Rodney Loudon's work focused on various aspects of theoretical solid state and laser physics, and particularly on light scattering. His 1964 paper on the Raman effect was one of the 100 most cited papers in all areas of physical science between 1960 and 1969. He published more than 190 papers and 3 books, one of which (the three editions of The Quantum Theory of Light) has a very high international reputation and has been translated into Russian and Japanese.
His early work on excitons, phonons and magnons and his later treatments of non-classical effects in the statistical properties of light have attracted many citations. His later work on surface excitations and on optical amplification, attenuation and detection also proved to be important.
Rodney played a full role at the University of Essex as Professor, Chairman and Dean. He also worked at BT, RRE, Bell Telephone Laboratories and RCA, and was a consultant to these organisations over several years, contributing to applied as well as fundamental research.
Professor Rodney Loudon FRS died on 25 December 2022.
Professional position
- Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Essex
Subject groups
-
Astronomy and Physics
Mathematical and theoretical physics, Quantum theory, Lasers and optoelectronics
-
Mathematics
Applied mathematics and theoretical physics
-
Engineering and Materials Science
Opto-electronics (inc lasers, optical microscopy/imaging, fibre optic component)
