May 5,2025, At the Plenary Session early in the morning on April 1st, when the host announced that this year's John Tyndall Award was given to Dr. Masatoshi Suzuki, a Japanese and the pioneer of optical soliton technology, the sensitive editor began to wonder if optical soliton technology was about to welcome another spring. The editor had dealt with optical solitons quite a lot during my student days and had some understanding of this technology. In the history of the development of optical communication technology, it is not uncommon for a technologie that have been "in the cold" for years to experience a renaissance. VCSEL and coherent communication are examples of this. However, it is really hard to see any relationship between optical soliton technology, which is mainly used for long-distance applications, and the currently popular short-distance AI interconnection.
The reasons for awarding Dr. Suzuki by Optica and IEEE are as follows: "He has made significantly influential, pioneering and original contributions to large-capacity long-distance optical communication systems in aspects such as semiconductor integrated light source EML (Electroabsorption Modulator integrated Laser), soliton optical communication methods supporting dispersion management, DWDM submarine cable systems, and optical space division multiplexing technology." Most of his research focuses on long-distance and large-capacity optical communication. His winning the award also validates my observation of this year's OFC - that it has returned more to the core technologies of optical communication itself, rather than placing too much emphasis on other fields such as AI interconnection and semiconductor packaging.
During his tenure at KDDI, Dr. Suzuki made outstanding contributions to the continuous development of long-distance and large-capacity optical communication systems through pioneering and innovative research in optical devices, systems and networks. He was the first to verify the semiconductor integrated circuit EML required for high-speed optical communication, and invented the dispersion-managed solitons that enable high-speed and long-distance optical transmission. In 1985 and 1987 respectively, he demonstrated the first high-speed and low-chirp EA modulator and EML laser. This EML was the first integrated photonic device, just 29 years after the invention of the integrated circuit. Without his pioneering contributions, the widespread use of EML lasers today would not be possible.
The soliton technology proposed and verified by Dr. Suzuki is the core technology for realizing a large-capacity optical communication system that enables wavelength division multiplexing and long-distance transmission of high-speed optical signals. With this technology, ATT-SSI (later TE-SubCom) and KDDI successfully achieved 10Gbs WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) transmission covering a distance of 10,000 kilometers for the first time. Although in the editors' perception, optical soliton technology has not ultimately been widely applied, the IEEE press release pointed out that these technologies have been applied in transoceanic submarine cable systems in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, becoming an important framework supporting the global Internet and communication infrastructure. Thanks to this technology, the capacity of transoceanic submarine cable systems has increased 200 times within 10 years. An optical soliton is a special-shaped optical pulse that can overcome the influence of dispersion based on nonlinearity.
Other works of Professor Suzuki include all-optical networks with optical cross-connections controlled by GMPLS, large-capacity WDM PON, and optical fiber RF networks with a capacity of over 10Tbit/s for 5G mobile networks, etc. His current research interests include optical computing using high-power PCSEL and silicon-based optoelectronic technology, and high-speed free-space communication supporting non-terrestrial networks.
“Masatoshi Suzuki’s outstanding work revolutionized optical communications,” said Gerd Leuchs, Optica 2024 President. “His achievements have allowed us to keep pace with the ever-growing demands to connect faster and at higher capacities.”
Perry Shum, the President of the IEEE Photonics Society, commented on Professor Suzuki's achievements, saying, "Professor Suzuki's work continues to influence the future of optical communication. His contributions to technological progress and the promotion of innovation have left an indelible mark in this field and inspired the next generation of researchers and engineers."
The John Tyndall Award is jointly presented by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Optical Society of America (Optica), and it is one of the highest honors in the fiber optic communication industry. This award is given to individuals who have made pioneering, significant and continuous contributions in the field of fiber optic technology, or have demonstrated outstanding leadership.
The award is named after John Tyndall, a 19th-century scientist who first discovered the phenomenon of light scattering.
Dr. Masatoshi Suzuki is the former Deputy Director of the KDDI Research Institute and currently serves as the Vice President and Professor of Chitose Institute of Science and Technology. He obtained his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in electronics from Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. He joined KDD (now KDDI) in Tokyo, Japan in 1984. Masatoshi Suzuki is the first Japanese to receive this award in 11 years and is also the fifth Japanese to receive this honor.
