A Researcher’s Latest Success Makes it the Fourth Time That Te Whai Ao — Dodd-Walls Centre Has Won the Hill Tinsley Medal

Our Principal Investigator Dr Miro Erkintalo has brought home the New Zealand Association of Scientists (NZAS) medal for outstanding fundamental research, keeping it in the family. The NZAS medals have a long history and are among the most prestigious awarded across all fields of research in New Zealand.

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The Hill Tinsley Medal is awarded for outstanding fundamental or applied research in the physical, natural or social sciences published by a scientist or scientists within 15 years of their PhD.

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Dr Erkintalo from the University of Auckland is a leading laser physicist who combines theoretical analyses, numerical modelling, and laboratory experiments to explore and develop novel sources of laser light for a host of applications ranging from telecommunications to sensing. His work on ultrashort pulsed mode-locked fibre lasers, nonlinear optical frequency converters, and microresonator optical frequency combs is groundbreaking.

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His research has had broad impact, with many highly cited articles including five articles in Nature journals over the past three years.

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Dr Erkintalo is one of several Te Whai Ao — Dodd-Walls Centre researchers to have won the award (or its predecessor, the NZAS Research Medal) in recent years. They include Director, Professor Frédérique Vanholsbeeck of the University of Auckland (2020), Associate Professor Stéphane Coen also of the University of Auckland (2015), and Professor Ulrich Zuelicke of the Victoria University of Wellington (2008).

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Find out more about the awards and Dr Erkintalo’s work.

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