The Workshop on Laser Processing and Energy Applications, to be held in Berkeley, California in 2011, will provide a venue for researchers, industrial practitioners and educators to identify challenges and opportunities pertaining to laser-based manufacturing of energy devices. Topics include but are not limited to: (1) fabrication of power generation devices such as photovoltaics and solar-thermal as well as solar-hydrogen hardware, (2) fabrication of energy storage devices such as batteries, supercapacitors, and hydrogen storage units, and (3) manufacturing of efficient electronic displays, lighting, communication devices, and sensors.
Intellectual Merit: This award provides support for approximately 20 experts and 10 students to attend the workshop. The agenda will include technical presentations and panel sessions culminating in a comprehensive report that will identify specific scientific and engineering issues pertaining to laser processing in energy applications. A report will be generated that will be readily accessible on an appropriate website, and a review article will be published in the archival literature.
Broader Impacts: The workshop topic has broad application to a wide array of manufacturing challenges relevant to emerging energy applications. In addition, current and future education and training needs related to laser processing in energy applications will be a critical component of the workshop. The organizers will ensure participation by a diverse cadre of attendees, including those from underrepresented groups.
The workshop provided a venue for researchers, industry practitioners and educators engaged or interested in laser processing to identify significant challenges and opportunities connected to energy applications. In total, the workshop was attended by 45 participants, including 26 presenters and 14 student attendees. The objective of this workshop was to formulate a comprehensive index of key issues in frontier applications in the energy domain where laser science and technology can provide novel enabling solutions of breakthrough potential. The workshop probed the following broad themes: . Lasers and nanotechnology for energy and environmental applications . Laser-assisted synthesis of novel materials . Lasers as tools for scalable, sustainable and green manufacturing The invited presentations sought to address these areas, hence offering a reasonable map of the respective advances. While not exhaustive, this report nevertheless records a sample of the extensive body of research both in the US and internationally on laser materials processing primarily focused on energy applications. The workshop presentations covered a broad range of issues and clearly demonstrated the potential of laser processing for high impact contributions in synthesis of novel materials, as well as advanced materials processing and manufacturing of energy devices. This imprint of the status of the field enabled identification of challenges and opportunities both from the scientific and technological perspectives as follows below: . The flexibility offered by laser radiation in terms of wavelength selectivity, pulse duration, energy level offers novel routes for controlling the laser interaction with the target material. A host of new applications encompassing both materials synthesis and manufacturing can be based on the utilization of laser technology. . New phenomena can be explored and be taken advantage of using the high selectivity of the processing parameters in terms of spatial confinement, localized energy deposition, and time scale. . Fundamental understanding of the laser-material interaction can be utilized to synthesize new materials of unprecedented properties and functionalities through processing routes not available via equilibrium routes. Both interesting physics and important applications in solar and thermal energy conversion can be pursued. . Advanced laser synthesis and processing has the potential to realize both novel materials and new energy device concepts. Laser processing offers new possibilities for the fabrication of energy devices of advanced layouts and structures that are difficult to implement with traditional manufacturing methods. . There is ample opportunity for the design of new laser-based tools combining high spatial resolution with high-throughput for reconfigurable manufacturing of commercially viable energy device products. Improving the cost-effectiveness of laser-based methods will entail the development of innovative manufacturing protocols, laser and equipment hardware. . Laser-based processing is essentially a green technology with the potential of substantial savings and reduction of environmentally unfriendly by-products. These attributes need to be highlighted and taken into consideration by evaluating the environmental impact and sustainability of laser processing versus traditional methods. . Given the astonishing improvements of laser equipment and technology over a relatively short span, the long-term outlook for enhancement of laser enabled materials processing and manufacturing appears to be robust. . A leading laser-based materials processing infrastructure must be built and strengthened to best serve the needs of energy research. Accordingly, the means and resources must be provided to educate and train a skilled and competent scientific and technical workforce on laser technology, including optics and metrology.
