Prof. Dr. Ursula Keller

Prof. Dr. Ursula Keller
ETH Zurich
Institute of Quantum Electronics, Physics Department
Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 16, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
+41 44 633 21 46 (tel), +41 44 633 10 59 (fax), keller@phys.ethz.ch, www.ulp.ethz.ch
Education
• Ph.D. in Applied Physics, Stanford University (1989)
• M.S. degree in Applied Physics, Stanford University (1987)
• Diplom degree in Physics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland (1984)
Research Experience
• Director of NCCR MUST (Molecular Ultrafast Science and Technology): Swiss National
Centre of Competence for Research (NCCR) in ultrafast science
July 2010 to present: 12 year program, first 4 year with 17 MCHF budget approved,
15 principle investigators (co-leading house with University of Bern)
• Professor in the Physics Department, ETH Zurich, Ultrafast Laser Physics Laboratory
Oct. 1997 to present: Full Professor
March 1993: Associate Professor
• Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ, USA
1989-1993: Photonic switching and optical communications: practical high-power shortpulse
laser sources, novel all-solid-state modelocking techniques, diode-pumped solid-state
lasers, semiconductor lasers, and microcavity-enhanced LEDs
• Research Assistant in Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, CA, USA
1985-1989: Interferometric optical technique to measure charge and voltage in GaAs
integrated circuits and low-noise sub-picosecond sources for optical sampling application
• Visiting Researcher, Physics Department, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland
1984-1985: All-optical power limiter using optical bistable InSb elements
• Masters Thesis Research, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
1984: Integrated optical humidity sensors
Visiting Professor
• 2006: Visiting Miller Professor at University of California at Berkeley, USA
• 2001: Visiting Professor at Lund Institute of Technology, Lund University, Sweden
Research interest and impact
Professor Keller’s research interests include exploring and pushing the frontiers in ultrafast
science and technology: ultrafast solid-state and semiconductor lasers, ultrashort pulse
generation in the one to two optical cycle regime, frequency comb generation and stabilization,
reliable and functional instrumentation for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) to X-ray generation,
attosecond experiments using high harmonic generation, and attosecond science. She has
published more than 310 peer-reviewed journal papers and 13 book chapters, and is inventor on
17 patents and patent applications.
In 2000, the Thomson Citation Index highlighted her as the third-place top-cited
researcher during the last decade (1991-1999) in the field of optoelectronics based on a
database with about 75,000 authors (www.esi-topics.com/optoelectronics/authors/b1b.html).
She has increased her total citations from 1,566 as of May 2000, to 9,601 as of June 6, 2010,
with a current Hirsch index of 51.

ETH Zurich
• Head of the Institute of Quantum Electronics (with 5 full professors): 2003-2005
• Deputy Department Head, Physics Department (with about 27 professors): 2007-2009
International Professional Activities
• Conference chair:
ECOC 2011 (co-chair), CLEO Europe 2007 (general co-chair), CLEO Europe 2005
(program co-chair and postdeadline paper chair); Advanced Solid-State Lasers 2000
(general co-chair), 1999 (program co-chair); Ultrafast Optics '99 (co-chair)
• Conference subcommittee chair:
EQEC 1996 for Ultrafast Phenomena
• Conference program committees:
Advanced Solid-State Lasers 1998; CLEO Europe 1998, 2003; Ultrafast Optics 1997,
2001; Ultrafast Phenomena 2004; FST Japan 1999; CLEO USA 1993-95, 2001; Ultrafast
Electronics and Optoelectronics 1995, 1997, 1999; IX International Symposium on
Ultrafast Processes in Spectroscopy 1995; EQEC 1994; OSA Annual Meeting 1993
• Editorial board:
Applied Physics B: Ultrafast Lasers and Photonic Devices (since 1994); Laser Physics
Letters (since 2005)
• Board member of professional organizations:
Elected Member of the OSA Board, Director at Large 2010-2012, EPS (European Physical
Society) in quantum electronics 1996-1998 (co-opted), 1998-2004 (elected), 2005-2007 (coopted).
Elected Member of the IEEE LEOS Board of Governors 2000-2002.
• Committee Chair of the OSA 1998 Lomb Medal, EPS 2000 & 2001 Fresnel Prize
Company creation
• 1995: co-founder Time-Bandwidth Products (TBP), www.time-bandwidth.com
• 2000: co-founder GigaTera, venture-capital funded, acquired by TBP in 2003
Honors and Awards
• Joseph Fraunhofer/Robert M. Burley Prize of OSA (2008)
• Philip Morris Forschungspreis (2005)
• Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis (2004)
• Elected Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2003) and the
Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (2008)
• Fellow of the Optical Society of America (2003)
• IEEE/LEOS Senior Member (2002)
• LEOS distinguished lecturer award for (2000-2001)
• Carl Zeiss Research Award (1998)
• IBM Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (1987-1988)
• Fulbright Fellowship for the first academic year at Stanford (1985-1986)
Publication record: (26. Jan. 2011, ISI Web of Science) birth 1959 / total cit. 10171 / H-index 52
Student education record: supervised and graduated 44 PhD students as of Jan. 2011