Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland have been awarded the Nobel Prize in physics 2018 for their revolutionary discoveries in the field of laser physics. Artur Ashkin has been the oldest Nobel Prize winner so far, and shares his prize with Prof. Gérard Mourou (University of Michigan, USA) and Prof. Donna Strickland (Waterloo University, Canada). Ashkin has been awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of optical tweezers for trapping and manipulation of particles, atoms and living cells. Profs. Mourou and Strickland share the Prize for the development of techniques for amplifying laser pulses, the so called Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA), which has become the standard technique for enhancement of pulses energy in femtosecond laser amplifiers.

This is the eleventh occasion in the history of Nobel Prize that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognizes and rewards scientific activities directly connected with lasers and their application in science. This is particularly important regarding the establishment of the Center for Advanced Laser Technologies (CALT) and the ongoing and future scientific activities of our Institute which are substantially based on modern laser techniques.

*Image source www.pbs.org & www.mq.edu.au