September 26, 2018 Mikhail Kats University of Wisconsin
Assistant Professor Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
“Thermal-emission engineering: challenges and opportunities”
4:10 PM, 134 Featheringill Hall Refreshments served at 3:45
Abstract
Thermal emission (thermal radiation) is the phenomenon responsible for most of the light in the universe. Though understanding of thermal emission dates back over a century, recent advances have encouraged the re-examination of this phenomenon and its potential applications. This talk will describe our group’s advances and outline future work in the measurement and manipulation of thermal emission. First, I will discuss our efforts to improve thermal-emission metrology, especially for low-temperature (C) thermal emitters. Then, I will review our use of phase-transition materials including vanadium dioxide and the rare-earth nickelates to demonstrate new phenomena, including negative- and zero-differential thermal emittance, radiative thermal runaway, and thermo-dichroism. The talk will include discussion of exciting opportunities of phase-transition thermal emitters for applications that include infrared camouflage and thermoregulation.
Bio
Mikhail Kats is a Dugald. C. Jackson Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison, with affiliate appointments in the Departments of Physics and Materials Science and Engineering. Mikhail’s research interests include optical properties of engineered materials, novel optical and optoelectronic devices, tailoring of thermal emission and radiative heat transfer, enhancement of human vision, and related topics in optics and photonics. Prior to joining UW-Madison, He received his BS in Engineering Physics from Cornell University in 2008, and his PhD in Applied Physics from Harvard University in 2014. His awards include the ONR Young Investigator Award (2016), the AFOSR Young Investigator Award (2017), the NSF CAREER award (2018), the Coatings Young Investigator Award (2018), and selections to the Forbes “30 Under 30” and ASEE Prism’s “20 Under 40” lists.