Pages 3-4: Photonics - Seeing the Light
UCF's Department of Chemistry is harnessing the photon and cutting-edge nanomaterials.

Photonics can be likened to electricity: Electricity uses electric current as a source of power, and photonics uses radiant energy, such as light. In other words, photonic applications use the photon in the same way that electronic ones use the electron.

The UCF Chemistry Department is among the few academic departments, nationally, that researches photonic technology, and it is building one of the top-ranked photonic materials programs in the country. Professor Kevin D. Belfield, chair of the department, envisioned this several years ago, when he first came to UCF to collaborate with the university’s renowned Center for Research & Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL).

Through determination and close collaboration with CREOL faculty members Eric W. Van Stryland, David J. Hagan, and George Stegeman, the Chemistry Department has become a pioneer in the synthesis and characterization of nonlinear optical and multi-photon absorbing organic materials. That is, the researchers create materials that respond to light.

Multi-photon absorbing materials are special: they can absorb the photons more deeply and in a more focused area as compared to regular, single-photon absorbing materials. Also, the light to which multi-photon absorbing materials respond is of longer wavelength, which is less damaging to both people and equipment. For researchers, this means they have more control of the photons and more opportunities to safely apply the science.

With the addition of Associate Professor Andres D. Campiglia, Assistant Professor Florencio E. Hernández, Assistant Professor Stephen M. Kuebler, and Associate Professor Michael E. Sigman, the Chemistry Department has a strong core of researchers engaged in cutting-edge photonic work, and in the next few years, the department intends to attract several more researchers of photonic, optical, and electronic materials.

So what can you do with light?
Here are just a few of the many photonics projects that UCF's Chemistry professors are researching.

Treating Cancer
Many of today's cancer treatments, like chemotherapy, work by injecting patients with toxic chemicals. These chemicals kill cancer cells, but they also harm healthy cells, causing hair loss, weakness, and illness. One way to minimize these side effects is to localize the cancer-fighting drugs, so that they only target cancerous tumors, and one way to do that is with photodynamic therapy. Photodynamic therapy works by injecting patients with light-sensitive cancer-fighting drugs. These chemicals disperse through the patient's entire body, but remain inactive until they encounter a special light, which the physician focuses only onto the tumor. The drugs activate when they encounter the light and leave the surrounding (healthy) tissues undamaged. Photodynamic cancer is currently used to treat superficial cancers, like skin cancer and early-stage lung cancer. However, the multi-photon techniques developed by UCF's Chemistry Department can penetrate deeper and more efficiently than present-day (single-photon) photodynamic therapies. That means deeper cancers, like colon cancer, can now be treated with light. Today, multi-photon photodynamic therapy is being clinically tested. The public should begin to have access to multi-photon treatments in about five years.

High-Density Data Storage
Using the penetrating depth and power of multi-photon absorbing materials, the researchers have also been able to create high-density data storage devices (like DVDs) that store data in three-dimensions. The high-density disks encode, manipulate, and retrieve information at a molecular level. Unlike current DVD technology, which can only encode one- or two-layers of information, the high-density disks can store hundreds of layers of data on a single disk. UCF has already filed two U.S. patent applications on the technology, which could pave the way for next generation, ultra high-density optical data storage for tomorrow's computational needs.

Bio-Terrorism Sensors
The researchers are also developing sensors that can detect chemical and biological agents, like Anthrax. These sensors are more sensitive than existing detection methods, and are able to identify lesser-known and more virulent versions of agents. They are also able to detect chemical and biological agents, simultaneously. How do they work? Tiny pieces of metal, called nanoparticles, are attached to the end of a fiber optic cable, and then light is sent through the cable and monitored. The nanoparticles at the end of the cable bond to specific biological or chemical agents, and when they do, it changes the optical properties of the nanoparticles. A fiber optic link, or even a wireless system, can be used to detect this change.

Making Plastics Change Shape
Researchers in the UCF Chemistry Department are creating macromolecules (better known as plastics) that change shape when exposed to magnetic fields. In addition to being a material for active optical applications, these magneto-active plastics may have a number of intriguing uses. The magnetostrictive materials can be used to create artificial muscles. When exposed to the proper stimulus, the rubbery plastic expands or contracts. These artificial muscles will likely be used in next-generation miniaturized mechanical devices, like robots, but they have the potential to augment humans as well.

Want to know more?
Chemistry website: www.cas.ucf.edu/chemistry
Kevin D. Belfield, kbelfiel@mail.ucf.edu
Andres D. Campiglia, acampigl@mail.ucf.edu
Florencio E. Hernández, florenzi@mail.ucf.edu
Stephen M. Kuebler, kuebler@mail.ucf.edu

QUEST 2005

DATE
Spring 2005

CONTACT
Sae Schatz
Arts & Sciences
Academic Promotions
407-823-5164
sae@cs.ucf.edu

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