Eli Yablonovitch

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Eli Yablonovitch along with Sajeev John, was one of the two physicists who invented the field of photonic crystals in 1987. In addition to pioneering photonic crystals, he was the first to recognize that a strained quantum well laser has a significantly reduced threshold current compared to its unstrained counterpart. This technique is now applied to the majority of semiconductor lasers fabricated throughout the world.

He was a professor of electrical engineering at UCLA and continues to study and develop photonic crystals and photonic bandgap materials. As of July 2007, he has joined the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at UC Berkeley. His other researches includes silicon photonics, quantum computing, telecommunications, and surface plasmon optics.

He is also a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.