Optics is the branch of Physics which involves the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Light sciences have provided us numerous instruments such as telescopes to see far away objects and microscopes to see very tiny objects. Light sciences have also impacted our lives through medical imaging, telecommunications and internet. Beam optics and light polarisation have stimulated research for centuries. Their understanding and manipulation are the cornerstones of optical technology.
The understanding of light optics requires a variety of mathematical techniques. Consequently, there are attempts to understand light optics using different mathematical machineries. Dr. Sameen Ahmed Khan has been singlehandedly working on a new formalism of beam optics using matrices and quantum technics. He is Assistant Professor in the College of Arts and Applied Sciences, Dhofar University, Salalah.
In 2016 alone he published five papers describing different facets of his formalism. Amidst strong international competition, two of Dr. Sameen’s papers have been chosen as one of the best this year by the influential magazine, Optics & Photonics News (OPN) published by The Optical Society (OSA was founded in 1916 as the Optical Society of America and renamed as Optical Society in 2008). Each year OSA highlights worldwide breakthrough innovations in optics and photonics in its year end December issue of its OPN Magazine. The research is thereby featured in the special edition, Optics in 2016, which carries the summaries of the thirty selected breakthroughs.
Along with outstanding research in mathematical optics, Dr. Sameen has a keen interest in science policy and outreach, which is reflected in his over two hundred writings on science popularisation. During the United Nations designated 2015 International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies, Dr. Sameen published over a dozen articles in English, Urdu and Arabic. His is the only book carrying the title of the international year. He is the Founding Member of the Ibn al Haytham LHiSA International Society (Light: History, Science and Applications, http://www.ibnalhaytham-lhisa.com/). He was also recognised as one of the 30 speakers at the conference held at the UNESCO Headquarters, (The Islamic Golden Age of Science for today’s Knowledge-based Society: The Ibn Al-Haytham Example, 14-15 September 2015, Paris, France).
[Dr. Azher Majid Siddiqui is Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, INDIA. [email protected]]