Paul Corkum Explained

Paul B. Corkum
Birth Date:30 October 1943
Birth Place:Saint John, New Brunswick
Nationality:Canadian
Fields:Attosecond physics
Laser science
Workplaces:University of Ottawa
Alma Mater:Acadia University (BSc.)
Lehigh University (MSc.), (PhD)
Awards:Wolf Prize in Physics (2022)
BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2022)

Paul Bruce Corkum (born October 30, 1943) is a Canadian physicist specializing in attosecond physics and laser science.[1] He holds a joint University of Ottawa–NRC chair in attosecond photonics.[1] 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.[2] He obtained his BSc (1965) from Acadia University, Nova Scotia, and his MSc (1967) and PhD (1972) in theoretical physics from Lehigh University, Pennsylvania.[2] [3] 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[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] [7]

Honors and awards

Awards

Membership

Selected works

External links

Notes and References

  1. . 16 March 2009 . Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering., as published in Physics in Canada, 65(2) 58.
  2. . 27 March 2006 . Paul Corkum, Jean-Marie Dufour, B. Brett Finlay, Roderick Guthrie and Susan Sherwin to receive $100,000 Killam Prizes for 2006 . 2009-06-30 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080219164615/http://www.canadacouncil.ca/news/releases/2006/aa127879522433786880.htm . 19 February 2008 .
  3. Web site: Paul Corkum . . 2009-06-30.
  4. Corkum, Paul. Recollision Physics. Physics Today. 64. 3. March 2011. 36–41. 10.1063/1.3563818. 2011PhT....64c..36C.
  5. Hentschel, M.. Attosecond metrology. Nature. 414. 6863. 29 Nov 2001. 509–513. 2001Natur.414..509H . 10.1038/35107000 . 11734845. 6043342. etal.
  6. Web site: Première médaille Isaac Newton pour le Canada : le physicien Paul Corkum illumine de gloire le pays . 16 July 2018 . fr . First Isaac Newton for Canada: physicist Paul Corkum brightens the glory of the country.
  7. https://www.iop.org/about/awards/isaac-newton-medal-and-prize/isaac-newton-medal-and-prize-recipients Isaac Newton Medal
  8. . 3 March 2008 . Paul Corkum receives NSERC's prestigious Polanyi Award . 2009-06-30 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090814235122/http://www.media.uottawa.ca/mediaroom/news-details_1423.html . 14 August 2009.
  9. . 16 March 2009 . Current Winner: Paul Corkum . 2009-06-30.
  10. Web site: Paul B. Corkum Optica . 2024-06-24 . www.optica.org.
  11. http://www.kff.com/EN01/KFIP/1434H2013G/KFIPWinners5SCI1434H2013G.html King Faisal Prize 2013 - Physics
  12. Web site: Progress Medal - the Royal Photographic Society . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120822030453/http://www.rps.org/annual-awards/Progress-Medal . 2012-08-22 . 2013-09-18.
  13. Web site: Canada . National Research Council . 2023-02-22 . Biography: Dr. Paul Corkum . 2024-06-24 . nrc.canada.ca.
  14. Web site: Reuters . Thomson Reuters Forecasts Nobel Prize Winners . 2023-10-04 . www.prnewswire.com . en.
  15. https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/awards/royal-medal/ Royal Medal 2017
  16. https://www.lambaward.org/ Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science 2019
  17. https://wolffund.org.il/2022/02/08/paul-corkum/ Wolf Prize in Physics 2022
  18. https://www.frontiersofknowledgeawards-fbbva.es/noticias/15th-edition-basic-sciences-anne-lhuillier-paul-corkum-ferenc-krausz/ BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award 2022
  19. Web site: New Appointees to the Order of Ontario. January 23, 2014.
  20. Web site: Paul Corkum – Biography . . 2010-09-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180317194334/http://www.jaslab.ca/corkum_e.html . 2018-03-17 . dead .

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