Federico Capasso

Infobox_Scientist
name = Federico Capasso

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caption = Federico Capasso
birth_date = 1949
birth_place = Rome, Italy
residence = U.S.
nationality = American
field = Physicist
work_institutions = Bell Laboratories
Harvard University
alma_mater = University of Rome
doctoral_students = Unknown
postdocs = Jiming Bao, Mikhail Belkin, Laurent Diehl, Lyuba Kuznetsova, Christian Pflügl, Qijie Wang
Undergraduate RAs =
known_for = quantum cascade laser
prizes = Edison Medal

Federico Capasso (Rome, 1949-), a physicist, was one of the inventors of the quantum cascade laser during his work at Bell Laboratories. He is currently on the faculty of Harvard University. He has co-authored over 300 papers, edited four volumes, and holds over 50 US patents.

Federico Capasso received the doctor of Physics degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Rome, Italy, in 1973 and after doing research in fiber optics at Fondazione Bordoni in Rome, joined Bell Labs in 1976. In 1984 he was made a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and in 1997 a Bell Labs Fellow. In addition to his research activity Capasso has held several management positions at Bell Labs including Head of the Quantum Phenomena and Device Research Department and the Semiconductor Physics Research Department (1987-2000) and Vice President of Physical Research (2000-2002). He joined Harvard on January 1, 2003.

He has contributed to semiconductors and devices. He and his collaborators invented and developed the quantum cascade laser.

His current research in quantum electronics deals with the design of new light sources based on giant optical nonlinearities in quantum wells such as Raman injection lasers, inversionless injection lasers and widely tunable sources of TeraHertz radiation based on difference frequency generation and Raman lasers.

Awards and honors

His honors include membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The European Academy of Sciences and honorary membership in the Franklin Institute. In 2005 he received, jointly with Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek (MIT) and Anton Zeilinger (University of Vienna), the prestigious King Faisal International Prize for Science for his research on quantum cascade lasers. The citation called him “one the most creative and influential physicists in the world”.

On behalf of the American Physical Society, he was awarded the 2004 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science, endowed by the NEC Corporation, for "seminal contributions to the invention and demonstration of the quantum cascade laser and the elucidation of its physics, which bridges quantum electronics, solid-state physics, and materials science."

In addition, the IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the world's largest technical professional organization, named Capasso the recipient of the 2004 IEEE Edison Medal with the following citation, "For a career of highly creative and influential contributions to heterostructure devices and materials."

He is also recipient of the Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute, the R. W. Wood prize of the Optical Society of America, the IEEE Laser and Electro-Optics Society W. Streifer Award for Scientific Achievement, the Materials Research Society Medal, the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics (UK), the Duddell Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics (UK), The Willis Lamb Medal for Laser Science and Quantum Optics, the Newcomb Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Moet Hennessy and Lois Vuitton "Leonardo da Vinci" Prize (France), the Welker Memorial Medal (Germany), the New York Academy of Sciences Award, the IEEE David Sarnoff Award in Electronics, and the Goff Smith prize of the University of Michigan.

He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Institute of Physics (UK), the Optical Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, IEEE and SPIE. He holds an honorary doctorate in Electronic Engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy.

Bibliography

"Avventure di un designer quantico". Di Renzo Editore, Roma, 2005