Obituary of Clifford Gerald Olson

Clifford Gerald Olson, recently retired Senior Physicist from the Ames Laboratory, USDOE, and a 40-year pioneer in synchrotron-radiation-based condensed-matter physics, died unexpectedly on February 21, 2009. He was born in Long Prairie MN on July 6, 1942. After obtaining his undergraduate degree at Hamline University in 1964, he married Donna Sansome and began graduate work at Iowa State University. His 1970 thesis work in infrared spectroscopy of H and D impurities in cesium halides was preceded by an infrared study of TO phonons and plasmons in variously doped GaAs. This work was for some time approved as method of determining carrier concentrations in GaAs by the ASTM.

He then started a long career at the Synchrotron Radiation Center (SRC), Stoughton WI, building and running the Ames Lab beam lines, first on the 240-MeV Tantalus storage ring, then on the 800-1000-MeV Aladdin, as well as contributing in countless ways to the operation of both machines. On Tantalus, optical properties of most elemental metals were measured, and, with collaborators and colleagues, modulation spectroscopy was extended into the vacuum ultraviolet and soft x-ray ranges.

His photoelectron studies were carried out on Aladdin with colleagues from all over the world: graduate students, postdocs and visitors. His early work on the cuprates led to the first observation of the superconducting gap and the first band map of two of them. His measurements also included the first band dispersion in a quasicrystal, dispersion in C60, and weak dispersion of 4f bands via hybridization in LaSb and CeSb.

Cliff was most generous with his time and his vast scientific and technical expertise. Generations of users at Tantalus and Aladdin, whether graduate student or experienced researcher, colleague or competitor, looked to him for advice with problems ranging from the interpretation of photoemission spectra to tracking down elusive sources of electronic noise in an experiment. He tutored several graduate students, not just those from Iowa State University. Cliff’s philosophy eschewed “black box” apparatus and embodied the idea that experimental physics included, to the degree possible, an understanding of the instruments used. He served on committees at SRC and the University of Wisconsin, although not an employee of either, and his mark on facility design and operation had enormous beneficial impact on the user community. He also served on advisory or review committees at several other research facilities.

At his memorial service and through correspondence, his many friends in the scientific community praised his dedication to science, his very high standards, and his experimental skills, as well as his kindness, his humility, and his pleasure in telling stories. To many, Cliff was part of the soul of a great facility and a hub of a worldwide community. He will be missed.