Abstract

Lasers have been discovered for nearly 60 years and now become an indispensable tool in science, engineering and commonly used in industries and consumer products. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 is awarded to three laureates as a recognition of their contributions in this area: Dr. Arthur ASHKIN of Bell Laboratories, US, received the Prize for his invention of optical tweezers while Prof. Gérard MOUROU of École Polytechnique, France cum the University of Michigan, US, and Prof. Donna STRICKLAND of the University of Waterloo, Canada, are awarded for their work in chirped pulse amplification. These ground breaking inventions in laser physics are fundamentally important for a number of areas. These range from the understanding of the biological processes of a single molecule and the mechanical properties of molecular motor to the production of ultra-short and ultra-intense laser pulses for inertial confinement fusion or attosecond physics. The speaker will explain the physics behind their achievements and various breakthroughs and applications stemming from it.

About the speaker

Prof. Wong Kam Sing received his BSc (Hons) in Physics from the University of London in 1983 followed by a DPhil in Solid-State Physics from the University of Oxford in 1987. He joined the Department of Physics of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 1991 as one of the founding faculty members and is currently a Professor of Physics. His main research interests include ultrafast lasers, nonlinear optics, time-resolved spectroscopy, semiconductor and polymer physics. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed publications, one book chapter and also holds four patents. Prof. Wong was the President of the Physical Society of Hong Kong from 2007 to 2009.

For attendees’ attention

		The lecture is free and open to all. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.
		Light refreshments will be served from 4:30 to 5:00 pm.

HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study
Enquiries: ias@ust.hk / 2358 5912
http://ias.ust.hk