Biography

Peter J. Delfyett received the B.E.(E.E.) degree from The City College of New York in 1981, the M.S. degree in EE from The University of Rochester in 1983,  the M. Phil and Ph.D. degrees from The Graduate School & University Center of the City University of New York in 1987 and 1988, respectively.  His Ph.D. thesis was focused on developing and utilizing a real time ultrafast spectroscopic probe to study molecular and phonon dynamics in condensed matter using both supercontinuum and optical phase conjugation techniques. 

After obtaining the Ph.D. degree, he joined Bell Communication Research as a Member of the Technical Staff, where he concentrated his efforts towards generating ultrafast high power optical pulses from semiconductor diode lasers, for applications in applied photonic networks.  Some of his technical accomplishments were the development of the world’s fastest, most powerful modelocked semiconductor laser diode, the demonstration of an optically distributed clocking network for high speed digital switches and supercomputer applications, and the first observation of the optical nonlinearity induced by the cooling of highly excited electron-hole pairs in semiconductor optical amplifiers.  While at Bellcore, Dr. Delfyett received numerous awards for his technical achievements in these areas, including the Bellcore Synergy Award and the Bellcore Award of Appreciation.

Dr. Delfyett joined the faculty at the College of Optics & Photonics and the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL) at the University of Central Florida in 1993, and currently holds the positions of Director – Townes Laser Institute, Pegasus Professor and University Trustee Chair Professor of Optics, EE & Physics. His research contributions have been extensive, spanning the underlying physics, device development, and application of semiconductor based mode-locked laser diodes.

Dr. Delfyett served as the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics (2001-2006), an Associate Editor of IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, and was Executive Editor of IEEE LEOS Newsletter (1995-2000).  He has served on the Board of Directors of the Optical Society of America, the Board of Governors of IEEE LEOS (Photonics Society), and served as Chair of the Division of Laser Science of APS (2014-2018).  He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Fellow of the Optical Society of America, Fellow of IEEE Photonics Society, Fellow of the National Society of Black Physicists, Fellow of SPIE, and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.  He is also a member of Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Xi, and AAAS. Dr. Delfyett has been awarded the 1992 YMCA New Jersey Black Achievement Award, the 1993 National Black Engineer of the Year Award – Most Promising Engineer, the University Distinguished Research Award ’99, and highlighted in Design News’ “Engineering Achievement Awards”.  In addition, Dr. Delfyett has been awarded the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Faculty Fellow Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, which is awarded to the Nation’s top 20 young scientists.  Dr. Delfyett has been highlighted on ‘C-SPAN’, “mainstreekweek.com” and in “Career Encounters”, a PBS Special on technical careers in the optics and photonics field.  Dr. Delfyett was awarded the 1999 University Distinguished Researcher of the Year Award, the 2000 Black Engineer of the Year Award – Outstanding Alumnus Achievement, and the 2000 Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award.  He was awarded the University of Central Florida’s 2001 Pegasus Professor Award which is the highest honor awarded by the University.  He is also a Founding Member in NSF’s Scientists and Engineers in the School Program, which is a program to teach 8^th graders about the benefits of science, engineering and technology in society.  In 2003, Dr. Delfyett received the Technology Innovation Award from the Orlando Economic Development Commission.  He was selected as one of the “50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science in 2004” and as a “Science Trailblazer in 2005 and 2006” by Career Communications Group and Science Spectrum Magazine.  He was awarded the APS Edward Bouchet Award for his significant scientific contributions in the area of ultrafast optical device physics and semiconductor diode based ultrafast lasers, and for his exemplary and continuing efforts in the career development of underrepresented minorities in science and engineering. Dr. Delfyett has also endeavored to transfer technology to the private sector, and helped to found “Raydiance, Inc.” which is a spin-off company developing high power, ultrafast laser systems, based on Dr. Delfyett’s research, for applications in medicine, defense, material processing, biotech and other key technological markets.   Dr. Delfyett was also elected to serve 2 terms as President of the National Society of Black Physicists (2008-2012).   He was awarded the 2014 Medalist from the Florida Academy of Sciences for his outstanding contributions scientific research, and to the stimulation of interest and promotion of scientific knowledge, the 2018 Townsend Harris Medal from The City College of New York for his significant contributions in his field, the 2020 IEEE Photonics Society’s William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award “for pioneering contributions to semiconductor diode based ultrafast laser science and technology”, and the 2021 APS Arthur L Schawlow Prize in Laser Science, “for pioneering contributions to the development of ultrafast mode-locked semiconductor diode lasers, including the scientific understanding of the underlying physical processes, and their application in ultra-wide bandwidth optical communications and signal processing.   Most recently, he was elected into the National Academy of Engineering.  He has over 200 scientific publications in refereed journals,  >600 conference proceedings and invited presentations, and 45 US patents.