2008 Woodie Awards
Zoom, Zoom-Zoom
Professor's lens mimics the eye
Stephanie A. Wilken
Issue date: 7/30/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
UCF recently signed a licensing agreement with Holochip Corp. to produce zoom lenses with technology developed at UCF's Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers.
Holochip Corp. is an adaptive lens manufacturer based in Albuquerque, N.M. and San Francisco that supplies specialized lenses to manufacturers of camera phones, digital cameras and medical and military products.
Shin-Tson Wu, provost-distinguished professor of optics at UCF, and his team of colleagues and students at UCF's College of Optics and Photonics developed the lenses.
The zoom lens is similar to those used in digital cameras and camera phones, only smaller in size. Despite the size difference, the quality is comparable to larger lenses, and the images produced are just as clear.
M.J. Soileau, vice president for Research and Commercialization at UCF, stressed the importance of receiving a patent for the lens and the signing of a licensing agreement.
"Not all patents are ever licensed," Soileau said. "Most patents, in fact, are not licensed."
Soileau said the licensing of the zoom lens is great for UCF.
"It gives [UCF] visibility," he said. "To have it licensed is another validation of the quality of the work that we're doing here."
In addition to the recognition he is receiving here, Wu and his accomplishments are visible on the international scene, which also gives the university recognition, Soileau said.
Wu is well known in the community of adaptive lenses, said Rob Batchko, CEO of Holochip Corp.
"The field of adaptive lenses encompasses a close-knit community," Batchko said. "Professor Wu is an integral member of this community and is highly respected for his many years of prolific pioneering contributions to the field."
Wu spent 18 years at Hughes Research Laboratories before coming to UCF in 2001. He is known for his advances in the fields of liquid crystal displays and liquid-crystal optics.
Holochip Corp. is an adaptive lens manufacturer based in Albuquerque, N.M. and San Francisco that supplies specialized lenses to manufacturers of camera phones, digital cameras and medical and military products.
Shin-Tson Wu, provost-distinguished professor of optics at UCF, and his team of colleagues and students at UCF's College of Optics and Photonics developed the lenses.
The zoom lens is similar to those used in digital cameras and camera phones, only smaller in size. Despite the size difference, the quality is comparable to larger lenses, and the images produced are just as clear.
M.J. Soileau, vice president for Research and Commercialization at UCF, stressed the importance of receiving a patent for the lens and the signing of a licensing agreement.
"Not all patents are ever licensed," Soileau said. "Most patents, in fact, are not licensed."
Soileau said the licensing of the zoom lens is great for UCF.
"It gives [UCF] visibility," he said. "To have it licensed is another validation of the quality of the work that we're doing here."
In addition to the recognition he is receiving here, Wu and his accomplishments are visible on the international scene, which also gives the university recognition, Soileau said.
Wu is well known in the community of adaptive lenses, said Rob Batchko, CEO of Holochip Corp.
"The field of adaptive lenses encompasses a close-knit community," Batchko said. "Professor Wu is an integral member of this community and is highly respected for his many years of prolific pioneering contributions to the field."
Wu spent 18 years at Hughes Research Laboratories before coming to UCF in 2001. He is known for his advances in the fields of liquid crystal displays and liquid-crystal optics.