The Micro/Nanoscale Energy Transport and Conversion (METAC) Group (PI: Kay Park) is seeking for highly motivated undergraduate students who want to establish research experiences in the following nanoscale thermal sciences and engineering projects. Interested students please contact Prof. Park (
kpark@mech.utah.edu) with a transcript and a resume. If selected, students are expected to work with graduate students for 10 hours per week, starting from Summer 2017, and submit a proposal to the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) for Fall 2017 based on the obtained results over the summer.
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- Nanoscale probing of thermionic electron emission: 1 student
Thermionic emission is one promising way to convert heat into electricity. However, in the past, it has required extremely high temperatures, making the application of thermionic emission difficult. With the addition of light illumination, photo-enhanced thermionic emission (PETE) can operate at lower temperatures, which opens the way for applications in concentrated solar energy conversion and waste heat recovery. In an effort to better understand and improve the electronic behavior, transport and performance of PETE, the METAC lab is pursuing a study of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments of potential PETE materials. STM experiments can provide nanoscale characterizations of energy barriers to electron emission, a key parameter for PETE. In performing these experiments, we are interested in hiring an undergraduate student looking to gain knowledge and skills useful for future jobs and educational pathways. Specifically
, the student will be expected to learn how to make STM measurements and become competent in the basic physics of electron tunneling by:
- Spending time being mentored on how to setup and use STM equipment
- Taking measurements and analyzing data
- Learning fundamental physics of thermionic emission and current tunneling
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- Experiments of near-field thermal radiation: 2 students
In this project, we will experimentally investigate thermal radiation exchanged between two plates separated by nanoscale gap distances. The application of this study will be to convert thermal radiation into electricity as a new method of waste heat recovery. Students are expected to assist graduate students in running the experiments, learning the following skillsets:
- Working in Cleanroom environment
- Operating Vacuum chambers
- Basics of Micro/Nanoscale Fabrication
- LabView (National Instruments) programming
- Experimental Skills: Precise Soldering, Wire bonding, RTD and TEC connections and measurement
- Surface Characterization: Working with optical profilometers, SEM, Digital Microscopes
- Basics about Near-field thermal radiation
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- Scattering-type Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (s-SNOM): 1 student
The spatial resolution of conventional optical microscopes cannot surpass half the wavelength due to the Abbe diffraction limit: for visible light, this limit is approximately 200 nm. Scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) is novel scanning probe microscopy that breaches the diffraction limit by collecting light scattered from an oscillating atomic force microscope (AFM) probe tip. The spatial resolution of s-SNOM depends only on the tip sharpness (typically on the order of 10 nm) enabling wavelength-independent nanoscale optical imaging. At the nanoscale, material properties can vary significantly from their bulk counterparts – the measurement of these nanoscale property variations is an area of active research. In an effort to develop innovative nanoscale material characterization techniques, the METAC lab is combining far-field thermoreflectance microscopy with s-SNOM as well as developing photo-induced contact resonance microscopy.
In pursuit of these techniques, we are interested in hiring an undergraduate student who can expect to gain knowledge and skills useful in future jobs and educational pathways. Specifically
, the student will be expected to learn how to make s-SNOM measurements and become competent in the basics of nanoscale characterization by:
- Spending time being mentored on how to setup and use AFM and s-SNOM equipment
- Taking measurements and analyzing data
- Learning the basic physics of tip-substrate force and energy interactions
