Stephen Ernest Harris (born November 29, 1936) is an American physicist known for his contributions to

electromagnetically induced transparency Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is a coherent optical nonlinearity which renders a medium transparent within a narrow spectral range around an absorption line. Extreme dispersion is also created within this transparency "window" ...

(EIT), modulation of single photons, and x-ray emission. In a diverse career, he has collaborated with others to produce results in many areas, including the 1999 paper titled “Light speed reduction to 17 metres per second in an ultracold gas,” in which

Lene Hau Lene Vestergaard Hau (; born November 13, 1959) is a Danish physicist and educator. She is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics at Harvard University. In 1999, she led a Harvard University team who, by use of a Bose–E ...

and Harris, Cyrus Behroozi and

Zachary Dutton Zachary John Dutton is an American physicist who has worked on research centred mainly around cold atomic gases, Electromagnetically induced transparency, EIT, low light level nonlinear optics, quantum memories, and coherent optical. Dutton graduate ...

describe how they used EIT to slow optical pulses to the speed of a bicycle. He has also contributed to developments in the use of the

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 ...

, generating paired photons with single driving lasers He has also shown the development of such pairs of photons using

waveform In electronics, acoustics, and related fields, the waveform of a signal is the shape of its graph as a function of time, independent of its time and magnitude scales and of any displacement in time.David Crecraft, David Gorham, ''Electronic ...

s His more recent work has sought to address restraints imposed on the types of waveforms that can be produced by the single-cycle barrier Harris and colleagues succeeded in this endeavour in 2005 during a series of experiments aimed at obtaining full control of waveforms, noting "we were able to vary the shape of the pulse to generate different prescribed waveforms." It is hoped that these results will lead to coherent control of chemical reactions, as a probe for ever-shorter physical processes, and for highly efficient generation of far infra-red and vacuum ultra-violet radiation. Harris was elected as a member into the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

in 1977 for contributions in the field of coherent and non-linear optics.

Education

*1959 B.S., Electrical Engineering,

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

*1961 M.S., Electrical Engineering,

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

*1963 Ph.D., Electrical Engineering,

Awards

*1973 Curtis W. McGraw Research Award (

American Society for Engineering Education The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) is a non-profit member association, founded in 1893, dedicated to promoting and improving engineering and engineering technology education. The purpose of ASEE is the advancement of education ...

) *1978 David Sarnoff Award ( The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) *1984 Davies Medal for Engineering Achievement (

) *1985

Charles Hard Townes Charles Hard Townes (July 28, 1915 – January 27, 2015) was an American physicist. Townes worked on the theory and application of the maser, for which he obtained the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics associated wi ...

Award (

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 ...

) *1991

Einstein Prize for Laser Science The Einstein Prize for Laser Science was a recognition awarded by the former Society for Optical and Quantum Electronics and sponsored by the Eastman Kodak Company. The prize, awarded in the 1988–1999 period, consisted of a 3-inch brass meda ...

( International Conference on Lasers and Applications) *1992

(Stanford Chapter) Teaching Award *1994 Quantum Electronics Award ( The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) *1999 Frederic Ives Medal (highest award of the

) *2002 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science (

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

) *2007

Harvey Prize Harvey Prize is an annual Israeli award for breakthroughs in science and technology, as well as contributions to peace in the Middle East granted by the Technion in Haifa. History The prize is named for industrialist and inventor Leo Harvey. T ...

(Awarded by the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology) *2020

Willis E. Lamb Willis Eugene Lamb Jr. (; July 12, 1913 – May 15, 2008) was an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1955 "for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum." The Nobel Committee that year awarded hal ...

Award for Laser Science and Quantum OpticsThe Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optic

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Honours

*1968 OSA Fellow, Fellow of the Optical Society of America *1972 Fellow of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

*1975 Fellow of

*1976

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

*1977 Elected to the

*1981 Elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

*1988 Kenneth and Barbara Oshman Professor of Engineering Endowed Chair (Stanford University) *1994 Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

*1995 Elected to Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

*2005 Stephen E. Harris Endowed Professorship in Quantum Optics (

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

)

References

External links

Harris page at Stanford
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Stephen E. 1936 births Living people 21st-century American physicists Optical physicists Fellows of the Optical Society Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Physical Society Stanford University School of Engineering alumni Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni