Xiaoyi Bao

Xiaoyi Bao is a Chinese Canadian physicist, recognized for her contributions to the field of fiber optics. She is a professor at the University of Ottawa, where she holds the Canada Research Chair in Fiber Optics and Photonics. Bao was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Lethbridge; the citation for the honour called her "a world-renowned scholar in her field."

Biography

Bao was a professor at the University of New Brunswick from 1994 to 2000. In 2000, she joined the Department of Physics at the University of Ottawa. In 2003, she was named a Canada Research Chair in Fibre Optics and Physics.

Bao's areas of research include the development of fiber sensors (e.g., for temperature, strain, pressure, refractive index, and vibration); and the use of nonlinear optical effects (self-phase modulation, cross-phase modulation, four-wave mixing, and stimulated scattering) in fibers to design sensors, instrumentation, lasers, and devices. Sensor systems using Xiaoyi's methods are being used in countries around the world.

In 2015, Bao was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Lethbridge; the citation for the honour called her "a world-renowned scholar in her field." 2010: Fellow, The Optical Society 2010: Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Applied Photonics, Canadian Association of Physicists-Institut National d'Optique (CAP-INO) 2012: Education Foundation Award of Merit, Federation of Chinese Canadian Professionals (Ontario) 2015: Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Lethbridge 2021: Governor General's Innovation Award for her Distributed Acoustic Sensor 2023: Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize, The Optical Society 2024: CAP Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics 2024: Fellow, CAP

Selected publications