Optoelectronics Research Lab Receives Grant for High-Resolution Microscope

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Optoelectronics Research Lab in the College of Engineering looks at things like no other lab on campus. The lab uses high-tech instruments to investigate new nanomaterials capable of harnessing the powerful energy of the sun. Electrical engineering professor Omar Manasreh, who runs the lab, will now be able to add a new piece of equipment for researchers: a micro-photoluminescence/Raman high-resolution microscope. The purchase is possible thanks to a grant of $200,000 from the Department of Defense and an additional $50,000 from the University of Arkansas.

Gernot Pomrenke and Kitt Reinhart, program managers of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, one of the organizations supporting the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program, which awarded the Defense Department grant, have been supporting the Optoelectronic Research Lab since 2003.

The new lab instrument will be used to help characterize and test semiconductor nanocrystals, metallic nanoparticles and various, semiconductor nanostructures known as quantum dots. Once a material’s properties are determined, its applications and potential uses can be developed.

Manasreh and researchers in the Optoelectronics Research Lab have developed new materials that will enable greater efficiency of photovoltaic cells in solar arrays. Currently, the light-to-energy capabilities for solar arrays deployed on spacecraft and the International Space Station are topped out at 23 percent. However, new materials such as metallic nanoparticles can significantly increase that ratio, allowing longer and more far reaching missions.

The applications go beyond power generation for spacecraft. The materials investigated may be used in spray paint for military vehicles and solar arrays used on Earth. As with all things related to the military and space program, there likely will be spinoff technologies that will become a part of everyday lives, similar to the way that technology for global-positioning systems developed into commercial products.

Manasreh is a member of the University of Arkansas’ Institute of Nanoscience and Engineering and has been at the university since 2003. During his time, he has received over $8 million in public research funding. With this funding, he has established the state-of-the-art Optoelectronics Research Lab, where students work alongside faculty members investigating photovoltaic materials and devices, optoelectronic applications and the synthesis of nanomaterials, all aimed at improving life on Earth and in space.