Donna Strickland - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Donna_Strickland

Donna Strickland
Donna Theo Strickland (born 27 May 1959)[1]
[2][3] is a Canadian optical physicist and pioneer Donna Strickland
CC FRS FRSC HonFInstP
in the field of pulsed lasers. She was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, together with
Gérard Mourou, for the practical implementation
of chirped pulse amplification.[4] She is a
professor at the University of Waterloo in
Ontario, Canada.[5]

She served as fellow, vice president, and president

of Optica (formerly OSA), and is currently chair of
its Presidential Advisory Committee. In 2018, she
was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.[6] She has
gone on to have the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada Prize
being set in her name. Strickland in 2018
Born Donna Theo Strickland
27 May 1959
Early life and education Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Spouse Doug Dykaar
Strickland was born on 27 May 1959, in Guelph,
Awards Nobel Prize (2018)
Ontario, Canada to Edith J. (née Ranney), an
English teacher,[7] and Lloyd Strickland, an Scholarly background
electrical engineer.[1] After graduating from Alma mater McMaster University
Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute, she
University of Rochester
decided to attend McMaster University because
its engineering physics program included lasers Thesis Development of an Ultra-Bright
and electro-optics, areas of particular interest to Laser and an Application to Multi-
her.[7] At McMaster, she was one of three women photon Ionization (https://web.arc
in a class of twenty-five. Strickland graduated hive.org/web/20130707150743/ht
with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in tp://www.lle.rochester.edu/media/
engineering physics in 1981.[8][3] publications/documents/theses/St
rickland.pdf) (1988)
Strickland studied for her graduate degree in The Doctoral Gérard Mourou
Institute of Optics,[9] receiving a Doctor of advisor
Philosophy degree from the University of Scholarly work
Rochester in 1989.[10][11] She conducted her
Discipline Physics
doctoral research at the associated Laboratory for
Laser Energetics, supervised by Gérard Mourou. Sub- Optics
[12] Strickland and Mourou worked to develop an discipline
experimental setup that could raise the peak Institutions National Research Council of
power of laser pulses, to overcome a limitation, Canada

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that when the maximal intensity of laser pulses Lawrence Livermore National
reached gigawatts per square centimetre, self- Laboratory
focusing of the pulses severely damaged the Princeton University
amplifying part of the laser. Their 1985 technique
University of Waterloo
of chirped pulse amplification stretched out each
laser pulse both spectrally and in time before Main Intense laser–matter interactions
amplifying it, then compressed each pulse back to interests · nonlinear optics · short-pulse
its original duration, generating ultrashort optical intense laser systems · chirped
pulses of terawatt to petawatt intensity.[1] Using pulse amplification · ultrafast
chirped pulse amplification allowed smaller high- optics

power laser systems to be built on a typical

laboratory optical table, as "table-top terawatt lasers".[12] The work received the 2018 Nobel
Prize in Physics.[13]

Career and research

From 1988 to 1991, Strickland was a
research associate at the National
Research Council of Canada, where
she worked with Paul Corkum in the
Ultrafast Phenomena Section, which
had the distinction at that time of
having produced the most powerful
short-pulse laser in the world.[14] She
worked in the laser division of
Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory from 1991 to 1992 and
joined the technical staff of Princeton Strickland's ultrafast laser group at the University of Waterloo in
University's Advanced Technology 2017

Center for Photonics and Opto-

electronic Materials in 1992. She joined the University of Waterloo in 1997 as an assistant
professor.[10] She became the first full-time female professor in physics at the University of
Waterloo.[15] Strickland is currently a professor, leading an ultrafast laser group that develops
high-intensity laser systems for nonlinear optics investigations.[5] She has described herself as a
"laser jock":[13]

I think it's because we thought we were good with our hands. As an experimentalist,
you need to understand the physics, but you also need to be able to actually make
something work, and the lasers were very finicky in those days.[7]

Strickland's recent work has focused on pushing the boundaries of ultrafast optical science to
new wavelength ranges such as the mid-infrared and the ultraviolet, using techniques such as
two-colour or multi-frequency methods, as well as Raman generation.[5] She is also working on
the role of high-power lasers in the microcrystalline lens of the human eye, during the process of
micromachining of the eye lens to cure presbyopia.[5]

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precise cuts, the technique is used in laser micromachining, laser surgery, medicine,
fundamental science studies, and other applications. It has enabled doctors to perform millions
of corrective laser eye surgeries.[38] She said that after developing the technique they knew it
would be a significant discovery.[13]

When she received the Nobel Prize, many commentators were surprised that she had not
reached the rank of full professor. In response, Strickland said that she had "never applied" for a
professorship;[39] "it doesn't carry necessarily a pay raise ... I never filled out the paper work ... I
do what I want to do and that wasn't worth doing."[7] Strickland had not applied to be a full
professor prior to her Nobel prize, but in October 2018, she told the BBC that she had
subsequently applied and was promoted to full professorship at the University of Waterloo.[40]

Order of Canada
Strickland was appointed as a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2019, one of Canada's
highest civilian honours.[26]

Personal life
Strickland is married to Douglas Dykaar, who received a doctorate in electrical engineering
from the University of Rochester.[8][41] They have two children:[8] Hannah, a graduate student
in astrophysics at the University of Toronto,[15] and Adam, who is studying comedy at Humber
College.[42] Strickland is an active member of the United Church of Canada.[43]

Professional Affiliations and Honors

Strickland became a fellow of Optica (formerly known as Optical Society of America) in 2008.
She served as its vice president and president in 2011 and 2013 respectively, and was a topical
editor of its journal Optics Letters from 2004 to 2010. She is currently the chair of Optica's
Presidential Advisory Committee.[44]

She is a former president of the Optical Society and director of Academic Affairs for the
Canadian Association of Physicists.

Selected publications
Strickland, Donna; Mourou, Gerard (1985). "Compression of amplified chirped optical
pulses". Optics Communications. 56 (3): 219–221. Bibcode:1985OptCo..56..219S (https://u
i.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1985OptCo..56..219S). CiteSeerX 10.1.1.673.148 (https://citeseer
x.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.673.148). doi:10.1016/0030-4018(85)90120-8
(https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0030-4018%2885%2990120-8). ISSN 0030-4018 (https://searc
h.worldcat.org/issn/0030-4018).
Maine, P.; Strickland, D.; Bado, P.; Pessot, M.; Mourou, G. (1988). "Generation of ultrahigh
peak power pulses by chirped pulse amplification". IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics.
24 (2): 398–403. Bibcode:1988IJQE...24..398M (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988IJQ
E...24..398M). doi:10.1109/3.137 (https://doi.org/10.1109%2F3.137). ISSN 0018-9197 (http

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Donna Strickland - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Strickland

s://search.worldcat.org/issn/0018-9197).
Strickland, D.; Corkum, P. B. (1994). "Resistance of short pulses to self-focusing" (https://w
ww.osapublishing.org/josab/fulltext.cfm?uri=josab-11-3-492&id=7305). Journal of the Optical
Society of America B. 11 (3): 492–497. Bibcode:1994JOSAB..11..492S (https://ui.adsabs.ha
rvard.edu/abs/1994JOSAB..11..492S). doi:10.1364/JOSAB.11.000492 (https://doi.org/10.13
64%2FJOSAB.11.000492). S2CID 122336320 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:12
2336320).

See also
Criticism of Wikipedia#Notability of article topics
List of University of Waterloo people
Women in physics

Notes
a. Then known as Optical Society of America (OSA).
b. Strickland attempted to add Steve Williamson as an author of the article, but Williamson
removed the name as "he hadn't done enough".[7][37]

References
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multi-photon ionization (http://www.lle.rochester.edu/media/publications/documents/theses/S
trickland.pdf) (PDF) (PhD). University of Rochester. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0130707150743/http://www.lle.rochester.edu/media/publications/documents/theses/Stricklan
d.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
2. Lindinger, Manfred (2 October 2018). "Eine Zange aus lauter Licht" (https://www.faz.net/aktu
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67-867c-16b73b64ae13.html). Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
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n-scientist-donna-strickland-shares-nobel-physics-prize/). The Globe and Mail. Retrieved
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9. Mourou, Gérard (2004). "53. The dawn of ultrafast science and technology at the University
of Rochester" (https://web.archive.org/web/20181003101450/http://www2.optics.rochester.e
du/~stroud/BookHTML/ChapVI_pdf/VI_53.pdf) (PDF). In Stroud, Carlos (ed.). A Jewel in the
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p://www2.optics.rochester.edu/~stroud/BookHTML/contents.htm). Rochester, NY: Meliora
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10. "Biographies – Donna T. Strickland" (https://www.osa.org/en-us/history/biographies/donna-t-
strickland/). The Optical Society. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
11. "Donna Strickland" (https://web.archive.org/web/20181002182312/https://uwaterloo.ca/educ
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s-nobel-prize-340302/). NewsCenter. University of Rochester. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
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ttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45722890). BBC News. Retrieved 2 October
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14. Page, Shelley (19 October 1990). "Laser lab makes short work of super beam" (https://ww
w.newspapers.com/clip/24232914/laser_lab_makes_short_work_of_super_beam/). Ottawa
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15. Nusca, Andrew (17 October 2018). "Nobel Laureate Donna Strickland: Yes, Women Are
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Physics" (https://www.osa.org/en-us/about_osa/newsroom/news_releases/2018/arthur_ashk
in_gerard_mourou_and_donna_strickland_a/). The Optical Society. 2 October 2018.
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volunteers/committees/standing_ad_hoc_committees/#PAC%7COSA). The Optical Society.
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18. "News Flash: Canadian physicist, Donna Strickland, co-recipient of 2018 Nobel Prize in
Physics" (https://www.cap.ca/publications/cap-news/2018-nobel-prize-physics/). Canadian
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scientist, not a woman in science' " (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/20/nobe
l-laureate-donna-strickland-i-see-myself-as-a-scientist-not-a-woman-in-science). The
Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
20. "Past Sloan Fellows" (https://web.archive.org/web/20161106043224/http://www.sloan.org/sl
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original (https://sloan.org/past-fellows/) on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
21. "Cottrell Scholars" (http://rescorp.org/gdresources/docs/cs-by-class-2018.pdf) (PDF).
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_fellows/2008_fellows/). The Optical Society. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
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24. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement" (https://achievement.or

g/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration). www.achievement.org. American
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26. Andrew-Gee, Eric. "Order of Canada: Stephen Harper, Donna Strickland, Xavier Dolan
among new appointments" (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-order-of-canad
a-stephen-harper-donna-strickland-xavier-dolan-among/). The Globe and Mail. Retrieved
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27. "Professor Donna Strickland awarded CAE Honorary Fellowship" (https://cae-acg.ca/wp-con
tent/uploads/2019/06/Honorary-Announcement-2019.pdf) (PDF). 21 June 2019.
28. "Four CAP members appointed Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC)" (https://ww
w.cap.ca/publications/cap-news/4-cap-members-appointed-rsc-fellows/). Canadian
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optical pulses". Optics Communications. 55 (6): 447–449. Bibcode:1985OptCo..55..447S (ht
tps://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1985OptCo..55..447S). CiteSeerX 10.1.1.673.148 (https://ci
teseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.673.148).
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39. Crowe, Cailin (2 October 2018). " 'I Never Applied': Nobel Winner Explains Associate-
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m/article/I-Never-Applied-Nobel/244699). The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved
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terloo-region/nobel-laureate-donna-strickland-is-now-full-professor/article_a8423bf5-7902-5
074-9289-59737f50dae9.html). Waterloo Region Record. 25 October 2018. Retrieved
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41. Dykaar, Doug. "Doug Dykaar" (https://ca.linkedin.com/in/dykaar). LinkedIn.
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ps://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/20/nobel-laureate-donna-strickland-i-see-mysel
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43. Mitchell, Alanna (28 March 2019). "How This Nobel Prize Winner Balances Physics And
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44. "Donna Strickland | Optica" (https://www.optica.org/history/biographies/bios/donna-t-strickla
nd/). www.optica.org. Retrieved 20 January 2025.

External links
Faculty profile (https://uwaterloo.ca/physics-astronomy/people-profiles/donna-strickland) at
the University of Waterloo
Donna Strickland (https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/962) on Nobelprize.org , including the
Nobel Lecture on 8 December 2018 Generating High-Intensity Ultrashort Optical Pulses

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Donna_Strickland&oldid=1294833694"

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