NEW FACULTY
An expert on lasers and optics, ECE faculty member PETER DRAGIC is conducting research to overcome non-linear optical effects that limit the informationcarrying capacity of silica fibers. Dragic’ s approach is to expand the materials pallet from which fibers are made, exploring materials like sapphire, yttriumaluminum-garnet, spinel, and barium oxide instead of relying solely on silica and common dopants like
GeO 2 or P2O 5
. In 2013, Dragic and a colleague at Clemson University demonstrated a fiber that nearly eliminated Brillouin scattering, a deleterious coupling between optical and acoustic waves in high-power applications that causes information loss. They also made fibers from silica and lithia, a promising combination that Dragic will develop into sensors for monitoring the structural health of bridges and buildings. At MNTL, Dragic is focusing on developing all of his proof-of-concept fibers into fiber-optic systems and lasers, which other research groups could use to conduct atmospheric studies or other projects.
Peter Dragic
VIKTOR GRUEV, who is well known for integrating novel nano-materials with CMOS or CCD technology, is creating sensors that capture the polarization and multi-spectral properties of light. As a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis, Gruev and his students reverse engineered the mantis shrimp’ s eye into a camera so they could use polarized light to diagnose disease and injury. The group clinically translated this camera technology into the operating room, helping physicians correctly identify lymph nodes or particular organs and successfully remove all primary and secondary tumors during breast cancer surgeries. As an Illinois faculty member, Gruev will continue developing this biomedical technology platform, which has special multi-spectral cameras that super-impose highlighted tissue areas over real-time video during surgery. Gruev’ s work was featured in a National Geographic special on bio-inspired sensors, as well as on NPR.
Viktor Gruev
MNTL | 10 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign