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MIT's Technology Review Magazine Names Bell Labs' Aref Chowdhury One of Top 100 Young Innovators

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 September 2004, 06:00 CDT

Lucent Technologies today announced that Technology Review, MIT's magazine of innovation, has named Bell Labs researcher Aref Chowdhury to the 2004 list of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators. The list highlights innovators, under the age of 35, whose work will have a profound impact on today's world. Nominees were selected for their contributions in helping transform the nature of technology and business in a wide range of industries including biotechnology, computing and nanotechnology. Bell Labs has had at least one member of technical staff on this list each year since it was first established in 1999.

Chowdhury, who joined Bell Labs in 2001, specializes in nonlinear optics and biochemical detection research. His work in nonlinear optics, a field critical to improving long-haul optical transport networks, focuses on minimizing distortions due to nonlinear effects in optical signals. Using a technique called optical phase conjugation, Chowdhury and his colleagues are able to correct errors in optical communications by reversing the distortions that occur over time, as signals speed through the network. This work has the potential to increase the efficiency and reliability of optical communications.

"Pulses of light interact with each other in two ways in an optical network," Chowdhury explained. "Either within the same channel - with other pulses of the same frequency - or between channels - with other frequencies. Both of these interactions have the potential to cause distortions. To improve optical networks, we need to better understand these interactions and their implications."

Chowdhury also conducts research in biochemical detection, an emerging area of study that analyzes the interactions between materials and light to uniquely identify biochemical materials based on their spectral properties. Techniques, like the ones Chowdhury is currently developing, could be used in the future to help protect against airborne pollutants, or to monitor other environmental conditions.

Technology Review also recognized Chowdhury's work on nonlinear photonic crystals, which he studied as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He designed and fabricated nonlinear photonic crystals that could be used to switch data between individual wavelengths of light when routing information optically -- also known as "wavelength switching."

"It is a great honor to be recognized, but a lot of the credit goes to my research colleagues," said Chowdhury. "I feel very lucky to work with world-class scientists here at Bell Labs on research that can positively impact Lucent and beyond."

"Aref is representative of the caliber of scientist hard at work on solving significant research challenges here at Bell Labs," said Dick Slusher, director, Quantum Information and Optics Research. "He joins a great group of Bell Labs alumni that have won this award in previous years, and we applaud his accomplishments."

"In the five years since we began naming the world's top innovators under age 35, inclusion has become one of the most prestigious awards for young innovators around the world," David Rotman, executive editor of Technology Review, said. "This year's winners are all pioneering fascinating innovations, and were chosen after a rigorous selection process. This is an elite group whose visions and inventions will shape the future of technology."

The TR 100 list is chosen by the editors of Technology Review and a panel of judges, who included senior executives from Cambridge University, Cornell University, General Electric, Georgia Tech, Harvard Medical School, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, MIT, Northwestern University, Singapore Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Wharton and Xerox.

The 2004 TR 100 will be honored Sept. 29 - 30 at Technology Review's Emerging Technologies conference in Cambridge, Mass. The event features discussions on the technological innovations that have the potential to fuel new economic growth and dramatically change the future. Conference keynote speakers include Vinod Khosla, founding CEO of Sun Microsystems and General Partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers; Ray Kurzweil, renowned inventor, author and founder of Kurzweil Technologies; and Rick Wagoner, chairman of General Motors. To access the full TR 100 list, go to: http://www.technologyreview.com.

About Technology Review, Inc.

Technology Review, Inc., an MIT Enterprise, delivers essential information about emerging technologies and their impact on business leaders. Since 1998, paid circulation for the company's magazine, Technology Review, has more than tripled, climbing from 92,000 to 315,000. Combined with its signature events, newsletters, and online businesses, Technology Review reaches over two million business leaders throughout the world each month.

About Bell Labs

Bell Labs, the R&D division of Lucent Technologies, is the leading source of new communications technologies. It has generated more than 30,000 patents since 1925 and has played a pivotal role in inventing or perfecting key communications technologies, including transistors, digital networking and signal processing, lasers and fiber-optic communications systems, communications satellites, cellular telephony, electronic switching of calls, touch-tone dialing, and modems. Bell Labs scientists have received eleven Nobel Prizes in Physics, nine U.S. National Medals of Science and eight U.S. National Medals of Technology(R). For more information about Bell Labs, visit its Web site at www.bell-labs.com.

About Lucent Technologies

Lucent Technologies designs and delivers the systems, services and software that drive next-generation communications networks. Backed by Bell Labs research and development, Lucent uses its strengths in mobility, optical, software, data and voice networking technologies, as well as services, to create new revenue-generating opportunities for its customers, while enabling them to quickly deploy and better manage their networks. Lucent's customer base includes communications service providers, governments and enterprises worldwide. For more information on Lucent Technologies, which has headquarters in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, visit http://www.lucent.com.

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