Dr. Peralta obtained her bachelor's degree in physics from the National University in Mexico (UNAM) where she graduated with highest honors (Medalla Gabino Barreda).
Dr. Peralta obtained her MA (1998) and PhD (2002) in physics from the University of California Santa Barbara. Her graduate work was conducted under the direction of Dr. S. James Allen at the UCSB Free Electron Laser Facility. Her dissertation was focused on developing a detector for terahertz light (1 THz corresponds to a wavelength of 300µm) based on plasmon modes in a two-dimensional electron gas.
After she graduated, Dr. Peralta joined the biophysics group at Duke University in Durham, NC as a postdoctoral researcher. She worked in the group of Dr. Glenn Edwards within a multidisciplinary collaboration focused on developing an understanding of tissue dynamics during dorsal closure, a developmental stage of the fruit fly, using UV laser perturbation and biophysical modeling.
In 2007 she obtained an IC (Intelligence Community) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to work at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM with Dr. Igal Brener, Dr. Rick D. Averitt and Dr. Jim Hamilton. Her work was focused on the development of terahertz metamaterials as building blocks for terahertz devices.
Dr. Peralta was at UTSA from 2009 to 2017.
Previous Research
Sandia National Laboratories
Terahertz metamaterials as building blocks of terahertz devices
Developed polarization sensitive and insensitive metamaterials that can become the foundation of amplitude and/or phase modulators such as a quarter wave-plate or a polarizing beamsplitter.
Fabricated and characterized low loss metamaterials on thin silicon nitride membranes which provide them with unprecedented flexibility.
Assessed the potential for developing a terahertz metamaterial based biosensor.
Techniques: Terahertz time domain spectroscopy, femtosecond IR optics, photolithography, surface functionalization, fluorescent labeling.
Duke University
Biophysical investigations of tissue dynamics during embryogenesis
Investigated the effect of UV laser perturbation on, in vivo, tissue dynamics during dorsal closure, a stage of fruit fly embryogenesis. Developed physical models of dorsal closure. Drew parallels between morphogenetic events and wound healing. Part of a multidisciplinary collaboration between the physics, mathematics and biology departments.
Developed a system to ablate the embryonic nerve cord in fruit flies for studies of regeneration and connectivity based on UV laser induced trauma.
Developed a measuring system based on a piezoelectric film to quantify the pressure wave generated by an ablating pulsed laser on brain tissue.