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IUSL 30th Anniversary Celebration Conference Tuesday October 9th, 2012 9 AM - 6 PM in the Great Hall, Shepard Hall

The IUSL will hold its 30th Anniversary Celebration Conference on October 9th from 9 AM - 6PM in the Great Hall, Shepard Hall at the City College of New York. Invited speakers include Robert R. Alfano, J. Fujimoto, OSA president Tony Heinz, B. W. Hogue, Anthony Johnson, Peter Delfyett, Bob Fisher, L. Wang, J. Izatt, S. Demos, S. Arnold, I. Bigio, Barry Master, and many others. A complete list of speakers and schedule of events can be found here . For more information email j or call (212) 650-5531  /sites/default/files/iusl/%20jbrijlal@sci.ccny.cuny.edu "> brijlal@sci.ccny.cuny.edu .

106th Patent Awarded

Imaging Systems and Methods to Improve Backscattering Imaging Using Circular Polarization Memory, R. R. Alfano and X. Ni, #7,515,265 B2, April 7, 2009.

IUSL Director Alfano Delivers Keynote Address at Ocean Optics Conference

Dr. Robert R. Alfano presented the keynote address at the Ocean Optics Global Distributor Retreat in Orlando, FL, in April, 2009. His topic was "Overview on the State-of-the-Art Biomedical Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging for Future Healthcare." See presentation.

IUSL Director Alfano, Recipient of the Charles Hard Townes Award, Featured in Alumnus Magazine

Dr. Robert R. Alfano, Distinguished Professor of Science & Engineering, was featured as a Faculty Standout in the Spring, 2009 issue of Alumnus, the quarterly publication of the Alumni Association of The City College of New York. He was recognized for receiving the 2008 Optical Society of America's Charles Hard Townes Award. See article.

IUSL Research on Airy Beams Selected as Among Most Exciting of 2008 by Optics & Photonics News

Optics & Photonics News selected research on Airy beams by IUSL postdoctoral fellow Henry Sztul and IUSL Director Robert R. Alfano as among the most exciting research to emerge in the preceding 12 months in the world of optics. "The Poynting Vector and Angular Momentum of Airy Beams" was one of 30 published articles selected for "Optics in 2008," the special year-end issue of Optics & Photonics News. The article originally appeared in Optics Express. See article.

103rd, 104th and 105th Patents Awarded

Cr4+-Doped Mixed Alloy Laser Materials and Lasers and Methods Using the Materials, R. R. Alfano, V. Petricevic, A. Bykov, #7,359,415 B1, April 15, 2008.

Tetravalent Chromium Doped Laser Materials and NIR Tunable Lasers, R. R. Alfano, V. Petricevic, A. Bykov, #7,440,480 B2, Oct. 21, 2008.

Cr3+-Doped Laser Materials and Lasers and Methods of Making and Using, R. R. Alfano, A. Bykov, V. Petricevic, M. Sharonov, #7,460,574 B2, Dec. 2, 2008.

IUSL Director Alfano Presents Webcast on Biospectroscopy

Dr. Robert R. Alfano, Distinguished Professor of Science & Engineering, together with Dr. Stavros Demos of Lawrence Livermore National Lab, presented a webcast titled, “Key Secrets of Biospectroscopy.” The webcast, hosted by Barbara Goode, Editor-in-Chief, BioOptics World magazine, reviewed key spectroscopic methods and technologies involved in imaging for medical applications, including promising approaches to early cancer diagnosis. Dr. Alfano was also featured in a two-page profile in the Nov/Dec 2008 issue of BioOptics World.

Link to the webcast (registration is free):
http://bioopticsworld.com/resourcecenter/webcasts/webcastDetails. html?id=768

Link to the slide presentation:
"Key Secrets of Biospectroscopy"

Link to BioOptics World article on Robert R. Alfano:
"Pioneers: Robert R. Alfano"

New Ph.D. Graduate

Henry Sztul

IUSL graduate student Henry Sztul received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in physics. His thesis, “Optical Vortices: Angular Momentum of Light, Energy Propagation, and Imaging,” was prepared under the mentorship of Dr. Robert R. Alfano, Distinguished Professor and Director of the IUSL. Also serving on Mr. Sztul's thesis committee were: Prof. Joel Gersten (Physics, City College/CUNY), Prof. Matthias Lenzner (Physics, City College/CUNY), Prof. Vinod Menon (Physics, Queens College/CUNY), and Dr. Wubao Wang (IUSL). Mr. Sztul’s research investigates methods of generation and applications of optical vortices. These beams of light twist through space with orbital angular momentum and have potential applications ranging from new types of communications protocols to new types of spectroscopy involving the angular momentum of light.

IUSL Researchers Demonstrate Effectiveness of Contrast Agent Cytate in Detecting Prostate Cancer

Researchers at the IUSL have conducted time-resolved fluorescence measurement and optical imaging studies that demonstrate the efficacy of Cytate as a fluorescence marker to detect prostate cancer. See press release.

IUSL Physicists Develop New Tunable Laser Crystals

Physicists at the IUSL have developed new near-infrared broadband laser materials with tunability ranges around triple those of earlier crystals. The new crystals have a tunability range of as much as 460 nanometers (nm) and have potential application in such fields as telecommunications, biomedical imaging and remote sensing. See press release.

Distinguished Professor Robert R. Alfano Receives 2008 Charles Hard Townes Award

Dr. Robert R. Alfano, Distinguished Professor of Science and Engineering at the City College of New York and Director of the IUSL, has been named the 2008 Recipient of The Optical Society of America's (OSA) Charles Hard Townes Award. The Award was presented to Dr. Alfano at the OSA's Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, May 4-9, in San Jose, California. .See press release

$542K Grant Awarded for Prostate Cancer Detection

Dr. Wubao Wang, a senior scientist at the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers (IUSL) at The City College of New York, was awarded a $542,940 grant by the U. S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command to develop noninvasive method for detection of prostate cancer. Dr. Wang’s collaborators are Dr. Min Xu of Fairfield University, and Dr. James Eastham of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). Under the three-year grant, the scientists will develop a rectal near-infrared (NIR) light-based scanning polarization imaging unit and independent component analysis algorithm for detecting prostate cancer. See press release.

102nd Patent Awarded

Methods and Systems for Detection of Ice Formation on Surfaces, R. R. Alfano, W. Wang, H. Sztul, Y. Budansky, #7,312,713 B2, December 25, 2007.

$1.36 Million Grant Awarded

Scientists at the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers (IUSL) at The City College of New York (CCNY), in collaboration with researchers at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), were awarded a $1.36 million grant by the U. S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. The new project, “Photonic Breast Tomography and Tumor Aggressiveness Monitoring,” will combine the expertise of the physical scientists at CCNY, led by Principal Investigator and Physics Professor Swapan K. Gayen, with that of medical and cancer researchers at MSKCC under the direction of Dr. Jason Koutcher, M.D., Ph.D. Under the four-year grant, IUSL and MSKCC will collaborate on a research and training program to develop near-infrared optical imaging techniques for early-stage breast cancer detection and the assessment of tumor aggressiveness. See press release.

Recent Ph.D. Graduates

Xuying Xin IUSL graduate student Xuying Xin received her Doctor of Philosophy degree in electrical engineering. Her thesis, “Inter/intra Molecular Dynamics in Gases and Liquids Studied by Terahertz Time-domain Spectroscopy,” was prepared under the mentorship of Dr. Robert R. Alfano, Distinguished Professor and Director of the IUSL, who served as chair on her thesis committee. Also on the committee were: Prof. A. Gorokhovsky (Physics, College of Staten Island/CUNY), Prof. R. Dorsinville (EE, City College/CUNY), Prof. P.-P. Ho (EE, City College/CUNY), Prof. S. Gayen (Physics, City College/CUNY), Prof. V. Petricevic (Physics, City College/CUNY), and Dr. Haken Altan (IUSL). Ms. Xin’s research interests include terahertz pulse generation and detection, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, and conformational dynamics of molecules in liquids and gases.

Mohammad AL-Rubaiee

IUSL doctoral student Mohammad AL-Rubaiee successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation, “Time-resolved and continuous wave spectroscopic imaging of biological media.” The aim of his research is to develop optical imaging methods and algorithms for detection, diagnosis, and localization of targets in turbid media in general, and in human breast tissue in particular. His mentors, Drs. R. R. Alfano and S. K. Gayen, co-chaired his thesis dissertation committee. Also on the committee were Prof. J. I. Gersten (Physics, City College/CUNY), Prof. Vladimir Petricevic (Physics, City College/CUNY), Prof. M. Xu (Physics, Fairfield Univ.), and Dr. H. Savage (New York Eye & Ear Infirmary).