Advanced Energy Technologies

Physical & Chemical Applications

Research in this area includes:

• Chemical analysis (femtosecond laser ablation).
• Advanced sensors (laser ultrasonics).
• Advanced materials and nanotechnology for clean energy—
  • hydrogen storage,
  • nanostructured organic light-emitting diodes,
  • nanowires, and nanoparticles).
• Photons to fuels (biosynthetic pathways for generating hydrocarbon biofuels in photosynthetic organisms).

The development of advanced sensors.

Sensor-based control of industrial processes can help companies:

• Decrease production costs;
• Reduce waste of raw materials on manufacturing lines;
• Lower manufacturing downtime from equipment maintenance;
• Increase the energy efficiency of manufacturing processes;
• Detect equipment failure early, before it becomes a major liability;
• Improve the environment by minimizing waste products;
• Enhance the safety of workers by providing warning of hazards.

Applied materials such as high-temperature superconductors, nanowires and nanolasers.

Metal hydride nanomaterials hold promise as a foundation technology to store hydrogen as fuel.

Nanostructured organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are a very energy-efficient potential source of light.

Integrating nanowires and nanolasers into electronic circuits could make possible many applications, including photonics, (the use of light for superfast data processing and transmission), and the "lab on a chip," a microchip equipped with nano-sized light sources and sensors to perform instant and detailed analyses for chemistry, biology, and medical studies.

High-temperature superconductors for electrical transmission cable could substantially reduce losses during transmission.

Laser ablation for chemical sensors and laser ultrasonics for physical sensors.

This work focuses on understanding the fundamental mechanisms of laser-material interaction and developing new applications for laser technologies. Researchers are interested in understanding fundamental ablation mechanisms, including laser energy coupling to solid samples, plasma shielding, crater formation, fractionation effects, and gas dynamics of ablation plumes.