Science Cafe Orlando

Fiber optic telecommunication, microscopy, lasers, holography, and optical computing are all applications that all depend upon the ability to generate, manipulate, and/or transmit light. At the fundamental level, researchers are advancing such fields by discovering more about how matter and light interact. Nanophotonics is an emerging field in which lessons learned from nanotechnology are applied in the development of new materials and devices for optical applications. In our work, we take this a step further. We use light itself as a tool for fabricating new nanophotonic materials that can be used to manipulate light. In this talk, we will explore the field of nanophotonics and show how light can be used to make materials that control light.

Stephen M. Kuebler joined the faculty at the University of Central Florida in August of 2003 as an Assistant Professor through a joint appointment with the Department of Chemistry and CREOL. Kuebler earned a BS degree in chemistry and a BA degree in German from Tulane University. He was awarded a Marshall Fellowship and a National Science Foundation Fellowship to pursue graduate research in chemistry at the University of Oxford. There he earned the DPhil degree for his studies of the third-order nonlinear optical properties of molecular materials with Professors Robert G. Denning and Malcolm L. H. Green. Before joining UCF, Kuebler worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Caltech and later at the University of Arizona investigating the photophysics, photochemistry, and applications of two-photon absorbers. In 2008 he was awarded an NSF CAREER Award and promoted to Associate Professor. His broader interests include the physical and chemical properties of optical and electronic materials and their development for new technologies.