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Thousands of people are seeing more clearly thanks in part to the vision of Vadim Smirnov,’02 MS, whose research group played an integral role in the development of lasers that revolutionized cataract surgery. Local optical component manufacturer OptiGrate Corp was approached by a medical laser company more than 10 years ago with a request to…

Brian Lawrence ’97PhD sees problems as opportunities. A self-described “experimentalist at heart,” Lawrence ran into plenty of problems in seventh grade when he built a power supply to power a donated HeNe laser tube to explore his curiosity about lasers. Those problems became learning opportunities that led him to eventually assemble more powerful ruby crystal…

When Peter Delfyett first fell in love with science during elementary school, he imagined he would grow up to be a paleontologist. Instead, the Pegasus Professor of optics and photonics has spent his career developing futuristic technology. From lasers that are used to cut Gorilla Glass for Samsung phones to fiber-optic cable technology that allows the internet…

The history and tradition of excellence at CREOL, College of Optics and Photonics, is detailed at length in a new publication from Information Display, the official magazine of the Society for Information Display. The article appears in the January/February edition, and charts CREOL’s origins in the 1980s as former Florida Gov. Bob Graham’s vision for…

A faculty member and an alumnus are among the newest class of fellows named by the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE). The honor goes to Professor Axel Schülzgen, Ph.D., who studies and specializes in fiber optics. He is already a fellow in the Optical Society of America; his awards at UCF include the…

The boundaries of basic physics continue to be tested in the laboratory of Professor Ayman Abouraddy, Ph.D., with newly published research demonstrating the feasibility of accelerating light packets. The experimental realizations of accelerating optical pulses conducted by graduate student Murat Yessenov build on previous experiments that tuned the speed of light packets in free space…

Sarun Sumriddetchkajorn ’00, Ph.D., has built an impressive career in optics and photonics following his doctorate graduation in 2000. In an interview with CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, Sumriddetchkajorn shares his career path and advice for current students. (Answers edited for clarity and length.)  CREOL: What started your path toward optics and photonics?…

By GENE KRUCKEMYER Three UCF researchers working on different projects have been awarded a total of about $1.3 million from the Department of Defense. The grants were part of the DOD awarding of $50 million to 85 institutions across the nation in the Fiscal Year 2021 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program. The recipients and their…

The depth of UCF’s research expertise is on full display in a recent compilation of the world’s top scholars — including 20 from CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics. The list in the journal PLOS Biology used a composite indicator, based on six citation metrics, to rank the top 2% scientists from a variety…

The founding director of UCF CREOL Townes Laser Institute, Martin Richardson, Ph.D, was recently named a fellow in the National Academy of Inventors in recognition of his innovative work in the field of optics. An expert in lasers and their accompanying applications, Richardson has patented over 31 inventions in his time as a physicist. “There…

Three University of Central Florida researchers are among the world’s top 25 scholars in their field, and 100 are in the top 2%, according to a new study ranking career-long scientific impact of researchers from around the globe. BY ROBERT WELLS | DECEMBER 16, 2020

Ramy El-Ganainy, Ph.D., is a recipient of the prestigious Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers. The fellowship spans 18 months, divided over three years. He will be hosted by Professor Kurt Busch at Berlin’s Humboldt University. The fellowship allows El-Ganainy to closely collaborate with the theoretical and experimental photonics groups in the host institute, and…