ECE Professor Milton Feng has been awarded the 2013 R.W. Wood Prize by the Optical Society (OSA) for his contribution to the invention and realization of the transistor laser, which delivers both an electrical signal and a coherent laser output simultaneously, providing the basis for a revolutionary new higher speed electronic-photonic integrated circuit.
Written by Jamal Collier, ECE ILLINOIS
ECE Professor Milton Feng has been awarded the 2013 R.W. Wood Prize by the Optical Society (OSA) for his contribution to the invention and realization of the transistor laser, which delivers both an electrical signal and a coherent laser output simultaneously, providing the basis for a revolutionary new higher speed electronic-photonic integrated circuit.
The transistor laser was invented in 2003 by Feng and ECE Professor Nick Holonyak, Jr.
“We are delighted that the transistor laser has received recognition by the Optical Society,” Feng said. “The transistor laser will revolutionize high speed electronic-photonic integrated circuits and will have a profound impact on industry because of its potential to reduce the modern supercomputer to a tiny chip.”
Milton Feng
The R. W. Wood Prize is given for an outstanding discovery, scientific or technological achievement or invention. It was created in 1975 to honor R.W. Wood’s contributions to optics and the accomplishment for which the prize is given is measured chiefly by its impact on the field of optics generally, and therefore the contribution is one that opens a new era of research or significantly expands an established one, according to the OSA.
The 2013 OSA R. W. Wood Prize will be presented at Frontier in Optics (FiO 2013), OSA’s annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, on Oct. 7, 2013.
From 1979 to 1990, Feng developed GaAs MMICs for X-band phase array radar application at Hughes Aircraft Co. and GaAs ICs for security/space applications at Ford Microelectronics Inc. At Illinois, he has developed fast transistors (845 GHz) for digital receivers and instrumentation.
Feng and his group, the High Speed Devices and ICs group, are currently focusing on three major research areas: developing direct-modulated transistor lasers and integrated detectors for high data rate; developing a high speed nano laser for data communication and optical interconnects for high performance computing and Internet; and developing THz transistors for high speed testing equipment and imaging.
Feng is the Nick Holonyak Jr. Chair Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a researcher in the Micro and Nanotechnology Lab at Illinois. He has published more than 200 papers and been granted 27 US patents (16 related to transistor lasers).
Feng is fellow of both IEEE and OSA, and received the IEEE David Sarnoff Award in 1997.