Colin Edward Webb (born 9 December 1937) is a British physicist and former professor at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, specialising in

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

Education

Webb was educated at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

(BSc) and

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

(DPhil).

Career

After working at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

Murray Hill, New Jersey Murray Hill is an unincorporated community located within portions of both Berkeley Heights and New Providence, located in Union County in northern New Jersey, United States. It is the longtime central location of Bell Labs (part of Nokia si ...

, Webb returned to Oxford as a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

in physics at the

Clarendon Laboratory The Clarendon Laboratory, located on Parks Road within the Science Area in Oxford, England (not to be confused with the Clarendon Building, also in Oxford), is part of the Department of Physics at Oxford University. It houses the atomic and ...

in 1968, and was appointed to a university lectureship in 1971, becoming

reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in 1990 and professor in 1992. He served as head of Atomic and Laser Physics from 1995 to 1999, and became an emeritus professor in 2002.

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship St ...

appointed him to a

Fellowship A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

in 1973; he became a senior research fellow in 1988 and an emeritus fellow in 2005. Webb has supervised more than 35 DPhil students. In 1977, he founded Oxford Lasers a company that began as a manufacturer of high-power copper lasers and that today focuses on high-speed imaging and laser micro-machining technology.

Research

Webb is considered a pioneer in British laser research and has made significant contributions in the areas of hollow cathode metal-vapor lasers,

copper vapor laser Copper vapor laser (CVL) uses vapors of copper as the lasing medium in a 4-level laser. It produces green laser light at 510.6 nm and yellow laser light at 578.2 nm. The pulse width is typically from 5 to 60 ns, and peak power from 50 ...

s, high-power copper vapor laser-pumped

dye lasers A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution and ...

, and

excimer lasers An excimer laser, sometimes more correctly called an exciplex laser, is a form of ultraviolet laser which is commonly used in the production of microelectronic devices, semiconductor based integrated circuits or "chips", eye surgery, and microele ...

. His work on hollow-cathode metal-vapor lasers led to the discovery of numerous new laser transition in the visible spectrum. His publications include (as editor in chief) ''Handbook of Laser Technology and Applications'' (2003) as well as various papers on lasers and laser mechanisms in academic journals and specialized books.C. E. Webb, High-power dye lasers pumped by copper vapor lasers, in ''High Power Dye Lasers'', F. J. Duarte (Ed.) (Springer, Berlin, 1991) Chapter 5. He has also co-authored a textbook in laser physics in 2010, with Simon Hooker of Oxford.S. Hooker and C. E. Webb, ''Laser Physics'', (Oxford University Press, 2010

Awards and honours

Webb was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 2000. He was awarded the

Duddell Medal and Prize The Dennis Gabor Medal and Prize (previously the Duddell Medal and Prize until 2008) is a prize awarded biannually by the Institute of Physics for distinguished contributions to the application of physics in an industrial, commercial or business ...

(now called the Gabor Medal and Prize) in 1985 by the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physica ...

and delivered the Paterson Lecture of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1999. He won the

Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize The Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize is awarded annually by the Institute of Physics to recognise leadership in the field of physics. It was established in 1966 and named in honour of Sir Richard T. Glazebrook, the first president of the Insti ...

in 2001. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1991 One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: He is also a

Fellow of the Institute of Physics Fellowship of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) is "the highest level of membership attainable" by physicists who are members of the Institute of Physics (IoP), "for those with a degree in physics or related subject (or equivalent knowledge gained ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Colin Living people 1937 births British physicists English physicists Experimental physicists Optical physicists Laser researchers Scientists at Bell Labs Alumni of the University of Nottingham Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Fellows of Jesus College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of Optica (society) Members of the Order of the British Empire