Kogelnik Still Seeks Research Challenges

Murray Hill, N.J. (September 2001) -- "Think of all that bandwidth!"

Herwig Kogelnik, adjunct Photonics Systems Research vice president, is sitting back, reminiscing about his 40 years at Bell Labs. He is describing his meeting with Rudolf Kompfner, the research director who, with this simple statement, persuaded him to abandon the plasma physics he had studied at Oxford, join Bell Labs, and enter the new field of lasers and optical communications. It was the beginning of an extraordinary career at the Labs.

Herwig Kogelnik, who joined Bell Labs in 1961, has won the IEEE Medal of Honor. Behind him is a vintage photo of a research team in Holmdel.

In June, Kogelnik received the 2001 IEEE Medal of Honor at the Liberty Science Center, adding to the long list of awards Kogelnik has garnered in his illustrious career. The Medal, the highest award the IEEE bestows, recognized Kogelnik "for fundamental contributions to the science and technology of lasers and optoelectronics, and for leadership in research and development of photonics and lightwave communication systems."

The Journey Begins

As he describes his early years, it quickly becomes clear that Kogelnik is someone who seeks out challenges. He finished his secondary education in his hometown of Graz, Austria, still unsure what career to pursue. He learned from a guidance counselor that electronics/communications was the toughest subject at any Austrian university. He knew he had found his field.

Accordingly, he enrolled in the Technische Hochschule Wien (in Vienna) and proceeded to earn both an engineering diploma and a Doctor of Technology degree in electrical engineering, writing a thesis on microwave tubes while teaching at the Institut fur Hochfrequenztechnik in Vienna. His work was so outstanding that he then won a British Council Scholarship - the equivalent of a Rhodes Scholarship - to Oxford, where he did research on electromagnetic radiation in magnetoplasmas and anisotropic media and earned a Ph.D. degree.

Recruited in England by U.S. officials seeking to bring talented scientists and engineers to the United States, Kogelnik arrived in New York in 1960. He went to 52 interviews with representatives of the government, industry, and academia, received 52 job offers, and, impressed by his interview at Bell Labs - where he was shown the first continuously operating laser - and by Kompfner's vision, decided to join the Labs.

The Changing Labs

The talk turns to Bell Labs. How has it changed since 1961, when he started work here as an MTS? Kogelnik recalls that, back then, product development began with the research, development, and manufacture of materials. That was followed by the research, development, and manufacture of devices. That was followed in turn by the research, development, and manufacture of the systems or products that would finally be sold. Strung out this way, the development of a product could take 20 years.

But over the years, Kogelnik says, Bell Labs has developed the ability to do concurrent R&D in materials, components and systems to such a degree that this is now one of our strengths. And we have learned to tie this whole process so closely to marketing that the time from research to market has been dramatically reduced.

Still, Kogelnik insists, some things have not changed. Pure research at the Labs has always been done with an eye to the eventual practical application of that research. He points to the original title of the Schawlow/Townes laser patent "Masers and Maser Communications Systems" - which translates into today's language as "Lasers and Optical Communications" - as proof that the early laser pioneers were already thinking about the practical application of their work to the world of communications.

Bell Labs Experiences

When the topic of his own experiences at the Labs is broached, Kogelnik notes that, when he arrived here, his background was in electronics and physics. "All the optics I know I learned at Bell Labs," he says. He adds that he feels fortunate to have worked with many talented people over the years and to have been able to do research throughout his career in the "problem-rich environment" of the Labs.

Particularly rewarding, he says, is his work on laser modes, laser beams, and laser resonators, as well as on the distributed feedback laser, which he invented and which has been used in wavelength division multiplexing. This last project, he thinks, is largely responsible for the Medal of Honor he received from the IEEE. He says that he is gratified that Bell Labs also got an IEEE award last year for wavelength division multiplexing; finally, he believes, optics is getting the recognition it deserves.

More Challenges Ahead

"It is hard to be pessimistic about the future of optics," says Kogelnik. "There are a lot of challenges out there." For example, he believes that the whole concept of networking will have to change, and, for this to happen, many enabling technologies will have to be developed. And, as ever more data are transmitted through optical fibers, it will be necessary to deal with the problems caused by nonlinear effects in the fiber.

Reflecting on the accomplishments of Kogelnik, one wonders what it has been like to have such a career. He is recognized as a leading figure in the development of lasers and optical communications, and his achievements have brought him membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, half-a-dozen prestigious awards, and numerous other honors.

"It's been great fun," he says genially, and one believes him.