Isaac Abella

Isaac Abella
Born(1934-06-20)June 20, 1934
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DiedOctober 23, 2016(2016-10-23) (aged 82)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Toronto (BA)
Columbia University (MA, PhD)
Known forLaser coherent transients
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
WorkplacesUniversity of Chicago
ThesisSome properties of ruby optical masers with applications to non-linear effects (1963)
Charles H. Townes

Isaac David Abella (June 20, 1934 – October 23, 2016) was a Canadian-American physicist, cousin of Irving Abella, and a professor at the University of Chicago.[1] He specialized in laser physics, quantum optics, and spectroscopy.[2]

Early life and education

Isaac Abella was born on June 20, 1934, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree (1957) from the University of Toronto, Master of Arts (1959) degree, and Ph.D. (1963) in Physics from Columbia University in New York and studied under Charles H. Townes. Abella was involved in early research of laser development. Notably, his thesis under Townes was among the earliest works on two-photon absorption.

Career

Abella was known for his work with laser coherent transients, employing photon echo techniques to probe metastable excited states in rare gas mixtures such as helium, neon, and argon. These states were produced in a weakly ionized RF plasma discharge. Nitrogen-pumped dye lasers were then used to generate the coherent superposition states.

In 1969, he received the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching from the University of Chicago.[3]

Abella was also known for his work in spectroscopy of rare-earth laser materials. Specifically, samples of YLF and YAG crystals doped with erbium, thulium, and holmium studied using selective laser excitation in the region of 780 nm, the erbium bands. He studied the energy transfer process: Er to Tm, to Ho, which concentrates energy emission at 2.085 μm at room temperature and in liquid nitrogen, a process that is a radiationless, near-resonant transfer of energy between sites that depends on the relative concentrations of the rare-earth ions. Accordingly, his experimental interests included measuring decay rates, excited state absorption, branching ratios and detailed theories of these processes.[1]

Personal life and death

Isaac Abella died on October 23, 2016, in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of 82.[4][5] He was married to Mary Ann Abella, Professor of Art, Chicago State University.[6] He had two children: a son, Benjamin, and daughter, Sarah.

Articles

  • ABELLA, I. D.; TOWNES, C. H. (1961). "Mode Characteristics and Coherence in Optical Ruby Masers". Nature. 192 (4806). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 957–959. Bibcode:1961Natur.192..957A. doi:10.1038/192957b0. ISSN 0028-0836. S2CID 4283726.
  • Kurnit, N. A.; Abella, I. D.; Hartmann, S. R. (1964-11-09). "Observation of a Photon Echo". Physical Review Letters. 13 (19). American Physical Society (APS): 567–568. Bibcode:1964PhRvL..13..567K. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.13.567. ISSN 0031-9007.
  • Abella, I. D.; Kurnit, N. A.; Hartmann, S. R. (1966-01-07). "Photon Echoes". Physical Review. 141 (1). American Physical Society (APS): 391–406. Bibcode:1966PhRv..141..391A. doi:10.1103/physrev.141.391. ISSN 0031-899X.
  • A. E, Siegman, Lasers, University Science Press, Sausalito CA, 1986
  • Charles Townes. "How the Laser Happened", Oxford University Press, 1999
  • J. Hecht, "The Race to Make the First Laser", Oxford University Press, 2005

References

  1. 1 2 "Isaac Abella" Archived 2009-02-20 at the Wayback Machine, Department of Physics, University of Chicago, 2008
  2. ↑ "Marquis Who's Who in Science and Engineering" Archived 2008-05-14 at the Wayback Machine, Marquis Who's Who, 10th Edition 2008
  3. ↑ "Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching". UChicago.
  4. ↑ Borzo, Greg (November 3, 2016). "Isaac Abella, physicist, teacher and resident master, 1934-2016". UChicago News. Archived from the original on April 6, 2018. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  5. ↑ Megan, Graydon (November 14, 2016). "Isaac Abella, University of Chicago physicist who worked with lasers, dies at 82". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on April 6, 2018. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Mary Ann Abella" Archived 2010-06-11 at the Wayback Machine, Chicago Chronicle, Vol.23 No.17, 27 May 2004
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