Gerd Leuchs
{{Short description|German physicist}}
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| name = Gerd Leuchs
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| image = 19-07-04 Gerd Leuchs at the MPI Erlangen.jpg
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| caption = Leuchs in 2019
| birth_name = Gerhard Leuchs
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1950|06|14}}
| birth_place = Wuppertal, Germany
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| nationality = German
| fields = optics, quantum information science
| workplaces = Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light
Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg
University of Ottawa
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| education = University of Cologne (B.S.)
University of Munich (Ph.D.)
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| awards = {{plainlist|
- Quantum Electronics Prize (2005)
- Julius von Haast Fellowship Award (2017)
- Herbert Walther Award (2018)
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Gerhard "Gerd" Leuchs (born June 14, 1950) is a German experimental physicist in optics. He is the Director Emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and an adjunct professor in the physics department at the University of Ottawa.{{Cite web |title=Gerd Leuchs {{!}} Optica |url=https://www.optica.org/history/biographies/bios/gerd_leuchs/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=www.optica.org}} From 1994-2019 he was a full professor of physics and since 2019 has been a senior professor at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU).
Leuchs holds honorary degrees from the Technical University of Denmark and Saint Petersburg State University.{{Cite web |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37266453300 |title=Gerd Leuchs |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=ieee.org}} He served as the President of Optica (formerly the Optical Society) in 2024.{{Cite web |last=Template |first=Graphodata |title=Optica President 2024 |url=https://mpl.mpg.de/research-at-mpl/leuchs-emeritus-group/optica-president-2024 |access-date=2024-10-26 |website=mpl.mpg.de |language=en-US}}
Education
Leuchs studied physics and mathematics at the University of Cologne from 1970 to 1975 and received his doctorate from the University of Munich in 1978. From 1980-1981, Leuchs served as a visiting fellow for the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) in Boulder, Colorado.
Leuchs served as the Feodor-Lynen Fellow for the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Heisenberg Fellow for the German Science Foundation and as a Visiting Professor for the Australian National University.
Leuchs' research includes quantum mechanics, quantum beats, nanophotonics and related topics in optics.
Research and career
File:Gerd Leuchs with an attendee at the Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science conference, 2023.jpg.]]
From 1985-1989, Leuchs served as the head of the gravitational wave group at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics. He was a founding director of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light when it was converted from the Max Planck Research Group for Optics, Information and Photonics.{{Cite web |title=Leuchs, Gerd |url=https://www.mpg.de/310384/science-of-light-leuchs |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=www.mpg.de |language=en}}
In 2003, Leuchs' research team demonstrated, for the first time, that a radially polarized field can be focused to a tighter spot size than for standard linear polarization.{{Cite journal |last=Krieger |first=Kim |date=2003-11-24 |title=The Sharpest Focus |url=https://physics.aps.org/story/v12/st19 |journal=Physics |language=en |volume=12 |issue=23 |pages=19 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.233901|pmid=14683185 }}{{Cite web |last=Template |first=Graphodata |date=2022-09-14 |title=Leuchs Emeritus Group |url=https://mpl.mpg.de/research-at-mpl/leuchs-emeritus-group |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=mpl.mpg.de |language=en-US}} The electromagnetic field produced by the tightly focused light can be used to manipulate atoms or other small-scale objects.
In 2010, Leuchs' research team, in collaboration with the Université libre de Bruxelles, developed a quantum error correcting code, an early demonstration of error correction achieved at the quanta scale. The correcting code, based on linear optics, protects against the loss of photons for quantum information processing.{{Cite journal |last1=Lassen |first1=Mikael |last2=Sabuncu |first2=Metin |last3=Huck |first3=Alexander |last4=Niset |first4=Julien |last5=Leuchs |first5=Gerd |last6=Cerf |first6=Nicolas J. |last7=Andersen |first7=Ulrik L. |date=October 2010 |title=Quantum optical coherence can survive photon losses using a continuous-variable quantum erasure-correcting code |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nphoton.2010.168 |journal=Nature Photonics |language=en |volume=4 |issue=10 |pages=700–705 |doi=10.1038/nphoton.2010.168 |issn=1749-4893|arxiv=1006.3941 |bibcode=2010NaPho...4..700L |s2cid=55090423 }}
Awards and honors
- 2004: Fellow of Optica{{Cite web |title=2004 Fellows {{!}} Optica |url=https://www.optica.org/get_involved/awards_and_honors/fellow_members/elected_fellows/2004_fellows/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=www.optica.org}}
- 2005: Quantum Electronics and Optics Prize from the European Physical Society
- 2005: Admission to the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina{{Cite web |title=Prof. Dr. Gerhard Leuchs - FAU CRIS |url=https://cris.fau.de/persons/101589622/awards |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=cris.fau.de}}
- 2012: Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany{{Cite web |title=Federal Cross of Merit to Professor Leuchs › Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies |date=16 May 2012 |url=https://www.saot.fau.de/2012/05/16/federal-cross-of-merit-to-professor-leuchs/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |language=en-US}}
- 2016: Foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
- 2017: Julius von Haast Fellowship Award from the Royal Society of New Zealand{{Cite web |title=Gerd Leuchs receives the Julius von Haast Fellowship Award of the Royal Society of New Zealand |url=http://www.mpc-eqp.ca/en/award/gerd-leuchs-receives-the-julius-von-haast-fellowship-award-of-the-royal-society-of-new-zealand/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |language=en-CA}}
- 2018: Herbert Walther Prize from the German Physical Society and Optica{{Cite web |title=The Optical Society and DPG Name Gerd Leuchs Winner of the 2018 Herbert Walther Award {{!}} Optica |url=https://www.optica.org/about/newsroom/news_releases/2017/the_optical_society_and_dpg_name_gerd_leuchs_winner_of_the_2018_herbert_walther_award/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=www.optica.org}}
- 2018: Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art
- 2018: Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science{{Cite web |last=Korte |first=Andrea |date=November 27, 2018 |title=AAAS Honors Accomplished Scientists as 2018 Elected Fellows |url=https://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-honors-accomplished-scientists-2018-elected-fellows}}
- 2023: International Fellow of the Chinese Optical Society{{Cite web |title=中国光学学会 |url=http://cncos.org.cn/Content/index/catid/779.html |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=cncos.org.cn}}
Selected publications
- {{Cite journal |last=Dorn |first=R. |date=2003 |title=Sharper Focus for a Radially Polarized Light Beam |journal=Physical Review Letters |volume=91 |issue=23 |page=233901 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.233901|pmid=14683185 |bibcode=2003PhRvL..91w3901D }}
- {{Cite journal |last1=Lassen |first1=Mikael |last2=Sabuncu |first2=Metin |last3=Huck |first3=Alexander |last4=Niset |first4=Julien |last5=Leuchs |first5=Gerd |last6=Cerf |first6=Nicolas J. |last7=Andersen |first7=Ulrik L. |date=October 2010 |title=Quantum optical coherence can survive photon losses using a continuous-variable quantum erasure-correcting code |journal=Nature Photonics |language=en |volume=4 |issue=10 |pages=700–705 |doi=10.1038/nphoton.2010.168 |issn=1749-4893|arxiv=1006.3941 |bibcode=2010NaPho...4..700L }}
References
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External links
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- [https://www.mpg.de/310371/physik_des_lichts_wissM Max Planck Society biography]
- [https://www.optica.org/about/leadership_and_volunteers/board/gerd_leuchs/ Optica biography]
- [https://mpl.mpg.de/research-at-mpl/leuchs-emeritus-group Optics and Information Emeritus Group]
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Category:20th-century German physicists
Category:21st-century German physicists
Category:Scientists from Wuppertal
Category:German experimental physicists
Category:German optical physicists
Category:University of Cologne alumni
Category:Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
Category:Academic staff of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg