James P. Gordon
James P. Gordon | |
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Charles Hard Townes |
James Power Gordon (March 20, 1928 – June 21, 2013) was an American physicist known for his work in the fields of
Biography and personal life
J. P. Gordon was born in
In 1960, he married Susanna Bland Waldner, a former Bell-Labs computer programmer. The couple had three children: James Jr., Susanna, and Sara. A resident of Rumson, New Jersey, he died aged 85 on June 21, 2013, at a hospital in New York City due to cancer.[1][2]
In addition to his scientific career, Gordon played platform tennis, having won the U.S. National Championship for men's doubles in 1959, and mixed doubles in 1961 and 1962.[3][4]
Gordon's brother, Robert S. Gordon Jr. (1926–1984) set up a Cholera Clinic in East Pakistan, where he made seminal contributions to the study of this disease. The Gordon Lecture in Epidemiology is a yearly award in his honor, granted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).[5]
Scientific activity
Lasers and resonators
During his doctoral training period with C.H. Townes at Columbia University, Gordon worked on the design, analysis and construction of the maser.[6] This work produced the first prototype of what later evolved into the laser (originally called "optical maser") and became one of the most important workhorses in 20th-century technology.[7] Gordon's later contribution to lasers included the analysis of the confocal, or curved mirror laser resonator. He joined with G. Boyd, to introduce the concept of Hermite-Gaussian modes into resonator study,[8] influencing all subsequent research conducted on laser resonators. In his work with R.L. Fork and O.E. Martinez in 1994, a mechanism for generating tunable negative dispersion using pairs of prisms was proposed. This invention was instrumental in achieving ultra-short laser pulses, critical in many applications using laser technology.[9]
Quantum information
In 1962, Gordon studied the implications of quantum mechanics on Shannon's information capacity.[10] He pointed out the main effects of quantization and conjectured the quantum equivalent of Shannon's formula for the information capacity of a channel.[11] Gordon's conjecture, later proven by Alexander Holevo and known as Holevo's theorem, became one of the central results in the modern field of quantum information theory.[12] In his work with W.H. Louisell published in 1966, Gordon addressed the problem of measurement in quantum physics, focusing in particular on the simultaneous measurement of noncommuting observables.[13] The concept of "measurement operator," which was introduced in that work was an early version of what is currently referred to as positive-operator valued measure (POVM) in the context of quantum measurement theory. After his retirement, Gordon re-engaged with the topic of quantum information and his last paper on the subject, titled "Communication and Measurement", was published on arxiv one year after his death.[14]
Atom diffusion
Having joined Arthur Ashkin's efforts of manipulating microparticles with laser beams, Gordon wrote the first theory describing radiation forces and momenta in dielectric media.[15] Later, jointly with Ashkin, he modeled the motion of atoms in a radiation trap.[16] This work together with Ashkin's experiments, was the basis for what later developed into the fields of atom trapping and optical tweezers.
Solitons and optical communications
Much of Gordon's later career focused on the study of soliton transmission in optical fibers. He reported the first experimental observation of solitons in optical fibers in a paper co-authored with R.H. Stolen and
Gordon's most recent major contribution to the field of fiber-optic communications was in the mathematical formulation of the phenomenon of polarization mode dispersion (PMD), which constitutes one of the most important factors in determining the performance of fiber-optic systems. His paper, coauthored with H. Kogelnik, appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the formulation presented therein became standard in many of the subsequent texts dealing with polarization phenomena in optical fibers.[22]
Societies and honors
- Fellow of the American Physical Society
- Fellow of the Optical Society of America(OSA)
- Life fellow of IEEE
- Charles Hard Townes Award (OSA, 1981)[23]
- National Academy of Engineering (member since 1985)
- National Academy of Sciences (member since 1988)
- Max Born Award (OSA, 1991)[24]
- Willis E. Lamb Award for laser science and quantum optics (2001)[25]
- Fredrick Ives Medal (OSA, 2002)[26]
- Honorary Member of the Optical Society (OSA, 2011)[27]
References
- ^ a b Martin, Douglas. "James Gordon Dies at 85; Work Paved Way for Laser", The New York Times, July 27, 2013. Accessed July 29, 2013.
- ^ "James P. Gordon, noted physicist, dead at 85". APP. Jun 26, 2013.
- ^ List of Men's Doubles National Champions in Platform Tennis
- ^ List of Mixed Doubles National Champions in Platform Tennis
- ^ Gordon Lecture in Epidemiology
- ISSN 0031-899X.
- ISSN 1047-6938.
- ISSN 0005-8580.
- ISSN 0034-6861.
- S2CID 51631629.
- OCLC 500770.
- ISSN 0018-9448.
- ^ Simultaneous measurements of noncommuting observables, J. P. Gordon and W. H. Louisell, in Physics of Quantum Electronics, P. L. Kelley, M. Lax, and P. E. Tannenwald, Eds. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966, pp. 833-840.
- ^ Communication and Measurement: J.P. Gordon, arXiv:1407.1326 [quant-ph] (2014).
- ISSN 0556-2791.
- ISSN 0556-2791.
- ISSN 0031-9007.
- PMID 19738721.
- PMID 19738722.
- ISBN 978-0123958211.
- PMID 19771087.
- PMID 10781059.
- ^ "Charles Hard Townes Medal | Optica".
- ^ "Max Born Award | Optica".
- ^ "The 2001 Willis e. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics".
- ^ "Frederic Ives Medal / Jarus W. Quinn Prize | Optica".
- ^ "Honorary Members | Optica".
External links
- The development of lasers from the website of Science Clarified.
- Nature photonics interview with A. Ashkin on the development of atom cooling and optical tweezers
- Interview with C.H. Townes for the laser’s 50th birthday
- The Gordon-Haus effect explained, Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology
- Scientists (including three Nobel prize laureates) talk at a symposium held in Gordon's memory