Summary

PROFESSOR GEOFF NEW

Geoff New has been at Imperial since 1973, and has been Professor of Nonlinear Optics since 1980.  From 1980 to 1992, he was head of the Laser Optics Group which became the Laser Optics & Spectroscopy Group in 1988; later, from 2001-2003, he was head of the Quantum Optics and Laser Science group.  He was Warden of Falmouth Keogh Hall from 1987 to 1996, and served as a staff representative on the College Council from 2001 to 2005. 

Geoff New was a Rank Prize Fund Fellow from 1975-1978, and became a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the Optical Society of America in 1984.  He was Chairman of the Institute of Physics Quantum Electronics Group Committee from 1988-1991.  He was a member of the International Council of the Optical Society of America from 2005 - 2007. 

Geoff New’s research is centred on theoretical laser physics and nonlinear optics, with particular emphasis on the computer simulation of ultrafast processes. 

PROFESSIONAL CAREER

Geoff New was at Keble College Oxford as an undergraduate (1961-1964) and as a postgraduate (1964-1967).   For his DPhil, he worked with John Ward on the then-novel field of nonlinear optics.  Together, they measured a number of optical rectification coefficients, and went on to observe third harmonic generation in the gas phase for the first time.  In 1967, he joined Professor Dan Bradley’s thriving laser physics group at Queen’s University Belfast and, for the next six years, did experimental and theoretical work on ultrashort pulse generation in mode-locked lasers.  When Dan Bradley moved to Imperial in 1973, he was one of those who moved with him.  

At Imperial, he continued to work on the theory of mode-locking, as well as starting a new programme on resonant nonlinear frequency-mixing processes.   In the 1980s, with several different PGs and RAs, he developed some new techniques for modelling pulse formation in synchronously-pumped dye lasers, in the course of which he studied noise-induced jitter and self-stabilisation in these systems.  He also worked on excimer laser theory, and modelled a number of experiments within the SPRITE and TITANIA programmes at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. More recently, he has worked on optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA), excess quantum noise, unstable resonators, fractal laser modes and novel laser beams. 

In the 70s and 80s, he paid many visits of several months to Stanford University, where he interacted with Professors Art Schawlow, Steve Harris, and Tony Siegman.  More recently, he has developed a number of active collaborations with colleagues in other institutes and universities including the University of Leiden (the Netherlands), INAOE (Mexico), the University of Valladolid (Spain) and (in the UK) the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the Universities of Oxford, St Andrews, and Glasgow.    

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