World-renowned physicist Mandel dies

Mandel

One of the founders of a burgeoning branch of physics known as quantum optics--the study of the physics of light at its most fundamental level--Mandel was known internationally for his groundbreaking experiments on the nature of light and was the first to actually observe certain remarkable phenomena predicted by quantum theory.

It was Mandel who most elegantly demonstrated what Einstein once called "spooky action at a distance," the idea that any action has an effect on another, seemingly unrelated, action elsewhere--an idea physicists call "quantum entanglement."

"Len systematically tested quantum theory, producing the finest experiments in the world to test the foundations of quantum mechanics," says longtime colleague and friend Emil Wolf, Wilson Professor of Physics and Optics at the University, who persuaded Mandel to join him in Rochester in 1964. "He was an excellent teacher and a first-class researcher, and he was truly one of the founders of quantum optics. He was also a kind man, and incredibly generous, praising my work when the reality is that he was a much better physicist than I."

Mandel laid claim to several achievements through a series of experiments from the 1950s through the 1990s.

His measurements of the statistical properties of light gave rise to the "Mandel formula," which addresses the topic of photon detection. In one experiment his team measured the time interval between the arrival of two photons more accurately than anyone had ever done before.

The team worked constantly at the boundary between classical and quantum physics, says Ian Walmsley, professor and director of the University's Institute of Optics.

"His experiments were models of simplicity and elegance," says Walmsley. "It was the way you would do the experiment if you were as smart as someone like Len Mandel."

Mandel's work helped form the basis for a growing field of knowledge that today includes quantum encryption, quantum computing, and quantum communications--radically new ways to process, transmit, and retrieve information that offer super-secure protocols and extraordinary power.

Mandel earned his doctorate in nuclear physics from the University of London.

At Rochester, he was known as an outstanding teacher, training 39 doctoral students who are now in physics programs around the world. In 1992 Mandel was awarded the University's Faculty Award for Graduate Teaching.

Mandel was a recipient of the Frederic Ives Medal and Max Born Award of the Optical Society of America, the Italian National Research Council's Marconi Medal, and the Thomas Young Medal from the British Institute of Physics.

He was a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

A prolific author, Mandel wrote more than 300 scientific papers, including one with Wolf on the coherence properties of optical fields that became one of the most-cited articles published in physics.

Mandel, Wolf, and others also organized an ongoing series of Rochester Conferences on Coherence and Quantum Optics, considered one of the world's premier conferences in the field since the first one in 1960.

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