Herwig Kogelnik

Herwig Kogelnik’s groundbreaking work in photonics and optical communications has revolutionized modern lightwave communications technology. Dr. Kogelnik is credited with helping to revolutionize global information movement and management.

Since 1961, Dr. Kogelnik has been with Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, New Jersey, where he has served as Director of both the Electronics Research Laboratory and the Photonics Research Laboratory. His research has focused on optics, electronics, and communications, including work on holography, photonics, laser resonators, and Gaussian beams.

In 1971, Dr. Kogelnik, along with Dr. C.V. Shank, pioneered the distributed-feedback (DFB) laser. Additionally, his leadership in the development of practical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) led to a groundbreaking dense WDM system, further revolutionizing lightwave communications by expanding capacity and lowering costs.

In the area of photonic switching, Dr. Kogelnik’s research with Dr. R.V. Schmidt led to the development of the reversal directional coupler wavelength switch, a mainstay of experimental photonic switching systems, and a necessary component in ultra high-speed optical networks. Under his leadership, the Photonics Research Laboratory developed many other fundamental components of optical communications, including high-speed avalanche photodiodes, tunable semiconductor lasers, photonic integrated circuits, and high-capacity amplified transmission systems.

Herwig Kogelnik was born in Graz, Austria, in 1932. He received his Dipl. Ing. degree from the Technische Hochschule Wien, Vienna, Austria in 1955, and a Doctorate in 1958, also from the Technische Hochschule. In 1960, he received a Ph.D. from OxfordUniversity.

Dr. Kogelnik has earned 34 patents through his career and is the author of 85 articles. He is a Fellow of both the IEEE and the Optical Society of America, which he served as Vice President in 1987 and President in 1989, and is an Honorary Fellow of St. Peter’s College at OxfordUniversity. He has received numerous awards, including the Optical Society of America’s Frederic Ives Medal in 1984, the IEEE David Sarnoff Award in 1989, the Joseph Johann Ritter von Prechtl Medal from the Technical University of Vienna, Austria in 1990, and the 1991 IEEE Lasers and Electro Optics Society Quantum Electronics Award.  He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1978 and the National Academy of Science in 1994.