astronomy

Paul Corkum

Paul Corkum is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Paul Corkum rather than just read about it. In short: Paul Bruce Corkum (born October 30, 1943) is a Canadian physicist specializing in attosecond physics and laser science. He holds a joint University of Ottawa–NRC chair in attosecond photonics.

Key takeaways

Paul Corkum belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Connect Paul Corkum to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Paul Corkum from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Paul Bruce Corkum (born October 30, 1943) is a Canadian physicist specializing in attosecond physics and laser science. He holds a joint University of Ottawa–NRC chair in attosecond photonics. He also holds academic positions at Texas A&M University and the University of New Mexico. Corkum is both a theorist and an experimentalist. He is known for developing the theory of attosecond physics.

Biography and research Paul Corkum was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. He obtained his BSc (1965) from Acadia University, Nova Scotia, and his MSc (1967) and PhD (1972) in theoretical physics from Lehigh University, Pennsylvania. He was a physicist at the National Research Council of Canada (1973-2008), and was then appointed as a professor of physics at the University of Ottawa. He won several awards for his work on laser science. In the 1980s he developed a model of the ionization of atoms (i.e. plasma production) and on this basis proposed a new approach to making X-ray lasers, under the name of optical field ionization (OFI). The OFI lasers are today one of the most important developments in X-ray laser research. In the early 1990s in strong field atomic physics there were discoveries of high harmonic generation and correlated double ionization (in which an atom can absorb hundreds of photons and emit two electrons). Corkum's recollision electron model served as the basis for the generation of attosecond pulses from lasers. With this method in 2001 Corkum with colleagues in Vienna succeeded in demonstrating for the first time laser pulse lengths lasting less than 1 femtosecond. The method was used for the generation of higher harmonics and (as a type of laser tunneling microscope) for exploration of atoms and molecules in the angstrom range and below. Corkum's recollision electron physics has led to many advances in understanding the interactions among coherent electrons, coherent light, and coherent atoms or molecules. The recollision electron can be thought of as an electron interferometer built by laser light generated from atoms or molecules. As an interferometer, the recollision electron can be used to measure atomic and molecular orbitals by means of interfering waves from the bound electrons and the recollision electrons. From 1997 to 2009, he was the adjunct professor of physics at McMaster University. In 2018, Corkum was the first Canadian to be awarded the Isaac Newton Medal by the Institute of Physics for his outstanding contributions to experimental physics and to attosecond science and for pioneering work which has led to the first-ever experimental image of a molecular orbital and the first-ever space–time image of an attosecond pulse. Attosecond techniques can freeze the motion of electrons within atoms and molecules, observe quantum mechanical orbitals, and follow chemical reactions.

Honors and awards

Awards 1996 Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics (Canadian Association of Physicists) 1999 Einstein Award (Society for Optical and Quantum Electronics) 2003 Tory Medal (Royal Society of Canada) 2003 Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal 2005 Fellow of the Royal Society 2005 Quantum Electronics Award (IEEE) 2005 Charles Hard Townes Award (Optical Society of America) 2006 Killam Prize (Canada Council for the Arts) 2006 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science (American Physical Society) 2008 John C. Polanyi Award (NSERC) 2009 Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering (NSERC) 2010 Fellow of The Optical Society 2013 King Faisal International Prize for Physics (King Faisal Foundation). 2013 Royal Photographic Society Progress medal and Honorary Fellowship awarded in recognition of any invention, research, publication or other contribution which has resulted in an important advance in the scientific or technological development of photography or imaging in the widest sense 2013 Harvey Prize 2014 Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize 2015 Lomonosov Gold Medal 2015 selected Clarivate Citation laureate in Physics with Ferenc Krausz "for contributions to the development of attosecond physics." 2017 Royal Medal 2018 Institute of Physics Isaac Newton Medal 2018 SPIE Gold Medal 2019 The Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics 2022 Wolf Prize in Physics 2022 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences 2025 APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research. 2026 IEEE/RSE James Clerk Maxwell Medal

Membership Femtosecond Science Group at the Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences (Founder) NRC Atomic, Molecular and Optical Science Group (Program Leader) Order of Canada (Officer). Order of Ontario Royal Society of London (Member) Royal Society of Canada (Member) US National Academy of Sciences (Member)

Selected works Corkum PB (1993). "Plasma perspective on strong field multiphoton ionization". Physical Review Letters. 71 (13): 1994–1997. Bibcode:1993PhRvL..71.1994C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.71.1994. PMID 10054556. S2CID 29947935. with N. H. Burnett, M. Y. Ivanov: Corkum, P. B.; Burnett, N. H.; Ivanov, M. Y. (1994). "Subfemtosecond pulses". Optics Letters. 19 (22): 1870–1872. Bibcode:1994OptL...19.1870C. doi:10.1364/OL.19.001870. PMID 19855681. with H. Niikura, F. Legaré, R. Hasbani, M. Ivanov, D. Villeneuve: Niikura H, Légaré F, Hasbani R, Ivanov MY, Villeneuve DM, Corkum PB (2003). "Probing molecular dynamics with attosecond resolution using correlated wave packet pairs". Nature. 421 (6925): 826–829. Bibcode:2003Natur.421..826N. doi:10.1038/nature01430. PMID 12594508. S2CID 4318208. with Ferenc Krausz: Corkum, P. B.; Krausz, Ferenc (2007). "Attosecond Science". Nature Physics. 3 (6): 381–387. Bibcode:2007NatPh...3..381C. doi:10.1038/nphys620. with Chandrasekhar Joshi: Joshi, Chandrashekhar J.; Corkum, Paul (January 1995). "Interaction of ultra-intense laser light with matter" (PDF). Physics Today. 48 (1): 36. Bibcode:1995PhT....48a..36J. doi:10.1063/1.881451. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-25. with Donna Strickland: Strickland, D.; Corkum, P. B. (1994). "Resistance of short pulses to self-focusing". JOSA B. 11 (3): 492–497. Bibcode:1994JOSAB..11..492S. doi:10.1364/JOSAB.11.000492. S2CID 122336320.

References

External links Attosecond Science Seminar by Paul Corkum Video: Paul Corkum (Nat'l Research Council of Canada), Attosecond Science

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul Corkum

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paul Corkum claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Paul Corkum before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Paul Corkum ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Paul Corkum

In research: Paul Corkum appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Paul Corkum in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Paul Corkum is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1943 births, Academic staff of the University of Ottawa, Acadia University alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul Corkum outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Paul Corkum in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Paul Corkum means in your own words.
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Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Paul Corkum in simple terms?

Paul Bruce Corkum (born October 30, 1943) is a Canadian physicist specializing in attosecond physics and laser science. He holds a joint University of Ottawa–NRC chair in attosecond photonics.

Why does Paul Corkum matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Paul Corkum?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Paul Corkum.