Former Post-Doctoral Researcher, Aerospace Engineering Department
yuewu@tamu.edu
Dr. Yue Wu received his doctoral degree at the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) in 2015, with his thesis focusing on development of radar detected resonant enhanced multi-photon ionization (REMPI) diagnostic for methyl radical, ethylene and molecular oxygen. After spending two years as a postdoctoral researcher at UTK following his doctorate, Yue arrived at Texas A&M University in early fall 2017. At LDPDL Dr. Wu has pursued detailed studies of laser-generated plasmas for diagnostic and flow control applications, especially breakdown and hydrodynamics under low pressure conditions. His research has also involved optical diagnostics and aero-optical properties of non-equilibrium gases generated by nanosecond discharges. He is now employed at a research scientist at Metro Laser.
Atulya Kumar
Former Master’s Student, Aerospace Engineering Department
Atulya Kumar received his Bachelors of Technology (B Tech) in Mechanical Engineering from the Amrita School of Technology Science in 2016. After graduation, he served as a project engineer at the Laboratory for Hypersonics and Shock Wave Research at the Indian Institute of Science working on gas dynamics of combustion driven shock tubes. Having arrived at Texas A&M in June 2019, Atulya is currently a master’s student at LDPDL studying the interaction of laser-generated plasmas with small particles and droplets with applications to diagnostics, remote sensing, combustion ignition, mixing and flame-holding. For this work, Atulya has constructed and operated an electrodynamic balance (EDB), allowing electrical levitation of single metal and dielectric particles and droplets of water and hydrocarbon fuels. High speed microscopy, spectroscopy and advanced laser diagnostics are applied towards quantitative understanding of the multi-phase interaction with high spatiotemporal resolution. He is continuing his education as a PhD student at the University of Luxembourg.
Frisco Koelling
Former Master’s Student, Aerospace Engineering Department
Frisco joined LDPDL in summer 2018. As an undergraduate research assistant, he researched laser-generated plasmas using a diagnostic known as two-color interferometry and developed a powerful least-squares method for analysis of phase map data for extraction of plasma parameters. He has also demonstrated plasma measurements near the surface of a liquid droplet. After completing his bachelor’s degree at Texas A&M in spring 2020, Frisco continued his tenure in the lab as a master’s student. During his master’s degree, Frisco worked on burst mode filtered Rayleigh measurements inside the NAL’s new hypervelocity expansion tunnel (HXT). He is now employed at Lockheed Martin.
Grant Erickson
Former Master’s Student, Aerospace Engineering Department
Grant joined the lab as an undergraduate researcher in the summer of 2020, and, after graduating with his bachelor’s degree in Aerospace engineering from Texas A&M in December 2020, he became a full time member as a master’s student. During his tenure in the LDPDL, Grant has been working on the Ballistic, Aero-optics, and Materials (Mini BAM) facility located in the ALLEMO facility. As an undergraduate, he developed a software package to calculate laser wavefront distortions via a Shack-Hartman sensor installed in the facility, as well as developed a computer simulation of the laser propagation through Mini BAM. As a graduate student, Grant has led the empirical testing within this facility with the hopes of validating newly developed laser and turbulence interaction models. Also as an undergraduate, prior to joining our group, Grant worked at the Advanced Vertical Flight Lab at Texas A&M developing novel MAV’s! Grant is currently employed as a controls research engineer at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center.
Rohan Jillapalli
Masters of Engineering Student, Department of Aerospace Engineering
Rohan joined the lab in the spring of 2020 as an undergraduate researcher where he contributed heavily to the self-guided beamed propulsion concept. In addition to assisting Hayden with the experimental characterization of the rubidium jet source, Rohan also modeled the spatial and frequency dependence of the ionization of a rubidium atom beam through multiphoton ionization of two counter-propogating lasers as it pertains to an accelerating scientific spacecraft and a near earth beam transmitter. This latter work was implemented into a undergraduate thesis. During his time as a graduate student, Rohan has developed and worked toward the characterization of a supersonic rubidium source for this project.
Christopher Tremblay
Nicholas Siodlarz
Eric Comstock
Jon Golden
Hayden Morgan
Former Master’s Student, Aerospace Engineering Department, NSTGRO Fellow
Hayden received his Bachelors of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Cincinnati in 2019. In 2020, he received the NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities Fellowship. During his graduate work, Hayden worked on design and commissioning of an ultra-high vacuum facility for studying optical interactions between co-propagating laser-cooled particle beams and laser beams. The objective of this work is the development of a self-guided beamed propulsion concept for high-velocity missions to the outer planets and even the nearest star systems. After graduation in Dec 2021, Hayden joined the team at ABL space systems as a hardware development engineer.
NASA Project Description: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2019_Phase_I_Phase_II/Self_Guided_Beamed_Propulsion/