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Aram Mooradian

Distinguished Alumnus 1991

  • 1966 Ph.D.

Dr. Mooradian, a recipient of a Purdue Ph.D. in 1966, is the Leader of the Quantum Electronics Group at the Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, since 1971. Lincoln Laboratory is internationally known as one of the leading centers in research and development focussed on electronics, opto-electronics, communication and information. The important position he has occupied as the head of the Quantum Electronics Group testifies to his qualities as a creative scientist and to his rare abilities as an administrator who can guide the activities of a talented group of scientists with demonstrable effectiveness.

Aram's special qualities as a talented and original experimenter became evident very early in his career as a graduate student with one of us (HYF). His Ph.D. thesis entitled "Radiative Recombination in III-V Compounds" clearly demonstrates his skills as an experimenter. His mastery of electronics; his judgment in designing experiments with minimum complexity but with maximum effectiveness; his appreciation and instinct for novel effects; his ability to analyze and interpret the experimental data all of these are abundantly evident in this early work. These were presented at the 1964 International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors held in Paris and in the form of a comprehensive paper in the Physical Review. They were very well appreciated as timely contributions to an area very much at the forefront. Aram was rightly regarded as one of the best young experimenters among his contemporaries. He was much sought after and he elected to join the Lincoln Laboratory which has always been at the forefront in opto-electronics.

Aram's promise as a first rate experimenter was quickly fulfilled - he developed the experimental technique for carrying out Raman spectroscopy of semiconductors using the 1.06 µm radiation from a Nd-YAG laser. The technique was applied by him with striking success to a variety of significant problems in semiconductor physics: (i) the first order Raman Effect of III-V compounds; (ii) coupled plasmon-LO phonon modes in GaAs; (iii) electronic Raman scattering from donors and acceptors in Si; (iv) Raman spectroscopy of selenium. All of these were "firsts" and have been repeatedly quoted in textbooks, review articles and research articles and led to many invited talks at national and international meetings. Aram's use of the carbon monoxide laser in the study of electron spin-flip transitions in InSb and InAs is another example of his ingenious use of an appropriate tool in the investigation of a fascinating phenomenon. Stimulated Raman effect associated with spin-flip scattering in In Sb; optically pumped room temperature InxCa1-xAs laser; InAs spin-flip laser action at 3 µm; high power external cavity GaAlAs diode laser; tbese are illustrative examples of the numerous significant contributions he has continued to make to a field very important both from basic and applied points of view. Aram has a very visible position in the field of opto-electronics, thanks to the momentum of his first-rate research which he has maintained undiminished to the present.

From the nomination letter by Professors H. Y. Fan and A. K. Ramdas, September 26, 1990

Last Updated: Apr 29, 2016 3:36 PM

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