Paul B. Corkum Named Optica Honorary Member

Corkum is honored for pioneering advances in the field of attosecond science

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Optica, Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, has named Paul B. Corkum an Optica Honorary Member, the most distinguished of all Optica Member categories. Corkum is recognized for his many outstanding advances in ultrafast laser technology, including pioneering the field of attosecond science. He is currently a Distinguished Research Chair of Attosecond Photonics and Professor of Physics at the University of Ottawa and the National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Canada. 

“Paul is a pioneer in the ultrafast optical science. His scientific leadership, vision, and innovations will have a lasting impact on our field”, said Gisele Bennett, Optica's 2026 President. “Optica is proud to honor his achievements by naming him as an Honorary Member.”

Corkum received his BS from Acadia University, Canada and his MS and PhD from Lehigh University, USA.  His academic appointments include Adjunct Professor of Physics at Texas A&M University, USA, University of British Columbia, Canada, McMaster University, Canada and Adjunct Research Professor, University of New Mexico, USA.

He is universally recognized as the father of attosecond science, and his groundbreaking three-step model of high-harmonic generation (HHG) provided the foundational understanding of strong-field light–atom interactions, enabling the generation of attosecond pulses.

Corkum uses the interaction of intense, short, infrared light pulses with atoms or molecules to generate coherent soft X-ray radiation and attosecond light pulses. The extreme nonlinear physics underlying these processes arises when intense laser light ionizes the material and controls the ionized electrons. These light-controlled electrons produce coherent soft X-ray radiation when the electric field of the laser pulse forces each electron to re-collide (and recombine) with the ion from which it left. The attosecond soft X-ray pulses that this recombination produces are the shortest controlled light flashes currently available to science and they make the fastest measurements that humans can make.

Attosecond science opens the potential for new measurement methods. For example, using a new nonlinear method, his group has measured the time advance of an electron emitted from an atom when it is ionized near its Cooper minimum and the time delay caused by an electron’s interaction with other atomic or molecular electrons.  In the future, Corkum thinks it will be possible to measure the ultimate time response of electronic matter.

He is an active volunteer who has served on several Optica award selection committees and program committees (CLEO, High Field and Short Wavelength Sources, International Council on Quantum Electronics, Ultrafast Phenomena), as well as on international advisory boards, conference and workshop committees and editorial boards. He has authored more than 360 peer-reviewed papers, edited several books and delivers over 20 public, plenary or invited lectures annually.

Corkum is a Fellow of Optica, the American Physical Society, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Society. His many awards and honors include Optica’s Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize and Charles Hard Townes Medal, Wolf Prize in Physics, Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics, Isaac Newton Medal and Prize, SPIE Gold Medal, Schneider Medal, Royal Medal, Lomonosov Gold Medal, and Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science.

Honorary Membership is the most distinguished of all Optica Member categories. It is awarded by a unanimous vote of the Optica Board of Directors to individuals who have made seminal contributions to the field of optics. Their number is limited to two-thousandths (2/1000) of the total membership of the Society.

About Optica

Optica, Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, is the Society dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in the field. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. Optica's renowned publications, meetings, online resources and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical and educational achievement. Discover more at: Optica.org

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Paul B. Corkum Named Optica Honorary Member

Corkum is honored for pioneering advances in the field of attosecond science