University of Central Florida
08/16/2024 | Press release | Archived content
UCF Physics Grad Earns International Award for Innovations in Photon Detection Techniques
UCF physics doctoral graduate Tianyi Guo'23PhD earned an international doctoral thesis award from Springer Nature and was published through the book series, Springer Theses.
His thesis, Low Energy Photon Detection, was nominated after his final semester in fall 2023 at UCF by his supervisor, UCF NanoScience Technology Center Professor Debashis Chanda. Guo and Chanda were notified in April of Guo's successful selection amongst many international submissions, and Guo received a cash prize in addition to being published.
Springer Nature is a global publishing company that publishes books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technology and medicine.
The series, Springer Theses, brings together a selection of the very best Ph.D. theses from around the world and across sciences. Nominated and endorsed by two recognized specialists, each published volume has been selected for its scientific excellence and the high impact of its contents for the pertinent field of research.
The publication and award began in 2010, and Springer records dating back to 2012 show that this is the first time a UCF student has received this honor.
According to Springer, UCF's Department of Physics and CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, are among the leading physics departments that meet the criteria to qualify for nominating theses on a yearly basis.
"Through my research, I developed expertise in nanofabrication, lasers, and opto-electronic devices," Guo says. "These skills were instrumental in allowing me to create innovative approaches in LWIR camera technology."
Guo's thesis focuses on long wave infrared (LWIR) photon detection at room temperature, with applications in space exploration, night vision, medical uses, public safety and other thermal imaging applications.
The pursuit of an affordable, high-performance LWIR camera capable of room temperature detection has spanned several decades, Chanda says.
LWIR detectors can be broadly classified into either cooled or uncooled detectors, he says. Cooled detectors excel in high detectivity and fast response times but their reliance on cryogenic cooling significantly escalates their cost and restricts their practical applications. In contrast, uncooled detectors, like microbolometers, can function at room temperature and come at a relatively lower cost but exhibit lower sensitivity and slower response times, Chanda says.
Guo's research spawned multiple breakthroughs in dynamically tunable light detection, one-atom-thick graphene-based infrared camera technology and a new photon detection technique, Chanda says.
"Within the scope of Dr. Tianyi Guo's work, he showcased two innovative approaches aimed at advancing the next generation of LWIR detectors and cameras," Chanda says. "These approaches are designed to offer high detectivity, fast response times, and room temperature operation."
The first approach involves harnessing high-mobility electrons on nanostructured graphene to create a photo-thermoelectric detector. The second approach details the use of an oscillating circuit integrated with phase change materials and the modulation of frequency induced by infrared illumination to achieve LWIR detection.
Finally, Guo integrated the graphene-based detectors to serve as a readout of integrated circuits enabling the development of a dense pixel focal plane array based infrared camera. This is in collaboration with world's largest infrared camera company, Teledyne-FLIR.
Chanda says he is particularly impressed by Guo's thesis and how it advances the field of LWIR cameras and photon detection.
"To take such a novel material from device to actual functional camera development as part of a single Ph.D. is not just unique but unheard off," Chanda says.
Researcher's Credentials
Guo joined UCF's physics doctoral program in the fall of 2017 and graduated in fall 2023. He received his bachelors of science in 2015 from the University of Science and Technology of China. Guo currently is a postdoctoral researcher at UCF.
Chanda has joint appointments in UCF's NanoScience Technology Center, Department of Physics and CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics. He received his doctorate in photonics from the University of Toronto and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined UCF in fall 2012.