The Board of Directors of Optica , Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, recently elected 116 members from 23 countries to the Society’s 2027 Fellow Class. Optica Fellows are selected based on several factors, including outstanding contributions to research, business, education, engineering, and service to Optica and our community.
“Congratulations to the 2027 Optica Fellows,” said Gisele Bennett, Optica's 2026 President. “These members exemplify excellence in our field. Their election by their peers is a testament to the significant contributions they have made and the impact of their work. We thank them for their dedication, service, and continued commitment to advancing our field.”
Fellows are Optica members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics. The Fellow Members Committee, led by Anna Peacock, University of Southampton, UK, reviewed a record 287 nominations submitted by current Fellows. The Committee thanks all the nominators and references for supporting this important program. As Fellows can account for no more than 10 percent of the total membership, the election process is highly competitive. Candidates are recommended by the Fellow Members Committee and approved by the Awards Council and Board of Directors.
The new Fellows will be honored at Optica conferences and events throughout 2027.
2027 Optica Fellows:
Qammer H. Abbasi
University of Glasgow, UK
For contributions to photonic metasurfaces, terahertz sensing, and wave-based sensing systems for next-generation communications and healthcare
Philippe Absil
imec, Belgium
For outstanding contributions and leadership in research and development of silicon photonics technology
Amit Agrawal
University of Cambridge, UK
For contributions to nanophotonics and metasurface optics enabling compact spatiotemporal control of light and scalable quantum technologies
Youichi Akasaka
1Finity Americas Inc, USA
For pioneering contributions to the research and development of optical fiber communication systems, fiber devices, and high nonlinear phenomena
Ibraheem Al-Naib
King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Saudi Arabia
For pioneering contributions to microwave and terahertz metamaterials enabling ultrasensitive biosensing, biomedical diagnostics, and non-invasive bioinstrumentation
Patrizio Antici
INRS, Canada
For his pioneering contributions to the field of laser-driven particle acceleration and its applications
Shlomi Arnon
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
For seminal contributions to optical wireless communication, satellite laser communication, advancing atmospheric channel modeling, and high-capacity optical communication technologies
Imrana Ashraf
Quaid-I-Azam University, Pakistan
For her dedication to optics education at her university and events targeting students from economically developing countries, as well as for the organization of numerous educational and outreach events in rural areas of Pakistan
Kamran Avanaki
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
For advances in photoacoustic, thermoacoustic, and OCT imaging making brain and skin diagnostics more quantitative, robust, and clinically translatable
Vadim Backman
Northwestern University, USA
For inventing optical and photonic technologies that extract nanoscale biological architecture, leading to breakthroughs in genomic and biomedical research
Clara Rivero Baleine
Lockheed Martin, USA
For achievements in optics and photonics, particularly serving as a bridge between industry and academia in the areas of metamaterials and gradient refractive index (GRIN)
Qiaoliang Bao
University of Shanghai Science and Technology, China
For pioneering discoveries in anisotropic phonon polaritons and twist photonics in 2D materials
Hilton Barbosa de Aguiar
Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, France
For pioneering contributions to nonlinear imaging and Raman spectroscopy in complex media, and leadership in deep-tissue label-free microscopy
Guy Bartal
Technion, Israel
For pioneering the field of optical skyrmions and nonlinear near-field optical microscopy, advancing topological photonics from fundamentals to quantum nanophotonics
Mikhail Berezin
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, USA
For his pioneering and sustained contributions to biomedical optics, particularly in hyperspectral imaging, fluorescence lifetime sensing, and translational optical imaging
Karl K. Berggren
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
For groundbreaking advances and leadership in superconducting nanostrip single-photon detector technology
Martin Bernier
Université Laval, Canada
For key contributions to the development and commercialization of monolithic mid-infrared fiber lasers
Alexis Bjorlin
General Catalyst, USA
For developing photonic solutions for data center connectivity
Darius Bunandar
Lightmatter, USA
For pioneering photonic circuits in quantum cryptography and AI hardware, and inventing adaptive block floating-point modulation for high analog precision.
Gretchen Campbell
University of Maryland, College Park, USA
For pioneering the field of “atomtronics,” where light creates circuits with atoms as analogs to electrons in electronics
William Cassarly
Keysight Technologies Inc., USA
For a lifetime dedication to optical engineering with a substantial positive impact on the illumination optics industry
Nunzio Cennamo
University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Naples, Italy
For contributions to plasmonic and optical fiber sensing technologies, and for leadership in translating photonic sensing research into practical applications
Hongsheng Chen
Zhejiang University, China
For significant contributions to metamaterials and AI-enabled invisibility cloak, enabling advanced control of light propagation and scattering
Huanyang Chen
Xiamen University, China; Xiamen University Malaysia, Malaysia
For contributions to transformation optics and metamaterials, and for advancing the concept into acoustic waves and water wave engineering
Weibiao Chen
Shanghai Inst of Optics and Fine Mech, China
For pioneering contributions to spaceborne lidar systems, laser remote sensing, and satellite communication systems
Wen Chen
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
For outstanding and sustained contributions in information optics and its applications for imaging, communications, and security
Yidong Chong
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
For fundamental contributions to non-Hermitian photonics, topological photonics, and coherent perfect absorption, advancing the science of light–matter interactions
Thomas Clark
Michigan State University, USA
For pioneering contributions to photonic microwave-to-digital concepts, techniques, and systems for coherent-optical and wireless communications
Thomas Corbitt
Louisiana State University, USA
For his contribution to the development of quantum optics and optomechanics techniques for gravitational wave astrophysics
Eric Cormier
Laboratoire Photonique, Numérique et Nanosciences, University of Bordeaux, France
For significant achievements in ultrafast optical science from pure theory on laser-matter interaction to laser developments leading to technology transfer
Vincent COUDERC
XLIM, UMR 7252 CNRS, France
For advancing optics and photonics at the intersection of academia and industry, with key innovations in supercontinuum generation and nonlinear imaging
Pascal Del’Haye
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Germany
For pioneering microresonator-based frequency comb generation and seminal contributions to nonlinear microphotonics and optical symmetry breaking
Peter Dombi
Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Budapest, Hungary
For outstanding contributions in ultrafast science and femtosecond technology research, and for research leadership
Chun-Hua Dong
University of Science and Technology of China, China
For pioneering contributions to cavity optomechanics and nonreciprocal microcavity photonics
Yongkang Dong
Harbin Institute of Technology, China
For outstanding contributions to the research and development of distributed optical fiber sensors and their applications in large-scale infrastructure monitoring
Zhaogang Dong
Singapore University of Technology & Design, Singapore
For contributions to multifunctional optical metasurfaces, advancing structural color engineering, integrated optoelectronics, and nonlinear nanophotonics
Nirit Dudovich
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
For pioneering contributions to attosecond science and attosecond metrology
Matt Eichenfield
University of Arizona, College of Optical Sciences, USA
For foundational leadership and creativity in the design, fabrication, and application of nanoscale optomechanics, integrated photonics, and active phononic-photonic systems
Jonathan Fan
Stanford University, USA
For the development of deep learning methods to simulate and design photonic systems
Peng Fei
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China
For pioneering light-field modulation-based 3D computational fluorescence microscopy for live-cell super-resolution, ultrafast imaging of biological dynamics, and high-throughput volumetric tissue mapping
Philip Feng
University of Florida, USA
For outstanding contributions to optical transduction of resonant nanomechanical systems, and pioneering work on 2D semiconductor and heterostructure optomechanics
Vivian Ferry
University of Minnesota Twin Cities, USA
For outstanding research on optical materials and light management for solar energy conversion
Dmitry A. Fishman
University of California Irvine, USA
For achievements in optics and photonics, in particular mid-infrared imaging with wide bandgap cameras
Sonja Franke-Arnold
University of Glasgow, UK
For her research on structured light, its topological and quantum properties, and interaction with atoms
Laurent Gallais
Fresnel Institut, France
For developing laser characterization tools to study fundamental mechanisms to improve material performance for next generation photonic and laser applications
Roberto Gaudino
Politecnico di Torino, Italy
For outstanding theoretical and experimental contributions to the evolution of high-speed passive optical networks
Jérôme Genest
Centre d’Optique, Photonique et Laser, Département de génie électrique et de génie informatique, Université Laval, Canada
For foundational contributions to dual-comb and Fourier-transform spectroscopy and for pioneering integration with advanced digital signal with global scientific impact
Ambarish Ghosh
Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, India
For seminal work integrating functional optical nanomaterials with magnetically driven nanorobots and for pioneering wafer-scale plasmonic metamaterials
Noel Giebink
University of Michigan, USA
For fundamental contributions to the physics of organic light-emitting diodes and solar cells
Sanket Goel
University of Manitoba, Canada
For pioneering contributions to optofluidic and micro/nano-engineered sensing platforms enabling point-of-care diagnostics, wearable devices, and translational bio-photonic technologies
Miguel Gonzalez-Herraez
Consejo Superior Investigaciones Cientificas, Spain
For pioneering contributions to optical fiber sensing and optical signal processing in fibers
Alexander O Govorov
Ohio University, USA
For pioneering contributions to the theory and understanding of nano-optical effects in nanostructures
Mario Hentschel
University of Stuttgart, Germany
For his work on linear and nonlinear optics in complex nanophotonic systems and the introduction of advanced nanofabrication techniques for photonics
Zhihong Huang
Hewlett Packard Labs, USA
For pioneering world-record avalanche photodetector and microring modulator technologies that enable terabit-scale, energy-efficient silicon photonics for AI and hyperscale computing
Misha Ivanov
Max-Born Institut, Germany
For groundbreaking contributions to the foundations and applications of attoscience
Naibo Jiang
Spectral Energies LLC, USA
For innovation in extreme high-energy burst-mode lasers and for the development of high-repetition-rate flow and combustion sensing techniques
Masahiko Jinno
Keio University, Japan
For pioneering contributions to architectures and key enabling technologies for elastic optical networks and spatial channel networks
Yushi Kaneda
University of Arizona, College of Optical Sciences, USA
For significant contributions in solid-state laser engineering of various types (rod, slab, fiber, and disk) and their nonlinear wavelength conversion
Ori Katz
The Institute of Applied Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
For seminal research and technical contributions to wavefront shaping, imaging, and sensing in complex media
Kedar Khare
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India
For outstanding contributions to computational imaging and dedicated leadership in optics education
Masato Koike
National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Japan
For designing advanced soft X-ray gratings and their applications to synchrotron radiation beamlines and spectrographs for electron microscopes
Alexandre Kudlinski
Univ Lille Laboratoire PhLAM, France
For significant contribution to nonlinear guided-wave photonics and nonlinear micro-endoscopy
Alexandra Landsman
Ohio State University, USA
For seminal theoretical contributions to strong-field ionization, tunneling-time physics, and attosecond delays, bridging experiment and theory for atoms, molecules, and solids
Hong-Seok Lee
Pukyong National University, Republic of Korea
For technical innovation in holographic and AR/MR displays, and for bridging fundamental optics with practical commercialization
Tongcang Li
Purdue University, USA
For pioneering contributions to nanoscale optical quantum sensing using spin defects in two-dimensional materials and levitated optomechanics
Jinyang Liang
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Canada
For contributions to ultrafast and coded optical imaging
Odile Liboiron-Ladouceur
McGill University, Canada
For pioneering contributions to integrated photonics, advancing mode-space devices, AI-enabled design, scalable optical interconnects, computing, and fabrication-robust photonic systems
Callum Littlejohns
CORNERSTONE, University of Southampton, UK
For outstanding leadership in the sustained delivery of an open-source integrated photonics prototyping foundry
Cuicui Lu
Beijing Institute of Technology, China
For pioneering contributions to topological nanophotonic rainbows and their applications in nanophotonic devices and optical chips
Jie Luo
Yangtze Optical Fiber and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (YOFC), China
For pioneering innovations in optical fibre technologies, industrial leadership, and global standardisation advancing high-capacity optical communication systems
Antigone Marino
Italian National Research Council, Italy
For outstanding contributions to the global optics and photonics community through leadership in international student engagement initiatives and inclusive scientific collaboration
Mikael Mazur
Nokia Bell Labs, USA
For pioneering distributed fiber optic sensing over transoceanic distances
Cleber R. Mendonca
University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
For pioneering contributions to nonlinear optics and ultrafast laser microfabrication, and for distinguished leadership in building internationally impactful photonics research and education
Giovanni Milione
Sintela, USA
For seminal contributions to optical communications and sensing, specifically in space division multiplexing and distributed optical fiber sensing
Andrey Miroshnichenko
University of New South Wales Canberra, Australia
For pioneering contributions to resonant light scattering—Fano resonances, magnetic light, and nonradiating anapole states—enabling all-dielectric meta-optics and advanced photonic devices
Francesco Monticone
Cornell University, USA
For contributions to meta-optics and nanophotonics, including fundamental work on metasurfaces, anomalous scattering, nonlocal and time-varying photonics, and theoretical limits
Galan Moody
University of California Santa Barbara, USA
For seminal contributions to integrated quantum photonics and the translation of quantum photonic technologies from fundamental science to commercialization
Neil Na
Artilux, USA
For pioneering research, development, and commercialization of germanium-silicon single-photon detection technology
Antonio Napoli
Nokia Corporation, Germany
For pioneering contributions to DSP-enabled coherent optical systems, particularly point-to-multipoint architectures based on digital subcarriers multiplexing
Valentina Parigi
Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, France
For internationally recognized contributions to multimode quantum optics, photonic quantum technologies, and leadership in experimental quantum information research and education
Wounjhang Park
University of Colorado Boulder, USA
For pioneering contributions to advancing the understanding of light-matter interactions in nanostructures, integrated photonic devices, and their applications in sensing
Richard Pitwon
Seagate / Resolute Photonics, Ireland
For critical advances in system-level optical, photonic, and quantum interconnect technologies for hyperscale environments, and advancing regional engagement through conference leadership
Jürgen Popp
Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Germany
For pioneering work in translational clinical Raman spectroscopy, together with his leadership in establishing Raman as one of the most important analytical approaches, which has transformed the field and inspired worldwide scientific innovation
Gregory Rieker
University of Colorado Boulder, USA
For pioneering applications of frequency comb laser diagnostics in practical environments
Fabian Rotermund
KAIST, Republic of Korea
For significant contributions to ultrafast lasers, nonlinear optics, and terahertz photonics with 2D carbon materials
Zhichao Ruan
Zhejiang University, China
For pioneering work in manipulating light fields for advanced optical computing, particularly in plasmonic/metamaterial analog computing and photonic Ising architectures
Jae-Hyun (Jae) Ryou
University of Houston, USA
For pioneering advances in flexible III‑nitride electronic and photonic devices, enabling high‑performance sensors and systems operable in extreme environments
Danuta Sampson
Lions Eye Institute, University of Western Australia, Australia
For exceptional contributions to biomedical optics and vision research by promoting open science and advancing method standardisation, and for optics education
Giacomo Scalari
ETH Zürich, Switzerland
For contributions to terahertz optical frequency combs and metamaterials
Kaushik Sengupta
Princeton University, USA
For pioneering contributions to silicon terahertz systems, including THz beamforming arrays, programmable metasurfaces, sensing and imaging, and AI-driven design of next-generation sub-THz/THz technologies
Lingyan Shi
University of California San Diego, USA
For pioneering stimulated Raman and multimodal optical imaging innovations that transformed metabolic imaging and advanced biophotonics research in aging
Wei-Chuan Shih
University of Houston, USA
For contributions in Raman and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and plasmonic sensing for disease detection, and innovation in inkjet-printed polymer lens smartphone microscopy
Georgios Siviloglou
University of Crete, Greece
For the discovery and development of accelerating Airy wave packets and their broad impact in classical and quantum optics
Marin Soljačić
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
For pioneering contributions to nanophotonics, topological photonics, and nonlinear optics, and for translating fundamental discoveries into impactful photonic technologies
Balaji Srinivasan
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India
For pioneering translational research activities in high power fiber lasers and distributed fiber sensors, as well as high impact educational research
Haiding Sun
University of Science and Technology of China, China
For outstanding achievements to research in efficient ultraviolet optoelectronic devices and their applications to optical communications, imaging, and integrated photonics
Anna Sytchkova
ENEA, Italy
For her outstanding contributions to the fields of optical interference coatings, thin-film characterization, and optical materials research, and for her exceptional service to the Optica community
Yuankai K. Tao
Vanderbilt University, USA
For achievements in novel optical imaging systems for clinical diagnostics and therapeutic monitoring in ophthalmology, gastroenterology, and oncology
James K. Thompson
JILA, NIST & University of Colorado at Boulder, USA
For leading the development of continuous superradiant lasers for ultranarrow spectral width and spin-squeezed state of atoms for precision metrology
Chao Tian
Univ. of Science and Technology of China, China
For significant contributions to photoacoustic tomography spanning physical theory, physics-informed deep learning, system engineering, and clinical translation
Andreas Tittl
Hamburg University of Technology, Germany
For control of light-matter interactions at their fundamental limits, especially for pioneering the realization of bound states in the continuum
Jason Gage Valentine
Vanderbilt University, USA
For pioneering contributions to low-loss dielectric metasurfaces and meta-optics for image processing, and for sustained education in nanophotonics
Ashok Veeraraghavan
Rice University, USA
For outstanding and sustained contributions to the research and development of computational imaging systems for a variety of applications
Miriam Serena Vitiello
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto Nanoscienze, Italy
For groundbreaking studies of light-matter interactions at terahertz frequencies and invention of active THz nanodevices, micro‑lasers, and nanoscopy systems advancing terahertz technology
Jianwei Wang
Peking University, China
For pioneering integrated-photonic quantum science and technologies, from chip-scale quantum communication networks and universal quantum computing to topological quantum photonics
Zhe Wang
Tsinghua University, China
For pioneering contributions to quantitative laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and leadership in advancing optical diagnostics for energy applications
Benjamin Williams
University of California Los Angeles, USA
For pioneering contributions to the development of terahertz quantum cascade lasers
Ling-An Wu
Inst of Physics, Chinese Acad of Sciences, China
For outstanding contributions to quantum optics, including establishing the foundation for the field in China and supporting women scientists worldwide
Lei Xi
Southern Univ of Science & Technology, China
For his contribution to high-performance photoacoustic imaging and multi-modality optical imaging
Fei Xu
Nanjing University, China
For pioneering contributions to function-integrated fiber devices
Chen Yang
Boston University, USA
For outstanding contributions to nanophotonics and photoacoustic neuromodulation as a new paradigm for non-genetic, high-precision optical control of neural activity
Haishan Zeng
University of British Columbia, Canada
For pioneering contributions to clinically translated endoscopic imaging, rapid Raman spectroscopy, in vivo multiphoton microscopy, and multiphoton photothermolysis therapy
Guoxing Zheng
Wuhan University, China
For his innovations in photonic metasurfaces, with significant contributions to holography, computational imaging, and optical encryption
Renjie Zhou
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
For innovating label-free optical imaging techniques, especially quantitative phase imaging, and demonstrating their research and industrial impacts
Tao Zhu
Chongqing University, China
For pioneering contributions to distributed weak-feedback narrow-linewidth fiber lasers and their uses in practical high-performance optical fiber sensing systems
Zuqing Zhu
University of Science and Technology of China, China
For outstanding contributions to the research and development of elastic optical networking and optical data-center networks