San Jose, CA, September 16, 2002 -- New Focus, Inc., a provider of photonics technology solutions, announced that the Optical Society of America (OSA), the premier professional society of optical scientists and engineers devoted to advancing the fields of optics and photonics, selected Dr. Timothy Day, co-founder and CTO, to receive the Engineering Excellence Award for his contributions to tunable lasers.
"We are delighted that the OSA has recognized Tim Day for his leadership role in tunable lasers," said Nic Pignati, president and chief executive officer of New Focus, Inc. "Without question, this is a wonderful reflection upon the excellence of the laser engineering team he built over the years at New Focus. The entire company appreciates his continuing technology and business leadership, and we heartily congratulate Tim on achieving this honor."
"Among his technical endeavors, the external-cavity tunable laser is the most outstanding achievement," said Dr. Tingye Li, a pioneer and leader in optical fiber communications who retired from AT&T. "He pioneered and guided the work, which led to a most reliable and robust unit that has set the industry standard in meeting a broad spectrum of requirements for applications ranging from scientific research to telecommunications."
Currently New Focus is the leading supplier of tunable lasers for research and test-and-measurement in both Telecom and non-Telecom applications. Their first tunable laser offering was in 1992.
"Tim led the commercialization of tunable laser technology at New Focus with the introduction of the Model 6102 at 670-nm wavelength, their first tunable laser product," said Professor Martin Fejer of Stanford University, a recognized leader in the field of optical-signal processing and nonlinear optics. "His pioneering work in cavity design, reliability and robustness, stability and accuracy, passive athermalization and cost reduction has enabled widespread acceptance of tunables outside of research laboratories."
The Engineering Excellence Awards is presented annually by the OSA Engineering Council to recognize technical achievements in optical engineering. Nominations are solicited in products, engineering publication, process, software, patents, engineering education, contributions to society, engineering management, and furthering public appreciation of optical engineering.
The award ceremony will take place on Tuesday, October 1st at the Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.
For more information about OSA, visit www.osa.org .
For more information about New Focus, visit www.newfocus.com .
Laser Focus World