Profile

Jim Kafka attended the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester, where he obtained a B.S. in Optics in 1977 and a Ph.D. in Optics in 1983, studying with Conger Gabel and Gerard Mourou, the recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics. Of his time spent at Rochester, Kafka found that it was a fabulous time to be at the Institute and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, as he met lifelong friends and colleagues, including several future Optica Presidents such as 2018 Nobel Prize winner Donna Strickland.

In 1983, Kafka started as a Senior Scientist at Spectra-Physics Lasers, where he has held a series of positions with increasing responsibility, including Chief Technology Officer.  He was recently named a Fellow of MKS, the parent company of Spectra-Physics. During the past 38 years, he designed several of the company’s most significant products, including the Tsunami, the first commercial ultrafast Ti: sapphire laser (1990), the Millennia X, the first commercial 10 W solid-state green laser (1997), and the InSight, the first broadly tunable ultrafast source for microscopy (2011). Kafka was recognized as a Spectra-Physics Fellow in 1987. He also received the Thermo Electron Corporate Award for Technical Innovation in 2002 and the first Newport Corporation Strategic Patent Award in 2007 for his patent of the first diode-pumped double-clad fiber laser. Kafka has 45 United States patents and multiple foreign equivalents. He has more than 30 publications in refereed journals and has made more than 40 presentations at CLEO, Optica topical meetings, SPIE conferences and at major universities. Kafka presented a plenary talk at the 2018 IEEE Photonics Conference.

Kafka has served the professional community as the Ultrafast Topical Editor for JOSA B (1994-1995), Lasers Technical Group Chair (1995-1997), and on a dozen conference organizing committees. He has served as the CLEO program chair (1999), CLEO general chair (2001), and on the CLEO Steering Committee (1997–2001). He completed a three-year sequence as the Program and General Chair of the Advanced Solid-State Photonics topical meeting (2009-2011).  Kafka was named an Optica Fellow in 2005 and served as a Director at Large on Optica Board of Directors from 2012 to 2014. He was a member (2015) and chair (2016) of the prestigious Charles Hard Townes Medal Committee and a member of the Frederick Ives Medal / Jarus W. Quinn Prize Committee for 2020 and 2021. Kafka was a lecturer at the inaugural Siegman Summer School in 2014 and again in 2020 and a lecturer at the Optica Career Accelerator in 2022.  One of his favorite contributions to the optics community has been serving as a Distinguished Traveling Lecturer for the APS Division of Laser Science from 1999 to 2017.

Election Statement

Optica has been my professional home since I first joined as an undergraduate studying optics at the University of Rochester in 1976. My time at the U of R and my participation with Optica have taught me the importance of communicating with others—both sharing the work that I am passionate about and, more important, having people around me to supply guidance and inspiration to stimulate my growth.

I have been working in industry for 38 years and am now the CTO for Spectra-Physics, and a Fellow of our parent company MKS. This is a position where I get to mix both business and science. Throughout my industrial career I have cherished and carefully maintained my contacts with academia. It has been through my participation with Optica that I have been able to straddle those two worlds. My industrial colleagues are constantly inquiring about publications and conferences, while my academic colleagues inquire about the viewpoint of industry. I relish my position as a liaison between the two groups and promise to use this unique position to add value to the leadership of Optica.

I had the privilege to serve on the Optica board for three years and have been a member of the Finance and Public Policy committees. This was a valuable training experience in which I learned about Optica’s finances and the importance of communicating the relevance and impact of our work to funding agencies and the general public. I have also been fortunate enough to be a Distinguished Traveling Lecturer for the APS Division of Laser Science for most of the past 20 years. In that role I have visited numerous smaller educational institutions and observed firsthand how enthusiasm for optics is spread.

Optics is an enabling technology with impact in every modern discipline. Our responsibility in growing our network is to maximize opportunity for collaboration between each of our communities, including industry, academia and nonprofits throughout the world. We need to continue our success in areas where Optica has always excelled: to educate and excite students about optics and to honor the achievements of our members. I am pleased to have served on conference and award committees, where I have always sought to honor the deserving but underappreciated candidates.

The Optica core values are innovation, integrity, impact and inclusivity. Building on my experience in industry, I will communicate the enabling role that optics and photonics play in modern society. I am committed to engaging our underrepresented communities and encouraging wider participation in society activities and leadership positions.

It would be an honor to apply my unique background and experience to further the vision of Optica.