James Thompson has been named the winner of a 2013 Department of Commerce Bronze Medal for his work on pioneering superradiant lasers. The superradiant laser is a quantum device that emits coherent lasing photons. The DoC Bronze Medal is the highest honor the NIST Director can bestow upon NIST staff for outstanding accomplishments. The Bronze Medal citation reads “For pioneering the development of an entirely new form of laser, vastly improving stability for a broad range of precision measurement and research.” Thompson will be honored at the NIST Annual Awards ceremony in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The ceremony is tentatively planned for December 4, 2013. NIST’s Quantum Physics Division will provide travel expenses for Thompson and a guest to the Gaithersburg event. The Boulder Laboratories are also planning to host a local awards ceremony in early December.
The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students. PFCs also include creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, broadening participation of traditionally underrepresented groups, and outreach to the scientific community and general public.