Heat Transfer Problems in the Interaction of Light with Matter

John C. Lambropoulos, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester

Hopeman 224

When light interacts with matter, the absorption of light often leads to localized “hot spots,” especially near surfaces. Increased temperatures in turn may lead to localized damage, often demonstrated as “laser damage.”

In this talk, I will present some recent work on how heat transfer can be used to interpret some of the interactions of light with optical surfaces. Examples will include thermal aspects of laser damage at the 50-100 nm scale; the melting of contaminant particles on particle surfaces at the 10-20 µm scale; the melting of glass particles for 3D printing with glass at the 50 µm scale, the effect of radiation on calorimeter performance at the 100-200 µm scale, and the effect of temperature on the properties of cryogenic solid hydrogens as candidates for laser fusion fuel materials at the 100-500 µm scale.

The usefulness of the interplay between computational, analytical, and experimental work will be highlighted.