Bio-bibliography

USA/Italy

Federico Capasso

2016 Balzan Prize for Applied Photonics

For his pioneering work in the quantum design of new materials with specific electronic and optical features, which led to the realization of a fundamentally new class of laser, the Quantum Cascade Laser; for his major contributions in plasmonics and metamaterials, at the forefront of photonics science and technology.

Biographical and Bibliographical Data

Federico Capasso, born in Rome on June 24 1949, is an Italian born and United States naturalized citizen (1992).
He is Robert Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts, since 2003, and formerly Adjunct Researcher at the Institute for Quantum Studies at the Texas A&M University.
He earned his doctor of Physics degree, cum laude, from the University of Rome, Italy, in 1973, and after research in fiber optics at the Fondazione Bordoni in Rome, he joined Bell Laboratories as a Visiting Scientist in 1976. In 1977, he became a member of the Technical Staff, was made a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff in 1984 and a Bell Laboratories Fellow in 1997 In addition to his research activity, he has held several management positions at Bell Labs, including Department Head of Quantum Phenomena and Device Research (1987-1997) and of Semiconductor Physics Research (1987-2000), as well as Vice President of Physical Research (2000-2002).
His honours include membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Academia Europaea and honorary membership in the Franklin Institute. He is a Foreign Member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 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, and holds honorary doctorates from Lund University, Diderot University (Paris VII), the University of Bologna and the University of Tor Vergata, Rome. He is a recipient of the IEEE Edison Medal, the American Physical Society Arthur Schawlow Prize in Laser Science, the International King Faisal Prize for Science, the SPIE Gold Medal, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Rumford Prize, the American Association for the Advancement of Science Newcomb Cleveland Prize, the IEEE Sarnoff Award, the Materials Research Society Medal, the Franklin Institute Wetherill Medal, the European Physical Society Quantum Electronics Prize, the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics, the Optical Society Wood Prize, the Berthold Leibinger Future Prize, the Julius Springer Prize in Applied Physics, the Institute of Physics Duddell Medal, the Jan Czochralski Award for lifetime achievements in Materials Science, and the Gold Medal of the President of Italy for meritorious achievement in science.

Among his most important peer-reviewed publications we would mention:
-Khorasaninejad M, Chen WT, Oh J, Capasso F. 2016. Super-Dispersive Off-Axis Meta-Lenses for Compact High Resolution Spectroscopy. Nano    Lett. 16 (6).
-Khorasaninejad M, Chen WT, Devlin RC, Oh J, Zhu AY, Capasso F. 2016. Metalenses at visible wavelengths: Diffraction-limited focusing and    subwavelength resolution imaging. Science 352, 1190.
-Yu N, Capasso F. 2014. Flat optics with designer metasurfaces Nature Materials 13.
-Yu N, Genevet P, Aieta F, Kats MA, Blanchard R, Aoust G, Tetienne J-P, Gaburro Z, Capasso F. 2013. Flat optics: controlling wavefronts with    optical antenna metasurfaces. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron 19(3), 4700423.
-Kats MA, Blanchard R, Genevet P, Capasso F. 2012. Nanometre optical coatings based on strong interference effects in highly absorbing media.    Nature Materials.
-Yu N, Genevet P, Kats MA, Aieta F, Tetienne J-P, Capasso F, Gaburro Z. 2011. Light propagation with phase discontinuities: generalized laws of    reflection and refraction. Science 334, 6054.
-Curl RF, Capasso F, Gmachl C, Kosterev AA, McManus B, Lewicki R, Pusharsky M, Wysocki G, Tittel FK. 2010. Quantum cascade lasers in    chemical physics. Chemical Physics Letters 487 1-18.
-Fan JA, Wu C, Bao K, Bao J, Bardhan R, Halas NJ, Manoharan VN, Nordlander P, Shvets G, Capasso F. 2010. Self-Assembled Plasmonic    Nanoparticle Clusters. Science 328, 5982.
-Munday JN, Capasso F, Parsegian VA. 2009. Measured long-range repulsive Casimir-Lifshitz forces. Nature 457, 170-173.
-Yu N, Diehl L, Cubukcu E, Bour D, Corzine S, Hofler G, Wojcik AK, Crozier KB, Belyanin A, Capasso F. 2009. Coherent coupling of multiple    transverse modes in quantum cascade lasers. Phys. Rev. Letters 102, 13901.
-Wysocki G, Lewicki R, Curi RF, Tittel FK, Diehl L, Capasso F, Troccoli M, Hofler G, Bour D, Corzine S, Maulini R, Giovannini M, Faist J. 2008.    Widely tunable mode-hop free external cavity quantum cascade lasers for high resolution spectroscopy and chemical sensing. Applied Physics B    92, 305.
-Lyakh A, Pfluegl C, Diehl L, Wang QJ, Capasso F, Wang XJ, Fan JY, Tanbun-Ek T, Maulini R, Tsekoun A, Go R, Patel CKN. 2008. 1.6W high    wall plug efficiency, CW temperature quantum cascade laser emitting at 4.6 um. Appl.Phys. Lett. 92, 111110.
-Belkin MA, Capasso F, Xie F, Belyanin A, Fischer M, Wittmann A, Faist J. 2008. Room temperature terahertz quantum cascade laser source    based    on intracavity difference frequency generation. Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 201101.
-Lee G, Belkin MA, Audet R, MacArthur J, Diehl L, Pfluegl C, Capasso F, Oakley DC, Chapman D, Napoleone A, Bour D, Corzine S, Hofler G,    Faist J. 2007. Widely tunable single-mode quantum cascade laser source for midinfrared spectroscopy. App. Phys. Lett. 91, 231101.
-Cubukcu E, Kort EA, Crozier KB, Capasso F. 2006. Plasmonic laser antenna. Applied Physics Letters 89, 093120.
-Bao J, Zimmler MA, Capasso F, Wang X, Ren ZF. 2006. Broadband ZnO Single-Nanowire Light-Emitting Diode. Nano Letters Vol. 6, N°8.
-Colombelli R, Srinivasan K, Troccoli M, Painter O, Gmachl CF, Tennant DM, Sergent AM, Sivco DL, Cho AY, Capasso F. 2003.Quantum cascade    surfaceemitting photonic crystal laser. Science 302, 1374.
-Gmachl C, Sivco DL, Colombelli R, Capasso F, Cho AY. 2002. Ultra-broadband semiconductor laser Nature 415, 883.
-Webster C, Flesch G, Scott D, Swanson J, May R, Woodward S, Gmachl C, Capasso F, Sivco DL, Baillargeon JN, Hutchinson AL, Cho AY.    2001. Quantum Cascade Laser Measurements of Stratospheric Methane (CH4) and Nitrous Oxide (N20). Applied Optics 40, 321.
-Chan HB, Aksyuk VA, Kleiman RN, Bishop DJ, Capasso F. 2001. Quantum Mechanical Actuation of Microelectromechanical Systems by the    Casimir Force. Science 291, 5510.
-Gmachl C, Capasso F, Sivco DL, Cho AY. 2001. Recent progress in quantum cascade lasers and applications. Reports on Progress in Physics 64, 1533.
-Capasso F, Gmachl C, Paiella R, Tredicucci A, Hutchinson AL, Sivco DL, Baillargeon JN, Cho AY, Liu HC. 2000. New Frontiers in Quantum    Cascade Lasers and Applications. Special Millenium Issue: IEEE J. Select. Topics Quantum Electron. 6, 931
-Williams RM, Kelly JF, Hartman JS, Sharpe SW, Taubman MS, Hall JL, Capasso F, Gmachl C, Sivco DL, Baillargeon JN, Cho AY. 1999.    Kilo-   Hertz Linewidth from Frequency Stabilized Mid-Infrared Quantum Cascade Lasers. Opt. Lett. 24, 1844.
-Tredicucci A, Capasso F, Gmachl C, Sivco DL, Hutchinson AL, Cho AY. 1998. High Performance Interminiband Quantum Cascade Laser with    Graded Superlattices. Appl. Phys. Lett. 73, 2101.
-Gmachl C, Capasso F, Narimanov EE, Noekel JU, Stone AD, Faist J, Sivco DL, Cho AY. 1998. High-Power Directional Emission from    Microlasers with Chaotic Resonators. Science 280, 1556.
-Scamarcio G, Capasso F, Sirtori C, Faist J, Hutchinson AL, Sivco DL, Cho AY. 1997. High-Power Infrared (8-pmWavelength) Superlattice Lasers.    Science 276, 773.
-Faist J, Capasso F, Sivco DL, Sirtori C, Hutchinson AL, Cho AY. 1994. Quantum Cascade Laser. Quantum Cascade Laser. Science 264, 553.
-Capasso F. 1987. Band-gap engineering:from physics and materials to new semiconductor devices. Science 235, 172.
-Capasso F, Tsang WT, Hutchinson AL, Foy PW. 1982. The graded bandgap avalanche diode: A new molecular beam epitaxial structure with a    large ionization rates ratio. Proc. 1981 Symp. on GaAs and Related Compounds, Inst. Phys. Conf. Ser. 63: 473-418.