AME Seminar: Brandon Chalifoux

Abstract: 
The future of astronomy, mobile imaging platforms, and wearable optics all depend on solving challenging problems that lie at the intersection of optical and mechanical engineering. These systems demand ever larger, lighter—yet more accurate—optical surfaces that are becoming more difficult to fabricate and assemble. Chalifoux proposez a variety of ultrafast laser material processing techniques to advance opto-mechanical capabilities for lightweight systems. Ultrafast lasers, with pulse durations of picoseconds or shorter, produce repeatable strained regions in transparent materials like glass. Chalifoux usez this strain, which we produce in tailored patterns, to produce dimensional change and bending in opto-mechanical components. Other ultrafast laser processes enable ablation, chemical etching, and welding of transparent opto-mechanical components. Together, these processes form a powerful toolbox for creating ultra-lightweight optical systems. In this talk, Chalifoux will demonstrate Ultrafast Laser Stress Figuring for accurately shaping thin mirrors, describe how laser-generated strain may be used for aligning X-ray telescope mirrors with nanometer-accuracy, and share my outlook for the future of research in this area.

Bio:
Dr. Brandon Chalifoux is an assistant professor in the James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT in 2019, and he was a postdoctoral associate in the Space Nanotechnology Laboratory at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. Prior to graduate school, he worked on concentrated solar energy generation as an engineer at a Vermont startup, Solaflect Energy. He earned a BS in mechanical engineering from Rice University in 2008.