Prof. Masatoshi Suzuki, vice-President, CIST , received the 2025 John Tyndall Award from IEEE Photonics Society.

Dr. Masatoshi Suzuki, Vice President of our university, has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 John Tyndall Award, jointly presented by the IEEE Photonics Society and Optica.

The John Tyndall Award is one of the most prestigious honors in the field of fiber optics. Named after 19th-century scientist John Tyndall, the award recognizes one individual worldwide each year for pioneering, highly significant, or sustained technical or leadership contributions to fiber-optic technology. To date, only four researchers from Japan—each recognized for groundbreaking work in semiconductor lasers, optical fibers, and coherent communications—have received this distinguished award.

The award ceremony took place on April 1, 2025, during the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) in San Francisco, California, USA.

Dr. Suzuki has made numerous pioneering and innovative contributions in the fields of optical devices, systems, and networks, laying the foundation for modern optical communications. His work has greatly advanced the development of high-capacity, long-distance optical communication systems.

Perry Shum, President of the IEEE Photonics Society, praised Dr. Suzuki's achievements, stating, “His work continues to shape the future of optical communications. His contributions to technological progress and innovation have left a lasting impact, inspiring the next generation of researchers and engineers.”

Gerd Leuchs, President of Optica, added, “Dr. Masatoshi Suzuki's outstanding achievements have revolutionized optical communications. Thanks to his work, we are able to meet the growing demand for faster and higher-capacity connectivity.”

Among Dr. Suzuki’s notable accomplishments is the development of the world's first monolithically integrated high-speed modulator laser, a breakthrough that paved the way for today's integrated modulator lasers. He also invented the dispersion-managed soliton transmission method, a key technology for high-speed, long-distance optical communication systems using wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM).

These innovations have been widely adopted in transoceanic submarine cable systems such as the Japan-US Cable and TAT-14, as well as in numerous submarine networks across Asia. As a result, the capacity of optical submarine cable systems has expanded approximately 200-fold over the past decade, forming a vital communication infrastructure that underpins the global growth of the internet.

Award Citation:
For pioneering and seminal contributions to large capacity long-haul optical communication systems including integrated light sources, dispersion-managed soliton, WDM submarine cable systems, and spatial multiplexing.