| Citation | Distinguished for fundamental contributions to optical fibre theory and visual photoreceptor optics. He innovated the weak guidance approximation, the basic theoretical tool for studying fibres. He was first to predict the existence of tunnelling leakage and described the mechanism by a generalized Fresnel law. His novel theoretical design for single-polarisation fibres is a building block for sensing devices and coherent optical systems. He pioneered coupled mode, quasi-optical, Gaussian and radiation methods. He was first to determine how cell geometry influences angular, polarisation, and spectral sensitivities of photoreceptors, predicting correctly, the cell responsible for polarisation detection in bee, the arrangement of cell types in certain fused rahbdoms and the direction of polarised light for maximum response. He explained the diverse orientation of chromophores in different photoreceptors and quantified the birefringence and dichroism of photoreceptor membrane. He was first to marry the particle and wave properties of light to quantify the design of compound eyes, providing a framework for subsequent experiments. |