The science of light
Postdoctoral scholar Ming Zhou (right) holds up a panel that cools down even when placed in direct sunlight. The panel reflects sunlight and simultaneously emits heat in the form of infrared radiation. Designed in Professor Shanhui Fan’s (center) lab, the panel is fabricated by coating an aluminum sheet with PDMS, a transparent silicone polymer. Postdoctoral scholar Sid Assawaworrarit (left) holds up an insulation box designed for measuring the cooling performance of the panel
Photonics research has been ongoing at Stanford since the 1960's. The university was also at the center of several initial developments in laser technology and has continued to develop the field. Read about other photonics research from using light's quantum nature in computing, to lower energy costs and to identify bacteria
