Anthony E. Siegman

Anthony E. Siegman (November 23, 1931 – October 7, 2011) was an electrical engineer and educator at Stanford University who investigated and taught about masers and lasers. Known to almost all as Tony Siegman, he was president of the Optical Society of America [now Optica (society)] in 1999 and was awarded the R. W. Wood Prize in 1980, the Frederic Ives Medal in 1987, and the Esther Hoffman Beller Medal in 2009.

Personal

Siegman was born on November 23, 1931, in Detroit and raised in rural Michigan. He graduated from Catholic Central High School in Detroit in 1949. He died at his home, in Stanford, on October 7, 2011. He was married (to wife Virginia) had three children, one stepdaughter, and two grandchildren.

Education A.B. degree summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1952, the M.S. in applied physics from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1954 under the Hughes Aircraft Company Cooperative Plan, and the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1957.

Career He was appointed to the Stanford faculty on an acting basis in 1956 and became an assistant professor in 1957 after receiving the PhD in Electrical Engineering with a dissertation topic on microwave noise in electron beams. Shortly thereafter he switched to work on microwave masers and parametric devices, which after 1960 evolved into a research and teaching career in lasers and optics. He was promoted to full professor at Stanford in 1964, and retired from his Stanford position as the Burton J. and Ann M. McMurtry Professor of Engineering in November 1998.

During his Stanford career he supervised some 40 PhD dissertations, published numerous scientific articles, and three textbooks: Microwave Solid-State Masers (McGraw-Hill, 1964), An Introduction to Lasers and Masers (McGraw-Hill, 1972), and Lasers (University Science Books, 1986). He was also director of the Ginzton Laboratory from 1978 to 1983 and again in 1998–99, and served on numerous academic committees and as a member of the Stanford Faculty senate and its steering committee.

He also spent sabbatical periods as visiting professor of applied physics at Harvard in 1965, as a Guggenheim Fellow at IBM Research - Zurich in 1969–70, and as an Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany, in 1984–85.

Early in his career he was Program Chair for the 1996 International Quantum Electronics Conference and Conference Chair for the 1968 IQEC, and he later served as co-director of Laser Schools in Korea and Taiwan. He was a member of the United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board during 1974–80 and served on advisory groups for NBS, NIST, NSF and other government agencies. He received the J J Ebers Award in 1977 from the IEEE and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1973 and the National Academy of Sciences in 1988. He was elected a Fellow of OSA in 1968. In 1996 he was elected as vice-president of the Optical Society of America and served as President of the OSA during 1999.

Siegman's most notable contribution was in the area of unstable resonators; his book Lasers (1986) became a standard reference in the field.

Professionally, A. E. Siegman was known as Tony Siegman.

Donation to his Hometown Waterford, MI Library In June 1990, Siegman donated a copy of his book Lasers (1986) to his hometown library back in Waterford, Michigan. He included the following note on the inside title page:

Publications

Books Microwave Solid-State Masers, A. E. Siegman (McGraw-Hill, 1964). An Introduction to Lasers and Masers, A. E. Siegman (McGraw-Hill, 1971). Lasers, A. E. Siegman (University Science Books, 1986). Lasers and Their Applications, I. P. Kaminow and A. E. Siegman (eds.) (IEEE Press, Selected Reprint Series, 1973).

Book chapters A. E. Siegman, "Interaction of Radiation with Matter," in Lasers and Their Applications (Gordon and Breach, 1976). A. E. Siegman, "Quantum Electronics," in McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 5th Edition (McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1980). A. E. Siegman, "Laser Beams and Resonators," in Proceedings of Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics (Heriot-Watt University, August 1982). A. E. Siegman, P. A. Belanger and A. Hardy, "Optical Resonators Using Phase-Conjugate Mirrors," in Optical Phase Conjugation (Academic Press, 1983). A. E. Siegman, "The Laser---Still Young After Twenty Five Years?," in Lasers: Invention to Application (National Academy Press, 1987). A. E. Siegman, "Advances in Laser Resonator Design Using Variable Reflectivity Mirrors," in Tutorials in Optics (Optical Society of America, 1992). A. E. Siegman, "Defining and Measuring Laser Beam Quality," in Solid State Lasers: New Developments and Applications (Plenum Press, 1994).

Journal articles

W. S. C. Chang and A. E. Siegman, "Characteristics of ruby for maser applications," Rev. Mod. Phys. 31, 681 (1959). A. E. Siegman and R. J. Morris, "Proposal for a staircase maser," Phys. Rev. Lett. 2, 302 (April 1959). A. W. Shaw, A. E. Siegman and D. A. Watkins, "Reduction of electron beam noisiness by means of a low-potential drift region," Proc. IRE 47, 334 (February 1959). A. E. Siegman, "Phase-distortionless limiting by a parametric method," Proc. IRE 47, 447 (March 1959). A. E. Siegman, "The waves on a filamentary electron beam in a transverse-field slow-wave circuit," J. Appl. Phys. 31, 17 (January 1960). A. E. Siegman, "Entropy and cross-relaxation in spin systems," Phys. Rev. 119, 562 (July 1960). A. E. Siegman, "Progress in solid-state masers," J. Res. National Bureau of Standards 64D, 758—763 (November–December 1960). A. E. Siegman, "The DC pumped quadrupole amplifiera wave analysis," Proc. IRE 48, 1750–1755 (October 1960). W. H. Louisell, A. Yariv and A. E. Siegman, "Quantum fluctuations and noise in parametric processes," Phys. Rev. 124, 1646 (December 1961). A. E. Siegman, "Zero-point energy as the source of amplifier noise," Proc. IRE 49, 633—634 (March 1961). A. E. Siegman, "Thermal noise in microwave systems. I. Fundamentals. III. Noise in high-frequency amplifiers, particularly masers. III. Practical problems and ultimate limits of amplifier noise figures," The Microwave Journal 4, 81 (March–April–May 1961). I. T. Ho and A. E. Siegman, "Passive phase-distortionless parametric limiting with varactor diodes," IRE Trans. Microwave Theory and Techniques MTT—9, 459 (November 1961). H. Inaba and A. E. Siegman, "Microwave photomixing of optical maser outputs with a PIN-junction photodiode," Proc. IRE 50, 1823 (August 1962). S. E. Harris and A. E. Siegman, "A proposed FM phototube for demodulating microwave- frequency-modulated Light signals," IRE Trans. Elec. Devices ED-9, 322 (July 1962). A. E. Siegman, "Nonlinear optical effects: an optical power limiter," Appl. Opt. 1, 739 (November 1962). S. E. Harris, B. J. McMurtry and A. E. Siegman, "Modulation and direct demodulation of coherent and incoherent light at a microwave frequency," Appl. Phys. Lett. 1, 37 (October 1962). S. Mao and A. E. Siegman, "Cyclotron wave amplification using simultaneous RF coupling and DC pumping," Proceedings of the 4th International Congress on Microwave Tubes, Eindhoven: Centrex Publishing Co., (1963). A. E. Siegman, "Small-mirror transverse-mode control and near-field rings in ruby-laser rods," J. Opt. Soc. Am. 54, 567 (April 1964). A. E. Siegman, "Design considerations for laser pulse amplifiers," J. Appl. Phys. 35, 460 (February 1964). A. E. Siegman and B. J. McMurtry, "Lossless beam combination for optical heterodyning," Proc. IEEE 52, 94 (January 1964). A. E. Siegman, C. F. Quate, J. Bjorkholm, and G. Francois, "Frequency translation of an He-Ne lasers output frequency by acoustic output coupling inside the resonant cavity," Appl. Phys. Lett. 5, 1 (July 1964). S. E. Harris and A. E. Siegman, "A technique for optical frequency translation utilizing the quadratic electro-optic effect in cubic crystals," Appl. Opt. 3, 1089 (September 1964). P. Wysocki, A. Kostenbauder, B. Y. Kim and A. E. Siegman, "Bipolar optical modulation and demodulation using a dual-mode fiber and a fast diffusion-driven photodetector," IEEE J. Lightwave Technol. LT-7, 1964 (December 1989). A. E. Siegman and J. W. Allen, "Pump power dependence of ruby laser starting and stopping time," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE-1, 386 (December 1965). A. E. Siegman and V. Evtuhov, "Twisted-mode technique for obtaining axially uniform energy density in a laser cavity," Appl. Opt., 4, 142 4, 142 (January 1965). G. Francois and A. E. Siegman, "The effect of gaussian beam spread on phase-velocity matching in CW optical second-harmonic generation," Phys. Rev. A4, 139 (July 1965). A. E. Siegman, "Unstable optical resonators for laser applications," Proc. IEEE 53, 277 (March 1965). A. E. Siegman, "Progress in Quantum Electronics: Report of Commission 7 to XV Congress of URSI," Radio Science 1, 1379 (December 1966). A. E. Siegman, "Obtaining the equations of motion for parametrically coupled oscillators or waves," Proc. IEEE 54, 576 (May 1966). A. E. Siegman, B. Daino and K. R. Manes, "Preliminary measurements of laser short-term frequency fluctuations," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE—3, 180—189 (May 1967). A. E. Siegman, "The antenna properties of optical heterodyne receivers," Appl. Opt. 5, 1588 (October 1966). A. E. Siegman, "The antenna properties of optical heterodyne receivers," Proc. IEEE 54, 1350 (October 1966). A. E. Siegman and R. Arrathoon, "Modes in unstable optical resonators and lens waveguides," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE—3, 156—163 (April 1967). J. E. Bjorkholm and A. E. Siegman, "Accurate CW measurements of optical second-harmonic generation in ADP and calcite," Phys. Rev. 154, 851—860 (February 1967). A. E. Siegman, "A maximum signal theorem for the spatially coherent detection of scattered radiation," IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation AP—15, 192 (January 1967). A. E. Siegman, "Absolute frequency stabilization of a laser oscillator against a laser amplifier," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE—3, 377 (July 1967). A. E. Siegman, B. Daino and K. R. Manes, "Preliminary measurements of laser short-term frequency fluctuations," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE-3, 180 (May 1967). A. E. Siegman and R. Arrathoon, "Observation of quantum phase noise in a laser oscillator," Phys. Rev. Lett. 20, 901—902 (22 April 1968). D. G. Carlson and A. E. Siegman, "Intracavity electro-optic frequency tuning, polarization switching, and Q-switching of a Nd:YAG laser oscillator," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE-4, 93 (March 1968). R. Arrathoon and A. E. Siegman, "Current pushing of the oscillation frequency of a 6328 He-Ne laser," Appl. Phys. Lett. 13, 197 (September 1968). A. E. Siegman, "Comments on pumping on a swing," Am. J. Phys. 37, 843 (August 1969). R. Arrathoon and A. E. Siegman, "Further measurements of quantum phase noise in a He-Ne laser," J. Appl. Phys. 40, 910—911 (February 1969). G. A. Massey, R. Tremblay and A. E. Siegman, "A Fresnel-drag ring-laser method for rotation readout of a spinning transparent spherical gyroscope," IEEE J. Quantum El ectron. QE-5, 357 (June 1969). A. E. Siegman and D. J. Kuizenga, "Simple analytic expressions for AM and FM mode-locked pulses in homogeneous lasers," Appl. Phys. Lett. 14, 181 (March 1969). G. A. Massey and A. E. Siegman, "Reflection and refraction of gaussian light beams at tilted ellipsoidal surfaces," Appl. Opt. 8, 975—978 (May 1969). A. E. Siegman and D. J. Kuizenga, "A proposed method for measuring picosecond pulse widths and pulse shapes in cw mode-locked lasers," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE-6, 212 (April 1970). S. C. Wang, R. L. Byer and A. E. Siegman, "Observation of an enhanced Lamb dip with a pure Xe gain cell inside a 3.51 He-Xe laser," Appl. Phys. Lett. 17, 120 (August 1970).