Daniel Frank Frank Walls

Background

Walls, Daniel Frank was born on September 13, 1942 in Auckland, New Zealand. Son of James Reginald and Barbara Gertrude (Leddra) Walls.

Education

Walls gained a Bachelor of Science in physics and mathematics and a first class honours Master of Science in physics at the University of Auckland. He then went to Harvard University as a Fulbright Scholar, obtaining his Doctor of Philosophy in 1969, supervised by Roy J. Glauber who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2005.

Career

After holding postdoctoral research positions in Auckland and Stuttgart, Walls became a senior lecturer in physics at the University of Waikato in 1972, where he became professor in 1980. In 1987 he moved to the University of Auckland as professor of theoretical physics. His major research interests centred on the interaction and similarities between light and atoms.

He was notable for his wide-ranging expertise in relating theory to experiment, and was involved in all major efforts to understand non-classical light.

A seminal paper by Walls with his first graduate student Howard Carmichael, showed how to create antibunched light, in which photons arrive at regular intervals, rather than randomly. Walls was a pioneer in the study of ways that the particle-like nature of light (photons) could be controlled to make optical systems less susceptible to unwanted fluctuations, in particular by the use of squeezed light, a concept formulated by Carlton Caves.

In squeezed light, some fluctuations can be made very small provided other fluctuations are correspondingly large. He made major contributions to the theory of quantum measurement such as those involving Einstein"s "which-path" experiment, and the quantum nondemolition measurement.

Walls also used a simple field theoretical approach to explain and corroborate Dirac"s description of photon interference and in particular Dirac"s statement "that a photon interferes only with itself." In the later stages of his career he focused his research efforts on the theoretical aspects of the newly created state of matter, the Bose–Einstein condensate (BECs).

Some of his contributions in the field include the prediction of the interference signature of quantized vortices, and the collapses and revivals of the Josephson coupled BECs. Walls died of cancer in hospital in Auckland, aged 57.

Achievements

• Daniel Frank Walls has been listed as a noteworthy Physics educator by Marquis Who's Who.

Membership

Fellow Royal Society New Zealand (Hector medal), Royal Society London, American Institute Physics, Optical Society of America, New Zealand Institute Physics (president 1990-1991).

Interests

• Avocations: tennis, swimming, skiing, hiking.

Connections

Married Fari Khoy, December 11, 1969 (divorced 1986). Children: Mark, Darian.

Father:

James Reginald Walls

Mother:

Barbara Gertrude (Leddra) Walls

Spouse:

Fari Khoy

child:

Mark Walls

child:

Darian Walls