A. Douglas Stone
Deputy Director, Yale Quantum Institute
Carl A. Morse Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Physics
Professor Stone’s current research is in optical physics and photonics, with focus on areas of laser physics, nonlinear and microcavity optics, optical phenomena in complex and disordered systems, controlling the propagation of light in complex media, as well as, more generally, the study of non-hermitian physics and classical and wave chaos. He also has an active interest in quantum measurement and quantum computing, although these are not a focus of his current research. Trained as a condensed matter theorist, his earlier research was in the field of Anderson localization and quantum transport phenomena in disordered media, mesoscopic fluctuations of electronic conduction, and quantum chaos in nanostructures.
His major contributions to optical physics (in collaboration with group members and colleagues) include the following: Originating the theory of Coherent Perfect Absorption (time-reversed lasing) and its generalization to Reflectionless Scattering Modes. The Development of Steady-state Ab initio Laser Theory (SALT) for describing novel microlasers, including random and chaotic cavity lasers. The application of concepts from ray and wave chaos to the description of deformed microcavities and lasers. And the discovery of long-range correlations in the scattering properties of disordered systems.
Professor Stone was one of the first condensed matter theorists to emphasize the novel properties of mesoscopic systems which are much larger than the atomic scale but differ in their behavior from bulk solids. Prominent among these are phase coherent transport and related sample-specific fluctuations in all physical properties. Together with Patrick Lee he showed that the fluctuations of mesoscopic conductance are universal, with a variance depending only on the fundamental unit of conductance, e2/h, an effect which can be explained by the spectral rigidity of random matrices. Mesoscopic fluctuations have a direct connection to the field of quantum chaos and related concepts appear in high energy, nuclear, atomic, condensed matter and optical physics.
Stone has an ongoing interest in popularizing physics through non-technical lectures and writings aimed at general audiences. His book, Einstein and the Quantum: The Quest of the Valiant Swabian (Princeton University Press, 2013) was selected by NPR Science Friday as Science Book of the Year in 2013 and was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa Science Book prize for science writing in 2014. He is currently Vice-Chair of the APS Forum on History and Philosophy of Physics.
His recent work in this area has been in explaining historic significance of the Quantum Information Revolution and Quantum Computing. A popular lecture by him on this topic can be streamed here.
Willis Lamb Medal in Laser Science (2015)
Phi Beta Kappa Science Book Award (2014)
Fellow, Optical Society of America (2010)
Fellow, American Physical Society (1993)
Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (1990)
IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award (1987)
Presidential Young Investigator Award (1987)
William L. McMillan Award (1987)
Rhodes Scholar (1976)
“Correlation effects in focused transmission through disordered media”, C. W. Hsu, S.-F. Liew, A. Goetschy, H. Cao and A. D. Stone, Nature Physics, NPhys4036 (2017).
“Remote Entanglement by Coherent Multiplication of Concurrent Quantum Signals”, A. Roy, L. Jiang, A. D. Stone, and M. H. Devoret, Phys. Rev. Lett., 115, 150503 (2015).
“Ab initio multimode linewidth theory for arbitrary inhomogeneous laser cavities”, A. Pick, A. Cerjan, D. Liu, A. W. Rodriguez, A. D. Stone, Y. D. Chong and S. G. Johnson, Phys. Rev. A 91, 063806 (2015).
“Low-spatial coherence electrically-pumped semiconductor laser for speckle-free full-field imaging”, B. Redding, A. Cerjan, X. Huang, M. L. Lee, A. D. Stone, M. A. Choma, and H. Cao”, PNAS, 112, 1304 (2015).
“Topological Nature of Optical Bound States in the Continuum”, B. Zhen, C. W. Hsu, L. Lu, A. D. Stone, M. Soljacic, Phys. Rev. Letters, 113, 257401 (2014).
“Parity-Time symmetry breaking beyond one dimension: the role of degeneracy”, L. Ge and A. D. Stone, Phys. Rev. X, 4, 031011 (2014).
“Coherent control of transmission of light through disordered media”, S. M. Popoff, A. Goetschy, S. F. Liew, A. D. Stone, and H. Cao, Physical Review Letters, 112, 133903 (2014).
“Filtering random matrices: The effect of imperfect channel control in multiple-scattering”, A. Goetschy and A. D. Stone, Physical Review Letters, 111, 063901 (2013)
“PT-symmetry breaking and laser-absorber modes in optical scattering systems”, Y. D. Chong, L.Ge, and A. D. Stone, Physical Review Letters, 106, 093902 (2011).
“Time-reversed lasing and interferometric control of absorption”, W. Wan, Y. D. Chong, L. Ge, H. Noh, A. D. Stone and H. Cao, Science, 331, 889 (2011).
“Steady-state ab initio laser theory: Generalizations and analytic results”, L. Ge, Y. D. Chong, and A. D. Stone, Physical Review A, 82 063824 (2010).
“Coherent Perfect Absorbers: Time-reversed Lasers”, Y.D. Chong, L. Ge, H. Cao, and A. D. Stone, Physical Review Letters, 105, 053901 (2010).