World of Photonics Portal - HERBERT WALTER AWARD

Established in 2007, the Herbert Walther Award honors Professor Herbert Walther for the seminal influence of his path-breaking innovations in quantum optics and atomic physics, and for his wide-ranging contributions to the international scientific community. The Award is jointly made by Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG) and the Optical Society of America (OSA) and recognizes distinguished contributions in quantum optics and atomic physics as well as leadership in the international scientific community. The first award will be presented to David J. Wineland of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Time and Frequency Division, Boulder, Colorado, USA, for his seminal contributions to quantum information physics and metrology, and the development of trapped ion techniques for applications to basic quantum phenomena, plasma physics, and optical clocks. The award will be presented in a special session on Tuesday, 16 June, at 12.30 in Room 1, sponsored by LASER World of PHOTONICS, and will be followed by an address from Dr. Wineland, "Quantum control experiments with trapped atomic ions". Abstract: Confined atomic ions manipulated by laser beams provide a useful system in which to study quantum state control and measurement. Quantum control is an essential part of the relatively new field of quantum information processing (QIP), and trapped ions have been employed to demonstrate some of its basic features. Today’s progress in this area owes much to Prof. Herbert Walther’s extensive accomplishments with cavity-QED and trapped ions. This talk will focus on NIST’s work on trapped-ion QIP, with applications to metrology including atomic clocks. NIST work supported by IARPA, ONR, and the NIST Quantum Information Program
	David J. Wineland grew up in Sacramento, California. He received a B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1965. He obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard under Norman Ramsey in 1970. After a postdoctoral appointment with Hans Dehmelt at the University of Washington, he joined the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) in Boulder. He has been Leader of the Ion Storage Group of the Time and Frequency Division since 1978.
Wineland’s research has focused on precision atomic spectroscopy and related techniques. His Ph.D. research provided a precision measurement of the deuterium hyperfine frequency. As a postdoc, he developed techniques for manipulating single trapped electrons, which were used in subsequent electron g-factor measurements. At NIST, laser cooling techniques were developed and applied to trapped ion frequency standards. This work has been extended to coherent state control and demonstration of the elements of quantum information processing. Contact: OSA Awards Office: Tel: +1(0)202-416 1960 or email awards@osa.org