America in 1994 and of the American Physical Society in 2012.
Rod C. Alferness was president of The Optical Society in 2008.
Susan Nicole Houde-Walter is an academic and technical executive in the field of optics. She was professor of optics at the University of Rochester from 1987-2005. She used to run LaserMaxDefense, a manufacturer of laser equipment for military and law enforcement. She served as president of the Optical Society in 2005 and has travelled extensively with the US military. Dr. Houde-Walter served as director of the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology. from 2022 to 2023.
Anthony Michael Johnson is an American experimental physicist, a professor of physics, and a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He is the director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR), also situated on campus at UMBC. Since his election to the 2002 term as president of the Optical Society, formerly the Optical Society of America, Johnson has the distinction of being the first and only African-American president to date. Johnson's research interests include the ultrafast photophysics and nonlinear optical properties of bulk, nanostructured, and quantum well semiconductor structures, ultrashort pulse propagation in fibers and high-speed lightwave systems. His research has helped to better understand processes that occur in ultrafast time frames of 1 quadrillionth of a second. Ultrashort pulses of light have been used to address technical and logistical challenges in medicine, telecommunications, homeland security, and have many other applications that enhance contemporary life.
Constance J. Chang-Hasnain is chairperson and founder of Berxel Photonics Co. Ltd. and Whinnery Professor Emerita of the University of California, Berkeley. She was President of Optica in 2021.
Benjamin John Eggleton,, is Pro Vice Chancellor (Research) at the University of Sydney. He is also Professor in the School of Physics where he leads a research group in integrated photonics, nonlinear optics and smart sensors and serves as co-director of the NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN).
James Clair Wyant was a professor at the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona where he was Director (1999–2005) and Dean (2005–2012). He received a B.S. in physics from Case Western Reserve University and M.S. and Ph.D. in optics from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester.
James Power Gordon was 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 C. H. Townes, development of the quantal equivalent of Shannon's information capacity formula in 1962, development of the theory for the diffusion of atoms in an optical trap 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 and the National Academy of Sciences.
The William F. Meggers Award has been awarded annually since 1970 by the Optical Society for outstanding contributions to spectroscopy. It was established to honor William Frederick Meggers and his contributions to the fields of spectroscopy and metrology.
Govind P. Agrawal is an Indian American physicist and a fellow of Optica, Life Fellow of the IEEE, and Distinguished Fellow of the Optical Society of India. He is the recipient of James C. Wyant Professorship of Optics at the Institute of Optics and a professor of physics at the University of Rochester. He is also a Distinguished scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) in the University of Rochester. Agrawal has authored and co-authored several highly cited books in the fields of non-linear fiber optics, optical communications, and semiconductor lasers.
Alexandra Boltasseva is Ron And Dotty Garvin Tonjes Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, and editor-in-chief for The Optical Society's Optical Materials Express journal. Her research focuses on plasmonic metamaterials, manmade composites of metals that use surface plasmons to achieve optical properties not seen in nature.
The Edwin H. Land Medal is jointly presented by The Optical Society and the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T). The Land Medal was established in 1992 to honor the noted scientist and entrepreneur Edwin H. Land, who is noted for his invention of instant photography, for founding the Polaroid Corporation, and for developing the theory of Retinex, amongst many other accomplishments. It is funded by the Polaroid Foundation, the Polaroid Retirees Association and by individual contributors Manfred Heiting, Theodore Voss and John J. McCann. The medal honors individuals who, using the science of optics, "have demonstrated pioneering entrepreneurial activity that has had a major impact on the public."
Patricia R. Wakeling (1923–2016) was the recipient of the Optical Society of America (OSA) Stephen D. FantoneDistinguished Service Award in 1990 and Managing Editor of the scientific journal Applied Optics for three decades. Wakefield was integral in the launch of OSA's first two journals.
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.
Nathalie Picqué is a French physicist working at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in the field Frequency Combs, where she studies ultra-high resolution spectroscopy using ultrashort pulses of light combined with Fourier-transform spectroscopy to reveal the fine chemistry of samples, in particular in the mid-infrared, demonstrating resolving power in excess of 1,000,000,000,000.
Alexander Luis Gaeta is an American physicist and the David M. Rickey Professor of Applied Physics at Columbia University. He is known for his work on quantum and nonlinear photonics. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Optica, and of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Boon S. Ooi is a Malaysian–American academic researcher and a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. He was faculty member at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) from 1996 to 2000 and at Lehigh University from 2003 to 2009. He served as Director of KACST-Technology Innovation Center at KAUST from 2012 to 2020.