Nominators must complete a nominee submission by April 5th each year with the following:
Statement of a specific technical accomplishment or contribution(s) that qualify Nominee for Award, including the impact of the work, as well as other related accomplishments; publications, patents, etc. that demonstrate the most significant impact. (Maximum of three pages)
Proposed Award Citation: (Word Count: 20)
Nominee’s curriculum vita (Maximum of three pages)
Endorsements: Three letters of endorsement are required. You may enter the endorsers name and email to send an automatically generated email request, or if you have received the endorsement, you can upload directly to the system. (One page limit)
An IEEE or Society membership is not required to submit a nomination; however, you must have an IEEE Web Account. To create an account, click here.
The IEEE Photonics Society Quantum Electronics Award was created to recognize outstanding technical contributions to quantum electronics, either in fundamentals, applications, or in both.
Presented to: An individual or team, up to three in number
Scope: To recognize outstanding technical contributions to quantum electronics, either in fundamentals, applications, or in both.
Prize: A Bronze Medallion, A Certificate and Honorarium
Basis for judging: In the evaluation process, the following criteria are considered: The award may be given either for a single contribution, or for a distinguished series of contributions over a long period of time, recognized as a seminal or fundamental contribution to a broad and important field.
We are proud to recognize and celebrate honorees of the IEEE Photonics Society Quantum Electronics Award.
For pioneering work on single photon sources and optical quantum computing.
Chao-Yang Lu is a Chair Professor in Physics at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). He received his Bachelor’s and PhD degrees in Physics from USTC and the University of Cambridge. He has served as the Chairman of the World Association of Young Scientists since 2024. His current research interests include quantum foundations, quantum computation, solid-state quantum photonics, quantum teleportation, superconducting circuits, and tweezer atom arrays.
He is the author of over 160 papers in major research journals, which have attracted 43,000 citations to date. His work has been selected by Physics World as the “Breakthrough of the Year” in 2015, by APS Physics as one of the top ten “Highlights of the Year” in 2021, 2022, and 2025, and by UNESCO as one of the “World’s Top 10 Digital Innovation Technologies” in 2021. He is a Fellow of OSA, Optica, and APS, and a recipient of the EPS Fresnel Prize, the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize, the Nishina Asian Award, the IUPAP-ICO Young Scientist Prize in Optics, the OSA Adolph Lomb Medal, the APS Rolf Landauer and Charles H. Bennett Award in Quantum Computing, the CLEO James P. Gordon Memorial Speakership, the He-Liang-He-Li Prize, and the OCPA Achievement in Asia Award. Since 2018, he has served as the Founding General Secretary of the Micius Science & Technology Foundation and the Micius Quantum Prize, as well as a Divisional Associate Editor for Physical Review Letters and an Editorial Board Member for Applied Physics Reviews, ACS Photonics, and Quantum Science and Technology.
For pioneering work on single photon sources and optical quantum computing.
Jian-Wei Pan, born in Mar, 1970, is a full professor of physics at the University of Science and Technology of China. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1999 from the University of Vienna. In 2011, he was elected as the academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is also a foreign member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society (London), and a TWAS Fellow.
His research fields focus on quantum foundations, quantum optics and quantum information. He has authored more than 460 peer-reviewed publications including 3 in Rev. Mod. Phys. and 44 Nature/Science, with more than 100,000 citations. He has received numerous honors, including the Fresnel Prize of the European Physical Society, the Qiu Shi Outstanding Scientist Award, the International Quantum Award from the International Conference for Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing (QCMC), the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for Scientific and Technological Achievement, the First Class Prize of the State Natural Science Award, the Future Science Prize in Physical Sciences, the R. W. Wood Prize from the OSA, the Micius Quantum Prize, and the Zeiss Research Award, the Tengchong Science Award, the UNESCO Mendeleev International Prize in the Basic Sciences, among others.
| Year | Award Winner | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Roberto Morandotti | For pioneering entanglement generation and the processing of complex quantum states in photonic devices and systems. |
| 2024 | Alexey Gorshkov | For pioneering contributions to understanding, design, and control of interacting quantum systems, with applications including quantum computers, sensors, and networks. |
| 2023 | Hoi-Kwong Lo | For establishing the theoretical and experimental foundation for practical quantum cryptography and quantum network. |
| 2022 | Fred A. Kish | For pioneering contributions to the invention, development, and commercialization of photonics integrated circuits. |
| 2021 | Miles Padgett | For pioneering research on the fundamentals and applications of optical angular momentum. |
| 2020 | Herbert Winful | For pioneering the field of nonlinear optical periodic structures and for foundational contributions to nonlinear dynamics of semiconductor laser arrays. |
| 2019 | Luigi A. Lugiato | For outstanding contribuitions to quantum electronics, especially the formulation of the Lugiato-Lefever equation and its impact on microresonator frequency combs. |
| 2018 | James Roy Taylor | For seminal contributions to development of ultrashort pulse lasers and applications to nonlinear fiber optics allowing temporal and spectral versatility. |
| 2017 | Jia-Ming Liu | For pioneering and lasting contributions to ultrafast laser-matter interactions and nonlinear dynamics of lasers. |
| 2016 | David Villeneuve | For seminal contributions to the development of attosecond science and its application to atomic and molecular spectroscopy. |
| 2015 | Richard M .Osgood | For seminal contributions to novel laser systems, laser-surface photochemistry, and integrated linear and nonlinear Si waveguides. |
| 2014 | Robert W. Boyd | For contributions to nonlinear optics, including room temperature slow light and the nonlinear optics of composite materials. |
| 2013 | Weng Chow | For contributions to semiconductor-laser theory, in particular the implementation and verification of many-body effects |
| 2012 | Govind P. Agrawal | For sustained contributions to fiber-optic telecommunication technology through innovative research and authorship of numerous widely-respected books in the field. |
| 2011 | Andrew M. Weiner | For seminal contributions to ultrafast optical signal processing, including development of ultrashort pulse arbitrary waveform generation technology and its applications |
| 2010 | Masataka Nakazawa | For seminal contribution and leadership in the advancement of optical communications and fiber lasers through the invention of the compact erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA. |
| 2009 | Atac Imamoglu | For field opening contributions to electromagnetically induced transparency and to quantum dot based information processing. |
| 2008 |
Jeffrey H. Shapiro
Horace P. Yuen |
For pioneering and seminal contributions to the theory of the generation, detection, and applications of novel states of light. |
| 2007 | Sajeev John | For the invention and development of light-trapping crystals and the elucidation of their properties and applications. |
| 2006 | Ferenc Krausz | For outstanding contributions to the field of ultrafast science in particular to the generation of single attosecond pulses |
| 2005 | Paul Corkum | For pioneering contributions to the development of femtosecond and attosecond science. |
| 2004 | Gerard Mourou | For pioneering contributions to ultrafast optics including optical sampling and intense fs pulses |
| 2003 | Marlan O. Scully | For field-opening contributions to the foundation of laser physics. |
| 2002 | Shuji Nakamura | For pioneering contributions to blue, green, and white light emitting diodes and blue semiconductor lasers. |
| 2001 | Linn Mollenauer | For seminal contributions to the generation, understanding, and system application of optical solitons. |
| 2000 | Yoshihisa Yamamoto | For the invention and first demonstration of the technique for producing amplitude squeezed light semiconductors. |
| 1999 | Akira Hasegawa | For his contributions to the derivation of the master equation for signal transmission in fibers, discovery of optical solitons and the theoretical developments for application of solitons to all optical high speed communication systems. |
| 1998 | Rudolf F. Kazarinov | For his seminal and wide-ranging theoretical contributions to the semiconductor laser field including the double-heterostructure laser, the distributed-feedback laser and intersubband lasers. |
| 1997 | Erich P. Ippen | For pioneering work in ultrafast optics, optical diagnostics and novel methods of mode- locking. |
| 1996 | Robert L. Byer | For pioneering inventions and contributions to solid-state lasers, optical parametric oscillators, and nonlinear optics. |
| 1995 | Daniel S. Chemla | For his seminal contributions to the field of nonlinear optics and the understanding of electronic excitations in quantum confined systems. |
| 1994 | Stephen E. Harris | For pioneering contributions to quantum electronics including the invention of the FM laser, methods of UV and X-ray generation and lasing without inversion. |
| 1993 | Frederick Leonberger | For his pioneering contributions to the development of a variety of new photonic devices and their use in important signal processing functions. |
| 1992 |
Joseph E. Geusic
LeGrande Van Uitert |
For their invention & development of the Neodymium:YAG laser. |
| 1991 | Herwig Kogelnik | For fundamental contributions and technical leadership in the fields of quantum electronics and optical communications. |
| 1990 | David H. Auston | For pioneering and fundamental contributions to the field of picosecond optoelectronics and ultrafast optical phenomena. |
| 1989 | Anthony Siegman | For his numerous contributions to the field of quantum electronics, including the invention of the unstable optical resonator and for contributions to the theory of mode-locked lasers. |
| 1988 | William Bridges | For his contributions to the discovery of the Argon, Krypton, and Xenon ion lasers. |
| 1987 | Arthur Ashkin | For his seminal experimental and theoretical work which initiated worldwide study of laser radiation pressure and for his continuing exceptional contributions to the development of this field. |
| 1986 | Peter Smith | For pioneering contributions to waveguide gas lasers, stabilized lasers, bistable optical devices and to the understanding of fundamental limits on nonlinear optical switching devices. |
| 1985 | Robert Hellwarth | For fundamental contributions to lasers, Raman scattering and non-linear optical processes. |
| 1984 | Hermann Haus | For his contributions to optical waveguide devices and laser modelocking. |
| 1983 | Ivan Kaminow | For his contributions to electro-optics, waveguide devices, optical fibers, and semiconductor lasers. |
| 1982 | Yasuharu Suematsu | For technical contributions and teaching in the field of optical communications, including semiconductor lasers, fibers, and integrated optics. |
| 1981 | Dietrich Marcuse | For his theoretical contributions which provide fundamental understanding for practical designs of optical dielectric waveguides. |
| 1980 | Amnon Yariv | In recognition of his pioneering contributions to lasers and electrooptics. |
| 1979 | Elias Snitzer | For the invention and operation of the “first” glass laser, fiber-optics, and contributions to optical fibers. |
| 1978 | A. Gardner Fox | In recognition of outstanding contributions to the theory and application of ferrite, nonreciprocal, and parametric devices and laser resonator modes and devices. |