Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop: The 2025 SPIE Gold Medal

Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop, a professor of physics at the University of Queensland, is a pioneer in the exploitation of the mechanical action of light. From the atomic domain of Bose-Einstein condensates to the macroscopic world of optomechanics, her research has been a significant driver of new physics and new technologies for the past four decades. She was first to demonstrate the transfer of angular momentum from singular beams carrying orbital angular momentum to absorbing particles on microscopic scale, and the first to demonstrate the transfer of spin and orbital angular momentum of light to microscopic objects to drive their rotational motion. She works across the areas of atomic, molecular, biological, and optical physics, as well as quantum science, and her current research interests are in biophotonics, quantum science, laser physics, linear and nonlinear high-resolution spectroscopy, and nano-optics. From the use of tailored, sculpted light in laser micromanipulation on the atomic, nano- and microscales, to the application of optical physics as a tool across multiple fields, her extraordinary research contributes to the fundamental understanding of light-matter interactions, of biological and biomedical systems, and to the ability to apply this knowledge to drive innovation and advancement.

Beyond her highly regarded research, Rubinsztein-Dunlop is recognized for her longstanding and proactive support and mentorship of women scientists. In 2018, as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, she was included as an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia for her distinguished service to laser physics and nano-optics as a researcher, mentor, and academic, as well as for the promotion of educational programs and women in science. An SPIE Fellow, Rubinsztein-Dunlop received the 2024 SPIE Directors’ Award for her pioneering research in optics and photonics as well as for her inspirational service and leadership at SPIE as a board member and serving on the Fellows; Publications; Symposia; Strategic Planning; and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committees. She has also chaired multiple conference program committees, as well as the Nanoscience + Engineering sub-symposia at SPIE Optics + Photonics. In 2010, she was featured in the SPIE Women in Optics publication. During her 2020-22 tenure on the SPIE Board of Directors, she co-led the Ethics and Revocation ad hoc Committee, an initiative to address the issues associated with unethical behavior within the SPIE community, a challenging role at which she excelled.

“I first met Halina in the Netherlands at a conference in the mid-90s, immediately before she published her seminal work on demonstrating the transfer of orbital angular momentum from a laser beam to a microscopic particle,” says Royal Society Research Professor and Kelvin Chair of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow Miles Padgett. “I remember it well since I was trying to do something similar but was beaten to it by Halina and her team. In 1998, her subsequent paper demonstrating the microscopic version of the Beth experiment – showing that circular polarization could set calcite dust into rotation – was beautiful too. I was so astounded, that I went into the lab that very afternoon, ground up some calcite, and copied the experiment. Simply wonderful! All the more wonderful given that anyone could have done it in the decade before but didn’t – because no one had had the idea to do so! These works were pivotal demonstrations of how both the orbital angular momentum and spin angular momentum could be transferred from light to matter marking the beginning of a new academic field as well as the thriving community of many hundreds of people and countless institutions that research it.”

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Read more about Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop and the SPIE Gold Medal.