World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Electronics and Electrical Engineering

D-Index
92
Citations
44100
World Ranking
269
National Ranking
131

Physics

D-Index
94
Citations
44776
World Ranking
1960
National Ranking
1014

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2016 - Member of the National Academy of Engineering For significant advances in high-capacity optical communication systems.
  • 2014 - IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award “For contributions to high-capacity, multiplexed, optical communication systems.”
  • 2014 - Fellow, National Academy of Inventors
  • 2012 - Fellow of John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
  • 2011 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 2011 - SPIE Fellow
  • 2004 - IEEE Fellow For contributions to the fundamental understanding and mitigation of key limitations of lightwave transmission systems and networks.

Overview

Alan E. Willner is affiliated with the University of Southern California in the United States. Their research spans multiple fields of engineering and physical sciences, with specific focus on electrical and electronic engineering as well as atomic and molecular physics, and optics.

The main topics of their work include:

  • Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics
  • Optical Network Technologies
  • Optical Wireless Communication Technologies
  • Photonic and Optical Devices
  • Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies
  • Advanced Photonic Communication Systems
  • Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research

Frequent coauthors in their research collaborations include:

  • Huibin Zhou
  • Moshe Tur
  • Hao Song
  • Kaiheng Zou
  • Xinzhou Su

Their recent papers demonstrate contributions to optical communications and photonics, including:

  • "Orbital angular momentum of light for communications," 2021, Applied Physics Reviews
  • "High-capacity free-space optical communications using wavelength- and mode-division-multiplexing in the mid-infrared region," 2022, Nature Communications
  • "Multi-dimensional data transmission using inverse-designed silicon photonics and microcombs," 2022, Nature Communications
  • "Roadmap on spatiotemporal light fields," 2023, Journal of Optics
  • "Integrated sensing and communication in an optical fibre," 2023, Light Science & Applications

The scientist regularly publishes in several venues such as:

  • Optics Letters
  • Journal of Lightwave Technology
  • Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics
  • Optics Communications
  • Nature Communications

They have received multiple awards including:

  • Member of the National Academy of Engineering (2016) for significant advances in high-capacity optical communication systems
  • IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award (2014) for contributions to high-capacity, multiplexed optical communication systems
  • Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2014)
  • Fellow of John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2012)
  • SPIE Fellow (2011)
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2011)
  • IEEE Fellow (2004) for contributions to the fundamental understanding and mitigation of limitations in lightwave transmission systems and networks

Best Publications

  • Terabit free-space data transmission employing orbital angular momentum multiplexing

    Jian Wang;Jian Wang;Jeng-Yuan Yang;Irfan M. Fazal;Nisar Ahmed

  • Terabit-Scale Orbital Angular Momentum Mode Division Multiplexing in Fibers

    Nenad Bozinovic;Yang Yue;Yongxiong Ren;Moshe Tur

  • Optical communications using orbital angular momentum beams

    A. E. Willner;H. Huang;Y. Yan;Y. Ren

  • High-capacity millimetre-wave communications with orbital angular momentum multiplexing

    Yan Yan;Guodong Xie;Martin P. J. Lavery;Hao Huang

  • Roadmap on structured light

    Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop;Andrew Forbes;Michael V Berry;Mark R Dennis

  • Optical performance monitoring

    D.C. Kilper;R. Bach;D.J. Blumenthal;D. Einstein

  • 100 Tbit/s free-space data link enabled by three-dimensional multiplexing of orbital angular momentum, polarization, and wavelength

    Hao Huang;Guodong Xie;Yan Yan;Nisar Ahmed

  • All-Optical Signal Processing

    Alan E. Willner;Salman Khaleghi;Mohammad Reza Chitgarha;Omer Faruk Yilmaz

  • 4 × 20 Gbit/s mode division multiplexing over free space using vector modes and a q-plate mode (de)multiplexer

    Giovanni Milione;Martin P. J. Lavery;Hao Huang;Yongxiong Ren

  • Optical Fiber Communication Systems

    Leonid G. Kazovsky;Sergio Benedetto;Alan E. Willner

  • 4 X 20 Gbit/s mode division multiplexing over free space using vector modes and a q-plate mode (de)multiplexer

    Giovanni Milione;Martin P. J. Lavery;Hao Huang;Yongxiong Ren

  • Mode division multiplexing using an orbital angular momentum mode sorter and MIMO-DSP over a graded-index few-mode optical fibre

    Hao Huang;Giovanni Milione;Martin P. J. Lavery;Guodong Xie

  • Orbital angular momentum of light for communications

    Alan E. Willner;Kai Pang;Hao Song;Kaiheng Zou

  • All-optical signal processing using /spl chi//sup (2)/ nonlinearities in guided-wave devices

    C. Langrock;S. Kumar;J.E. McGeehan;A.E. Willner

  • Atmospheric turbulence effects on the performance of a free space optical link employing orbital angular momentum multiplexing

    Yongxiong Ren;Hao Huang;Guodong Xie;Nisar Ahmed

  • Maximum time delay achievable on propagation through a slow-light medium

    Robert W. Boyd;Daniel J. Gauthier;Alexander L. Gaeta;Alan E. Willner

  • Broadband SBS Slow Light in an Optical Fiber

    Zhaoming Zhu;A.M.C. Dawes;D.J. Gauthier;Lin Zhang

  • Mode Properties and Propagation Effects of Optical Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) Modes in a Ring Fiber

    Yang Yue;Yan Yan;N. Ahmed;Jeng-Yuan Yang

  • Orbital Angular Momentum-based Space Division Multiplexing for High-capacity Underwater Optical Communications.

    Yongxiong Ren;Long Li;Zhe Wang;Seyedeh Mahsa Kamali

  • NRZ versus RZ in 10-40-Gb/s dispersion-managed WDM transmission systems

    M.I. Hayee;A.E. Willner

  • Metamaterials-based broadband generation of orbital angular momentum carrying vector beams

    Zhe Zhao;Jian Wang;Shuhui Li;Alan E Willner

  • 40-nm-wide tunable fiber ring laser with single-mode operation using a highly stretchable FBG

    Y.W. Song;S.A. Havstad;D. Starodubov;Y. Xie

  • Electromagnetic Force and Momentum

    Masud Mansuripur

Frequent Co-Authors

Moshe Tur
Moshe Tur Tel Aviv University
Yan Yan
Yan Yan University of Southern California
Guodong Xie
Guodong Xie University of Southern California
Yongxiong Ren
Yongxiong Ren University of Southern California
Nisar Ahmed
Nisar Ahmed University of Southern California
Zhe Zhao
Zhe Zhao University of Southern California
Yang Yue
Yang Yue Nankai University
Lianshan Yan
Lianshan Yan Southwest Jiaotong University
Martin M. Fejer
Martin M. Fejer Stanford University
Carsten Langrock
Carsten Langrock Keysight Technologies (United States)

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