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Paul Corkum

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Canadian physicist (born 1943)
Paul B. Corkum
Born (1943-10-30) October 30, 1943 (age 81)
Saint John, New Brunswick
NationalityCanadian
Alma materAcadia University (BSc.)
Lehigh University (MSc.), (PhD)
AwardsWolf Prize in Physics (2022)
BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2022)
Scientific career
FieldsAttosecond physics
Laser science
InstitutionsUniversity of Ottawa

Paul Bruce Corkum OC OOnt FRSC FRS (born October 30, 1943) is a Canadian physicist specializing in attosecond physics and laser science. He holds a joint University of Ottawa–NRC chair in attosecond photonics. He also holds academic positions at Texas A&M University and the University of New Mexico. Corkum is both a theorist and an experimentalist.

Biography and research

Paul Corkum was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. He obtained his BSc (1965) from Acadia University, Nova Scotia, and his MSc (1967) and PhD (1972) in theoretical physics from Lehigh University, Pennsylvania. He won several awards for his work on laser science.

In the 1980s he developed a model of the ionization of atoms (i.e. plasma production) and on this basis proposed a new approach to making X-ray lasers, under the name of optical field ionization (OFI). The OFI lasers are today one of the most important developments in X-ray laser research.

In the early 1990s in strong field atomic physics there were discoveries of high harmonic generation and correlated double ionization (in which an atom can absorb hundreds of photons and emit two electrons). Corkum's recollision electron model served as the basis for the generation of attosecond pulses from lasers. With this method in 2001 Corkum with colleagues in Vienna succeeded in demonstrating for the first time laser pulse lengths lasting less than 1 femtosecond. The method was used for the generation of higher harmonics and (as a type of laser tunneling microscope) for exploration of atoms and molecules in the angstrom range and below.

Corkum's recollision electron physics has led to many advances in understanding the interactions among coherent electrons, coherent light, and coherent atoms or molecules. The recollision electron can be thought of as an electron interferometer built by laser light generated from atoms or molecules. As an interferometer, the recollision electron can be used to measure atomic and molecular orbitals by means of interfering waves from the bound electrons and the recollision electrons.

From 1997 to 2009, he was the adjunct professor of physics at McMaster University.

In 2018, Corkum was the first Canadian to be awarded the Isaac Newton Medal by the Institute of Physics for his outstanding contributions to experimental physics and to attosecond science and for pioneering work which has led to the first-ever experimental image of a molecular orbital and the first-ever space–time image of an attosecond pulse. Attosecond techniques can freeze the motion of electrons within atoms and molecules, observe quantum mechanical orbitals, and follow chemical reactions.

Honors and awards

Awards

Membership

Selected works

References

  1. ^ "Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering" (Press release). NSERC. 16 March 2009., as published in Physics in Canada, 65(2) 58.
  2. ^ "Paul Corkum, Jean-Marie Dufour, B. Brett Finlay, Roderick Guthrie and Susan Sherwin to receive $100,000 Killam Prizes for 2006" (Press release). Canadian Council for the Arts. 27 March 2006. Archived from the original on 19 February 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  3. ^ "Paul Corkum". Institute for Quantum Computing. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  4. Corkum, Paul (March 2011). "Recollision Physics" (PDF). Physics Today. 64 (3): 36–41. Bibcode:2011PhT....64c..36C. doi:10.1063/1.3563818.
  5. Hentschel, M.; et al. (29 Nov 2001). "Attosecond metrology". Nature. 414 (6863): 509–513. Bibcode:2001Natur.414..509H. doi:10.1038/35107000. PMID 11734845. S2CID 6043342.
  6. "Première médaille Isaac Newton pour le Canada : le physicien Paul Corkum illumine de gloire le pays" [First Isaac Newton for Canada: physicist Paul Corkum brightens the glory of the country] (in French). 16 July 2018.
  7. ^ Isaac Newton Medal
  8. "Paul Corkum receives NSERC's prestigious Polanyi Award" (Press release). University of Ottawa. 3 March 2008. Archived from the original on 14 August 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  9. "Current Winner: Paul Corkum" (Press release). NSERC. 16 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  10. "Paul B. Corkum | Optica". www.optica.org. Retrieved 2024-06-24.
  11. King Faisal Prize 2013 - Physics
  12. "Progress Medal - the Royal Photographic Society". Archived from the original on 2012-08-22. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  13. Canada, National Research Council (2023-02-22). "Biography: Dr. Paul Corkum". nrc.canada.ca. Retrieved 2024-06-24.
  14. "Thomson Reuters Forecasts Nobel Prize Winners". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Reuters. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  15. Royal Medal 2017
  16. Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science 2019
  17. Wolf Prize in Physics 2022
  18. BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award 2022
  19. "New Appointees to the Order of Ontario". January 23, 2014.
  20. "Paul Corkum – Biography". Joint Attosecond Science Laboratory. Archived from the original on 2018-03-17. Retrieved 2010-09-23.

External links

Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 2005
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