Peter A. Franken (November 10, 1928 – March 11, 1999) was an American physicist who contributed to the field of

nonlinear optics Nonlinear optics (NLO) is the branch of optics that describes the behaviour of light in ''nonlinear media'', that is, media in which the polarization density P responds non-linearly to the electric field E of the light. The non-linearity is typica ...

. He was president of the

Optical Society of America 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 1977. In 1961, Professor Peter Franken and his coworkers in the Randall Laboratory at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

observed for the first time the

second-harmonic generation Second-harmonic generation (SHG, also called frequency doubling) is a nonlinear optical process in which two photons with the same frequency interact with a nonlinear material, are "combined", and generate a new photon with twice the energy of ...

. This event launched a golden age in optical physics that has led to applications in fields ranging from optical communications and biological imaging to X-ray generation and homeland security. In 1985 he contributed an oral history to the American Institute of Physics in which he describes background and details of his early work.Interview of Peter Franken by Joan Bromberg
on March 8, 1985. Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA

References

External links

Oral history interview transcript with Peter Franken on 8 March 1985, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives

Articles Published by early OSA Presidents
Journal of the Optical Society of America Presidents of the Optical Society 20th-century American physicists 1928 births 1999 deaths University of Michigan faculty Optical physicists {{US-physicist-stub

See also

References

External links