Ivan P. Kaminow

Biography

Considered a luminary in the field of photonics, Ivan Paul Kaminow’s contributions to lightwave technology have revolutionized telecommunications. Dr. Kaminow explored electro-optic materials for high-speed modulation of optical signals and developed a titanium-diffused waveguide for lightwave communications at microwave frequencies up to 100 GHz. This modulator is the technology of choice for today’s long-distance broadband lightwave systems. He also demonstrated the distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser and the ridge-waveguide structure for semiconductor lasers at telecommunications wavelengths. These devices are found in many of today’s commercial lightwave systems. As a research manager at Bell Labs, Dr. Kaminow led the research in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical communications. Its low cost and huge information capacity has made the commercial Internet a reality.

An IEEE Life Fellow, Dr. Kaminow is currently a professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the University of California, Berkeley, where he mentors graduate students in the field.