Abstract

Photonic strategies hold the potential to alter the nature of emitted thermal light, enabling a range of applications in sensing, energy and heat transfer. In this talk I will introduce some of our recent work on controlling the spectral and directional characteristics of thermal emission, as well as in breaking the reciprocity between absorption and emission using magneto-optic effects in doped semiconductors. Next, I will highlight some of our recent advances related to radiative cooling, including super-white radiative cooling paints, passive freezing desalination and extending radiative cooling concepts to vertical components of buildings.

Biography

Aaswath Raman is an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at UCLA where his research group pursues fundamental and applied research in nanophotonics, thermal photonics, renewable energy, climate change adaptation and applied machine learning. He is known for the first demonstration of daytime radiative cooling in 2014, which he has since commercialized as Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Advisor of SkyCool Systems.  He received his A.B. in Physics, and M.S. in Computer Science from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University. His work has been recognized by several awards including, the MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35 (TR35), DARPA Director's Award and Young Faculty Award, NSF CAREER, Materials Research Society Kavli Early Career Award and the Sloan Research Fellowship. He was recently elected a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors.