Physicist Honored for Groundbreaking Book and Research

  • Published
  • By Maria Callier
  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
ARLINGTON, Va. --  Renowned physical optics author and AFOSR-supported researcher, Dr. Emil Wolf, received the 2008 Joseph W. Goodman Award for his book, "Introduction to the Theory of Coherence and Polarization of Light," which set a precedent by providing a unified treatment of coherence and polarization.

Honoree Dr. Wolf - co-author with Nobel Laureate Dr. Max Born of "Principles of Optics," the most referenced scientific text in recent history and which is now in its seventh edition - is also a Wilson Professor of Optical Physics at the University of Rochester.

The Goodman Award he received is an international panel's biennial honor co-sponsored by SPIE and the Optical Society of America. The panel selects authors who have written books over the past six years in the field of optics and photonics.

"When I was writing the book, I discovered that coherence is intimately related to another important property of light known as polarization. The book is the first one that connects these two subjects, and I'm very glad that the awards committee appreciated that," said Wolf.

'The committee also selected Wolf's book for its excellent writing, rigor and clarity. "The decision was unanimous,"' said Dr. Jose Sasian, a professor at the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona in Tucson, in an SPIE press release.

"Coherence, which deals with subtle properties of light, became of special importance when lasers were invented because laser light and more common light produced by the sun or by an electric bulb, for example, differ in basic ways in these properties," he said.

In his most recent book, Wolf wrote about light propagating through the atmosphere and how that impacts laser beams used in Air Force communications as well as guiding and tracking.

For many years, his research in coherence received the support of the physics and electronics directorate at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) in Arlington, Va.

"I am much indebted to Dr. Arje Nachman of AFOSR for his continued support and for his interest in our work," said Wolf in the preface to his new book.

Wolf continues to work on coherence and polarization with his research group in Rochester, which includes graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and visiting scientists.
He is also editing several other books on optics.