The Laser and Fibre Optics Centre (LAFOC) was established as an African Regional Centre to provide training for researchers, engineers, science teachers, medical personnel and other allied professionals in the field of Laser and Fibre Optics technology as applied to Medicine, Agriculture, Industry, Communication and Environmental Studies.
It is affiliated to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) under the Office of External Activities (OEA), Trieste, Italy and was formally commissioned by the Head of External Activities, Prof. G. Denardo on March 26, 1993.
The first coordinator of the Centre was Professor Paul K. Buah-Bassuah (1993-2007). It was established by him in 1992 before its commissioning a year later. The Centre is currently housed at the Department of Physics.
The Centre in collaboration with the Department of Physics offers opportunity for suitably qualified graduates to study for M.Phil. or PhD. degrees in any of the fields of research in Optics and Photonics at the Centre. Students come to LAFOC purposely to carry out their researches after having completed the relevant course work in the first year at the Department of Physics. The research work is carried out in the second-year culminating in a thesis assessed for M.Phil. or PhD degrees.