Biography
Dr. Shin-Tson Wu is a Trustee Chair Professor at CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics. Prior to joining UCF in 2001, he was with Hughes Research Laboratories (Malibu, California) where the first laser and liquid-crystal-on-silicon were invented. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Southern California (Los Angeles) and BS in Physics from National Taiwan University (Taipei). His research interests at UCF focus on augmented reality and virtual reality, including light engines (mini-LEDs, micro-LEDs, and OLEDs), optical systems (lightguide, diffractive optics, and projection optics), and display materials (liquid crystals, quantum dots, and perovskites).
Dr. Wu is a recipient of the SPIE Dennis Gabor Award (2026), SID Lawrence Tannas Award (2025), UCF Medal of Societal Impact (2024), Optica/IS&T Edwin H. Land medal (2022), SPIE Maria Goeppert-Mayer award (2022), OSA (now Optica) Esther Hoffman Beller Medal (2014), SID Slottow-Owaki Prize (2011), OSA Joseph Fraunhofer Award (2010), SPIE G. G. Stokes Award (2008), and SID Jan Rajchman Prize (2008). He has co-authored 7 books, 700+ journal papers and 340 conference papers, and obtained 106 issued US patents. His publications have accumulated over 61,000 citations, with an h-index of 118.
Dr. Wu is an Academician of Academia Sinica (2022), a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2012), a member of the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida, and one of the first six inductees to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame (2014). He is a Fellow of the IEEE, OSA, SID and SPIE. In the past, he served as the founding Editor-In-Chief of IEEE/OSA Journal of Display Technology, OSA Publications Council Chair and OSA Board of Directors, and SID Honors and Awards committee chair.
Awards & Honors
- 2026: SPIE Dennis Gabor Award
- 2025: SID Lawrence Tannas Award
- 2024: UCF Medal of Societal Impact
- 2023: UCF Excellence in Research Award
- 2023: CREOL Excellence in Research Award
- 2022: Academician of Academia Sinica
- 2022: Optica/IS&T Edwin H. Land Medal
- 2022: SPIE Maria Goeppert Mayer Award
- 2014: OSA Esther Hoffman Beller Medal
- 2014: Florida Inventors Hall of Fame
- 2012: National Academy of Inventors
- 2011: SID Slottow-Owaki Prize
- 2010 OSA Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize
- 2008 SID Jan Rajchman Prize
- 2008 SPIE G. G. Stokes Award
Research Group
- Augmented reality and virtual reality: Optical systems
- Microdisplays: mini-LED, micro-LED, and OLED
- Imaging optics: Deflectors, gratings, and lenses
Research Scientists
Graduate Students
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Wei-Lin"Wesley" Chou
Publications
Benoit, L (Benoit, Luke) [1] ; Safa, HT (Tajvidi Safa, Hosna) [1] ; Zhang, YF (Zhang, Yefu) [1] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-Tson) [1] "Eye tracking in AI-assisted AR glasses enabled by Pancharatnam-Berry optical elements
"
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-PHOTONICS Volume 8 Issue 2 2026
Chiu, P (Chiu, Po-sheng) [1] ; Huang, YG (Huang, Yuge) [1] ; Peng, FL (Peng, Fenglin) [2] ; Geng, Y (Geng, Ying) [2] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-Tson) [1] "Field-Sequential-Color Liquid Crystal Devices for AR and VR Displays" Journal of the Society for Information Display, Year: 2026
2026
Safa, HT (Safa, Hosna Tajvidi) [1] ; Semmen, J (Semmen, John) [1] ; Nilsen, K (Nilsen, Kevin) [1] ; Ma, Y (Ma, Yongzyian) [1] ; Luo, ZY (Luo, Zhenyi) [1] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-Tson) [1] "Ultracompact, On-Axis LCoS Illumination System With Local Dimming for Waveguide-Based AR Displays" Journal of the society for Information Display, Year: 2026
2026
Benoit, L (Benoit, Luke) [1] ; Safa, HT (Tajvidi Safa, Hosna) [1] ; Zhang, YF (Zhang, Yefu) [1] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-Tson) [1] "Eye tracking in AI-assisted AR glasses enabled by Pancharatnam-Berry optical elements"
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-PHOTONICS Volume 8, Issue 2 2026
Chiu, PS (Chiu, Po-Sheng) [1] ; Huang, YG (Huang, Yuge) [1] ; Qian, YZ (Qian, Yizhou) [1] ; Chen, YC (Chen, Yi-Chien) [2] ; Yang, ZY (Yang, Zhiyong) [3] ; Peng, FL (Peng, Fenglin) [3] ; Geng, Y (Geng, Ying) [3] ; Hu, D (Hu, Dan) [3] ; Lin, CL (Lin, Chih-Lung) [2] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-Tson) [1] "Submillisecond-response LCD for low power field-sequential-color virtual reality displays" Optics Express; Volume: 34, Issue: 2, Page: 2117-2128 2026
Chiu, PS (Chiu, Po-sheng) [1] ; Huang, YG (Huang, Yuge) [1] ; Safa, HT (Safa, Hosna Tajvidi) [1] ; Ma, YZY (Ma, Yongziyan) [1] ; Yang, ZY (Yang, Zhiyong) [2] ; Peng, FL (Peng, Fenglin) [2] ; Geng, Y (Geng, Ying) [2] ; Hu, D (Hu, Dan) [2] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-tson) [1] "Submillisecond-response liquid-crystal-on-silicon for augmented reality displays" Optics Express, Volume: 34, Issue: 2, Page: 2396-2408 2026
Zhang, YF (Zhang, Yefu) [1] ; Ding, YQ (Ding, Yuqiang) [1] ; Shen, ZY (Shen, Ziyang) [1] ; Luo, ZY (Luo, Zhenyi) [1] ; Lee, YE (Lee, Youngeon) [1] ; Lee, SL (Lee, Seok-lyul) [2] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-tson) [1] "Fast evaluation of waveguide AR displays with an open-source GPU-based ray-tracing method
" Optics Express, Volume: 33, Issue: 26, Page: 54305-54319 2025
Saiji, SJ (Saiji, Shruti Jayaprakash) [1] ; Stand, L (Stand, Luis) [2] ; Tratsiak, Y (Tratsiak, Yauhen) [2] ; Flores, C (Flores, Carlos) [4] ; Joshua, F (Joshua, Fnu) [3] , [4] ; Zhai, L (Zhai, Lei) [3] , [4] ; Gesquiere, AJ (Gesquiere, Andre J.) [3] , [4] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-Tson) [1] ; Dong, YJ (Dong, Yajie) "Robust Perovskite Polymer Scintillating Fibers Converted from Tennis Strings" Advanced Materials Technologies 2025
Ma, YZY (Ma, Yongziyan) [1] ; Ding, YQ (Ding, Yuqiang) [1] ; Zhang, YF (Zhang, Yefu) [1] ; Chiu, PS (Chiu, Po-Sheng) [1] ; Lee, SL (Lee, Seok-Lyul) [2] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-Tson) [1 "Broadband and wide-angle surface relief gratings for single-waveguide full-color augmented reality displays" Optics Express, Volume: 33, Issue: 19 2025
Zhang, YF (Zhang, Yefu) [1] ; Ding, YQ (Ding, Yuqiang) [1] ; Luo, ZY (Luo, Zhenyi) [1] ; Lee, SL (Lee, Seok-Lyul) [2] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-Tson) [1] "Optimizing the uniformity and efficiency of AR waveguide displays with an open-source beam tracing method" Optics Express, Volume: 33, Issue: 16, Page: 34568-34585 2025
Ding, YQ (Ding, Yuqiang) [1] ; Zhang, YF (Zhang, Yefu) [1] ; Huang, YG (Huang, Yuge) [1] ; Ma, YZY (Ma, Yongziyan) [1] ; Luo, ZY (Luo, Zhenyi) [1] ; Chiu, PS (Chiu, Po-Sheng) [1] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-Tson) "Broadband and wide-view cholesteric liquid crystal polarization selective reflectors
" Optics Express, Volume: 33, Issue: 15, Page: 30967-30976 2025
H. Tajvidi Safa, J. Semmen, Y. Ding, and S. T. Wu "Colorless photoalignment material for fabricating liquid crystal holographic optical elements" Opt. Express 33(9), 19490-19503 2025
K. Nilsen, Y. Ding, S. L. Lee, and S. T. Wu "Comparisons of glass and plastic waveguides for augmented reality glasses" Opt. Express 33(9), 20051-20062 2025
Z. Luo, Y. Zhang, Y. Ding, and S. T. Wu "Enhancing the virtual reality optical efficiency via emission cone optimization of the display panel
" Opt. Express 33(8), 17544-17550 2025
Yizhou Qian, Seok-Lyul Lee, and Shin-Tson Wu "High-efficiency continuous multiple-quantum-well red AlGaInP µLED with reduced crosstalk for AR light engines" Journal of the Society for the Information Display 33, 1-9 (2025). DOI: 10.1002/jsid.2063
2025
Y. Qian, Z. Yang, S. C. Chen, Y. Ma, H.S. Chen, C. L. Lin, and S. T. Wu "Power consumption of light engines for emerging augmented reality glasses: perspectives and challenges" Adv. Photonics 7(3), 034001 2025
Ding, YQ (Ding, Yuqiang) [1] ; Yang, Q (Yang, Qian) [1] ; Yang, ZY (Yang, Zhiyong) [1] ; Huang, YG (Huang, Yuge) [1] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-Tson) [1] "Breaking in-coupling efficiency and uniformity tradeoff in waveguide-based AR displays with polarization volume gratings" Optical Architectures for Displays and Sensing in augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality, AR, VR, MR VI, Volume: 13414 2025
Yuqiang Ding, Xiaojin Huang, Yongziyan Ma, Yan Li, and Shin-Tson Wu "High-efficiency RGB achromatic liquid crystal diffractive optical elements" Opto-Electronic Advances 8(3), 240181
2025
Yuqiang Ding, Yefu Zhang, Yongziyan Ma, Yuge Huang, and Shin-Tson Wu "Polarization conversion effect in cholesteric liquid crystal-based polarization volume gratings"
Optics Express 32(25), 44425-44436 2024
Saiji, SJ (Saiji, Shruti Jayaprakash) [1] , [2] ; Tang, YT (Tang, Yiteng) [1] ; Wu, ST (Wu, Shin-Tson) [2] ; Stand, L (Stand, Luis) [3] ; Tratsiak, Y (Tratsiak, Yauhen) [3] ; Dong, YJ (Dong, Yajie) [1] , [2] "Metal halide perovskite polymer composites for indirect X-ray detection
"
NANOSCALE 16(38), 17654-17682 2024
Alumni
PhD
Qian Yang, PhD, Spring 2024
Zhiyong Yang, PhD, Spring 2024
En-Lin Hsiang, PhD, Spring 2023
Yannanqi Li, PhD, Spring 2023
Junyu Zou, PhD, Spring 2023
Jianghao Xiong, PhD, Spring 2022
Kun Yin, PhD, Spring 2022
Ziqian He, PhD, Spring 2021
Tao Zhan, PhD, Spring 2021
Fangwang Gou, PhD, Summer 2020
Yuge "Esther" Huang, PhD, Spring 2020
Juan "Rachel" He, PhD, Summer 2019
Md Javed Rouf Talukder, PhD, Summer 2019
Guanjun Tan, PhD, Summer 2019
Yun-Han Lee, PhD, Fall 2018
Haiwei Chen, PhD, Fall 2017
Ruidong Zhu, PhD, Fall 2017
Fenglin Peng, PhD, Spring 2017
Daming Xu, PhD, Spring 2016
Sihui He, PhD, Summer 2015
Zhenyue Luo, PhD, Summer 2015
Yuan Chen, PhD, Summer 2014
Yifan Liu, PhD, Summer 2014
Jie Sun, PhD, Fall 2013
Jin Yan, PhD, Summer 2013
Hui-Chuan "Ethan" Cheng, PhD, Fall 2012
Yan Li, PhD, Fall 2012
Su Xu, PhD, Fall 2012
Linghui Rao, PhD, Summer 2012
Kuan Ming Chen, PhD, Spring 2012
Sergiy Mokhov, PhD, Summer 2011
Meizi Jiao, PhD, Fall 2010
Qiong Song, PhD, Spring 2010
Zhibing Ge, PhD, Fall 2008
Ying Zhou, PhD, Summer 2008
Qi Hong, PhD, Spring 2006
Yi-Hsin Lin, PhD, Spring 2006
Chien-Hui "Vicky" Wen, PhD, Spring 2006
Yung-Hsun Wu, PhD, Spring 2006
Fang Du, PhD, Spring 2005
Yun-Hsing "Claire" Fan, PhD, Spring 2005
Jun "Daniel" Li, PhD, Spring 2005
Haiying Wang, PhD, Spring 2005
MS
Qian Yang, MS, Summer 2022
Fangwang Gou, MS, Spring 2020
Tao Zhan, MS, Spring 2020
Kun Yin, MS, Fall 2019
Juan "Rachel" He, MS, Spring 2018
Haiwei Chen, MS, Fall 2017
Ruidong Zhu, MS, Fall 2017
Fenglin Peng, MS, Spring 2017
Jianxiong 'Steven' Zhu, MS, Spring 2016
Jiamin Yuan, MS, Fall 2015
Yating Gao, MS, Summer 2015
Amy Creekmore, MS, Spring 2015
Daming Xu, MS, Spring 2015
Jie Sun, MS, Fall 2013
Victoriya Relina, MS, Spring 2013
Jin Yan, MS, Summer 2012
Linghui Rao, MS, Spring 2010
Qiong Song, MS, Summer 2009
Meizi Jiao, MS, Fall 2008
Sergiy Mokhov, MS, Fall 2008
David Fox, MS, Spring 2008
Amanda Parish, MS, Spring 2007
Ying Zhou, MS, Spring 2005
Chien-Hui "Vicky" Wen, MS, Fall 2003