James A. Piper

{{Infobox scientist

|name = James A. Piper

|image =

|width =

|birth_date = 1 January 1947{{cite web |url=https://www.mq.edu.au/macquariematters/jim-piper-we-salute-you/ |title=Piper, James Austin (Jim)

|date=19 August 2013

|publisher=Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation |accessdate=20 Sep 2023}}

|death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|07|20|1947|01|01|df=y}}{{cite web |url=https://www.mq.edu.au/macquariematters/jim-piper-we-salute-you/ |title=Jim Piper we salute you

|date=19 August 2013

|publisher=Macquarie University, Sydney Australia |accessdate=20 Sep 2023}}

|birth_place = New Zealand

|nationality = Australian

|field = Physics
Lasers

|alma_mater = University of Otago

|doctoral_advisor =

|doctoral_students = F. J. Duarte
Larry R. Marshall

|work_institutions = University of Oxford
Macquarie University

|known_for = Gas lasers
Dye lasers
Tunable lasers
Diode-pumped solid-state lasers

|prizes = Pawsey Medal (1982)
Walter Boas Medal (1984)

}}

James A. (Jim) Piper {{Post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}} (1 January 1947 – 20 July 2023) was a New Zealand/Australian physicist, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Professor of Physics at Macquarie University.{{cite web |url=http://physics.mq.edu.au/directory/person.htm?id=jpiper |title=James Piper |publisher=Macquarie University, Sydney Australia |accessdate=16 May 2012}}

Piper studied physics at the University of Otago, New Zealand, and received a B.Sc. (Hons) in 1968. He completed a Ph.D. in atomic physics, also at Otago, in 1971.{{cite web |url=http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/how_mq_works/executive/deputy_vice-chancellor_research/ |title=Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Jim Piper |publisher=Macquarie University, Sydney Australia |accessdate=16 May 2012 |archive-date=11 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611065321/http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/how_mq_works/executive/deputy_vice-chancellor_research/ |url-status=dead }} His post-doctoral research was on metal-vapour lasers, with Colin Webb at Oxford.

Laser research in Australia

Following his arrival to Macquarie University in the late 1970s, from Oxford, Piper established one of the first laser research centres in Australia. Initially he directed his research toward

gas lasers, continuous wave metal ion lasers, cyclic pulsed metal vapour lasers, and metal ion recombination lasers. He also added a laser development program on high-power tunable dye lasers for various applications including atomic vapor laser isotope separation. In this area of research he is co-author, with Frank Duarte, of a number of papers on tunable laser oscillator physics.F. J. Duarte and J. A. Piper, Dispersion theory of multiple-prism beam expanders for pulsed dye lasers, Opt. Commun. 43, 303–307 (1982).F. J. Duarte and J. A. Piper, Narrow linewidth high prf copper laser-pumped dye-laser oscillators, Appl. Opt. 23, 1391-1394 (1984)

Piper's primary research interests were in solid-state lasers. In particular, diode-pumped solid-state lasers and related thermal engineering, mid-infrared solid state laser materials, solid state Raman lasers, and novel self-frequency-doubling laser materials.