Erwin L. Hahn
Wolf Prize Laureate in Physics 1984
Erwin L. Hahn
Affiliation at the time of the award:
University of California, USA
Award citation:
“for his discovery of nuclear spin echoes and for the phenomenon of self-induced transparency”.
Prize share:
Erwin L. Hahn
Theodore H. Maiman
Sir Peter Hirsch
Professor Erwin L. Hahn’s research demonstrated that a collection of spinning nuclei could retain a coherent memory for a period of time and made it possible to extend the use of magnetic resonance techniques for a variety of purposes in science, engineering and medicine including the storage and retrieva l of information. Optical self-induced transparency is an outstanding example of nonlinear interaction between matter and high intensity light pulses. The experiments of Hahn elucidate concepts of statistical mechanics and collective excitations in complex (many-body) systems.