Research Highlights

University of Central Florida researchers are part of a team who have revealed, for the first time, the intricacies of how light behaves in advanced dynamical optical systems with configurations known as non-Hermitian arrangements. In non-Hermitian systems, allowed energy values create self-intersecting surfaces with a unique topology and branch points, which are known as exceptional…

An innovative device developed by University of Central Florida and Orlando Health researchers can save doctors critical time during life-or-death operations, like heart surgery. Their real-time blood monitor provides instant blood analysis to let surgeons know if a deadly problem in many surgeries — blood coagulation — is happening. Current tests can take up to…

A unique new academic-industrial alliance between UCF and ficonTEC, a global leader in photonics manufacturing, is expected to bring a boost to the region and provide access to sophisticated industry production tools for students and faculty researchers. ficonTEC, a German-based company with locations in Europe and the Far East, is expanding to Central Florida —…

Proposals from CREOL Professor Shin-Tson Wu, Ph.D., to slim down and evolve augmented and virtual reality displays are the subject of a new feature in Light: Science and Applications. The article details how to take advantage of the recent development of miniaturized optical devices. These advancements offer unique opportunities in the ongoing challenge of evolving…

BY ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA The Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS) recently awarded three UCF graduate students scholarships worth up to $10,000 to continue their work in the area of directed energy. The students, Jessica Peña ’19, Owen Thome and Nicholas Vail are all part of the Laser Plasma Laboratory, which is part of UCF’s Center for…

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 September edition of the American Ceramic Society’s (ACerS) Bulletin publication features Pegasus Professor Kathleen Richardson, Ph.D., one of three people recognized in 2021 as a Distinguished Life Member. Richardson will officially accept ACerS’ highest distinction at an awards banquet in October. The award recognizes a lifetime of achievement that has earned Richardson a worldwide…

By ROBERT WELLS One of the nation’s largest philanthropic organizations – the W. M. Keck Foundation – has awarded the University of Central Florida a $1 million Science and Engineering Research grant. The money is for a project led by University of Central Florida College of Optics and Photonics Professors Ayman Abouraddy and Demetrios Christodoulides. The project…

By ZENAIDA GONZALEZ KOTALA Five UCF researchers have been awarded more than $450,000 in SEED funding thanks to a new collaboration between the UCF Office of Research and the international nano and digital technology research and development company imec. Researchers from the College of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Optics and Photonics, College of Sciences, and College of…

Special small, mobile cameras help detect more snakes and could lead to an automated python tracker.  

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

Gauge fields are a fundamental concept in physics, describing the basic interactions between charged particles. For example, electrons interact with each other through its gauge field, the photon. Neutral particles (such as photons) by being chargeless are thus decoupled from real gauge fields. However, by properly engineering a physical system through its geometric design or…