Nicolaas Bloembergen

Nicolaas Bloembergen
Bloembergen in 1981
Born(1920-03-11)March 11, 1920
Dordrecht, Netherlands
DiedSeptember 5, 2017(2017-09-05) (aged 97)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
CitizenshipNetherlands
United States
Alma materLeiden University
Utrecht University
Known forLaser spectroscopy
Non-linear optics
Motional narrowing
Photon upconversion
Atomic line filter
Second-harmonic generation
BPP theory
Spouse
Huberta Deliana Brink
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(m. 1950)​
(1928-2019)
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsApplied physics
InstitutionsUniversity of Arizona
Harvard University
Doctoral advisorCornelis Jacobus Gorter
Other academic advisorsEdward Purcell
Doctoral studentsPeter Pershan
Yuen-Ron Shen
Eli Yablonovitch

Nicolaas Bloembergen (March 11, 1920 – September 5, 2017) was a Dutch-American physicist and Nobel laureate, recognized for his work in developing driving principles behind nonlinear optics for laser spectroscopy.[1] During his career, he was a professor at Harvard University and later at the University of Arizona and at Leiden University in 1973 (as Lorentz Professor).

Bloembergen shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Arthur Schawlow and Kai Siegbahn because their work "has had a profound effect on our present knowledge of the constitution of matter" through the use of laser spectroscopy. In particular, Bloembergen was singled out because he "founded a new field of science we now call non-linear optics" by mixing "two or more beams of laser light... in order to produce laser light of a different wave length" and thus significantly broaden the laser spectroscopy frequency band.[2]

  1. ^ "Nobelprijswinnaar Nicolaas Bloembergen (97) overleden". Universiteit Leiden. September 6, 2017. Archived from the original on September 8, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Nobel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).