James A. (Jim) Piper (1 January 1947 – 20 July 2023) was a New Zealand/Australian physicist, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Professor of Physics at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

. Piper studied physics at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

, New Zealand, and received a

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

(Hons) in 1968. He completed a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in atomic physics, also at Otago, in 1971. His post-doctoral research was on metal-vapour lasers, with

Colin Webb Colin Edward Webb (born 9 December 1937) is a British physicist and former professor at the University of Oxford, specialising in lasers. Education Webb was educated at the University of Nottingham (BSc) and Oriel College, Oxford (DPhil). C ...

at Oxford.

Laser research in Australia

Following his arrival to Macquarie University in the late 1970s, from Oxford, Piper established one of the first laser research centres in Australia. Initially he directed his research toward

gas laser A gas laser is a laser in which an electric current is discharged through a gas to produce coherent light. The gas laser was the first continuous-light laser and the first laser to operate on the principle of converting electrical energy to a lase ...

continuous wave A continuous wave or continuous waveform (CW) is an electromagnetic wave of constant amplitude and frequency, typically a sine wave, that for mathematical analysis is considered to be of infinite duration. It may refer to e.g. a laser or particle ...

metal ion lasers, cyclic pulsed metal vapour lasers, and metal ion recombination lasers. He also added a laser development program on high-power tunable

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 ...

for various applications including

atomic vapor laser isotope separation Atomic vapor laser isotope separation, or AVLIS, is a method by which specially tuned lasers are used to separate isotopes of uranium using selective ionization of hyperfine transitions. A similar technology, using molecules instead of atoms, is ...

. In this area of research he is co-author, with Frank Duarte, of a number of papers on

tunable laser A tunable laser is a laser whose wavelength of operation can be altered in a controlled manner. While all laser gain media allow small shifts in output wavelength, only a few types of lasers allow continuous tuning over a significant wavelength ran ...

oscillator physics. Piper's primary research interests were in solid-state lasers. In particular,

diode-pumped solid-state laser A diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is a solid-state laser made by pumping a solid gain medium, for example, a ruby or a neodymium-doped YAG crystal, with a laser diode. DPSSLs have advantages in compactness and efficiency over other types, ...

s and related thermal engineering, mid-infrared solid state laser materials, solid state

Raman laser A Raman laser is a specific type of laser in which the fundamental light-amplification mechanism is Raman effect#Stimulated Raman scattering and Raman amplification, stimulated Raman scattering. In contrast, most "conventional" lasers (such as the r ...

s, and novel self-frequency-doubling laser materials.

Awards

*1982

Pawsey Medal The Pawsey Medal is awarded annually by the Australian Academy of Science to recognize outstanding research in the physics by an Australian scientist early in their career (up to 10 years post-PhD). This medal commemorates the work of the late Jo ...

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

*1984

Walter Boas Medal The Walter Boas Medal is awarded by the Australian Institute of Physics for research in Physics in Australia. It is named in memory of is named in memory of Walter Boas (1904-1982) — an eminent scientist and metallurgist who worked on the physic ...

, Australian Institute of Physics *1994 Fellow of the Optical Society of America *1997 AOS Medal, Australian Optical Society *2004 Carnegie Centenary Professorship, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland *2006 Honorary Doctorate of Science,

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

, Scotland *2014

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

References

External links

Piper's page at Macquarie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piper, James A. Australian physicists Laser researchers University of Otago alumni Academic staff of Macquarie University Fellows of Optica (society) Fellows of the Australian Institute of Physics Members of the Order of Australia 1947 births 2023 deaths

Laser research in Australia

Awards

See also

References

External links