UCF Alumnus Ranked Among Top Laser Scientists in Global Communications Competition

Fiber optics and other communications channels continue to evolve toward faster speeds through the work of physicists like John Beetar, ’20, who was recently nominated for the Carl E. Anderson Division of Laser Science Dissertation Award.

“The goal for the research was to take industrial laser technology and find a way to employ it for highly technical experiments,” Beetar said.

Beetar developed a technique to reduce the temporal duration of ultrashort laser pulses from industrial laser systems to durations containing only a few oscillations of the electric field. These ultrashort laser pulses are key to performing experiments aimed at understanding the fastest physical phenomena in nature, and these developments can make this technology more accessible to scientists without extensive training or study, including labs focused more on biology and chemistry.

“It feels humbling and honorable to be recognized for my work. This work reflects the culmination of my graduate research and I’m just really grateful that people are able to see it come to light,” Beetar said.

While Beetar finished as a runner-up for the award, he was still honored to be included among the top laser students in the world.

“It was a privilege to be able to present my work and represent my department/university at this international conference, and it will serve as a demonstration of the impact our work at UCF has had, specifically to the ultrafast community, and more generally the atomic, molecular, and optical physics community at large,” Beetar said.