Milestone Marks Major Optics Achievements

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) honored the late Elias Snitzer, the father of fiber lasers and fiber amplifiers, with a granite plaque installed near the former American Optical headquarters in Southbridge, Mass., where his discoveries were made. The IEEE Milestone, the 129th bestowed by the institute, honors Snitzer and colleagues, who built and operated the first optical fiber laser in 1961 and, three years later, the first optical fiber amplifier. Snitzer’s inventions include both neodymium- and erbium-doped laser glass, and he co-developed the first fiber optic laser amplifier with laser glass.

Former colleagues, such as Will Hicks; Snitzer’s children, and IEEE members and others in the optics industry gathered to pay tribute to Snitzer at the Oct. 26 ceremony.