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Research
Research Activities
Formed in 1986 as the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL), The College of Optics & Photonics at the University of Central Florida (UCF) is internationally recognized as one of the top academic and research programs in optics and photonics in the nation. The College was the first Optics program in the United States to have achieved the status of a full College, headed by a Dean. As a graduate college for optical science and engineering education and research, the mission of the College is to:
The College offers interdisciplinary graduate programs leading to MS and Ph.D. degrees in Optics. CREOL and the Florida Photonics Center of Excellence (FPCE) are research centers within the College. Through these research centers, the College fulfills its mandate to be an international center of excellence in optics and lasers, in both research and education, and to act as an intellectual, scientific and technical resource to the laser, optics, and photonics industries.
CREOL, The College of Optics & Photonics (COP) has grown rapidly and now has 42 faculty members and faculty with joint appointments, 54 research scientists and 145 graduate students with research activities covering all aspects of optics, photonics, and lasers. Research expenditures are over $20M annually, with over 20% of the funding coming from industrial partners, illustrating the effectiveness of the commitment to partnerships that is a foundational value of the COP.
The research activities of COP faculty span the spectrum from basic science to prototype development, and the faculty vigorously pursue joint research projects with industry, academia, and government laboratories. The main facilities of the COP are housed in a state-of-the-art 83,000 ft2 building dedicated to optics and photonics research and education, with a 13,000 ft2 addition for 24 new offices and 24 new laboratories scheduled be completed in mid-2006.
Located within the main CREOL Building is a state of the art nano-fabrication facility that operates as a fee-based common user laboratory and is open to both inside and outside users. One of the main features of the facility is a newly installed Leica EBPG 5000+ lithography system that is capable of writing with an e-beam spot size of 10 nanometers.
The COP faculty collaborate closely with other UCF research units, including the Center for Nanoscience and Technology, the Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences, the Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center (AMPAC), the Institute for Simulation and Training (IST), and the Florida Solar Energy Center. Several COP faculty hold joint appointments in these and other UCF departments, which facilitates access to the outstanding facilities in these units and encourages interdisciplinary research.
