DMREF Research

 

The UArizona DMREF team is focused on pioneering research in optical polymers, aiming to revolutionize plastic optics and optical devices spanning the visible and infrared spectrum. Currently, inorganic materials dominate this field due to the intrinsic limitations of organic polymers in terms of refractive index and infrared transparency

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Sulfur Optical Polymers

The UArizona DMREF team aims to develop new optical polymers for use as plastic optics and optical devices across the visible and infrared spectrum.  To date, inorganic materials still dominate this optical technology space since organic polymers intrinsically possess lower refractive index and infrared transparency.

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Computational Quantum Chemistry:

We are developing new computational chemistry methods to simulate the infrared spectroscopic and bond vibrational profiles of organic and hybrid molecules to suppress long-wave infrared absorption from 7-14 µm

We are also developing new approaches to study the molecular structure of molten sulfur as a new reaction media using a wide range of molecular dynamics methods and Quantum Cluster Equilibrium (QCE) calculations

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Optical Physics-Characterization-Fabrication:

We are investigating a new set of characterization methods to quantify refractive index and transmittance for optical polymers across the visible and IR spectrum.

We are also developing both melt processing and nanofabrication methods for free-form optics (lenses, prisms, windows) and integrated photonic devices (waveguides, resonators)