Carl W. Dirk PHYSICAL ORGANIC CHEMISTRY Professor B.A., Montclair State College, 1977 Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1982 Postdoctoral Researcher, Physics, University of California at Santa  Barbara 1982-1984                                     Visiting Scientist,  IBM San Jose Research  1984-1985      Member of Technical Staff, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill 1985-1990                                                                                            Phone:(915) 747-7560 cdirk@utep.edu Pdf format
		Dirk Research Group

Awards and Activities Chair, Rio Grande Valley ACS Section 2001 UTEP Faculty Senate Research Interests  My research projects focus on Optical Materials with special emphasis on nonlinear optics, reverse saturable absorption, dye chemistry, plastic optical fibers, dielectric filter manufacture, color theory, computational chemistry & Museum lighting. Our most recent work on Museum lighting involves creating filters that will reduce photochemical degradation of works of art. The focus of our current research is funded by the Getty Conservation Institute and we are currently designing optical filters which will reduce photochemical aging degradation of important works of art. We have created a technology that allows us to determine what parts of the visible spectrum are not necessary to visualize the colors of any given		object, and then design dielectric filters to remove those parts of the visible spectrum. The picture above (by Rudy Gutierrez, El Paso Times newspaper) shows Dr. Dirk &  Monica F. Delgado looking through filer that reduces power in visible by 30% Selected Publications · Dirk,  Carl W.  Customizable spectral profiles for filtering.  PCT Int. Appl.  (2004).  · de la Rosa-Cruz, Elder; Diaz-Torres, Luis A.; Rodriguez-Rojas, R. A.; Kumar, G. Ajith; Dirk, Carl W.; Rodriguez, Osvaldo; Kopecky, Sarah; Hernandez, Jose Manuel; Diaz-Torres, Y. Fluorescence characterization of the ternary system TMQ-PBDBD365-POPOP-dye-doped polystyrene optical fiber under gamma and UV irradiation.    Proceedings of SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering  (2001),  4461 (Linear and Nonlinear Optics of Organic Materials), 200-205.  · Kopecky, Sarah; Dirk, Carl W.; Peralez, Albert; Rodriguez, Osvaldo; de la Rosa-Cruz, Elder; Ocampo, Miguel; Castano, Victor M.; Rodriguez, M. Rogelio.  Loss measurements on laser-dye-doped and undoped unclad plastic optical fibers.    Proceedings of SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering  (2001),  4279(Organic Photonic Materials and Devices III),  183-190.  · De La Rosa-Cruz, E.; Dirk, C. W.; Rodriguez, O.; Castano, V. M.  Characterization of fluorescence induced by side illumination of Rhodamine B doped plastic optical fibers.