His discovery of the white-light supercontinuum laser is at the root of optical coherence tomography, which is breaking barriers in ophthalmology, cardiology, and oral cancer detection (see "Better resolution with multibeam OCT," page 28) among other applications.
He states that he has accomplished this feat by "hitting the pavement";[citation needed] he developed a habit of aggressively reaching out to funding partners and getting them interested in his work.
Alfano's contributions to photonics are documented in more than 700 research articles, 102 patents, several edited volumes and conference proceedings, and well over 10,000 citations.
Alfano has made a number of original contributions to biomedical optics for the use of light for noninvasive detection and diagnosis of diseases; in particular, cancers and atherosclerosis.
His contributions to the fundamentals of light propagation in turbid media led to the development of different gating techniques for sorting out image-bearing photons for direct imaging of structures within biological tissues.
He was pioneer to conduct ultrafast time-resolved techniques in picosecond ranges to study fluorescence polarization dynamics of dye in tissue and/or scattering media.
A detailed understanding of light propagation through highly scattering turbid media (which is what biological tissue is), is crucial to the development of optical biomedical imaging techniques.
In addition to his technical contributions, Alfano has encouraged the growth of the field by organizing topical meetings and conferences for OSA and SPIE, and later co-chairing many optical imaging conferences with Britton Chance, whereby he introduced young scientists and engineers to biomedical optics, and attracted other researchers to the field.
Alfano chose Fairleigh Dickinson University because it was close to his childhood home in Teaneck, New Jersey, and started his secondary education thinking he'd end up an electrical engineer like his uncle.
At GTE Alfano found a good "home" for his own work and some professional support, which included important colleagues, like Stanley Shapiro, Joseph Birman, and Alexander Lempicki.
Early on, while working on optical phonon lifetimes, the basis for his doctoral thesis, he accidentally discovered the white-light supercontinuum laser.
Shapiro moved west to join Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Alfano found his way to the City University of New York, where he created another avenue for contributing to scientific discovery.
SPIE Gold Medal, 2019 for "the application and understanding of high-speed physical phenomena, including the development of new technologies as well as new applications of existing technologies" Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award in 2016 "For leadership and pioneering contributions in the field of biophotonics, comprising the diverse use of label-free native fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, and optical imaging for cancer detection in tissues and cells.