The 2025 Willis E. Lamb Award

J. Gary Eden received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland (College Park) and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1973 and 1976, respectively, and was appointed a National Research Council Postdoctoral Research Associate at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (Washington, DC) in 1975. As a research physicist in NRL’s Optical Sciences Division from 1976 to 1979, he co-discovered the KrCl rare gas-halide excimer laser (222 nm), and the proton beam pumped laser (Ar-N2, XeF). Since joining the faculty of the University of Illinois in 1979, he has been engaged in research in atomic, molecular, and optical physics, laser spectroscopy, and the discovery and development of ultraviolet and vacuum-ultraviolet lasers and lamps for applications in atomic clocks, laser fusion energy, and photochemical processing. He has served as Assistant Dean in the College of Engineering, Associate Dean of the Graduate College, and Associate Vice-Chancellor for Research. Currently, he is the Intel Alumni Endowed Chair Emeritus in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). Dr. Eden has authored more than 350 archival publications, 105 awarded U.S. and international patents, and the book Photochemical Vapor Deposition (1992). He is a Fellow of the IEEE, Optica (formerly, Optical Society of America), APS, AAAS, and the SPIE. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Editor-in-Chief of Progress in Quantum Electronics and, in 1998, as President of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS). Dr. Eden received the LEOS Distinguished Service Award in 1996, was awarded the IEEE Third Millennium Medal in 2000, and was named a LEOS Distinguished Lecturer for 2003-2005. Between 2015 and 2017, he also served as a Distinguished Lecturer for the APS Division of Plasma Physics. In 2005, he received the IEEE/LEOS Aron Kressel Award, was awarded the C.E.K. Mees Medal of the OSA in 2007, and was the recipient of the Fulbright-Israel Distinguished Chair in the Natural Sciences and Engineering for 2007-2008. He is a co-founder of Eden Park Illumination (2007), EP Purification (2010; now EP Pure), Cygnus Photonics (2018), EPL Power Electronics (2020), and the Eden Park Foundation (2019) which currently manufacture and/or distribute UV/VUV lamp systems for air disinfection and photochemistry, 172 nm photolithography and patterning, ozone systems for purifying water in the developing world, and pulsed power supplies. In 2010, he was named the recipient of the Harold E. Edgerton Award of SPIE. He has directed the research and dissertations of 65 individuals who have received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, and three other Engineering Departments. In 2014, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the ECE Department at the University of Maryland in 2016 and was named the Intel Alumni Endowed Chair at the University of Illinois in 2017. In 2020, Prof. Eden was inducted into the Innovation Hall of Fame of the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland. He was also the 2022 recipient of the IEEE Plasma Science and Applications (PSAC) Award, and in 2022 was appointed Vice-President for Optical Physics of the Xcimer Energy Corporation.

His current research focuses on excimer lasers for laser fusion energy, UV/VUV lamp development and VUV-driven solid-state and liquid photochemistry, coupled optical coherences in atoms, stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), atomic clocks, and laser fractal modes.