Heng Zuo
University of New Mexico, NM·Engineering·Early-career
Ultrafast lasers fire pulses lasting quadrillionths of a second. They can change a material's structure in tiny, precisely placed regions without damaging the surroundings.
- Fields
Engineering
Materials Science
Physics
- Topics
ultrafast laser manufacturing
femtosecond laser
laser micromachining
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Sep 2031
What they work on
- Determine how ultrafast laser energy deposition, thermal confinement, chemical transformation, and stress development combine to convert preceramic polymers into polymer-derived ceramics.
- Establish relationships among laser processing conditions, ceramic microstructure, and performance using in situ diagnostics, ex situ characterization, and multiscale computational modeling.
- Integrate reinforcement phases with ultrafast laser processing of preceramic polymers to create graded ceramic matrix composites with stronger interfacial bonding and programmable microstructures.
- Map how femtosecond laser parameters such as pulse energy, duration, density, polarization, beam shaping, and numerical aperture produce birefringence and refractive index changes in fused silica and N-BK7 glass.
- Develop microscope-based measurements using differential interference contrast, phase imaging, and a polarization camera, and compare them with a finite element model of stress and electric fields in laser-written glass.
More about the research
This makes them a promising tool for manufacturing parts that are hard to make any other way. Two projects explore this idea in different materials. One uses lasers to turn special polymers into tough ceramic composites. The other uses lasers to write optical features into glass. Both aim to work out the physics linking laser settings to the resulting material structure and properties.
Why it matters
Better laser-based manufacturing of ceramic composites could give aerospace, space exploration, energy, defense, and semiconductor industries tougher, heat-resistant parts with tailored properties. Understanding laser-induced stress and refractive index changes in glass could improve laser-written waveguides, waveplates, and gratings. These parts are used in astronomy mirrors, space communication, and virtual reality devices.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Yue Zhou
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach, FL·Engineering
Measure how directed energy deposition settings affect both short-range clustering and overall 3D uniformity of micro-scale ceramic particles in printed metal matrix composites, using controlled experiments and advanced characterization.
Dmitri Romanov
Temple University, PA·Physics
Develop a predictive model of filament channel formation in dense gases, driven by inverse Bremsstrahlung, impact ionization and collisional excitation, and use it to explore control of the channels through pulse shape.
Ranajay Ghosh
University of Central Florida, FL·Engineering·Early-career
Test whether concentrated salt solutions give green strength to oxide and nitride ceramic powder beds through ion transport and particle bridging during wetting and drying, using mechanical testing, microscopy and x-ray imaging.
The school
University of New Mexico: 27 labs on PI Pages, $355M a year on research, 182 research doctorates a year.
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