In memoriam: Academician Andrey L. Mikaelian,SPIE Gold Medal Winner

摘要

Academician Andrey L. Mikaelian, a recipient of the Gold Medal of SPIE, died on 7 July 2010, at the age of 85. Mikaelian was a founder of the modern scientific school of radio-optics and made significant contributions to different fields of microwave ferrites, laser techniques, holography, and neural methods of information processing. Recently he led research in the field of nonlinear optical principles of information processing, creating holographic nano-structures using plasmon resonance for hypersensitive information-processing systems. During the early 1950s he proposed the idea of magneto-optical effects use for the creation of nonreciprocal waveguide devices, developed the theory of gyrotropic waveguides, and applied these new devices for communication and radio-location systems. In 1951, long before the era of lasers, he proposed the first optical waveguide "SELFOC" and later developed gradient-index lenses. He pioneered optical waveguides, the wideband properties of which almost two decades later were successfully realized as fiber-optic light conductors and came to be widely employed in optical communication systems.