February 28, 2006 Piscataway, NJ -- The IEEE has named Frederick J. Leonberger as the recipient of its 2006 IEEE Photonics Award, sponsored by the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS). The award, to be presented on March 7 at OFC/NFOEC 2006 in Anaheim, California, honors Leonberger for technical leadership, commercialization, and practical deployment of photonic component technologies for optical communications.
According to a press release issued by the IEEE:
"During his long career, Leonberger helped to create many photonic component and module technologies that significantly advanced the field of fiber-optics communications, including high-speed telecommunications and cable television. He also helped develop key components for fiber optic sensors, including fiber gyros, and for various other laboratory and custom products.
While at Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Lexington, Massachusetts, and at the United Technologies Research Center in East Hartford, Connecticut, Leonberger led the development of high-performance external modulation components in lithium niobate (LiNbO3) and semiconductors. He contributed directly to the development of Fiber Bragg Gratings, a component that stabilizes the wavelength of diode lasers, fiber lasers, and other components deployed in wavelength division multiplexing networks.
As manager of photonics and applied physics at the United Technologies Research Center and then as general manager and co-founder of United Technologies Photonics, he pioneered and helped commercialize the proton ion-exchange process for waveguide devices in LiNbO3. This work enabled high-power modulator transmission and has made this technology the choice for fiber-optic gyro applications.
In 1995, he joined JDS Uniphase in San Jose, California, and as senior vice president and chief technology officer, led the strategic technology activities of the company that helped JDSU become a leader in the optical telecommunications marketplace. Today, he heads his own technology advisory firm, EOvation Technologies LLC, in West Hartford, Connecticut, and is a Senior Advisor at the MIT Center for Integrated Photonic Systems.
An IEEE Fellow, Leonberger is a past president of LEOS. He received an IEEE Third Millennium Medal and the LEOS IEEE Quantum Electronics Award. He also is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.
Leonberger holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and master's and doctoral degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, all in electrical engineering."
IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society. Through its 365,000 members in 150 countries, the standards organization is an authority in areas ranging including aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications, biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics.