Julio César Gutiérrez Vega

Julio César Gutiérrez Vega is a Mexican physicist who has done pioneering work on wave propagation of optical fields; in particular, he introduced the Mathieu family of non-diffracting optical beams (with Sabino Chávez Cerda) and the Helmholtz-Gauss beams —a parabolic family of non-diffracting optical beams— with Miguel A. Bandrés. His research work is done with the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education's (Tec de Monterrey) Optics Center, of which he is the director. This work has been recognized with membership in Mexican Academy of Sciences and Level III membership in the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores.

Life Gutiérrez Vega is from Zamora, Michoacán. He studied at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Monterrey Campus at the insistence of his family although he wanted to go to Guadalajara with the majority of his friends. His family also insisted that he study physics instead of his preference of mathematics. He began his studies part time in 1987, but did not finish his BS until 1991 in industrial physics. Immediately after, he studied his masters in electrical engineering, obtaining this degree in 1995, both from the Tec de Monterrey. After some years in the field, he returned to earn his doctorate in optics from the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics, with a stint in Belgium before graduating in 2000.

He is currently married with one child born in 2011 and lives in Monterrey.

Personal research fields primarily are nondiffracting propagation of wavefields, solutions of the Helmholtz and paraxial wave equation: Mathieu, parabolic and Ince-Gaussian beams, laser resonators, numerical methods of special function and quantum and classical billiards. His areas of expertise include wave propagation, laser beam shaping and laser cavities. The Society also elected him a Fellow.