Orlando, FL - Dr. Keming Du will be honored as the Laser Institute of America's 2015 Arthur L. Schawlow Award winner. This award recognizes the recipient’s longstanding record of laser industry innovation and contributions to basic and applied research in laser science and engineering leading to fundamental understanding of laser materials interaction and/or transfer of laser technology for increased application in industry, medicine, and daily life.
Du, who spearheaded development of diode and solid-state lasers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology from 1985 to 2001, created the company EdgeWave in 2001 to offer innovative solutions in compact diode-pumped solid-state lasers for different applications.
Among Du’s chief achievements are advances in:
- Ultra-high power CO2 lasers with powers beyond 30kW and diffraction-limited beam quality;
- Beam shaping and fiber coupling of high-power diode lasers like step mirrors and optical stacking;
- Micro glass processing (laser micromachining) via forward ablation;
- Innoslab lasers and Innoslab amplification; and
- Industrialization of unique short-pulse and ultrashort-pulse lasers based on Innoslab technology.
Du explains that “the mission of EdgeWave is continuously scaling the power and energy of short-pulse and ultra-short pulse lasers, providing highly reliable and affordable laser solutions and broadening the lasers’ application areas.”
Du will receive the honor of the Schawlow Award on October 21, 2015, during the awards luncheon at the 34th annual International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics (ICALEO) in Atlanta, GA.
