Seeing More with a Needle-Shaped Laser
12-02-22
Lihong Wang, Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering; Andrew and Peggy Cherng Medical Engineering Leadership Chair; Executive Officer for Medical Engineering, and his research team show how they developed a new variant of photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) called needle-shaped beam photoacoustic microscopy (NB-PAM). NB-PAM has a depth of field nearly 14 times greater than what was achievable before. [Caltech story]
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EE
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MedE
Lihong Wang
Rui Cao
Pushing the Boundaries of Fluid Equations
11-22-22
Thomas Hou, Charles Lee Powell Professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics, and Jiajie Chen (PhD '22) of New York University's Courant Institute, provide a proof that resolves a longstanding open problem for the so-called 3D Euler singularity. Hou and colleagues' combined effort in proving the existence of blowup with the 3D Euler equation is a major breakthrough in its own right, but also represents a huge leap forward in tackling the Navier-Stokes Millennium Problem. If the Navier–Stokes equations could also blow up, it would mean something is awry with one of the most fundamental equations used to describe nature. [Caltech story]
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CMS
Thomas Hou
Jiajie Chen
Beaming Clean Energy From Space
10-26-22
Once considered science fiction, technology capable of collecting solar power in space and beaming it to Earth to provide a global supply of clean and affordable energy is moving closer to reality. Through the Space-based Solar Power Project (SSPP), a team of Caltech researchers is working to deploy a constellation of modular spacecraft that collect sunlight, transform it into electricity, then wirelessly transmit that electricity wherever it is needed—including to places that currently have no access to reliable power. "This is an extraordinary and unprecedented project," says Harry Atwater, Otis Booth Leadership Chair, Division of Engineering and Applied Science; Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science; Director, Liquid Sunlight Alliance. "It exemplifies the boldness and ambition needed to address one of the most significant challenges of our time, providing clean and affordable energy to the world." [Caltech story]
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APhMS
EE
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MedE
MCE
Harry Atwater
Ali Hajimiri
Sergio Pellegrino