Anne C. Tropper (born 1954) is a Professor of Physics at the University of Southampton. Her work considers solid-state and semiconductor lasers; specifically the development of ytterbium-doped silica fibre lasers and Vertical External-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers. She was elected a Fellow of

The Optical Society Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...

in 2006, and awarded the 2021 SPIE Maiman Laser Award for her contributions to laser source science and technology.

Early life and education

Tropper was born in London in 1954, the daughter of mathematician

A. Mary Tropper Agnes Mary Tropper (née Barnett; 1917–2009) was a British mathematician, textbook author, and translator. Early life and education Agnes Mary Barnett was born in Sheffield in 1917, and grew up in London. She was educated at Christ's Hospita ...

and electrical engineer

Hans Tropper Hans Tropper (1905–1978) was an Austrian Professor of Electrical Engineering with research interest in breakdown strength of liquid insulation. The ‘Hans Tropper Memorial Lecture’ is held in his honour to open each IEEE International Confere ...

; she spent her childhood in her father's high-voltage laboratory. She eventually studied physics at the

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

, where she was taught by Nina Byers. She was encouraged by Byers to stay at Oxford for a doctoral degree, and joined the laboratory of Mike Leask. After earning her PhD Tropper was awarded a

Lindemann Lindemann is a German surname. Persons Notable people with the surname include: Arts and entertainment * Elisabeth Lindemann, German textile designer and weaver * Jens Lindemann, trumpet player * Julie Lindemann, American photographer * Maggie ...

Fellowship, and joined an engineering consultancy before moving to the Almaden Research Laboratory in San Jose, California.

Research and career

Tropper joined the University of Southampton in 1983. She worked alongside David Hanna on the development of ytterbium-doped silica fibres, and together demonstrated their potential in λ = 1μm optical amplifiers. These amplifiers allowed for high power operation as well as the broad spectra bandwidths required to amplify ultrashort optical pulses. In 1988 Tropper and Hanna were the first to show that ytterbium-doped silica fibres could be used as an optical gain medium, and went on to investigate the spectroscopic properties that underpin its performance. Tropper's early work on ytterbium-doped silica fibres went on to influence

Gérard Mourou Gérard Albert Mourou (; born 22 June 1944) is a French scientist and pioneer in the field of electrical engineering and lasers. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, along with Donna Strickland, for the invention of chirped pulse a ...

. In 1989 Tropper was a founding member of the University of Southampton Optoelectronics group. In 1997 Tropper worked with Ursula Keller on the first passively mode-locked Vertical External-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VECSEL). Tropper leads the VECSEL group at the University of Southampton and coordinates the annual SPIE conference on VECSELs. She was awarded a Personal Chair in 2000 and made Head of Department in 2002. She has investigated semiconductor lasers that emit

femtosecond A femtosecond is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to 10 or of a second; that is, one quadrillionth, or one millionth of one billionth, of a second. For context, a femtosecond is to a second as a second is to about 31. ...

optical pulses. In 2006 Tropper was elected a Fellow of

. Tropper was appointed to the Institute of Physics Council in 2017. She was one of 1,400 academics who signed a letter to The Sunday Times in support of Britain remaining in the European Union. Tropper was awarded the 2021 SPIE Maiman Laser Award for her contributions to laser source science and technology.

Selected publications

Her publications include: * * *

Personal life

Tropper is married with three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tropper, Anne 21st-century women physicists British women physicists Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Academics of the University of Southampton Fellows of Optica (society) Living people 1954 births