Distinguished Professor of Engineering Siddharth Ramachandran (ECE, Physics, MSE) has been named a 2022 Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) for foundational contributions to the study of structured and singular light and their applications.
Ramachandran is a photonics pioneer who designed the first optical fiber capable of transmitting data encoded in light that travels in a corkscrew path. Sending data this way—known as the orbital angular momentum degree of photons—was thought to be impossible until Ramachandran and colleagues demonstrated it in a landmark 2013 Science paper. His technology, which he has continued to refine since, promises to boost Internet bandwidth by at least 25 times today’s capacity.
“It is now clear that his fiber designs will be part of the backbone of tomorrow’s internet,” Ramachandran’s nominator wrote to the APS, adding that Ramachandran has also developed the first all-fiber STED microscope, record (kW) power level sources emitting topologically complex beams, and engineerable optical activity isotropic media.
The APS is the premier organization whose membership spans the physics community worldwide.
“I am honored and humbled to join the select group of exceptional physicists fortunate enough to be designated a fellow by the prestigious APS,” says Ramachandran, “and I am particularly gratified that APS also endeavors to recognize, in addition to fundamental contributions to the field of physics, achievements that lie at the interface of fundamental and applied science.”
Photo by Dana J. Quigley for BU Photography.