YOUR BROWSER IS OUT-OF-DATE.
We have detected that you are using an outdated browser. Our service may not work properly for you. We recommend upgrading or switching to another browser.
An experimental physicist from Technion has been awarded the Lem Prize 2023. The statuette was presented at a gala ceremony in the auditorium of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology.
The Stanisław Lem European Research Prize (Lem Prize) was established in 2021 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the eminent Polish science fiction writer, who received an honorary doctorate from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology in 1981. The prize of PLN 100 000 is awarded to young scientists (under 40 years of age) studying or carrying out research in the European Union and associated countries.
The winner is selected each year by a chapter composed of eminent scientists from abroad and the Wroclaw Tech and Tomasz Lem, the writer's son. Candidates are assessed on the basis of recent discoveries or significant achievements in broad areas of science and engineering, with strong elements of technology, interdisciplinarity, creativity and vision.
The first laureate was Prof. Randall J. Platt, a researcher from ETH Zürich and an expert in genetic engineering, and last year the statuette was received by Prof. Samuel Stranks from the University of Cambridge, a specialist in optoelectronics. This year, Prof Ido Kaminer was honoured.
- In the opinion of the chapter, he is a remarkable scientist who combines the brilliance of a theoretician and the mastery of an experimentalist when studying fundamental aspects related to the interaction of light and matter. His work has had an enormous impact on the scientific and technological community". - said Prof Arkadiusz Wójs, Rector of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology. - His pioneering experimental and theoretical contributions in the field of quantum electrodynamics of photonic quasiparticles and the creation of the foundations of quantum optics including free electrons were particularly recognised.
Prof. Ido Kaminer helped create the framework for light-matter interactions of photonic quasiparticles. The foundations of this field are based on macroscopic quantum electrodynamics (MQED), which the scientist has developed within new optical systems such as hyperbolic materials, nanophotonic platforms and 2D materials, predicting new phenomena in optical physics.
He is a pioneer in the field of the interaction of light with free electrons, i.e. new ways to use electrons to generate X-rays, to study coherent light-matter interactions with nanometre resolution and to record the dynamics of photonic quasiparticles.
- Thank you very much to the chapter for awarding me this prize. It is a great honour not only for me, but for everyone I work with. I wanted to draw attention to the people who are, so to speak, outside the scene of such ceremonies. For me, science is a journey with amazing people and I think many scientists around the world feel the same way. There is something really amazing about this kind of work and the community we create together," - said Prof.
During the event, the laureate also gave a lecture entitled 'Shining Light on the Quantum World', during which he talked not only about the projects he has been conducting, but also about his grandfather, who encouraged him to pursue a career in science.
Dr Ido Kaminer is an associate professor at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.
He devoted his doctoral thesis to the discovery of new classes of accelerating light beams in nonlinear optics and electromagnetism. For this achievement, he received the American Physical Society (APS) award in 2014.
He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he developed the basis of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics (MQED) for photonic quasiparticles, which he used to enable forbidden electron transitions in atoms.
As part of his scientific work, Prof Ido Kaminer changed the paradigm for understanding free electron radiation, linking the field to the domain of quantum optics. He performed the first electron microscopy experiment using quantum light, demonstrating that the quantum statistics of photons can be encoded in the electron.
The researcher is the recipient of many awards and grants, such as the ERC Starting Grant, Moore Foundation Grant and Schmidt Science Polymath Award 2022, among others. He is also the recipient of the Krill Prize 2021, the Blavatnik Award in Physical Sciences & Engineering for 2021 and the recipient of the Adolph Lomb Medal 2022, the most important international award for a young scientist (35 years or younger) working in the field of optics. He is also nominated for the prestigious ACS Photonics Young Investigator Award 2024.
The statuette presented at the ceremony is the author's idea and was made by Prof Przemysław Tyszkiewicz.
The founders and partners of the Lem Prize 2023 are: Bergman Engineering, Fundacja Empiria i Wiedza, PGE Górnictwo i Energetyka Konwencjonalna S.A., PCC Rokita, PKO Bank Polski and Nokia.
