Wilson Sibbett, a towering leader in the international optics and photonics community and an inspirational mentor, advisor and supporter of many in the field, passed away at his home in St. Andrews, Scotland, on 15 October. An Optica Fellow for over 25 years, he was latterly Wardlaw Professor of Natural Philosophy Emeritus at the University of St. Andrews. He was a pioneering figure in ultrafast lasers and associated ultrafast diagnostics during his career of over 50 years, and he will be much missed.
Wilson obtained a first-class honours degree in physics from Queen’s University, Belfast. He subsequently joined Daniel J. Bradley’s research group at Queen’s, becoming one of the galaxy of talented young researchers in that group who pioneered many aspects of laser science and nonlinear optics. Transferring with Bradley to Imperial College, London, Wilson obtained his Ph.D. in 1973 on flashlamp-pumped mode-locked dye and glass lasers, which were then opening up the field of picosecond phenomena.
Wilson stayed on at Imperial College, as a postdoc, lecturer, and then reader in physics, until 1985. During those years he concentrated principally on developing the Photochron family of streak cameras. A seminal invention at that time, which Wilson was quick to exploit, was the synchroscan streak camera, designed to take advantage of the development of mode-locked CW dye lasers. These streak cameras both required and enabled associated advances in laser technology, and Wilson’s research interests in the 1980s broadened to include mode-locked CW diode lasers and a range of mode-locked CW solid-state lasers.
In 1985, Wilson moved to the University of St. Andrews as professor and chairman of the department of physics and astronomy. He was Wardlaw Chair of Natural Philosophy from 1997 to 2014. His wide-ranging work at St. Andrews focused increasingly on the development of novel laser technology, taking advantage of the emergence of high-power semiconductor diodes as pump sources. His important contributions included developments in additive pulse and coupled-cavity mode-locking, the development of many novel doped dielectric lasers, and the exploration and application of semiconductor saturable absorbers.
His seminal discovery, which he reported in 1991, was of self-locking of the Ti:Sapphire laser by (as it was subsequently termed) Kerr-lens mode-locking. The impact of this discovery, both scientifically and commercially, was and is truly profound. Many commercial manufacturers made this the basis of their femtosecond laser products, dramatically increasing the reach, access and use of this technology. Scientifically, it opened the way to attosecond science, frequency combs and high-intensity amplified laser systems.
Wilson received many deserved marks of esteem for these accomplishments, including election to Fellowship of the Royal Societies of London (FRS) and Edinburgh (FRSE); the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics; the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society; the Royal Medal of the RSE; the Charles Hard Townes Award from Optica; and a CBE in the British national honours.
He was strongly engaged in distinguished service to the community throughout his career and particularly during his time at St. Andrews, where he provided much-valued and sage advice. This included serving as the chair of the Scottish Science Advisory Committee, making him Scotland’s first chief science advisor, on the councils of EPSRC (the UK’s national funding agency for engineering and physical sciences) and the Royal Society, as Vice President Physical Sciences for the RSE, and as a member of the Rank Prize Optoelectronics Committee. He also played a decisive role in the process that led to the establishment of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Germany, throughout the Institute’s five-year probation.
Wilson Sibbett was a remarkable scientist and a wise, good-humored, collegial and much-respected peer and colleague with a very quick mind and a gift for mentorship. He had a sharp eye for talent and supervised over 50 Ph.D. students and many postdocs, launching and supporting their global careers. Wilson made a broad and lasting impact on optics at the very highest level, and he will be long and very warmly remembered.
Martin Dawson, University of Strathclyde, and Tom Brown, University of St. Andrews, UK. With endorsement from 2024 Optica President Gerd Leuchs, 2018 Optica President Ian Walmsley, 2009 Optica President Thomas M. Baer, 2005 Optica President Eric Van Stryland and 2004 Optica President Sir Peter Knight.
If you would like to make a memorial donation to the Optica Foundation in Wilson Sibbett’s honor, please visit optica.org/foundation.