The program recognizes student innovation, research excellence and presentation skills in the areas of laser technology and electro-optics. Finalists will present their papers to a panel of meeting chairs virtually the week before the conference.

This program is set to conclude after the 2023 recipient is announced. 

Application Information

How To Apply

Submit a paper to CLEO and opt into the competition. Learn more on the conference website.

Important Dates

The submitting author must opt-in to the competition during the regular paper submission process and follow all of the instructions provided on the submission site.
Paper Submission Deadline: 01 January 0001

Applicant Requirements

• Be an undergraduate or graduate student of an educational institution of collegiate grade devoting more than half time to studies within the institution at the time the paper was written
• Submit a paper that is accepted during the regular “call for papers” process for CLEO (Note: Post-deadline papers are not part of this competition)
• Present the paper orally during the conference

Application Requirements

Opt-in to the competition during the regular submissions process.

2023 Recipient

Vivek Pareek
OIST Graduate University, Japan

Recognized for his presentation "Exciton-driven Floquet-Bloch states in Van der Waals semiconductors.”

Past Recipients

• Martin Zizlsperger, University of Regensburg, Germany (2022)
• Nicholas Nardelli, National Institute of Standards and Technology & University of Colorado Boulder, USA (2021)
• Jaco Fuchs, ETH Zurich, Switzerland (2020)
• Simon Duval, Universite Laval, Canada (2019)
• Dominik Peller, University of Regensburg, Germany (2018)
• Jingyuan Linda Zhang, Stanford University, USA (2017)
• Mengjie Yu, Cornell University, USA (2016)
• Shuo Sun, University of Maryland, US (2015)
• Fabian Langer, University of Regensburg, Germany (2014)
• Gary Shambat, Stanford University, US (2013)
• Jeffrey Driscoll, Columbia University, US (2012)
• Hugo Benichi, University of Tokyo, Japan (2011)
• Brendan Reagan, Colorado State University, US (2010)
• Georg Anetsberger, Max-Planck-Institut fur Quantenoptik, Germany (2009)

Contributors

HRL Laboratories, LLC, the IEEE Photonics Society and the APS Division of Laser Science. 

About the Endowment

This competition was established in 2008 in memory of Theodore Maiman and in acknowledgement of his amazing invention, the first working laser, and his other outstanding contributions to optics and photonics.

Selection Committee

The recipient is selected by the CLEO conference chairs