CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS

ASSOCIATION CANADIENNE DES PHYSICIENS ET PHYSICIENNES

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that the 2002 CAP/DCMMP Brockhouse Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Condensed Matter and Materials Physics is awarded to Dr. Pawel Hawrylak, National Research Council of Canada for his outstanding personal research including his study of quantum dots

The Brockhouse medal "recognises and encourages outstanding experimental and theoretical contributions to condensed matter and materials physics ". It is therefore appropriate that Pawel Hawrylak, while a theorist, enjoys interactions with both theorists and experimentalists. Indeed, he has at times inspired experiments by threatening to do them himself.

Pawel received his undergraduate training in Poland, his Ph.D from the University of Kentucky and, in 1986, following a post-doctoral period at Brown University, accepted an invitation to join the Institute for Microstructural Sciences, NRC, where he has remained ever since.

Central to Pawel's scientific work has been his choice of challenging problems. Of particular interest have been many-body effects and their influence on optical and transport properties. His work has often lead to important predictions such as hidden symmetries in the properties of excitonic quantum dots, which were later verified experimentally, or in the use of new concepts to provide an explanation of puzzling experimental effects, such as the quenching of the singlet state in quantum dots.

When detailed experimental results involving quantum dots started to become available (in the mid 90's) it was a challenge not to be missed. Pawel has managed to explain in detail many of these experiments and has written a well-received book on the topic. A recent interest is the application of this understanding to implementing solid state 'QUBITs' for quantum computation.

In addition to his outstanding personal research and contagious enthusiasm for science, Pawel is a very active Canadian representative in the international arena. He serves on many international programme committees and has chaired major conferences.

All is not work: he has a strong enthusiasm for physical activity. He actively participates in soccer, cross-country skiing and caneoing. Indeed, more than one seminar or sabbatical visitor has left Ottawa inspired by Pawel's ideas on their research, and conscious of muscles they had forgotten they had.

The Brockhouse medal was introduced for the first time in 1999 and is sponsored jointly by the Division of Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (DCMMP) and the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP). It is named in honour of Bertram Brockhouse, whose outstanding contributions to research in condensed matter physics in Canada were recognized by the 1994 Nobel Prize for Physics. The medal is awarded annually. Dr. Hawrylak will receive the 2002 Medal during the CAP's awards banquet to be held at the Quebec Convention Centre on June 4th, 2002.

The Canadian Association of Physicists, founded in 1945, is a professional association representing over 1600 individual physicists and physics students in Canada, the U.S. and overseas, as well as a number of Corporate and Departmental Members. In addition to its learned activities, the CAP also undertakes a number of activities intended to encourage students to pursue a career in physics.

For more information, please contact:

Canadian Association of Physicists
Tel: (613) 562-5614
Fax: (613) 562-5615
E-mail: cap@physics.uottawa.ca