Optical tweezers: Golly lasers & lateness

On October 2, as we celebrated Gandhi Jayanti, there was another good news. The Nobel prize for Physics was awarded to Donna Strickland, Gerard Mourou and Arthur Ashkin. They represented three outstanding Physicists from different geographies, gender and age. Donna Strickland from Canada was the first woman winner of the Physics Nobel Prize in 55 years, after Marie Curie, who won in 1903, and Maria Goeppert-Mayer, who was awarded the prize in 1963, making this a small threesome.

Similarly, Art Ashkin is, perhaps, the oldest person at 96 to win a Nobel Prize ever. The prize of nine million Swedish Kronor, which is almost a million USD, acknowledges their contributions to the field of lasers. Art Ashkin developed a technique called 'optical tweezers', which are used for studying biological systems. This was the 'science-fiction dream' realisation of using the radiation pressure of light to move really small objects. He invented the optical tweezer, which can clutch and grip particles, atoms, even viruses, bacteria and living cells. While this became possible, as explained by scientists, 'the peak power of laser pulses was limited because, when cranked up to high intensities, they would destroy the material used for amplifying its energy.'

Carrying this forward, and cracking this problem, Drs Mourou and Strickland first stretched the laser pulses, as if in slow motion, across time. This reduced their peak power. The laser pulses were now amplified and compressed, packing more light into a small space. This intensely increased the intensity of the pulse. Thus, Mourou and Strickland worked towards the shortest and most intense laser pulses ever created by a technique called Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA).

This has been extensively used across the world in the millions of corrective laser eye surgeries as well as laser therapy that targets cancer, with great results. This is great reason to celebrate and I see two more fabulous reasons or silver linings to celebrate in this spectacular award.

First, even today, there are some lurking 'silly' mindsets that express highly offensive ideas of Physics being exclusively built by men, and that male scientists are now being discriminated. This indictment happened a few days ago at the CERN particle physics laboratory in Geneva, and that physicist had been rightly suspended by the research centre. At a time where we really need to have more and more women in all the STEM sectors, particularly at the cutting edge, this award comes as a 'manna' for the self-esteem and confidence of serious young women physicists, and professionals. Donna Strickland has, like many women scientists on this mission, said that she wants to attract young people to science by a makeover of science from its geeky, nerdy presentation. True to this spirit, she is known as the 'laser jock', and had recorded way back in 2010 that "The most fun part of my day is when I get to play with my lasers."

Reflecting on this years' Nobel, another thought may cross our mind: Isn't it too late to bestow the award on the 96-year-old Dr Arthur Ashkin? But, on the lines of the very popular book by Thomas Friedman, I can almost feel Art whispering under his wise, silver beard, that "thank you for being late.' When at the twilight of life, some elderly people start wondering what is the purpose of their life, this prize is a shot in the arm for all the elderly. It is almost a homage to all those in the twilight of life who have contributed so much in so many ways to life. It goes to reinforce the faith in doing one's work in true Karmayogi style in the spirit of the Isha Upanishad, which says, 'In the world, one should desire to live a hundred years, but only by performing actions. Thus, and in no other way, can a man be free from the taint of actions.'

The author is a Harvard-educated civil servant & writer, and has worked in the education sector 
jayanti.ravi.dna@gmail.com