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Meeting ID: 982 3807 0773
Passcode: 481104

Piezoelectric materials are one of the unsung heroes of the information age. Quartz crystals and other piezoelectric materials have been used for nearly a century to create miniaturized oscillators that are integral to timing in essentially every modern electronics product. If you own a smart phone or laptop, you have more than a few of them in your possession. Piezoelectric materials exist in a variety of material classes including ceramics, single crystals, semi-conductors, polymers, and even in biomaterials such as bone. Novel applications include devices we have developed for the Mars Curiosity Rover, and are developing for deformable mirrors for next generation space telescopes.

In this seminar we will introduce piezoelectricity by presenting the linear equations which are derived from thermodynamic potentials. These equations are the basis for a variety of static and quasi-static applications including micro-positioners, optical alignment, fuel injectors, ink jet printers, valves, and energy harvesters. We will then extend these equations into the dynamic regime and derive the impedance spectra of a piezoelectric resonator. We will finish with the many novel applications of resonators including ultrasonic drilling, sample handling, sample processing and precision control of optical mirror surfaces.

About the Speaker(s)

Stewart Sherrit
Technical Staff, JPL, Caltech

Stewart Sherrit is a principal member of the technical staff at JPL's Electroactive Technologies Group. He received his BSc in engineering physics, and his MSc and PhD in physics from Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, and joined JPL in 1998 as a Caltech post-doctoral scholar. Sherrit has co-authored 17 book chapters, over 200 papers, 70 NASA tech briefs, 134 new technology reports, and 26 patents. He is co-inventor of the USDC used in the "Cyberwand," a large stone lithotripter credited with saving lives. He has participated in research field trips to the Matanuska Glacier, Alaska, Lake Vida, Antarctica, Mt Hood, Oregon, Mojave Desert, Death Valley, and Borrego Springs California. He has received eight JPL TEAM awards, four NASA HONOR awards, a SPOT award, a JPL Mariner award, and a JPL Explorer award. In 2015 he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for his work on piezoelectrics for space mechanisms.

Contact

For more information, contact Amos Johnson at amos.l.johnson@dartmouth.edu.