physics

Philip Russell (physicist)

Philip Russell (physicist) is a physics 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 Philip Russell (physicist) rather than just read about it. In short: Philip St. John Russell, FRS, (born March 25, 1953, in Belfast) is Emeritus Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, Germany.

Key takeaways

Philip Russell (physicist) belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Reproduce the core statement of Philip Russell (physicist) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Philip St. John Russell, FRS, (born March 25, 1953, in Belfast) is Emeritus Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, Germany. His area of research covers "photonics and new materials", in particular the examination of new optical materials, especially of photonic crystal fibres, and more generally the field of nano- and micro-structured photonic materials.

Education and career Russell obtained his DPhil in 1979 at the University of Oxford, where he was working on volume holography. From 1978 he was a Junior Research Fellow at Oriel College, Oxford. In 1982 he moved to the Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow. In 1986 he joined the fibre optics group at the University of Southampton and began to work on the realisation of his idea of photonic crystal fibres, which were first demonstrated practically in 1996. Between 1996 and 2005, Russell worked at the University of Bath, and during his time there built up and led the Photonics and Photonic Materials Group (PPMG). He then joined the Max Planck Research Group at the Institute of Optics, Information and Photonics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, which became the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) in 2009, with him being a founding director. He has been Emritus Director of the MPL since 2021. He is the founder of BlazePhotonics Limited, a company whose aim was the commercial exploitation of photonic crystal fibre. The company, which holds the world record for low loss hollow core photonic crystal fibre, was acquired by Crystal Fibre a/s in August 2004.

Awards and honours Russell is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and the founding chair of the OSA Topical Meeting Series on Bragg Gratings, Photosensitivity and Poling in Glass. In 2000 he won OSA's Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize for the invention of photonic crystal ("holey") fibre, which he first proposed in 1991. In 2002 he won the Applied Optics Division Prize of the UK Institute of Physics. In 2004 he won the Thomas Young Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics, and in 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In September 2005 he received the Körber European Science Prize from the Hamburg-based Körber Foundation. From 2005 to 2006 he was a IEEE/LEOS Distinguished Lecturer, and from 2007 to 2009 a Director-At-Large of the Optical Society of America. In 2014 he was awarded the Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis. In 2015 he was awarded the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Photonics Award, and he was the President of the Optical Society of America in 2015, the International Year of Light. He is the recipient of a Royal Society/Wolfson Research Merit Award, and in 2018 won the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics.

Selected publications Russell, P. St. J. (2003). "Photonic Crystal Fibers". Science. 299 (5605): 358–362. Bibcode:2003Sci...299..358R. doi:10.1126/science.1079280. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 12532007. S2CID 136470113. Russell, P. St. J. (2007). "Photonic Crystal Fiber: Finding the Holey Grail". Optics and Photonics News. 18 (7): 26. Bibcode:2007OptPN..18...26R. doi:10.1364/OPN.18.7.000026. ISSN 1047-6938. Cregan, R. F.; Mangan, B. J.; Knight, J. C.; Birks, T. A.; Russell, P. St. J.; Roberts, P. J.; Allan, D. C. (1999). "Single-Mode Photonic Band Gap Guidance of Light in Air". Science. 285 (5433): 1537–1539. doi:10.1126/science.285.5433.1537. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 10477511. Birks, T. A.; Knight, J. C.; Russell, P. St.J. (1997). "Endlessly single-mode photonic crystal fiber". Optics Letters. 22 (13): 961–3. Bibcode:1997OptL...22..961B. doi:10.1364/OL.22.000961. ISSN 0146-9592. PMID 18185719. Knight, J. C.; Birks, T. A.; Russell, P. St. J.; Atkin, D. M. (1996). "All-silica single-mode optical fiber with photonic crystal cladding". Optics Letters. 21 (19): 1547–9. Bibcode:1996OptL...21.1547K. doi:10.1364/OL.21.001547. ISSN 0146-9592. PMID 19881720.

References

External links Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) MPL - Russell Emeritus Group Russell Centre for Advanced Lightwave Science (RCALS)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Philip Russell (physicist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Philip Russell (physicist) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, 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 Philip Russell (physicist) 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 Philip Russell (physicist) 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 Philip Russell (physicist)

In research: Philip Russell (physicist) appears in physics 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 Philip Russell (physicist) 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: Philip Russell (physicist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1953 births, Academics of the University of Bath, Academics of the University of Southampton, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Philip Russell (physicist) 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 Philip Russell (physicist) in 20 minutes

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Frequently asked questions

What is Philip Russell (physicist) in simple terms?

Philip St. John Russell, FRS, (born March 25, 1953, in Belfast) is Emeritus Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, Germany.

Why does Philip Russell (physicist) matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 Philip Russell (physicist)?

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 Philip Russell (physicist).