Dr. Nakazawa received his Ph.D. from the Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering of the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1980 and joined the Electrical Communications Laboratories of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (now NTT). He was a visiting scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984, and became a group leader at NTT Transmission System Laboratories in 1989, a distinguished researcher in 1994, and an NTT R&D fellow in 1999. In 2001, he was appointed a professor at the Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University and was elevated to a distinguished professor there in 2008. From 2011 through 2013, he held several positions at Tohoku University: Director of the Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Director of the International Organization of Advanced Research and Education, and Director of the Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences. In 2011, he was appointed chair of the Council for Research Institutes and Centers of Japanese National Universities and also director of the Research Organization of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, which was established to support the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake.Since joining NTT Electrical Communications Laboratories, Dr. Nakazawa has been engaged in groundbreaking R&D related to optical fibers and ultrahigh-speed optical transmission systems. Among his many achievements, the most noteworthy was the invention (based on his creative concept) and commercial development of the erbium-doped optical fiber amplifier (EDFA), which caused a revolution in optical fiber communication. Using this EDFA, he greatly boosted the performance of optical soliton transmission, ultrahigh-speed fiber lasers, ultrashort pulse transmission, and digital coherent transmission, paving the way for high-capacity optical transmission. This was a major contribution to the development of the information society. The EDFA’s ability to amplify multi-wavelength optical signals simultaneously has led to its use in expanding the communication capacity of wavelength-division multiplexing. EDFAs support today’s global information and communication networks from terrestrial high-capacity optical transmission systems to transoceanic high-capacity submarine cable systems.
Dr. Nakazawa’s profound insight enabled him to foresee that the novel spatial multiplexing of optical fibers, such as the use of multi-core optical fibers and multi-mode multiplexing, would be important for the development of an innovative optical communication system (Extremely Advanced Optical Transmission: EXAT). As a global opinion leader in this field, he has played significant roles at a number of international conferences and continues to make tremendous contributions to the dissemination of important future technologies. Over his long career, he has written 490 scientific papers, made 355 presentations at international conferences, and has been granted more than 180 patents.
Dr. Nakazawa has made impressive contributions to the development of the IEICE by serving in several key positions, including chair of the Technical Committee on Femtosecond Opto-Electronics, chair of the Technical Committee on Extremely Advanced Optical Transmission Technologies (EXAT), president of the Electronics Society, Director of General Affairs, and Vice President. He has also contributed significantly to the development of information and communication technologies worldwide by serving as a member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Photonics Society, chair of the IEEE Sendai Section, and Director-at-Large of the Optical Society of America (OSA), and by chairing numerous international conferences.
In recognition of his achievements, Dr. Nakazawa has received an Achievement Award, the Inose Award, and a Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award from the IEICE. He has also been the recipient of numerous other accolades, including the Outstanding Invention Award from the Director-General of the Science and Technology Agency, the Outstanding Research Award from the Director-General of the Science and Technology Agency, the Ichimura Prize in Industry, the Inoue Harushige Prize, the Hattori Hoko Award, the Toray Science and Technology Prize, the C&C Prize, the Kahoku Culture Award, the Fujiwara Award, the Kenjiro Sakurai Memorial Prize, and an Achievement Award from the Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP), the Medal with Purple Ribbon, and the Japan Academy Prize. He was granted fellowship status by the IEICE, the IEEE, the OSA, and the JSAP. He has also received overseas accolades including the Daniel E. Noble Award and the Quantum Electronics Award from the IEEE, the R. W. Wood Prize, the Charles Hard Townes Award, and the Jack Spergel Memorial Award from the OSA, the Electronics Letters Premium Award from the IEE (UK), and a Thomson Scientific Citation Laureate. He has truly earned an extremely high international reputation.
In light of his outstanding contributions to the development of the optical communication field and the electronics, information and communication field, we strongly recommend that Dr. Nakazawa be designated a fellow honorary member of the IEICE.
