News & Events

Some nonlinear phenomena in periodic structures

Dr. Herbert G. Winful, University of Michigan

Monday, October 14, 2013
3 p.m.–4:30 p.m.

Sloan Auditorium

Abstract:
Periodic structures play a rather fundamental role in optics, with applications ranging from fiber Bragg gratings to distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. In this talk, we review some of our recent work on nonlinear phenomena in periodic structures. We describe distributed feedback Raman and Brillouin lasers and a scheme for storing and compressing light through chirped Brillouin dynamic gratings.

Bio: 
Herbert Winful earned his BS in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 and his PhD from the University of Southern California in 1981.  From September 1980 till December 1986 he was a Principal Member of Technical Staff at GTE Laboratories, Waltham, MA, where he conducted research in nonlinear optics, fiber optics, semiconductor laser physics.
He joined the EECS department at the University of Michigan in January 1987 as an Associate Professor and was promoted to Full Professor and named a Thurnau Professor in 1992.  He has published over 130 journal articles in the areas of optics and photonics.  He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
For his contributions to teaching he was twice voted Professor of the Year in EECS and has received the State of Michigan Teaching Excellence Award, the University/Amoco Faculty Teaching Award, the College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award, the EECS Department Teaching Excellence Award, and the Tau Beta Pi Outstanding Professor Award.