organization profile

The Department of Optics and Photonics (DOP) at National Central University (NCU) is under College of Sciences. Established in 1982, the Institute of Optical Sciences (IOS), which became DOP in 2006, is the second oldest institution dedicated to the education and research on optical sciences and is consistently among the best within the nation. Known for its rigorous training in full range of university-level work, DOP is unsurpassed in several areas among the best nationwide. Inherent from the IOS, DOP’s education has also been putting more emphasis on the fundamentals of optics and photonics. This continues to enrich the research on holography, thin-film optics, optical element/system design, and solid state lighting, and DOP will continue to lead in these areas. With the growing number of faculty members in recent years, the Department has been extending its research and educational thrusts more into the traditional and other new areas in Optics and Photonics. DOP currently has 22 full-time faculty members, 3 jointly-appointed professors, 11 adjunct professors, and approximately 270 graduate students and 180 undergraduate majors. DOP offers a wide range of university-level training and work, from general courses in optics/photonics to independent research at the Ph.D. level. With all these efforts, the DOP at National Central University is determined to moving forward, taking the lead in both education and research to reshape our lives in the future. Course The department offers the most complete course list among all optics programs in Taiwan. Besides the fundamental courses, optics, optoelectronic devices, optical system, laser, experiments in optics, optical design, and other advanced courses are provided for the undergraduate program. The obligatory courses for graduate students are geometric optics, Fourier optics, electro-optics, and experiments in optics. Additional laser physics, interference and diffraction, and radiometry and detection are obligatory for Ph.D. students. The optional courses offered to graduate students include optical data processing, opto-electronic material and devices, micro-electro-optics engineering, laser and optical engineering, and optical testing. Research Optics has been the core research area since the establishment of IOS and later DOP. With the expansion of faculty members in recent years, currently a variety of technical areas in a broad range of optics/photonics are available from which students may choose to conduct their master’s and doctoral studies. DOP is home to 12 technical interest groups and is a leader/primary contributor in those areas and different interdisciplinary researches, attracting a broad array of corporate and governmental support. These technical interest groups include § Thin-Film Optics § Holography & Optical Information Processing § Display Technology § Optoelectronics § Lasers § Optical Engineering and Design § Solid State Lighting & Human Factors Technology § Solar Cells § Optical Communications § Nanophotonics § Theoretical Optics § Biophotonics & Bioimaging